Today we’re sharing our most recent cruise experience!  In July Kim took a family cruise! The 7-day Mexican Riviera Carnival cruise out left of Long Beach, going to Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, and Mazatlan.

This was Kim’s third cruise, and second Carnival cruise taking this exact same route. Joining her on this cruise were six family members and extended friends of fam, making this a very social cruise!

Tune in to hear how Carnival has changed, the classic cruise experiences that are still thriving, and stories from this cruise with the fam.

Check out our other cruising episodes for more cruise tips and inspiration!

Mexican Riviera Cruise – Episode Transcript

0:35

And get ready to embark on a new adventure with us around the globe.

Hello fellow travelers.

Hey, Squads.

Welcome to this weeks episode of the Travel Squad Podcast.

Today, we’re sharing our most recent cruise experience.

0:52

Back in July of 2024, I took a Carnival cruise out of Long Beach.

It was seven days.

It went to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlán and Cabo.

A nice Mexican Riviera cruise.

I am really jealous that Brittany and I were not on this.

1:07

Of course I know this was a family cruise and our friend Honorary Squaddy Charlotte was on this one with you, but I keep telling Brittany all the time I’m ready to take a cruise again.

I’m ready to take a cruise again because that used to be our main vacations back in the day before we started really elevating and escalating where we were going.

1:27

And it’s just so hard these days to be like, Oh yeah, you know, we’re going to take a cruise when we could go somewhere internationally.

And not that cruises don’t go international, but I am super jealous on this one for you.

I’m excited to hear about it and ideally inspire me and Brittany to go on a cruise in the future.

1:46

I’m really excited to dive into this episode because I’ve actually done this exact cruise in the past, but I went when I was 12 and so I’m sure so much of the areas changed when I went, like Matalan, a lot of people weren’t traveling there on their own and say, I feel like with cruise port destinations, as they gain popularity and people continue to go, they build things up more.

2:09

So I’m interested in hearing how things have changed over the years and what you guys did while you were on this Mexican Riviera cruise.

So this was my third cruise.

I’ve only cruised with Carnival.

I would love to try out some of the other cruise lines, especially the adults only ones.

Carnival is very family friendly and I did go with family.

2:28

So it was me, my grandma, my mom, my aunt, my cousin, my friend Charlotte, which I want to talk about in a second.

And my aunt chose this cruise really because her best friend’s 50th birthday was happening and this was her celebration.

2:43

So it was her friend’s 50th birthday and she brought her whole family.

So an extended piece of our group even though we didn’t we weren’t with him the whole time.

Charlotte went because when I was booking the cruise, it was only a couple $100 more to add on a second person into my room.

3:01

So I messaged her and I was like hey, for $300.00 more you could come into my room.

Would you want to take a week vacation for 300 bucks?

And she did.

What a deal.

That’s the thing I love about cruises too.

They more often than not are really good values, especially when you add in another person.

3:17

Because of course usually there’s a single supplement that would be more than the two persons filling the cabin, but it seems like to just have somebody else in there, it really wasn’t that much more expensive.

The reverse of usually.

What’s true then?

Yeah, and I looked to get a balcony room because I would love to have a balcony and be able to sit on that chair and drink coffee, but it was almost double the price.

3:38

They usually are those inside rooms Inside staterooms are usually the best value.

Did you ever cruise on a balcony?

When you two previous ones it will change.

You know.

Cruise experience when you do that.

Never go back.

Yeah, next.

Next time I will.

I’ll splurge for it.

3:54

But this cruise was interesting because my family had reached out last year saying they want to do a cruise and I said as long as it’s not Carnival and not Mexico and.

They didn’t listen.

And the reason I said that was because I’ve done this exact same cruise, just like you, Brittany, back in 2008, I did this cruise with friends, went to the same places out of Long Beach.

4:15

It was in March this time.

I went here in July.

So a little bit different.

You said 2008, you mean 2018?

2018, yes, yes.

So not quite that long ago, but long enough for it to be different.

It was a different boat.

There was some different entertainment.

That’s what I was really worried about, was will the cruise be exactly the same?

4:34

Because this is my third Carnival cruise now, right?

It was different enough that I felt good about it.

And you were with different people.

It’s a different experience when you’re with family versus friends and how much partying you’re doing.

And that’s one of the things why I love cruises so much is not even the destination of where it goes.

4:50

Yeah, you want to go to cool spots and of course for you wanted to maybe avoid going to places that you’ve been and plus now that you’re not in San Diego a little further, but we’re close to Mexico to just go whenever fly domestically.

But sometimes, well not sometimes I really feel like all the time the fun of a cruise is the experience on the cruise.

5:08

And that’s good to know that they kind of changed up the shows the experience and everything that you get while you’re on board.

Well, Kim, why don’t you dive us right into some of the tips you have for this cruise?

The first tip I have is about before you even get on the cruise ship.

When you are embarking you have to choose a time that you are scheduled to get on the ship.

5:27

So there’s like 30 minute windows that whole day.

I would recommend, I think it opens up two weeks before the cruise takes off.

Try to reserve your spot as soon as you can because the later you get on the cruise, the less time you have on the cruise, right?

So we got on about 1130.

5:44

I think that was a great time because your room is already ready.

You can go straight to your room and put your stuff down and then hit the cruise and you’ve kind of missed some of the crowds.

It is a long embarking process.

You don’t just show up and get on the cruise.

In fact, the drive to get to the cruise port will take a lot longer than you think.

6:03

So plan ahead.

We stayed in a hotel in Long Beach.

On any other day, it’s about a 10 minute drive to the cruise port.

But on the day that cruises are embarking, it’s long.

It took over an hour to get there stuck in stop and go traffic.

6:19

So it will take longer than you think planned for that.

Did you make it on time?

We made it on time and especially if you’re planning to park there, which they do offer parking, it is a little expensive, but you not only have to get through all that traffic to drop people off with their luggage, but then you have to go find the cruise parking lot, get on a shuttle and come back.

6:41

So it’s going to take a lot longer.

And then once you’re there, you get in line, it’s your time to go and you go in, still a very, very long walk through security, through all of the different hallways and checks and then getting on the cruise.

So you’re looking at a few hours dedicated to getting on that cruise ship?

7:00

That’s really interesting because all the cruises that Brittany and I have taken have never been out of Long Beach.

They’ve been out of Florida or Seattle, but LA is LA and it’s very congested.

So that makes a lot of sense.

Unfortunate that you had to experience that because I’m not going to say when we were in Florida, it wasn’t crowded and there’s traffic because of course, you know, you have multiple cruise ships, thousands of people coming on, but it wasn’t anything like that.

7:22

But if anyone’s ever been to Long Beach, that makes a lot of sense, going through St. traffic and thousands of people trying to get to port.

It’s not even the street traffic of Long Beach.

It’s when you get close to the port, you’ll see the Queen Mary.

That’s where the traffic starts.

It’s everyone coming to the cruise ship.

7:38

So just keep that in mind.

Another tip I have for you is once you finally do get on the cruise ship, you’ll go to your room.

Your key is usually waiting on the door for you so you can go right in if it’s ready.

Your room attendant who will be with you throughout the cruise will come and say hi.

7:53

They’re so friendly.

They really, really take care of you.

There are three things I would recommend you ask for right away.

The duvet to make your bed more comfortable.

A bucket of ice.

You have the bucket, but there’s no ice machine.

They have to get the ice for you.

So get your ice and then third a robe.

8:10

You can’t go anywhere without a robe these days, Kim.

What did you put on ice, Kim?

Because technically you can’t bring alcoholic drinks.

I mean, there’s limits on how much you could bring the bottles of wine, but what did you put on ice?

I’m curious.

Now, so you can bring 1 bottle of wine per person and you can bring I think like a 12 pack of canned beverages.

8:30

Wow, though I feel like I haven’t heard of that one yet.

Yes, you can do that and and.

That’s with Carnival without you cruised.

I feel like a lot of cruise ships and cruise lines are different on the rules of what you can bring on, so do check.

But that’s good to know about Carnival being able to bring on cans.

Does that include beer or just like soda cans?

8:45

No, you can’t bring beer.

Well they let you bring wine so that’s why I just didn’t know if they have.

A full pack limit.

Just a little hack for you all.

If you go on Amazon maybe we’ll link it in the show notes.

There are these plastic flasks that you can buy.

Fill them with whatever liquor you choose, pack them into your suitcase.

9:03

They will not get flagged in the X-ray machine.

I’ve done it two times and you can get liquor through and that’s what you can use your ice bucket for there.

You go.

Good call.

Next tip for you again around traffic.

So this one’s for leaving the cruise port.

Everyone’s coming out at the same time, so it’s going to take a long time for Ubers to get there.

9:22

There are taxis right when you get out and I found that the prices were about the same as an Uber and even more convenient.

So if you want to get a cab, that’s a good option.

But if you are getting an Uber, I would walk out.

Maybe, I don’t know what is it, 2 or 300 yards to the Queen Mary so that the Uber doesn’t have to sit in all that stop and go traffic to pick you up right outside the cruise ship.

9:46

Walk to the Queen Mary.

You’re going to get in your Uber way faster.

That’s pretty considerate too.

It helps them out and you’re going to get in faster and beat some of that traffic.

And then one last tip for you on the cruise, when you go to dinner, you’re typically sat at the same table.

10:03

Breakfast, they are a little bit more open seating, but whenever you go in to have a meal, always request to sit by the window.

The times that we didn’t request it, we didn’t get sat by the window and you’re missing the view of the ocean.

So if you have the opportunity to ask and they have it available, it’s a better seat.

10:22

So it sounds like for breakfast, a lot of times you went to the restaurant ordered off the menu versus going to the smorgy board of the buffet.

Because the buffet, of course, you could sit where you sit after you get your plate, I feel like.

I only went to breakfast once, went to dinner a few times.

OK, but dinner seating was not by a window for you guys large party like that I imagine they put you.

10:41

Well it depends because because just like you can choose your time to get on the cruise ship, you also have to choose a dinner seating time which is either like the early 5-6 PM or like the 8-9 PM.

But if they don’t have reservations then you can choose any open seating which is what me and Charlotte got stuck with because we did not choose a time in time before they sold out.

11:01

I think that’s a really good tip to just mention in general for cruising, not necessarily carnival.

A lot of them like you’ve just said, have the assigned dinner times usually take the earlier 1 I feel because they have good shows in the evening and sometimes those evening shows conflict with the second seating of dinner, so I feel like early dinner is better that way.

11:18

You could always see the shows.

I don’t know.

I actually think the open seating is better because a lot of times on cruises you’re just eating all day long by 5 o’clock 6:00.

I don’t want dinner, I’m not hungry, so some days I would have preferred to eat a little later.

11:35

I don’t disagree with you on that one.

The open seating, do they charge extra for that ’cause I know it’s.

Not on carnival.

OK, on some cruise lines, if you want just open whenever you have to pay a little bit extra.

But at least when we’ve cruised, I felt that to be true.

But you’re right, you do eat a lot, but I feel like the dining experience on a cruise is half the fun because.

11:54

I know you just literally cannot stop eating on a cruise ship.

I gained weight and that was crazy.

I think statistically people gain 5 to 7 lbs on a cruise.

Just to be like an average of £1.00 per day.

All right, Squatty, this is a really good time before we start really diving into Kim’s experience on the cruise ship here day one.

12:15

To let you know all about the resources that we have for you guys, go to our website, travelsquadpodcast.com.

We have tons of itineraries for you.

Some free itineraries for shorter trips, purchasable itineraries for longer trips, as well as our Amazon store.

12:32

That way you can get all your travel necessities.

And more importantly, be sure to sign up for our newsletter that we do have.

We send them out twice a month.

Great tips, advice, recommendations in there for you.

So be sure to head on to travelsquadpodcast.com after this episode.

12:50

This cruise went Saturday to Saturday, so day one coming on the cruise ship.

We got on about 1:00 PM and by the time you get through everything we’re talking like 3:00 PM right now.

Haven’t had anything to eat yet so got settled in our room, requested our robe, got our drink created, and then we went to go wander around.

13:09

We were just one floor down from the buffet which is open almost all day.

So went up there, checked it out, had a little snack.

The thing about day 1-2 is the boat will not leave until everyone does their muster.

Got to do your muster where you put on your life jacket and do that little drill.

13:26

Safety first.

Yes.

So they used to force everyone down to the bottom of the boat and it was this really like traumatic experience.

They don’t do that anymore.

Now you can go at your leisure to different stations around the boat, but they still won’t leave until everyone does it.

Oh, I I like that.

13:42

Yeah.

Because before it’s like herding cattle, they put you in your section.

There’s like alarms going.

Yeah, it’s, it’s intense.

So after that we decided to go to a comedy show.

That’s the great thing about cruises is there are comedy shows every day and they rotate the comedians too, so it’s not the same one and they have PG rated comedy shows and then later in the night they have more R or X-rated.

14:07

So we went to APG rated comedy show here.

It was pretty funny and then we had dinner in the dining room.

This was the first day so we did miss the early dining that all my family had booked.

Just got in whenever we could get in and it was great.

14:23

I love dinner on cruises.

It used to be that you could eat as much as you want.

You can order 12 entrees if you ate it all and wanted it right.

They limit you on Carnival now to two entrees.

They would charge you for the third one.

Interesting.

14:39

That is a little bit of a bummer.

I hope that did not spread to all cruise lines because that was one of my favorites.

If I didn’t know what entree or appetizer dessert I wanted, I wanted more.

But realistically, I don’t think I’ll eat more than two.

That seems a little excessive, but still, I don’t like the fact that they did that.

That kind of hurts my soul a little bit.

14:56

I know they did not have any listed limits on apps or desserts.

Just dontre.

Yeah, and the apps are great.

I love the little cheese plate they have.

It’s so delicious.

It’s the same cheese plate they’ve had for like 10 years.

I don’t want to change the topic too much here and get you off of day one, but Speaking of cheese plates, when Brittany and I would cruise, that was our favorite thing to do.

15:16

After dinner, get room service because room service is free up until a certain time.

Again, of course depending on the the cruise line you’re on, and we would always get the cheese plate.

Did you do room service?

Well, I know you’re disappointed.

Yeah, I was disappointed in Carnival.

Their room service doesn’t last all day and all night, and they’re very, very limited in what they’ll bring to your room without charging you.

15:38

That’s a shame.

Yeah, we were cheese plates for room service people.

That was our go to.

That’s amazing.

Yeah.

So the dinner experience was fantastic.

They always have you order what you want for an app, dessert, entree all at once, and then they bring it out to you.

15:55

I guess it helps them make it faster.

But anyway, we had a really great dinner experience there.

Day one’s kind of a casual day, so we didn’t really have anything planned.

We didn’t necessarily want to hit the club or go to another comedy show this night.

So Charlotte and I kind of broke off from the fam and we went to the hot tubs.

16:11

That’s so you and Charlotte.

This is where our love interest started blooming.

Love interest?

Well, tell me more.

I didn’t know that there was a love interest.

This is Cruz BAE, as my little cousin will say it.

OK.

So we met our cruise base here.

16:28

We we at least made eye contact with them and started contacting.

So we were on our way to this area on the 5th floor that is come to find out a private section for VIP cruisers and they have hot tubs there.

So we were trying to go there to the hot tubs, but you have to walk through this like Latin bar that has like live music and dancing every night.

16:49

When we got there, we realized it was closed for the night.

So we turned around.

We were coming back and the two guys, they were about our age, in their 30s.

One guy was there with his two kids and that guy also brought his friend, so he wasn’t there with just his kids.

So it actually worked out pretty perfectly.

17:06

They were really cool.

So as we were leaving to go find another hot tub, they were coming in and they were like, oh, is it that bad in there?

So which one did you have your eye on?

The one with the kids or the no kids and.

The one with the kids.

And are you guys still chatting up?

17:23

No.

Well, the.

End on the cruise.

I mean, we just ended up hanging out every day on the cruise.

It wasn’t like romantic interests, at least on my side.

Charlotte maybe is a different story, but they were cool and they were both good looking, so that never hurt.

17:44

I think Oregon and Colorado is where they were based.

So the buffet is cool right?

It’s not open all day long, but it’s open for certain hours for breakfast, then it closes and they open for lunch, then it closes and they have dinner, then late night buffet.

I love a late night snack.

18:00

So we hit we hit the late night buffet most nights.

This was our first night and it was amazing.

It was like chicken Nuggets and fries and Buffalo cauliflower.

That’s the thing about late night at the buffet on any cruise, I feel like it’s always more just the snack food.

18:17

You’ll find very few legitimate like, oh, this is kind of like an entree that you could piece together.

It’s really that snack food.

But sometimes the late night on the cruise, that’s exactly what you want.

So day 2 is a sea day.

We are going to be sailing all day long and I ended up waking up somewhat early because we we didn’t stay up super late the night before.

18:37

And so I went and met my family for breakfast in the dining room.

This was the one time I actually had breakfast there.

Got an eggs Benedict, it was pretty good.

Tried some other stuff that they had there and then all my family ended up booking with my aunt’s friend’s aunt who’s a travel agent.

18:54

I did not because I ended up getting a better rate, just booking on my own and getting the deal that they’d sent their e-mail.

But they did, and so because they did.

This is a a squad tip.

If you are using a travel agent.

They book in extra perks.

Like when my family got into their room, there was a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries in their room.

19:15

Oh, I like that.

They also got invited to this cocktail reception, but I went with them because they’re not like verifying your room number or whatever.

I was with this group, right?

So it’s a 2 hour open bar situation.

Whoa, I love that.

Yeah.

And I didn’t get the drink pass this time.

19:31

I was going to ask if you got that or not.

No, I just, I weighed the cost and I would have to average like so many drinks per day.

And with what we were bringing on in our bags, it’s like it’s not worth it.

It’s fine.

So open bar, right?

And they had I think 3 or 4 different cocktails, like a Margarita, a sex on the beach and maybe one or two other things that they kept passing around and we’re just chugging these things.

19:56

I was double fisting, it’s like 9 in the morning.

What else are you going to do when you’re on a cruise on a sea day?

You got to.

I had my gym clothes on because it was my intention to go to the gym, but then the cocktail.

At a open bar instead of the.

Gym.

I didn’t you know that happens sometimes.

20:13

But look at the cruise.

Just trying to ruin people’s day right there.

Starting the drink tasting and free cocktail hour at 9:00 in the morning.

Yeah, that’s.

Wild I know.

So all of us are drinking our drinks, even my grandma who drinks but she doesn’t double fist cocktails at night in the morning usually.

20:31

I love it when grandma gets wild.

So after that, I had to run and leave the cocktail reception just a little bit early because I wanted to go to this pamper party.

Cruises are cool every day.

There’s a pamphlet that they hand out, and they also have an app, the Carnival Cruise Hub, that has a list of everything that’s going on that day.

20:49

And there’s literally something going on every minute of every day on a cruise.

You can go to an art auction, you can go to a comedy show, you could go to a animal towel folding demonstration.

Did they give you the itinerary for the next day the evening before?

21:05

Maybe they did the evening before but you also have the app so you can see the whole week.

They have it on apps now.

See it’s been so long since we cruised so they weren’t on their app game yet for the itinerary.

But that was Brittanys favorite thing to do in the evening is get the itinerary for the day before and map out.

21:21

What are we going to do?

Yeah, and that’s cool on the app because you can click and like favorite them so you have your own personal schedule for the week, too.

Oh.

That’s awesome.

So the pamper party was this essentially everything is going to be a sales presentation, at least have an element of that.

21:38

So I kind of knew that going in, but I also knew I wanted to get a massage.

And if you are looking to do an activity like by art or get a massage or something like that, go to these demonstrations because there’s usually specials and discounts and deals and or you could win gift cards, things like that.

21:53

So we went to it and when we got there, they’re like, OK, everybody step on this ink thing and, you know, do your footprint.

And I thought they were going to like read our footprint, like reflexology kind of thing.

They didn’t even address it.

It was just like stamp your foot and get a picture of your foot.

22:12

That’s so random.

Yeah, it was really random.

And then the lady was talking about, you know, skin care and all these different treatments.

And we got a couple little things that we put on our face, but it was not a facial the way they presented it to be.

But the real thing was at the end of that they were doing discounts.

22:29

So I wanted to get a hot stone massage.

It was originally $180, which I was prepared to pay, but because of this pamper party, the price was reduced down to 120.

But you had to do it basically right away that day.

That’s how they get you.

22:45

They’re like, if you want this deal, you got to book it right now.

I wasn’t planning on doing a massage that day, I wanted to do it the next day but whatever.

Save $60.00.

Me and Charlotte went and got couples massages.

I.

Mean that’s 33% off right there.

So good deal.

Yeah, it was a great deal and it was a great massage.

23:00

But see I’m trying to get to the gym but they just keep.

Reeling you in with different things.

Yeah, so after the massage we had some green tea.

We went out and sat outside just to kind of get our bearings, you know, right after massage you’re kind of in the clouds a little bit.

23:18

So chilled out there for a little bit and then I finally did make it to the gym.

Love that.

OK.

And a lot of the times I’ve been to the gym, they have great views of the water.

So did you have a really good view?

Yeah, that’s what’s really nice is the whole gym is surrounded by windows, so you do see the ocean.

23:37

Walking on a treadmill looking out into the ocean.

That was pretty cool.

Kind of disorients me a little bit because I do get a little motion sick.

So like rocking with the waves and seeing the ocean ahead of you and then moving on like a treadmill.

I can’t look for too long.

Yeah, and I could see how that could happen.

23:54

I don’t get motion sickness, so I didn’t have that problem.

And the boat, I felt was big enough that I didn’t feel motion.

When I had cruised out of the Caribbean, the boat was a lot smaller and we were like crashing into the hallways when we were walking.

Oh wow, it wasn’t like that at all on this cruise.

24:11

When you got off the cruise, did you feel the rocking of the boat at all?

I.

Actually didn’t.

I did on my first one with the same cruise but I didn’t on this one.

OK, good to know.

I mean, those are the things that I think about because I do get motion sick.

And when other people who get motion sick ask me, those are the things I warned them that can possibly happen.

24:30

So this was a really long day at sea.

After the gym, I went back to the room, got ready.

Because it’s the first elegant nights, you know, on cruises, they have those elegant nights.

Fancy nights, Formal nights for dinner.

And I didn’t go all out this time, I just put on a little black dress and some jewelry and went to the sit down dinner at my family had their reserve time so we were right there, right by a window coming in.

24:54

Not clutch.

Amazing.

This dinner got a little crazy, though.

How did it get crazy?

So I mentioned earlier in the day, we were at a cocktail hour and we were double fisting cocktails as fast as we could.

So someone at the dinner table wasn’t feeling too hot when we got there and they’d said, oh, I really need some food.

25:17

Not feeling so good, not thinking at all.

It’s from the alcohol.

Just thinking like, oh, I need to eat.

And I’m like, so the the dinner goes on, we order, they start bringing out the apps and then all of a sudden it’s that you look over and you’re like, uh oh, something’s going to happen.

25:35

And then just puke starts spewing all over the table.

Who?

Was the casualty.

I can’t say it was born to secrecy.

It wasn’t me though.

I think I know who it is.

I didn’t, but I understand for not wanting to say.

But if I remember correctly, Charlotte looked over to this person and gave them some words of encouragement.

25:55

If I yeah, Charlotte said.

Do you want me to take a shot of tequila and puke in solidarity with you?

Yeah, that was that was cute.

So we escorted that person out and they went back to their room and then we got our dinner table cleaned up and carried on.

26:12

We nevertheless we persisted.

How was dinner that night?

It was good.

You know, the dinners are good.

I had like steak and vegetables like every night, pasta pretty good.

And then every night they do these different setups for professional pictures all over the cruise ships.

26:28

They have different scenes.

Elegant night.

They really turn it up.

So of course we’re going to be taking pictures.

We got so many funny pictures.

I don’t ever really take them seriously either.

Like we’re, we have all these funny poses and we’re laughing and like they’re just ridiculous.

26:44

But we had a really good time with that.

So this night they had on the schedule a singles mixer and you know, we made a love connection earlier the day before so.

Did you meet them?

There.

So Charlotte and I are like, OK, we’re going to go there and maybe we’ll see those guys at the singles mixer.

27:01

And we brought my aunt with us.

Everyone else kind of turned in for the night.

There wasn’t really any other single people with us.

And so we’re walking.

We’re trying to find this bar.

We end up at this bar called the Alchemy Bar, and we’re still talking to these people who are at the bar and we’re like, yeah, we’re going to the singles mixer.

27:17

And they were like, singles mixer is here and we were already at the singles mixer, but it wasn’t like an event.

Oh, I need to talk about cruise people.

OK.

These are people that cruise constantly.

They’ve been on like 75 cruises.

27:33

They go from cruise to cruise to cruise going around the world.

These were the people that we saw at the bar and they were like, Oh yeah, they just put stuff like that on the schedule and then whoever shows up shows up like it’s not an official event.

OK, OK.

We thought we were going to the club.

27:48

We ended up in a lobby bar at Quote UN quote the singles mixer.

Was there a lot of people there?

Like so.

So I guess as the night went on, a few more showed up.

Ended up being a dud is what I’m sounding like over here Did.

You but.

Did the two guys.

The two hotties showed up.

OK, so it wasn’t a dud.

28:04

And they saw us and they fell in love and like started talking to us.

And so we ended up hanging out with them, me and Charlotte for the night and deepened our connection.

And then we kind of, I don’t know what time it was.

Maybe it was around 1:00 AM at this point, 2:00 AM or something.

28:21

It actually had to be like midnight because before Charlotte and I turned in for the night, we hit the late night buffet late.

Night buffet.

With the guys.

No, we’d parted ways with them at this point.

So dive into day three were you was a support day or sea day.

28:37

Day three was another sea day, but it was a weird one because when we woke up they were on the loudspeaker saying that we would be porting in Cabo briefly to let someone off the boat who got sick.

We don’t know what kind of sickness.

We don’t know.

It’s a mystery.

28:52

OK.

So when we woke up, we were kind of in Cabo.

We were ported and we had cell phone service, which was cool.

This was also one cruise, the first out of three, that I did not buy the Internet package.

And why didn’t you buy it this time?

You know, I’ve just kind of been embracing more disconnection after we went backpacking and have a supai.

29:13

I really just came out feeling so good from that trip that I just wanted to embrace no Internet.

But of course, as soon as we ported in Cabo, I logged on because I had Internet, see what’s going on.

We really weren’t there that long, but that was, you know, a nice little stop.

This was a day that Charlotte and I had already decided we’re doing the pool day.

29:31

All my family was going to be down by the pool too.

And so we had agreed to meet up with the guys around a certain time and hang out with them.

And so we ended up meeting up with them and hanging out on pool chairs and going down the water slide and just, like, drinking out there.

Didn’t actually hang out with my family much, but they saw us and they kept, like, coming over.

29:51

Like, my mom came over and introduced herself to the guys.

Yeah.

We pretty much just, like, partied around the boat.

We did not go to dinner.

Me and Charlotte just kind of had our own day this day where we just went hard.

The water slide was really, really fun.

30:06

Oh.

I love the water slides on cruises.

Do they have a lot or was it just one?

There were two.

OK, what were they like?

They were really fun.

There was the one actually went dark at a certain point, so you’re like in there and you’re like you can’t see anything.

So it’s a little crazy, especially with all of the other mixers in place.

30:25

Do they have any of the slides that like dropped out the bottom and you just looked at?

No, not that crazy.

They did have this thing on the top of the cruise that you can get into.

It was almost like a gondola, but you peddled it yourself and it went in this line.

And I really wanted to do that, but I didn’t end up getting to do it because the day that I went to do was very windy, so they had to shut down.

30:46

I missed my opportunity on this day.

But it sounds like you had a really nice relaxing day in the pool, just kind of chilling.

Nothing too high key on this day.

Yeah, as the night went on after like the whole pool day, Charlotte and I kind of changed.

We wandering around more and we sat out on the chairs on the deck and watched Dune 2.

31:09

Very nice evening movie out on deck then, yes?

Yeah, it was a good movie.

It is.

It is.

Did you see the first one?

I did and it it watching a movie on a pool chair next to the pool on a big screen TV.

It’s amazing.

While you’re sailing in the ocean at night with the stars, no light pollution can see it all.

31:28

It’s a whole vibe.

It is.

It was great.

All right, so you got on the cruise, you’ve had two days at sea.

I’m suspecting your next day, day four, you’re going to be at port somewhere.

Finally making it to port in port the Vallarta.

The other time I had done this cruise, the route was backwards.

31:47

So that was our last stop.

This time this is our first stop.

Cruise ports are interesting.

I did not do any excursions on this cruise.

Excursions are really cool because the cruise organizes them.

You get out of a certain time, they arrange your transportation, you do the thing and then you come back.

32:06

Did you not do any excursions because you’ve done this cruise before and you knew what they offered or you had an idea of what you wanted to do on your own?

Honestly, I didn’t really like any of them.

OK, they had, I don’t know, they weren’t giving what I needed them to give.

It was like a city tour or a tequila tasting.

32:23

Sometimes excursions are hit or miss depending on the port, but.

If in the Caribbean, they’re amazing.

Oh yeah, but if you’ve done it before, then just enjoy these Mexican beach towns.

I mean, what else is there?

Yeah.

So that’s exactly what we did when we got off the boat.

And that’s another thing about cruise ports is you usually can’t just get off the boat and go.

32:43

I guess it depends on the cruise port, but in a lot of these Mexican ones, you have to actually get in a cab and be taken somewhere or get on another little boat to be taken somewhere.

You can’t just walk and find something amazing right outside the cruise ship.

So that’s what we had to do.

32:59

We took a cab.

We went to the Malecon.

We were walking around, taking pictures, having chips and guac, drinking margaritas, walking on the beach.

We went and had really really good all pastor tacos from a place called Senorita.

I would highly recommend going there, but it doesn’t open until a little bit later in the day.

33:18

Now being that these are cruise ports, I know you said you had to take a cab a little bit far to get to the main city center or area, but what are you noticing the prices to be higher because it’s a cruise ship port area, like exponentially high or just higher?

Such a good question.

So it’s a pretty standard 20 or $25 cab fee right at the cruise port.

33:38

However, I’ve been to Mexico a million times, so I know that Uber works in Mexico.

So I ordered an Uber to pick us up there, which does add complexity for the Uber to find you and wait for it.

And you have a ton of people asking if you need a cab while you’re waiting, which is kind of annoying.

33:54

But it was about $5 for the Uber.

Yes, what a great savings.

And the people that were selling cab rides kept saying in our ear, Ubers aren’t safe, that you can’t trust the Ubers.

But you’ve done this before, so you know.

34:09

Yeah, so Puerto Verito was a really long port day.

It was like 14 hours.

That’s pretty long for a port day.

It was, and we didn’t get off right away, so we weren’t there the whole 14 hours.

But by like mid afternoon it kind of started to rain and so we headed back and just got back on the cruise.

34:28

You know, I mentioned the day before, we were pool day all day, partying all day.

So we weren’t like the most energetic this day in Puerto Verita.

So by the time we got back to the cruise, Charlotte took a nap.

I was like, no, I can’t, I’m going to go find my family.

34:45

Found them in the Atrium bar.

There was live country music playing.

I hung out with them for a while and then I went to bed at like 9:00 PM.

Whoa, Kimmel 30 right there. 9:00 PM Curfew in bedtime.

Kimmel’s like almost halfway to 70, so, you know, I can really see this just lining up.

35:02

Which is why half the time I rage and half the time I go to bed at 9:00 PM.

Love it.

So you woke up the next day?

Did you go to another port?

Yes, next day was Mazatlán day 5.

And you know, like you said in the beginning of the episode, Mazatlán had a reputation years ago for being unsafe, a cartel headquarters.

35:26

But last time I took this exact same cruise, I did not get off in the port of Mazatlán.

Not because I was worried about safety, but because my friends were all hungover in the room and wouldn’t get up and I didn’t want to go out by myself.

Which I would not recommend anyone do going out by yourself anywhere really.

35:41

Any cruise port destination, Caribbean or otherwise.

I really feel like that’s the case.

You shouldn’t go out alone.

One time Brittany and I were in the Caribbean on a cruise at port and we got it in a cab and it was one of the regulated ones, but it still felt like very sketch.

You just want somebody with you, and that’s not to really discourage you.

35:58

It’s just being mindful of your travel environment where you are.

You really shouldn’t ever travel alone.

A lot of.

Times totally I I think it depends on where you are because if you went on an Alaskan cruise I might have a different opinion.

Well, that’s true.

I think people pretty much surmised what I meant when I said what I said.

36:14

But.

When I ported in Turks and Caicos you could get off the cruise and be right on the beach.

So that one I would do by myself.

Just depends, right?

But not here in Mazatlán.

So Charlotte and I did get off in Mazatlán.

We took a cab to a resort.

We had a plan this time.

36:30

OK, so that was one of the excursions that you could get was a all inclusive resort, like, you know, day pass at a resort bed.

But it was like 100 something dollars.

It’s like I think we can do this on our own.

So we took a cab to a resort.

We had a resort in mind and the cab said no, no, don’t go there.

36:47

I’m going to take you to this one.

That’s better.

Of course, all the cruise people are at this resort.

It’s like obviously they have some kind of knowing, understanding or whatever.

They bring cruise people there.

Kickbacks.

It’s like in Vegas, if they take you to certain clubs or places, the taxi drivers get a little bit of a kickback.

37:04

That’s probably what.

Happened and it was a fine resort so no complaints there, but we saw the two hotties there.

Oh, there you go, the stars were aligning for you.

Guys, we didn’t plan that, but did he have the?

Kids with him, Yes he did.

OK.

So we didn’t like hang out with them too much, just a little bit.

37:20

The child free guy hung out with us more and we had a really, really good time there.

Drinks, food, swim in the ocean.

Ocean was super warm.

It was really nice day.

It was fantastic.

There were a bunch of other cruise people there.

On cruises you see the same people over and over and over again, especially if they are have a travel style like you where they’re at the pool or the beach or drinking or whatever.

37:43

Like you see the same people.

So we saw our homies there, hung out with them for a bit and kind of all turned in around the same time.

The resort was called Flores Resort.

And was it pretty big?

Would you recommend it?

I would recommend it.

37:58

It’s not the fanciest resort you could go to, but it had chairs, it had a restaurant, it had really good service on the beach, so it checked all the boxes.

What resort were you going to go to before the taxi driver altered you over here?

I.

Forget the name of it, but it there’s a lot of resorts in a row on the beach right there.

38:15

So it was one of those, I think it was actually the one the cruise recommended because it’s listed on the excursion description and then the cab took us there.

But honestly, like, you really can’t go wrong with any of those resorts on the beach right there.

When I was in Matzatlan when we went kind of a little bit of a jungle near the beach and there was actually monkeys.

38:34

Did they have any monkeys that were near the?

Beaches.

I didn’t see any monkeys.

Yeah.

So that was my experience in Matzatlan was like, there was like monkeys that were right there and then.

I Was that an excursion?

No, it was not an excursion.

And then when I went to Puerto Vallarta, I want to say I went kayaking with my family and there was in the water quite a bit of jellyfish.

38:54

So different experience, but same cruise destination.

So when you’re on a cruise, that’s one of the great things is you can pick and choose the things that you like and personalize it to your travel style.

That’s awesome.

So another squad tip is to do your research on the cruise activities so that you can pack your outfits and plan appropriately.

39:15

The crews had advertised that they would be having an 80s glow party night and a white night.

So this night on day 5 was going to be the 80s glow party.

So I brought a ton of glow sticks.

I had got a dress that wasn’t 80s, it was pink though, but I ended up scrapping it for something else.

39:34

So I wasn’t really dressed 80s, but I had a ton of glow sticks.

So Charlotte and I had told the guys the two hotties come to our room at this time, we’ll hook you up with our free drinks.

And then they did.

They showed up, they knocked on our door, came into our room.

39:50

Oh, sat on our beds, those.

Those interior rooms are nice and intimate and cozy, so.

We had actually pretty spacious room for what it was, more spacious than I had on the Caribbean cruise, that’s for sure.

So loaded them up with glow sticks and then we went to meet my family.

40:07

At this point, the hotties are an extension of my family group.

They know them, they’re there and.

Where are the kids at this point?

So that’s another great thing about cruises is there are these daycare centers on cruises, like kids clubs.

40:22

They have them for I think 9 and under and then like 10 to, I don’t know, 17.

And so you can take them there during the day.

I think it closes at like 1:00 AM.

OK.

So the hottie with the kids had his kids there.

40:38

He would have to leave and go check on him from time to time and take him to dinner and all that.

But that’s where they were at this time.

And so we went to go meet my family.

They were watching 80s cover bands and we sat with them, danced with them and, you know, had a good time there.

40:53

And then we kind of parted ways with the fam.

Me and Char in the hotties went and like did other things, walked around the cruise.

We met back up at like 10:00 PM on the deck.

And the outdoor deck is where they have all the big parties, big dance parties.

And at this point is when I start to realize cruises are a therapeutic cathartic dance and sing along party every day.

41:19

Like never have I sung and danced with strangers so much.

I love it.

And it’s everyone, all ages are singing and dancing and just letting loose.

And it’s a real good time, actually.

You know who doesn’t do that?

Jamal.

Yeah, Jamal, This is why you need therapy.

41:38

I like to people watch, you know, I’ll watch people have fun.

Like if I was there, I’d be watching you dancing and everybody else people watching.

But I I stay back on the side.

OK, missing out.

Missing out on that cathartic release.

Well, I need another cruise to just inspire me, is apparently what you’re saying, so we’ll have.

41:55

To Let’s do it a lot only cruise.

Yeah, I love it.

Let’s do.

It.

So we did that.

I think it went like 11:50 or something like that and then we danced it out and ended the night with the late night buffet.

Can’t go wrong with that late night buffet.

42:10

You’ve been hitting it up every single night.

It was my favorite buffet Day 6, Cabo.

I love Cabo.

I’ve been to Cabo numerous times, always have a good time.

So of course I’m not really interested in doing an excursion in Cabo.

I already know what I’m gonna be doing in Cabo and that’s going to Mango Deck.

42:27

You’ve been there before and.

Cabo is a very short port time unlike Puerto Verita.

Cabo was like 6 hours.

Oh wow, that’s a big.

Difference.

That’s really short.

Really short, you can’t really do that much.

So in Cabo, when you disembark from the cruise, you essentially have to get on this smaller boat right outside of the cruise.

42:47

You go boat to boat.

That boat takes you to the dock, and then from the dock you can walk to places and explore, or you can get on another boat, a smaller boat.

You go down 3 sizes of boats, get on this smaller boat which you do have to pay for, and it will take you on a tour of the harbor.

43:04

You can see the Cabo arches, you can see different beaches, You can be dropped off for snorkeling.

They’ll give you snorkeling gear with your like same $25 per person fee and they’ll come back and pick you up at the end of the day for snorkeling too.

Is this part of the cruise?

43:20

It’s not part of the cruise.

OK.

So it’s an independent operator that’s providing this.

Yes, and there’s tons of those boats.

They know what people are getting into.

There were our cruise ship and one other cruise ship there at the same time.

So they are booked and busy.

They are moving and grooving and and so we did that.

43:37

We didn’t decide to be dropped off at the beaches for snorkeling.

They were actually pretty busy, although it looked fun.

We decided take us on the little tour.

We want to see the arches and then take us to Mango deck.

Come back to Mango Deck at like 2:00 PM and pick us up.

43:53

And that’s the great thing about Mexico, too.

If they say they’re gonna come back and pick you up at a certain time, they do.

That’s nice, then you’re not worried about having to get back on time.

You might be worried, like, are they really gonna come back?

I already paid them.

No, they always do.

So we had a good time at Mango Deck.

44:10

Mango Deck is a really big beachfront bar where it’s very interactive, so it’s really good for Spring Breakers, for Bachelorette parties, bachelor parties, like girls trips.

They have a big stage on the sand where they do all these demonstrations like push up contest or beer chugging contest, and you could win like free beer, free drinks at the bar and it’s entertainment.

44:32

It was really fun to watch.

It gives you nice fun environment to enjoy your beverages, cocktails as well as the environment.

It almost reminds me a little bit of a Papas and Beer, but probably more tame than a Papas and Beer, although it’s still wild.

No, I wouldn’t say more tame.

Still equally as wild.

44:47

Yeah, but I love it.

And it’s a daytime spot too, obviously, because it’s on the beach.

And it’s nice because it’s roped off from the public part of the beach.

So all of the people that are constantly trying to sell you stuff on the beach, they can’t come up to your table.

That’s nice.

So because Cabo was a short amount of port time, we got back on the boat around 2:00 PM.

45:08

There’s still a whole day ahead of us.

Yeah.

So what’d you guys do?

Do they have any contests on the boat like sexy leg or hairy chest contest by the pool?

They.

Did have some of that stuff.

A lot of them were dance contests and like, got kids involved and it was entertaining, but you know.

45:28

So what did you guys do when you guys made it back on?

The Charlotte was out of her mind and I think she went to go to the gym.

I was like, no, I need to tan, I need to drink.

So I laid by the pool and drank and tanned and had a beautiful day because that night was the White Party.

45:46

Not talking, not talking about white people.

I’m talking about white outfits.

OK, a lot of diversity on Carnival cruises, but on this night everyone’s wearing white and everyone’s meeting at this big Atrium bar for the White Party.

46:02

And this is not the last night, but we’re getting to the end of the cruise, so the parties are getting bigger and bigger and we’re going all out.

The night before we were out on the deck singing and dancing.

Tonight we’re in the Atrium Bar singing and dancing.

Did the hotties join?

46:17

So get this, Charlotte apparently had told the hotties to meet us in our room again, but it was getting late and I didn’t want to be in the room.

So we went out and about and of course the hotties found us.

Like where are we going to be?

The White Party, obviously.

So the hotties found us, came and they were singing and dancing with us and my family.

46:35

You can’t really hide on a cruise like.

They will find you.

Find you.

There’s only so many places you can go.

And this night was a total rager.

We partied at that atrium party.

Like, the cruise director is such a fun personality.

46:50

He’s the MC for every event.

He’s on your loudspeaker in the morning.

He’s always around, super friendly.

And I guess it could be a woman, too.

But this time we had a man.

And so the cruise director is leading the party.

He’s dancing on top of the bar, running back and forth and doing all the crazy stuff.

47:05

And then by the time that ends, I think it was supposed to end at like 12 and it went to like 1 party was going hard.

Wow.

And then it migrated to the club.

On past cruises, I was at the club very often.

This cruise, I hadn’t gone to the club yet, hadn’t even found it actually.

47:23

But this night we did.

So I got separated from my family for something, I can’t remember what exactly.

Maybe we went back to the room to get a drink or something.

We go to the club.

My family is tearing up the dance floor at the club.

Is grandma there too?

Grandma’s sitting on the sidelines with Jamal.

47:40

Yeah, but she’s watching.

And my mom, my aunt are out there.

All my aunt’s friends, they are tearing it up on the dance floor.

And so we join them out there.

We’re having a good time.

The hotties are there with us, and we go pretty late.

47:55

I think this was a really, really late night because we knew we were going to be at sea the next day.

Day 7 was going to be our last day at sea, so we knew we didn’t have to wake up early.

We didn’t have anything really to do the next day, we were just dancing it out.

Sounds like a good evening.

We ended the night not at the late night buffet but at the pizza spot because the late night buffet I think closes at 1.

48:16

The pizza spot I don’t think closes at all.

Love it.

And so we went there, we got our pizza, and we went to bed.

Did you get to sleep in on Day 7, your last day at sea?

Slept in a little bit.

Yes.

Day 7.

So I had bought matching crew shirts for everyone we went with.

48:33

So I remember you talking about this and you had bought them and the ones you bought were a little snug.

How did it work?

Out so I bought Hawaiian style shirts for everyone.

They buttoned down their T-shirt style and on Etsy you can design them yourself.

48:50

So you can put someone’s face on it, choose a different pattern.

I designed this thing that said Family Cruise 2024.

It was so cute.

And then they have the sizing picture where they, you know, show measurements of what sizes and I measured and it said I’d be a youth extra small.

49:08

A youth extra small.

And it didn’t register to me that that couldn’t possibly be correct.

I just saw the inches and I was like, that’s what it says, right?

And so it came in and I held it up and I was like, OK, this could fit my dog.

I don’t know how this is going to work for me.

49:24

And I put it on.

It was very, very tight.

Could not be buttoned up.

You have to wear like a swimsuit underneath.

It could not be buttoned up.

And I, I got that size for me, Charlotte and my little cousin and it did not fit any of us, but we made it work.

We had swimsuits on that day, so we hadn’t taken pictures in the crew shirts yet.

49:44

So this was the order of business for Day 7.

Very important.

The thing about day seven that I was a little bummed.

I wanted to be by the pool and tan, but it was very windy and cold that day.

Oh no.

I know it sucked.

We were going to do that thing on the roof that you pedal around like a gondola.

50:02

It was too windy to do it that day.

So you missed out on that.

Yeah, and when it’s cold and windy on a cruise, there’s very limited options of what you can do and have fun with.

So but a little hamper in things.

But we did our pictures.

My grandma had quilted these really cute bags for everyone too, so we took pictures with those.

50:23

Grandma is a an amazing quilter.

She can quilt anything.

She is.

I wish she would make clothes for us.

I know I was going to say we’ve tried to get her to make clothes for us but she refuses.

So after that, no, we didn’t really have anything else to do.

There are restaurants on the cruise outside of the buffet in the, you know, the dinner room, there was Mongolian BBQ, there was a steakhouse, there was a sushi spot.

50:47

And most of them are paid, but rotating every day.

They have included days.

And this was going to be one for the pasta place and the Mongolian BBQ spot.

So I haven’t had Mongolian barbecue in forever.

I was really excited about it.

You know, it’s fun.

51:02

You choose your stuff, they walk it up on the thing, give you your bowl.

That’s what we thought we were getting into.

OK, So Charlotte and I got in line for that.

The line was extremely long.

We get to the front and we’re still wearing.

Your crew shirt.

51:17

We’re wearing a swimsuit crew shirt and then like a swimsuit skirt cover up thing.

We haven’t gotten in the pool yet because it was too cold.

When we get to the front after this long line, they’re like you can’t come in.

We have a dress code.

You can’t wear a swimsuit.

And we’re like, we have a shirt on, we have a skirt on.

51:35

We’re not wet.

What’s the problem?

Where’s the dress code?

And I don’t know.

They were basically like, OK, you won’t be here for long, so you can come in.

Like we had to ask another person, like a manager of a person like this is ridiculous.

We just waited 45 minutes.

51:50

Yeah, I’m hungry.

So we get in and it actually wasn’t good.

The food wasn’t good at all.

It wasn’t a walk.

You had to choose from a menu and they only had like certain things, like it wasn’t good at all.

It wasn’t worth the wait at all.

So we went to the pasta bar across the way.

52:06

There was no line over there and the pasta was OK but not amazing.

But this is what you can do on a cruise when it’s cold and windy outside.

You eat and you stay inside.

So we got these little bracelets and inklets.

52:22

They had like $1.00 per inch sales at the jewelry store, did a little shopping.

They had like perfume sales.

So we’re doing all that.

We’re going around and then bingo is on the schedule.

Good Bingo family says they’re going to go to a bingo game at like 2:00 PM or something.

52:39

So I’m like, perfect, I’ll meet you guys there.

We’ll do, I’m going to change, put something warmer on, meet you at bingo.

So that’s what we did.

And they have different options for how many cards you can play.

But I played a certain amount of cards that got me up to like $48, whatever, you know, fuck it, we’re on vacation, play some bingo.

52:57

There’s really nothing else to do.

I’m and I’m actually glad it was cold this day because I might not have made it to bingo, but I did.

I think they had three different games.

The second game I hit bingo.

Bingo.

How much did you?

I couldn’t believe it.

I won $900 on bingo.

53:14

Oh.

My God, that’s amazing.

It was insane.

I was like, Oh my God, I want bingo.

I want bingo.

And was this a blotter bingo or electronic bingo?

They it was a blotter bingo and they went extremely slow.

I love it because when we tried to play bingo before numerous times when we were in casinos or on or travel somewhere, man, they call those numbers really.

53:36

Fun they’re.

Playing multiple cards and blotting.

Oh man, I’m pretty sure we missed lots of bingos.

And I say next time we play I’m going to have to do the electric.

I don’t even care about the fun aspect of it.

I just want to win.

I mean, 900 bucks here so.

But at least they were going slow.

I think they know their crowd on the YEAH are not degenerate gamblers or bingo halls and casinos.

53:56

Expert grandma.

Yeah, yeah.

That could go 1,000,000 miles a minute.

So that was exciting.

And they just load it onto your card.

So when you’re on a cruise, you don’t use cash.

You have a cruise card that just racks up your bill and then the credit card on file gets charged.

So I was like, how am I going to get paid out for this?

54:13

So you end up going to Guest services and they subtract your winnings from whatever you’ve accrued for charges so far.

And that’s kind of nice.

Yeah, and they give you back whatever you haven’t spent on your card.

But I’d already racked up like drinks and a massage and all kinds of other shit.

54:30

So that ended at a decent hour.

I was on a high, was ready like drinks on me.

So we went to the adults only hot tub and cruises are fun too ’cause everyone’s just chit chatting with you.

The cruise people love the hot tub.

So I learned a lot about cruise people in the hot tub people that this was like their 6th cruise of the year and they were going somewhere next.

54:51

And people that ran e-commerce businesses remotely who just worked from cruises.

Oh, that’s.

Pretty cool.

I was like, you’re on to something here.

Maybe I see this in my future, maybe not Carnival, but another one.

And then the the at sea day was the last like sit down dinner.

55:10

So my fam wanted to have a sit down dinner nice together did that and kind of end of the day.

At the end of the night, Charlotte and I, we were kind of partied out.

I think we drank all the booze that we snucked on, couldn’t really stomach too much more.

55:26

So we ended up watching a movie, the prequel to The Hunger Games, that newer movie that was playing that night.

So even though it was really cold and windy outside, we went to the deck and got a chair.

We wore our robes out there.

55:41

We had blankets that they gave us out there.

We were all bundled up and we watched a movie out there.

That sounds really nice.

It was nice on day 8.

Even though this is a 7 day cruise, Day 8 is technically the day you leave.

It gets back to the Long Beach port pretty early in the morning so you’re ready to go.

55:59

They do have the buffet open so if you get up early enough you can hit that before you go.

Highly would recommend but have all your stuff ready.

They have a system where you can check your bag when you arrive.

You can give them your bag, they’ll bring it to your room.

Same thing when you leave.

You can have it out in the hallway and they’ll take it out for you, or you can roll it out yourself, which is what I did.

56:19

Just think it’s easier.

It’s already a mess disembarking off of a cruise.

There’s certain times that you have to book to get off and they’re supposed to call your letter for your group.

But it was way past our time.

They still hadn’t called letters.

And I was just like, you know what?

56:34

I have a flight to catch, so we’re just going to get in line and see what happens.

Now, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that because it would make it more of a mess, but we were able to get through before scheduled time.

That’s good.

Once you get off the cruise, it’s a lot easier than when you get on.

There’s not as much to walk through.

56:49

You just get off.

You’re right there.

We got our taxi.

We walked out to the Queen Mary like I recommended, got in that Uber, got to the airport on time.

The Long Beach Airport is extremely small, so if you’re worried about timing on that, I wouldn’t worry about it at all.

It’s very small, easy to get into and I got on my way home.

57:08

So after spending a whole week down in Mexico on this cruise, how much would you say this whole experience cost?

I can tell you exactly it costs $987.00 for me personally.

Does that include your bingo winnings or not?

57:25

It does.

So the cruise itself was $933.

That’s what I paid.

Charlotte paid the additional couple $100 to add on the second person, right?

So $933 for a 7 day cruise, all your food included, your accommodations, your experiences.

57:41

That’s a pretty good price, right at face value.

And I think cruises kind of get you because they do seem cheap when you book, right?

But things do add up on a cruise too.

I racked up $524.00 on my cruise bill through a massage, through all the drinks I got.

57:59

There’s a like a, a certain percentage of a tip, it’s like 100 something dollars.

That is a tip that goes out to all the staff, which is very much deserved.

So that gets added to your bill.

So it kind of adds up, right?

Just between that, we’re looking at now $1400 more than 933, right?

58:15

But then you have like Ubers from your airport to your hotel or Ubers to the, to the cruise ship, the cab.

I stayed in Long Beach the night before because I didn’t want to risk my flight getting delayed or something happening and not getting on the cruise ship on time.

58:32

So I flew in the night before.

So I added on a hotel fee which is like 250 bucks ish.

So I got the cruise winning so it was $900.

I also got $120.00 random credit from Carnival.

I don’t know why exactly but they gave me that credit.

58:48

Yeah, so all said and done, 987 for a 7 day cruise, which still isn’t terrible.

No, that’s not bad at all.

I mean, I would have expected it to be more.

It would have been almost double that had you not won Bingo.

But you did win.

I did win bingo.

Amazing.

59:03

Well, sounds like a really good time.

You’ve inspired me.

I say this all the time to really go on a cruise again, so we just need to figure out when in 2025 we’re going to go on one because we have everything pretty much planned all the way up until September.

But I don’t know if Brittany’s going to pull the.

59:19

September cruise, I would like to do a cruise in Southeast Asia that goes to like Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia.

That would be a fun one.

Yes, that would be a cruise worth doing for sure.

We’ll have to look into it.

I’m ready to get back on a ship after hearing all the good fun that you had on this.

59:36

Next week, honestly I would do another Carnival cruise.

It’s not my preferred because I want to see other cruise lines, but I think Carnival’s really good for big families or big groups.

Cruises in general, but especially Carnival.

It’s very family oriented so if you have kids with you, they have those kids clubs.

If you’re that type of a traveller, would highly recommend Carnival.

59:55

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