Good times on the high seas

Pacific Ocean, CA & Mexico - October 17-20, 2003

So are you ready for this? Are you realllllllly ready? I didn't think so. Thus, I am not telling you at all about the trip, but rather the epidural cyst I have on my.....oh wait, maybe you don't want to hear about that either. Okay, back to the trip then!

So I took off for Los Angeles for like the 6th time in 2 months, or so it feels. That was on Friday morning, as we didn't have to board the ship until between 1:30 - 5 pm. On the way there, I got a nice surprise on the 210 freeway as something hit my windshield and put a nice big crack in it. Is that bad luck? I guess not, as I know the end of this story and I live through everything! Yes! But after surviving through some nasty 710 traffic, I made it down to the Cruise terminal, which is the former Spruce Goose dome. Who knew? Anyways, I could see my ship Ecstasy waiting for me, so I parked and started the tedious check-in process. I had no idea you had to do all this for a cruise, but I guess it's just as sensitive as a plane flight. After going through that, I got on board my first cruise! I found my room way down in steerage (actually, one level above it on Main Deck - M227, like the TV show!), which I was sharing with 3 others - it was definitely a tight squeeze but hey, you're not spending time except sleeping in there anyways. I met up with some other UCLA folks plus much of the extended Wendy family at this point, and I got to see the ship pull away from the harbor of Long Beach (after the oh-so-exciting lifeboat drill!). It was pretty cool to do that, especially while watching the Queen Mary get smaller and smaller. Our group had the early seating for dinner, and our table was right at a window, which was very cool. I've gotta say, I love cruise dinners. All this pretty good food and you can have whatever you want of it. Awesome! Add in some great wine, and it's a winner. Afterwards, I saw more of the ship as we explored the Promenade deck. That's where the Karaoke bar is, which is what we hit next. Lots of fun there, including me taking part in the best version EVER of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline". Great song. Then made some money at the casino - can you believe it? $50 profit that night! Sweet! Finally, it was dancing time at Stripes, and I got hella sweaty but hey, who cares, I was having fun. Then I crashed....

The next day, Saturday, I had no idea what was in store for me. I did not really want to do any tours in Ensenada, as I just really don't care about the Mexican countryside. At least not that area - hell, it's just 40 minutes south of Tijuana. Not too thrilling. But there was an idea tossed around to just go into town and hang out at Papas & Beer. Well, I didn't know what that place was besides being a bar. So, I headed out to the town with Ilyne & JJ. We left early and decided to meet up with everyone else at Papas & Beer around 12 or so. We walked around the shops for about an hour or so, and then we got to Papas & Beer at 11:45. None of our friends were there yet, so we wandered around the crowded bar hoping to find someplace to sit. We didn't, so we stood around, hoping against hope that something would happen. Sure enough, the table behind us was offered to us by the departing guests (boy, did they miss a show). We settled in and got our first of many rounds of beers. Then the spectacle really started, as the Papas & Beer employees showed the bar guests what really happens here. It's basically a place where women get their tops taken off, bumper stickers put on, fed a drink, and shook. Shook violently and upside down. I kid you not. So that happens a few thousand more times, we get a few hundred more drinks, and pretty much it's all a blur after that. Some things happened I never would have imagined would happen in a bar, but they did and I witnessed them. Some people even have pictures. Since this site is family friendly (for the most part), I will not discuss in detail what I saw. But some people are damn freaks and whores. So we stumbled our way back to the ship before it took off, and amazingly, most of us were able to get ready and put on our formal wear for formal dinner. I looked oh-so-sharp (modest, I know) in my newly purchased clothes from the outlet mall, and after a great dinner, we went up to visit the Verandah Suite that Wendy & Jason were in. I passed out there for a while, and then later, we went dancing again. That was definitely a theme every night - dancing and drinking. Not much else to do, unless you throw in gambling and karaoke too.

Our last full day, Sunday, was spent sailing somewhere off the coast of California. I think it was in a big circle, or else we just were going very very slow, because Long Beach and Ensenada aren't very far apart. Whatever, this was a nice relaxing day, as I got a chance to sit out on the back deck, get some sun, and catch up on my Dark Tower reading (I gotta prepare for Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla coming out in November!). I chilled in the Lido dining deck for a while before dinner with JJ and assorted visitors (it seems you always see the same people throughout the cruise; I know it seemed to me I always saw people over and over, and yet there were tons of people on board), finally going to our last dinner, which was again great. I miss having food at my beck and call at any time, and especially at dinner. Coming back home was painful when realizing that I had to get my own food again. Damnit! That night had more gambling and dancing, although I did hold back on drinking this time, as I did NOT want to have to drive back to Vegas hung over. NO THANKS.

Then on Monday morning, we were back in Long Beach and we had to wait for a while to disembark, but I was ready to go home and to be in my own bed, even if I did have to find my own food again. It was definitely a great trip and a great idea by Jason & Wendy to have all their friends and family come along on this trip. Good times, and I can't wait to go on another cruise. I honestly can't imagine being on a cruise for 21 days or so. I think 7 days would be limit. Up next? Perhaps the Caribbean, or an Alaskan cruise. That would be very fun.

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