Cruise #1 – Mexican Riviera 1993

Suzi and I got married in August of 1993. Suzi had been on a re-positioning cruise from LA to Vancouver for the 1986 World’s Fair with her family, so when it came time to plan our honeymoon, a cruise was at the top of our list.

We chose Carnival Jubilee, round trip Los Angeles to Mexican Riviera. It was 7 days and included stops in Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas.

Since my Best Man and his wife never really had a honeymoon, we asked if they could go with us. They scraped and saved enough to join us. All we could afford at the time were Outside staterooms waaaayyyy up near the bow of the ship on the lowest passenger deck.

Back in 1993, you could invite family and friends on board to hang out prior to setting sail, so we had quite a few people join us.

Time for the sail away Party! Two words – Run Twizzlers. Okay, three words Complimentary Rum Twizzlers!!!! Those were the days. Standing on the open deck, waving at our family and friends in the parking lot as they fade into the distance.

I lost count at the number of times I had been to the port in San Pedro. My Dad grew up there and my Aunt lived there with her family, so we visited may times, especially the area known as Ports Of Call. Seeing it From the channel, riding high on the deck of a cruise ship, was breathtaking.

The addiction to cruising had begun.

Our first port was Puerto Vallarta. The four of us took an excursion to the hotel site where they filmed The Night of the Iguana. Afterwards, we walked around town. It was a bit scary when we went by a bank and saw a man in military camouflage, holding a machine gun. Other than that, I had no idea how tropical it was.

Next stop, Mazatlan. No excursion, just walked to a tchotchke shop and bought some souvenirs.

Cabo… It was a Tender port and we arrived at 8:00 AM and scheduled to leave at 12:00 PM. We opted to stay on board, where our friends spent a few minutes on shore.

Dining was our favorite memory. even though it was 25 years ago, we remember our waiter. Dinzel. Great service and lots of fun!