The first but certainly not last!

We left Sunday afternoon to spend the night in a motel in Long Beach, after dinner at Outback, so we’d be first in line to get on the ship in San Pedro. The boarding was to take place at 1 p.m. but we wanted to be sure to get a good parking place so we were in the parking lot by 11 in the morning, full of excitement. Cecile and Gary had brought their Pegs and Jokers game to occupy us during our two-hour wait, and to play while cruising. We got three games in before we noticed that “they” were letting us board early. So we scrambled to get P and J put away and headed to board Royal Carribean's Monarch of the Seas.

I love the box in which Cecile and Gary keep the Pegs and Jokers pegs. It's pretty cute and says:
"You don't stop playing because you grow old.
You grow old because you stop playing!"
So we must be pretty young!

Our first afternoon onboard was spent wandering around the ship, finding our rooms, and of course playing a couple more P and J games before it was time to head up to the top deck for the Bon Voyage party . . . pretty exciting and a yummy rum drink served in flashing-light-glasses was enjoyed as we sailed away from the San Pedro harbor. The excitement of the cruise filled the air – we pulled up the lounge chairs so that we faced the harbor getting smaller as we sailed to San Diego. Our first morning we were in port at San Diego and the four of us headed to Hilo Hattie’s, which was one of the stops, our bus took us. We had a grand time shopping there and then headed down to House of Blues just for a look-see.

K and I outside House of Blues, San Diego. It was early morning so not much was happening, but interesting art on the walls.

Cecile and I had a grand time shopping in Hilo Hatties.

All the time there were smiles on our faces! We headed back to the ship for lunch, not wanting to spend any more money on food when it was waiting for us on board. And the food was as grand as everybody we know who has ever gone on a cruise has told us. We could either eat at the buffet or in the formal dining room. After lunch there were lots of stuff to do . . . swimming in one of two pools, hot tub, gym, spa, a reggae-band for dancing, rock climbing wall, all kinds of activities for kids, Bingo, a casino . . . we usually chose to take a nap so that we’d have energy for the evening entertainment.

A cool evening in San Diego was warmed up by a fruity rum drink!

Gary and Cecile enjoying the San Diego delicious rum concoction.

San Diego in the background . . . beautiful skyline!

Every night there was a fabulous Las Vegas-type show put on by the ship’s singers and dancers in a large theatre. And after the show there was more goings-on throughout the ship. The tax-and-duty-free shopping area was stacked with jewelry, liquor, perfumes, clothing, watches, gold and silver “by-the-inch” chains, etc.

Just one of the animals created from towels by the cabin stuard which greeted us along with a chocolate mint on the pillow each evening upon retiring . . . what fun!

The second day we were docked in Avalon, Catalina Island, which has grown immensely since the last time we were there over forty years ago. Again we did some shopping and just strolled through the town.

Catalina brought back many memories from our teen years on Uncle Ray's boat.

The Monarch of the Seas anchored in Catalina.

We had lots of fun on Catalina, lunched on board, took a nice nap, played some P and J in the centrium, then K told us he wasn't feeling well and was going to skip dinner. After dinner I came back to our stateroom to check on him and he had come down with some nasty flu bug! Bummer! He was sick and stayed inside the cabin for the next two days!

The third day was spent in Ensenada. Cecile, Gary, and I had a good time walking the streets “people-watching,” dealing with the vendors who stood on the sidewalk and wanted to take us into their individual shops to sell their wares, always trying to get us to pay more than we were willing to pay. I imagine some folks pay the asking price, but we were always able to take five to ten dollars off the original price. Actually Cecile, the "Queen of Shoppers," managed to get a beautiful $45 dollar red leather purse down to $20. She scored!

Here is Cecile (in black pants lower center) to show you how big the ship is (and it's the smallest of the Royal Caribbean cruise line).

The fourth morning found us back in San Pedro, and K started to feel better (poor guy, he missed the best half of the cruise). After disembarking we had to go through customs, find our luggage, and load the truck to come home. Gary drove home while Ken vegged feeling half-okay. What a great time we had and we’re ready to do it again! Ken’s feeling much better today, but now it’s my turn with this nasty flu bug! And word has it that G and C will probably share it too! K’s just gone to the store to stock them up on Imodium, Gatorade, and Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup!

By the way: Gals, 10 . . . Guys, 4

Life is good!