3 Days At Sea & Puerto Vallarta

            On Sunday, Mar 15th, Jesse awoke at 4:00 AM, downloaded our e-mail; and then went back to bed.  Even then, e-mail was still very slow.  We awoke again around 9:30 and went to breakfast at 10:00 AM.  We spent the rest of the day lounging in our cabin.

Sally still wasn’t feeling well, so we went to the Horizon Court for a light dinner at about 6:15 PM and shared a table with Shirley and Andy, whom we had met previously.  We told them our experience with the Medical Center and found out that they had seen the doctor twice, were only given over-the-counter medications, and so far had a bill for over $300.00!  We’re lucky to have brought our own medications.  Afterwards, we returned to our cabin and lounged until bedtime.

On Monday, Mar 16th, Jesse awoke at 6:30 AM and attempted to download our e-mail.  At about the halfway point, the download speed slowed down to almost nothing; then Jesse went back to bed and we both slept until 10:00 AM.

When we arrived at the Horizon Court, only lunch was being served, so we enjoyed brunch with soup, salad and lots of fruit.  Fresh fruit always seems to be on the menu, including cantaloupe, honey dew melon, watermelon, pineapple, and grapes.  Sometimes grapefruit, bananas, and an unidentified fruit resembling cantaloupe are also included.   After brunch, Sally resumed her napping and Jesse went for a swim, where he ran into Jenny Joe, from our Machu Picchu excursion.  Apparently, she and her husband, Clay, had suffered with the same symptoms as we had.  She thinks that maybe some of the food was contaminated.  They had also brought along their own over-the-counter medications, so they didn’t visit the ship’s doctor either.

At 3:00 PM, Jesse went to the ship’s shore excursion desk and canceled our tours at Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to the Las Caletas Private Beach Getaway on 18 Mar 2015.  The excursion lasts 6.5 hours and includes lunch and complimentary alcoholic beverages.  Cancellations must be made before 6:00 PM on 16 Mar, but we can rebook the excursion later if Sally feels better.

At 6:00 PM, we went to dinner at the Michelangelo Dining Room and shared a table with Bill and Toni, whom we had dined with previously; Bruce and Natalie, from New Jersey; and Richard and Nellie, from the Los Angeles Area.  We mostly talked about cruising.  We found out that Bruce and Natalie had been on a wait list for the Hacienda excursion in which Sally had been unable to participate, and we were sorry that we could not have traded with them somehow.  We also talked about birthdays.  Three members of our table would be celebrating birthdays within the next week.

We left dinner early, before dessert, in order to attend the 7:15 PM Captain Circle Cocktail party, where we danced and enjoyed complimentary cocktails.  Afterwards, we retired to our cabin for the night.

On Tuesday, 17 Mar, Jesse awoke around 6:30 AM and managed to download part of the e-mail.   We received an e-mail from our daughter-in-law, Terri (a physician), regarding our intestinal disorder.  Apparently, we should not have brushed our teeth with the water at the hotel in Aguas Calientes, nor used ice in our fruit punch at the restaurant in Machu Picchu.  It’s possible that one of those was the source of our problem.  After downloading the e-mail, Jesse went back to bed.

We both awoke again at 9:00 AM and Sally surprised Jesse with a Happy Birthday card.  Since we are almost always together, buying and bringing it had been quite a feat!  There was also a Happy Birthday poster on our cabin door and a birthday card from the ship’s captain and crew in our mailbox.  Soon, balloons were also added to our doorway.

We went to breakfast at about 10:15 AM and Jesse went for a swim around 12:45 PM.  We spent the remainder of the afternoon lounging in our cabin.

Jesse's 66th Birthday

At 6:00 PM, we dressed in our green festive attire and went to the Michelangelo Dining Room for dinner, where we joined Jackie and Ralph from Hawaii; Margaret and Warren from Perth, Australia; and Diane and Graham from Sydney, Australia.  The waiters sang Happy Birthday to Jesse and brought him a small birthday cake, which he shared with the rest of the table.  After dinner, we danced to the Rhumba Duo in the Wheelhouse Bar for 30 minutes before retiring for the night.

On Wednesday, 18 Mar, Jesse awoke around 5:30 AM and downloaded most of the e-mail; then awoke a second time at 8:00 AM, while the ship’s captain was giving the passengers permission to proceed ashore to Puerto Vallarta.  We went to breakfast around 9:30 AM and went ashore around 10:30 AM.  Our mission was to do a little sightseeing, replenish our supply of cough syrup, and purchase postcard stamps.  Princess ships usually sell postcard stamps onboard at the Passenger Services Desk, but the Ruby Princess seems to differ that way.  Also, they don’t provide a TV guide, as other Princess ships do.  (The Diamond Princess didn’t either when we cruised around Australia, but they had something even better – anytime movies!)

We had been told there was a Wal Mart a short distance away.  We spotted it from the ship’s Horizon Court, situated between a Sam’s Club and a shopping mall.  (This part of Mexico appears to be quite prosperous.)   We followed the directions that we had been given to Wal Mart – we disembarked the ship, exited the port gate, and turned left on the main road.  However, the short distance to Wal Mart turned out to be an hour walk!  When we finally arrived, we noticed that many of the less mobile passengers had taken taxis.  We found the cough syrup right away, but were told that Wal Mart no longer sells postcard stamps.  (We forgot our phrase book, so we’re still not sure if the sales clerk understood our question.)  Next, we went to the mall next door, and a man there told us that no stamps were for sale in the mall; then, the man attempted to get us interested in purchasing a time share.  (We had been warned about time share salesmen before we left the ship.)
 

Puerto Vallarta

As we made our way back to the ship, we stopped by several souvenir shops and inquired about stamps, with no success.  Finally, we ran into Angela near the port gate.  She talked to a couple of the ship’s personnel and confirmed that we would need to go the Post Office downtown to purchase stamps.  A taxi to downtown would have cost us $10.00 each way, so we decided to mail our post cards from California.  Oh well!

We were back onboard by 12:30 PM.  Jesse went for a swim, while Sally napped.  Afterwards, we lounged in our cabin for the remainder of the afternoon.

At 6:00 PM, we went to dinner in the Michelangelo Dining Room.  We joined Nancy and Herman, from Tucson, AZ, and Bob and Esther from St. Paul, MN.  Nancy and Herman just completed 150 days of cruising on Princess and are now Elite.  They are on their second marriage and have two kids each.  Together, they have 9 grandkids and 3 great-grandkids.  Bob and Esther are on their 65th cruise and will be married for 50 years next October.  They have two kids and two grandkids.  Nancy shared some of the ship’s gossip.  At least two passengers have been kicked off the ship for fighting in the laundry room; at least two more for fighting over seats in the Princess Theater, and one passenger for slapping another passenger.  One passenger was also caught shoplifting on camera and was kicked off the ship.

After dinner, Sally didn’t feel well enough to dance; we returned to our cabin and retired for the night.