Mexican Rivera

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Saturday March 14, 2015

Today we are so excited to head off on a Mexican Rivera cruise on Princess Cruises. Todd was up at 3:00 am and everyone else was up at 4:00am. Seriously early for the Breton’s. We were out the door by 4:30 am and headed over to pick up Cindy’s dad at 5:00am. A quick pick up there and off to the airport for our 7:10am flight. Our check in went smooth and we went through security with no problems. Since Cindy’s dad and I have priority access with American we were able to go through the priority line. Thank goodness because the queue is wrapped around 4 times.



We boarded our American Eagle flight on time for a 7:10am flight. After sitting on the plane for 40 minutes, the pilot came on and said that there was a maintenance issue and it will take a while to repair, he asked us to all deplane until the repairs were done and we can then reboard.



Once off the aircraft I tried searching for other flight to LAX, however everything was booked (spring break). After several delays around 1145am our flight to LAX was cancelled. Oh no, according to American and other airlines there is no way to make it to LAX in time to meet our cruise that departs at 4:00 pm. We immediately went into Plan B mode. With the advice of our good friend and travel agent Denise Wiggins, she recommended calling Princess Cruises to talk to them about our next steps.



After a super good conversation with Princess, they said we need to make arrangements to get to Puerto Vallarta to meet the cruise at the first port. Plan B was in motion. Cindy’s dad and Michael looked for hotels in Puerto Vallarta and found a Hyatt all inclusive hotel. Hotel booked, now we need to find a flight, preferably today. Todd called American and there was nothing to get us to Puerto Vallarta until Monday. This would not work. Todd called United and there was a flight leaving that afternoon, however there were only 4 seats, we needed 5. They did have a flight leaving tomorrow morning, 11:29 am, 5 seats, however the seats were in business class only. Oh darn, we have to fly business class. We purchased those seats. Plan B was coming together. We are set to leave for our trip a day later, but still going. We purchased insurance with Princess, so they said they would cover some of our expenses.



After all the Plan B arrangements were made, we collected out bags and headed home. Todd called Princess to let them know our arrangements.



When we arrived home, we all made a comment that it seemed so weird being home when we were mentally on the trip. We adjusted well.



Sunday March 15, 2015

Plan B is now active and we are seriously ready to start our adventure. Todd was up at 6:00 am and the rest of everyone was up by 7:00 am. Since we were already packed, we threw our luggage back in the car and off to pick up Cindy’s dad. We quickly picked up Cindy’s dad at 8:30 am and off to the airport. Today we are flying United. We have direct flight to Puerto Vallatra.



We arrived at the airport in good time, went through security with limited delay and then headed to the United Club. I was not sure we would be able to access the club; however since we were flying business class they let us into the club. This is awesome. We found an area to settle into while we were at the United Lounge.



We spent about 45 minutes in the lounge before we needed to leave the club to board our flight. Immediately after arriving at our gate, we began boarding. Since our tickets were purchased last minute each of us were scattered everywhere in business class. The kids worked the other passengers and we all were able to sit together except for Cindy’s dad, he sat by himself. It was awesome seeing the kids so excited about sitting in business class. They have never traveled in business class, together, before. What a fun thing seeing them that way.



We took off, thank you United for leaving on time and no maintenance issues. Plan B is working well so far. During our flight we had the option to watch movies, TV shows, etc and then we were served a choice of hot or cold lunch. The choices were a beef sandwich or an Asian chicken salad. Our flight was just under 3 hours and the crew was super nice. The flight was a little bumpy at times, however it was a great flight.



We landed in Puerto Vallarta early, yes. We love that. Cindy and I visiting Puerto Vallarta for our honeymoon 27 years ago, I honestly don’t remember the airport, however overall the airport seemed like it was a good airport and well maintained. We exited our plane and headed first to passport control. This went superfast. Some international airports take a while, not here. We next proceeded to retrieve our luggage. It did a while for our luggage to arrive, approximately 30 minutes. Once we finally received our luggage, we then had to proceed to one more screening area, all our bags went through an X-ray machine. All the bags cleared except for Todd’s. What set off my bag was a Ziploc bag that was full of hand cream and sunscreen.



We entered the exit area to meet our pre-arranged transportation. This was seriously confusing. We never saw our name on a sign, I thought we would see this. We asked several people along the way and they kept directing us to different locations in the terminal. We ended up finding someone, even though not marked with our name or the company I booked with, that got us to the correct location and the vehicle we needed to be in.



We are off to our hotel. The ride is about 30 minutes. The Hyatt hotel is in fairly remote from the city center. On the way to the hotel, we drove through the city center of Puerto Vallarta. We passed by the Fiesta Americana hotel where Cindy and I stayed on our honeymoon. The city center was bustling with tourists and locals. Lots of tourist shops and local specialty shops. The streets were made mostly or cobblestone which made the drive fun and authentic.



As we got closer to our hotel, the terrain went from flat and sea level to mountainous with beautiful homes and high rise condos, all overlooking the ocean, wow, what a view. Before arriving at our hotel, we had to drive through a security area to verify that we were a guest. After clearing the security area, we drove for a short distance and were immediately overwhelmed with the beauty of a tropical paradise setting reminisce of our trip to Phuket Thailand. The entrance of the Hyatt Ziva Puerta Vallarta was incredible beautiful. We were escorted to the reception area to register for our rooms. We were offered a cold fresh towel and a welcome drink. What a fantastic welcome to such a beautiful hotel. The tiled hotel lobby was open on all sides with a cool Pacific Ocean breeze coming through the lobby. I have enclosed multiple photos of the lobby.



Following a quick photo in the hotel lobby, with the Pacific Ocean in the background, we proceeded to our room. To get to our hotel room, we walked through an open air, but covered, tropical area where there were beautiful flowers, plants, and sounds of tropical birds. Our hotel room is located on the 19^th floor of tower part of the resort. Both rooms were facing the Pacific Ocean. We had a sliding glass door that opened up to an absolutely stunning view of the ocean and the crashing waves below. Incredible site. The room was very spacious, tiled floors, sliding wooden doors to the bathroom, separate glass doors to the water closet and shower area. The shower area had an optional waterfall shower head. Todd loves this type of shower. In our eyes, very luxurious.



When we were checking in, we saw off to the right of the reception area there were two chairs that were labelled Fish Spa Therapy. In the tank area below the seat were very small fish. After we dropped off our luggage, we returned to the lobby to inquire about the fish therapy. This seemed very intriguing to all of us. The receptionist called the spa department and someone came to meet us. Jenny decided not to do the spa, so she was going to be our photographer. The spa attendant came to greet us and explain the process. We had to walk to the spa area on another level. In the spa, each of us had our feet cleaned in a hot and soapy bath while sitting in a chair that gave us a back rub/message. Once our cleaning was complete, we were put in slippers and then back to the hotel lobby for the fish spa treatment. When you first put your feet in the water, the sensation of the very small fish is like having someone tickling your feet none stop, however it is a light tickle. Over time, you get used to it and it actually feels good. The fish, called doctor fish, nibble/eat your dead skin on your feet. They surround almost all sides of your feet and ankle areas. Michael and Cindy’s went first and said the way to keep the fish active was to move your feet and toes around; this keeps the fish moving around. While you are having the fish spa, the spa attendants are also giving you a back message. Cindy and Todd went afterwards. The entire fish spa lasted about 20 minutes. It was a lifelong memory maker, something we will talk about for years to come. Absolutely fantastic.



Following our awesome fish spa, we went to the tour office in the hotel to book a zip line tour. Todd had done some research last night because this is what we wanted to do on the cruise ship tour, however this planned changed. We booked a tour with Canopy River for Monday morning. The tour was significantly less than what Princess charged, however we were doing just zip lining, Princess tour included rappelling.



We decided at this point to explore the hotel and the beautiful grounds. We stumbled on to a tequila bar which had a pool table. The Breton/Schroeder competitiveness was about to start. We all love playing pool. For about 1.5 hours, we all played pool against each other while having a cocktail and eating nachos. This was a ton of fun and as I said very competitive. Cindy’s dad was the most competitive and won most of the games.



It was getting late, so we heading back to our room and got changed to go to dinner. We had heard that the Italian and the Spanish restaurants were great, however the reception said these two restaurants were closed Sunday evenings. We were wondering if because there were not a lot of guests at the hotel, this is why. Jenny and Cindy had heard there was not a lot guest staying at the hotel and several left because of the rain. We ended up at the Blaze restaurant. This restaurant was all outdoors, however under a thatched roof. The restaurant was next to the ocean so you could hear the waves crashing below and to our side. There was slight wait; however we were seated within 30 minutes. Each of us had a steak dish since this is there specialty. The service was fantastic, but the company and backdrop were incredible. We had some great conversations and celebrating that our Plan B is working out just perfectly.



Following dinner, we went to one of the hotel bars close to the reception area and had an after dinner drink, Bailey Irish Cream on ice. We chatted for about 30 minutes talking about our super fun day.



It did rain a ton from the time we landed to the time we went to bed, however it was interment.



We were back in our room and ready to call it a day by 10:00 pm.





Tomorrow will be a ton of fun. Cindy, Todd, and the kids are all zip lining.

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