The Cruise

Yes, we had a good time, but it wasn't quite what we expected. First off, it was Spring Break for lots of schools, from elementary to college. Of the 2,500 people aboard the Carnival Elation, 900 were children 17 and younger. And then there were probably another 200 or so college students having the time of their lives. So, it was not wuite the relaxing, quiet, rejuvinating or romantic trip we had hoped for. But, we did still manage to have fun. Thursday were were in San Diego and aboard the ship by 3 p.m. A brief itinerary: Friday - Day at Sea, Saturday - Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Sunday - Day at Sea, Monday - Ensenada, Mexico, Tueaday - San Diego, we were driving home by 10:30 a.m.

Friday night was the formal dress dinner. We were seated with four other couples for each dinner: An older couple from Vancouver; a late-30's couple from Oceanside; Juan and Cynthia from Temecula and Chris and Candice from the LA area. Juan and Cynthia are poker players, as well, so we spent a number of hours with them at the casino, watching shows and playing bingo.

In Cabo, we did an excursion that did not take us far from the boat, just about 200 yards from the pier where the tender boats dropped us off. We swam with dolphins, mostly the one assigned to us, Ende. She is 5 years old, about 400 pounds and can swim as fast as 45 mph. She also very much had a mimd of her own. While well-trained, she took a mischievious liking to Rodney, first avoiding him, then teasing him and then finally taking a few opportunities to smack him with her tail. Now, no one else in our group of 10 got smacked by Ende's tail, but Rodney is sporting a bruise on his knee thanks to her. And the snot also did the tricks she wanted to do when she wanted to do them. The trainer told her to race across the pool so that we could see how fast she could swim and instead, she switched directions and jumped over a pole with another dolpin int he pool. Then, when it was time for her to pull me around on her belly, instead of staying wthin our group, Ende decided to give me a tour of two other dolphin groups before coming back to ours and accurately dumping me in Rodney's lap. I think I would laughed a lot if I had had the chance to get to know Ende and her antics a little better.

As for the rest of Cabo, we did got to Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabo, but since it was still day time, there was not much going on. Imstead, we had lunch a a local hole-in-the-wall, with a a couple we had met earlier in the cruise, Elizabeth and Mark from San Pedro. The carne asada was excellent! Overall, we were not overly impressed with Cabo, but, since we only had a few hours ashore, we really did not have a chance to get very far from the touristy port. We did get Xan some maracas because he just doesn't make enough noise on his own.

In Ensenada, we, along with Juan, Cynthia, Candice and Chris, took a local taxi (cheaper and faster than a tour bus) to the Bufadora, or blowhole. Not really sure what it is, but when the water comes in to the cliff, the blowhole spurts a spray of water. Oh, and it is the biggest natural one in the world. We spent about five minutes of our two hours there, and the rest of the time perusing the wares in the flea marjet. I got a fabulous green fake Prada purse and we found Will a cool Spiderman hat with red spiderman eyes sewed into it.

We got a lot of pictures, which, of course, had to be purchased separately, and I fell in love with the ship's mango margaritas. Each night, our room steward left us the itinerary for the next day (a sheet called the Carnival Capers), two chocolates and a different towel animal each night. These cute creations inspired me to take the call the ship offered on how to make then and I purchased the book. Don't be surprised to find a towel animal on your bed the next time you visit!