Final Thoughts

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Geo: 38.6276, -90.199

We've been home for a bit now ~ actually, a couple of weeks. Basically, we had a nice vacation. We enjoyed seeing my family in Seattle, we luved-luved our day together in downtown Seattle, we thought sailing out of Vancouver was beautiful, the ship was beautiful, Mexico was pretty-much what we expected the "poorer" side of Mexico to be, Carnival Cruise Lines did not disappoint in service and amenities, and we spent much less than I had budgeted, and overall... everything went smoothly.... no bad hotel rooms, missed flights, train wrecks, or stolen purses. It was all good. Was it fantastic and so overwhelming wonderful that we were left in a fog of wonderful feelings (like our honeymoon cruise two years ago)??? Ummmm... NO. Was it a good cruise and a good experience with smooth sailing and a nice getaway??? Absolutely.

I'll take a moment to share a few small notes ~ lessons learned on this long vacation...

*We liked the Northwest and the cooler weather there ~ Alaska is on our bucket list

*On future cruises we will look for larger ships with more activities and/or cruises with less sea days and more port days

*I overpacked. Again. :-( I'm trying to learn....really...

*Traveling with the in-laws actually went quite smooth. They did their thing, we did ours. We saw each other frequently but not too much. It was nice. The only difference I would suggest for others traveling with family or for us traveling with family in the future... everyone can find their own flights and hotels to/fro the cruise. A "See Ya On The Ship!" attitude would create more cohesion overall because every couple has their own traveling style.

*There were no scarves for sale in Mexico. No beautiful purses. No wonderful souvenirs to bring home. We brought home bottles of Tequila as gifts, vanilla, a few bowls, and a couple of t-shirts. My scarf and Italian leather handbag from Rome are still my favorite souvenirs to date.

*As far as Cruise Lines go.... I like Royal Caribbean Cruise lines better than Carnival Cruise lines and hubby & I want to sail on the largest cruise ship in the world ~ Oasis of the Seas... however... Carnival gives you more bang for your buck. I am looking for specials on Royal Caribbean for the future but it's tough trying to beat Carnival's prices... a 4 or 5 night cruise on Royal Caribbean will easily equal a 7 night on Carnival.... and 7 nights on the grand Oasis of the Seas will easily cost us $1000 per person. The service is a bit better on Royal Caribbean and the atmosphere, the crowds, seem a bit more refined. However, we tremendously enjoy the laid-back dress code Carnival offers and after 10 Carnival cruises you become Platinum Cruisers with VIP perks such as no-wait boarding, lower rates, free laundry, and a few other small items. Variety is the spice of life so I am also looking at NCL for the future however, they have so many upcharge fees here and there, I tend to shy away from their low advertised rates. Overall, however, we will stick with cruises for our vacations as we have yet to find an all-inclusive we would enjoy that comes close to the price of a nice cruise.

*We are done with Mexico. Now, that doesn't mean we will never visit Mexico again in our lives but the Mexican Riviera is ravaged with drug wars, poor people, ripoffs, and cheap trinkets aka souvenirs. There needs to be some serious changes before we would be interested in visiting that area of the world again. We enjoyed the ruins but they didn't have the funds to maintain the ruins properly. We enjoyed seeing some of the sites but how many poor, graffiti-ridden buildings can you see before you just feel horrible for gawking?? I actually felt bad at how hard they were working to impress us and yet I still felt uncomfortable in most of their surroundings. I am a spoiled American.

*We will save our money and visit Venice, Italy or St. Petersburg, Russia... these are the places I imagine you would remember forever and feel like you've just stepped back into an amazing time. This is just my opinion. Your mileage may vary. Our dollars will be going back overseas in the future.

In a nutshell.... it was a good vacation, we had a nice time, we learned a lot. I don't know what we will do next year but 2013 is planned and looks like our best trip yet. We are blessed. Our cups runneth over...

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