mitsugirly

So tonight was another party....The GLOW party! Woo hoo! We like glow parties. We like parties. We like to dance. We love the 80's. Even Sakari knows all the words to the songs. We like the....everything about it actually. We raced back to the room after the show and put on our neon glow shirts and headed up to the pool deck. Hey look, Richard Simmons has arrived! There were actually a lot of people that were dressed up in 80's attire. Wayyyyy more than on NCL. These people really get into it clothes hair and all. They gave me a lot of good ideas. Next time we are on Carnival, I'm definitely going all out! This party was so much fun and we danced the night away!! We had to tell Karl to calm down and few times before he jumped on us. So glad that we have someone else that likes to dance as much as we do. Now like always, it was cold so we were in pants and long sleeves. Karl kept his hoodie on and didn't even show his neon green shirt. Deon had the party going...he gets a little carried away (if you've sailed with him, you know what I'm talking about) We stayed until 11:30pm and then called it a night. We were all tired and needed to get some rest because tomorrow was a big PLANNED day this time around...finally. We took our light up glow torches they passed out with us back to the room...and I brought them home and actually used them at Sakari's birthday glow party last weekend. LOL

Aww thanks. We love the name Karl...I guess that's why we stuck with calling him that. On a side note, It caught my eye that it says your date below your name (that you signed up with cruise critic) is February 20, 2004. That's my birthday!! February 20 is my real birthday, not the 2004 of course. LOL It just caught my eye for some reason.

The sun was starting to go down and Sakari wanted some pictures of her and Karl in the sunset. This is not the time to be playing around...you realize we ARE on a ship right? There will be no Titanic's for us!! We headed back to the room to change for dinner and ended up at the buffet instead. I was throwing caution to the wind and had rice, 😶 noodles 😶and even an egg roll 😶 to top it off. Hubby did not say a word. 😄🤐 I was a good girl for desert and stuck with the sugar free. That makes up for all the cheating right??? It does right??? At 7:30pm we decided to take in a show and went to the Rock Revolution show in the theater. As always, some of the singers could sing and others weren't the greatest however... Carnival has stepped up their game a bit and this show included DRONES!! I love drones and they all lit up and was in sync and it (in my opinion) made the show! It definitely reminded me of something the other cruise lines would do.

We finally made it back to port after our short but sweet detour. I will let you guess who's hungry... The mango's only filled him up for a short time. He wanted some authentic Mexican food. Well, I wasn't going to pass that up either. After eating we decided to visit all the shops in the area. Sakari managed to find a cute little necklace that was nothing but a chain but it was all hearts. They wanted $35 for it and wouldn't budge. Karl had already spent his money on gifts for his mom and sister back home. She was sad she didn't get the necklace but good things come to those who wait and aren't impulsive buyers...after we got back home, we went shopping at our local craft store and found the exact same necklace...for $3.95!!!! Then it was time to catch the tram back to the ship. We arrived back to the room and I immediately put my phone on the charger because it was dead...which meant I completely forgot to take a picture of our turtle towel animal today. Ugh! Sakari and Karl decided they were going to do the ropes course and the hubby and I decided we wanted to go on the Sky zooming pedal roller coaster above the ocean ride. We split up so I wasn't able to get any pictures of them on the ropes course...as much as I wanted to since rumor had it that Karl may be afraid of heights. They managed to finish the ropes course and our line was taking so long that after waiting all that time, the people behind us got tired of waiting and Sakari and Karl were able to get in line behind us. The hubby and I raced around the track and I gave it my all. I won the race, or at least in my eyes I did and that's my story and I'm sticking to it no matter what information you may get from others. That meant when we finished, I was able to grab my camera in time to see them coming back around to the finish line and snap some pictures.

Well, it was getting late and I knew we should probably head back. We stopped a cab that pulled up and ask how much back to the port and he said $25! Wait what? You're kidding right? It only cost us $15 from the port all the way to the aquarium. Then he started talking about a "tour"..."I can take you on a tour to see the sights for $40". Um...I didn't ask for a tour, we just want to go back to the ship. It was getting late. He kept pressing "How about a 1 hour tour...I'll show you all the things of importance. Places you didn't go with a great view of the ship. How about $25?" No, we just want to go to the ship. Finally we agreed on $14 to go back to the ship, still more than I thought it should be but at least more like it. Then he throws in, I'll take you the long way and show you the sites. Consider it a "mini-tour". I verified several times...we have agreed on $14 right? Because we are not requesting a tour...just a ride back to the ship. He confirmed. Alrighty then...you pick your route Mr cab driver...whatever that route may be for $14. 🤷‍♀️ We started heading up a winding road and I could at least see the ship in the distance: He pulled over and said "You want to get out and take pictures?" I told him that was ok, I already did. He said "You must have a fast camera"... yes, yes I do. This is Creston Hill, the highest point in the entire city and a place you can go to and climb all the way up to the top. It is 334 steps to get up there. This is also where you will find the glass bridge, that was built in 2017,and you can pay an additional cost to walk out onto it. This is one of the most popular things to do in Mazatlan. (I'm glad I managed to find a better way to spend my day than giving myself a heart attack). Since 1928 the hill was used as a maritime marker and they would have bonfires to guide ships in the port. In 1879 it was improved by using an oil lamp. Then in 1905 it was replaced by a lighthouse (El Faro) that's still there today. It is considered one the highest lighthouses built on natural terrain in the world. It also used to be an island. However, in 1930 a stone road was built that linked it to the city of Mazatlan.

Then we came to a little roundabout area and I looked across the street to find even more statues (I remembered seeing these in pictures before) and I knew we had to go over. This area is known as Liverpool Alley. This alley is a replica of England's Liverpool Street, which honors The Beatles. There are statues of the members of The Beatles that look like they are crossing the famous London Street on their iconic Abbey Road album cover. Of course the kids joined in on the fun. The Cavern Club, which is where the band debuted. The classic red British style car with flags printed on its rooftop (I have one of these replica's at home added to my "red" collection in my travel room) Of course you have to have the red phone booth to go along with it (I also have one of these) ♪ We all live in a yellow submarine, yellow submarine, yellow submarine ♪ ♫ After enjoying this area for awhile and sitting down to rest, it was time to move on.

We waited for quite some time and the crowd was gone. I guess no more cliff divers and my anxiety was spared. I overheard someone say that they are not on a schedule and they dive when there's a big enough crowd. "Ok, let's walk down the street and do something! I'm tired of sitting here". My little ducklings, I mean family, started following and down the street we went to see if we could find anything interesting. I'm not really sure what this was? I was sure it had plenty of stairs to climb and I wasn't really in the mood to climb stairs so we didn't. I imagine the people up there could see the same as what I could from below only they are higher. 🤷‍♀️ I looked over to the other side of the street and immediately noticed something in the rocks: This is known as Cueva del Diablo...The Devil's Cave. The Chapel of San Bartolome is right above it. This cave is known to have various stories surrounding it: It was a place they used to hide soldiers guarding ammunition in the war days Pirates used it to keep their treasures in here The devil was released when work was done at the foot of the hill and the devil was heard inside Others say people have went in and never came out even though it's a very small cave that doesn't go back very far Among other stories told... ...you be the judge! There were plenty of statues along the way...I only took a few pictures. Jack Cousteau: Of course you won't find me passing up a mermaid picture. I had Sakari stand by it because well, I'm sure they were once related back in the day. Right below this mermaid statue was a weird looking concrete (?) slide that looked like it might have went into a pool at one point? I starred at it for awhile trying to figure out just what this was and what it was used for. So of course, I had to look it up and this is what I found: It is called Carpa Olivera de Mazatlan. The pool in the sea. It says it's a pool for aquatic fun and an ocean wave pool and one of the few that exist in the world. It says it is free to the public, but precautions are taken to ensure the safety of swimmers in relation to dangerous tides and waves. They say it is a revolutionary concept and the creator brought the vision of a pool fed by sea waters. There was a restaurant on site too. The pool slide was built in 2014. The salt water of the sea flows constantly to fill the pool from the waves and since it's always refilling, it made a unique experience for those who stayed at the hotels in Mazatlan. It's one of 7 marine pools in the world. I have found pictures of it with water filling it. It looks pretty cool. I guess today was a low tide? There was nothing in it and it wasn't being used. There's video's online as well. I think it's a pretty cool concept although sliding down a concrete slide that's not wet...hmmm, I don't know about that or how it would even work.

When we first got there, there was a really large crowd in the area. By the wall at the street I noticed a guy who was standing there and was wet. I assumed he was one of the divers that had just went. We decided to have a seat along the wall and wait. They had various vendors in the area selling fruits and small gifts. We decided to get a cup of mango. It was delicious but there was a lot. We had wished that we would have just bought one and shared. It was too much for us to eat all of it. I think they charged $5 each cup or maybe it was $10. I can't remember but that sounds about right. While we were sitting on the wall eating our mango and every other bite we would throw down on the rocks below us...gotta feed the birds...I started noticing something moving. After watching for awhile, I tell Sakari there's a crab on the rocks! But there wasn't just A CRAB there were tons of them everywhere. I seen a mermaid in the distance and decided to go over and check it out. Well at least the cliff divers don't actually have to climb the cliff to get to the top.

Ok, it's been a very busy week for me and I just finished up for the day...so...it's time to get back at this review. After finishing up at the aquarium, we walked down the street a ways but didn't see much but did take a picture of a few statues: I made the executive decision to grab a cab and have them take us to the area where the cliff divers are located. We had plenty of time to spare so why not? I was pretty sure it would give me high anxiety but I was willing chance it anyhow. Our driver charged up $10 to get there. I'm not sure if this was considered one of the Palmonia cars or not but it looked like a car that had the top cut off, then roll bars and another top put on. It was all open aired. I took pictures along the way. This guy had a serious sound system in it with speakers in the roof.

No it was some type of lizard looking creatures inside a hollowed trees. 😄 Oh, well maybe I've been wrong in thinking they all go in the canal? I'll have to check more into it. I can completely understand about those perks. We only cruised with NCL for the longest time and got all the perks but eventually decided other cruise lines were a lot of fun as well. We are almost to Platinum status with Carnival. We are miles away from RC any status. LOL LOL I know right? 😄 Yes she has grown... and too fast for my liking! Really? What ship were we on together? We love Carnival as well...and RC. Heck, we love any cruise ship I would imagine. lol

Well, it's really hard to answer that question about the price. It is definitely expensive for an activity in Mexico I feel like. It's definitely more expensive than even going to our local zoo, which is HUGE and well known because of Jack Hanna. But, I guess it was worth it for us because it gave us something to do for the day other than just walk around and explore or ride around on a tour. Sakari is an animal lover and it suited her well and she was excited to go so that made it worth it. I looked at it this way, we would have spent that on an excursion had we done it, so this was our excursion for the day. 🙂

Oh ok. I wasn't sure if you had kept up with those or not. Yea, not giving up cruising but we definitely love our land vacations as well. OHHHHHH I WANNA GO! That's been on my bucket list too: Costa Rica and Panama. I would love to do a Panama cruise in the canal. Can't you do ones that start in one place and end in another for a shorter cruise? I'm going to have to check this out. It's so hard for us to leave our animals as well. Oh that sounds dreadful. Do you have an iphone? If you have one, you can get the ear buds and they seem to be really loud. I always have to turn mine down they are so loud. Maybe that would help? Oh yea, I remember that story. Yikes! When you both first posted PTSD I thought you were referring to something I had posted that we were doing. But, I get it now. That would be a nightmare! I hope some day you get to swim with the whale sharks. It's the MOST AMAZING experience ever.

I'm going to call it a night for now. I have an early morning meeting tomorrow and need to get some sleep. I hope everyone is enjoying the review and our day at the aquarium. I will try to continue tomorrow with the rest of our day exploring.

We went to another bird show and they had several birds do a few tricks. They also brought out the owl and Sakari cheered! Well, we had pretty much seen and done it all. It was time to head out and explore a little bit. It was now probably around a little after noon.

Here comes a baby dinosaur...have you ever seen a dinosaur in real life Karl? Heading over to the flamingo area: We heard a commotion in a building and went to check it out. They were getting ready for a sea lion show. I guess if I can't swim with them, I'll watch them do tricks. Of course the entire show was in Spanish so no idea what they were saying but none the less, it was funny to watch them perform. This is Toby: This lady talked and talked and talked and honestly it got quite annoying. Maybe because we couldn't understand but it was really drug out a little too long. Just have him do the tricks already. We weren't the only one watching the show... Next was Tito: I felt like Tito did more interesting tricks but Sakari liked Toby better. Eh, they were both outstanding.