If you like to cruise, let me tell you, now is the time to do it. We had the best time EVER. First of all, Costco had a mind blowing deal, not only that but the ship was only at half capacity and vaccinated cruisers only! There was also an incentive drink package that is included with your total price up front, meaning you won’t have that huge bill statement slid under your door on the last night of the trip.

So, obviously we booked through Costco. Holland America had a 7 night Mexican Riviera cruise leaving San Diego. Added bonus, no airports and no wasted travel time. After packing and repacking, making sure we had everything we needed from bathing suits to Gala attire and about 1,450 other things we maybe didn’t need and a few we wished we had, we hit the road. An entire 15 minutes later ,we were dropped off at the cruise ship terminal. Having already downloaded the ships app, we just waited for our time to be called and we were making our way up the gangway. Couldn’t have been easier.

Once we boarded this beauty, we headed to our room to drop off our carry-ons. It was a nice surprise to see our luggage already in our room. So we dropped our carry on crap and went straight to the pool deck. They had music going, small bites were being passed around along with their drink of the day. However we opted for wine instead, hey, what can I say? Before we knew it, we were making our way out of port and heading towards an amazing week.

We wandered around the ship trying to get acclimated but there were just soooo many places to see. So we stopped at the end of the ships lounge, and plopped down on a couch to check out the evenings itinerary.

Where should we eat? What should we do? There were just so many options. We decided to skip the main dining room and eat at the Market Cafe, which used to be called the buffet but now they have separate stations. You can order whatever is displayed on the menu and they make and/or serve it to you. {both ends of the cafe had hand washing stations and hand sanitizer, also masks were required in all public areas}. There were so many options that it was overwhelming. They had an Asian station, sandwich, salad, pasta, carving and dessert station. You guys, the bread, can we talk about how good the bread was? And the sandwiches were like the ones you get in Paris, fresh thin baguette with a protein, maybe some butter or brie…those became a daily or nightly and sometimes an early morning ritual.

We did not want to miss the band playing in the Rolling Stone Rock Room, so we went up for a wardrobe change and then hit the music walk. The music walk was half of one of the ships deck and it had all the different lounge/bar areas just for the entertainment.

We sat down and loved every minute that the band gave us. They alternated with the dueling pianists whom were playing just across the way in the Billboard Onboard room, they were also amazing and we instantly wanted to be best friends with all of them. We went back and forth and back and forth until all of their sets were over. Then we headed to the B.B King’s Blues club just next door, and danced and danced and danced. This in turn, would end up being our routine every night of the week.

Rolling Stone Rock Band Night 1

The next day was our day at sea. We leisurely woke up and had coffee sent up to the room. Our plans included sunning at the main pool, grabbing burgers for lunch, playing trivia and we were signed up for a wine making class in the late afternoon. There just isn’t enough time in the day. Trivia was a sad tale, we met a really nice couple who we teamed up with but we were no help. The wine making course was a good time. We started with five wines all from Washington state, all the same year and there were 3 different varietals of red. Two Cab Sauvignons, two Merlots and a Cab Franc. We went through each one, learning about where and how the vines grew and at the end, we made our own blend. Once we were done and happy with our newly made wine, Ramon, our sommelier bottled it and sent it to our room.

Monday was our Gala dinner night. I’m not sure how we don’t have any food pictures, who are we? I had the absolute best mushroom risotto and the chocolate soufflé, let’s not forget the bread and butter. The service was spectacular and the food was pretty darn good, we also had a really good chardonnay from Napa that accompanied us back to the room. Then we changed into more bar worthy attire.

This was the night we met two other couples who became people we will never forget. Each of them were older than us and they lived on opposite sides of the U.S. but we ended up sitting with them every night, laughing, drinking and sharing stories. We will most definitely see them again.

We ended the night once again on the dance floor, closing the place down.

*Side note about packing. Packing for a cruise is easier said than done. You need a couple of fancy outfits if you plan on eating in the dining room. You need a sweater to go with said fancy outfit because it can get cold inside certain areas. You need semi fancy outfits for other nights in the dining room. You need shorts and bathing suits for the day, or the Market Cafe and swimsuit covers if you plan to swim and wander around. Let’s not mention the shoes, accessories and all the other things we put on our bodies everyday. I think we did a good job packing however, we ended up changing a few nights out of our fancy clothes and into dancing clothes. I wished I had packed more jeans and tanks. I would also suggest packing a water bottle like the Yeti or whatever you use at home. Cold water is hard to come by in your stateroom, we would fill ours up at the cafe before we went out for the evening so when we got back we had water for the night. I also suggest a mini speaker if you like to get ready to music, electrolytes if you like to drink and a nightlight for the bathroom if you get an interior room. That was a lifesaver, I must have saved at least 50 bruises from happening on a middle of the night bathroom walk.

Next up… Cabo.