Friday, February 21, 2014 – Cabo San Lucas, Mexico – Mostly Sunny – 85F

A sunny warm day in Baja California…

The Azamara Quest is anchored very close to the city and to the “Land’s End” rock formation best known for “El Arco”, a natural arch carved out of the rocks.

Land’s End – Cabo San Lucas

It is great to have a full day in Cabo (most ships we’ve been on leave about 3 PM on the same day).

Breakfast via room service – getting to be a nice habit – he did come a bit early today at 6:20 AM but who’s counting.  The oatmeal, pancakes, and eggs were hot and good.  Maybe, we will do this for the whole cruise.

We are both on tour today – I am on “The Art and Culture of San Jose del Cabo” and Ellen is on “Coastal Highlights Tour”.   Ellen’s tour is running about an hour ahead of mine.  The tender ride into town is smooth and quick and the bus pickup location is very close to the tender pier (FYI – this is not the same tender pier we used yesterday for our evening event).

 

 

Tender ride into Cabo San Lucas

Azamara Quest from Tender Pier

My tour guide is the ever chatting but charming, Diana.  Her English is good, the bus is comfortable, and the passengers are fans.  A perfect combination in spite of my sleep deprived condition.

My tour takes us 18 miles east (about a 30 minute ride) around the tip of Baja California to the sleepy (compared to Cabo) town of San Jose (the two cities make up “Los Cabos”).  Along the route, we passed beautiful beaches, resort hotels, golf courses, and large private homes.

Above Series – on the road to San Jose (the bottom picture contains surfers taking advantage of the great waves)

While Cabo is known for its night life, San Jose del Cabo is a quieter town complete with arts and crafts shops.  

We stopped at the town square and then to the Government Building,

Courtyard – Government Building

From the Government Building, the tour walked to the Mission San Jose, which was built in 1730.  It clearly has been renovated and a church now occupies the site.

Mission San Jose from Central Square

Mission San Jose

Mexico seems to have the biggest flags in the world and the one in San Jose del Cabo is no exception.  A good view of the Flag “Grande” from the Mission entrance.

Another big Mexican Flag

We had a little free time to find facilities and to check out the shops around the central square.  I found some washrooms at a bar; I also hooked into a WiFi system near the bar and was able to scan my e-mails before the group headed to the Arts District.

Led by Diana, the tour group stopped at three or four artisan shops.  I generally stayed outside catching the sun and checking out some of the adjoining stores. 

Our final stop was the Baja Brewery – an eatery known for pizza and site-produced beers and ales.  We each got to try three local brews (they were warm so it was hard to tell how they tasted); the pizza was pepperoni so I asked the manager if they had any cheese pizza.  He whipped up two steaming hot slices for me – honestly, the best pizza I have tasted in a foreign port. 

After the pizza and beer, we had about twenty minutes of free time so I went back to where I had found WiFi.  It was still there and I checked e-mail and posted on FB.  After the free time, the group walked together to the bus pickup spot at the end of the main square.  I gathered up a few stragglers and escorted them to the bus stop.  In a few minutes, the bus arrived and we were on our way back to the tender pier at Cabo San Lucas.

Ellen’s Tour of “Coastal Highlights” went to many of the same locations – she was in San Jose del Cabo at the same time I was.  Her other stop included the Mona Lisa Restaurant on a beach on the other side of Cabo Bay (you can see El Arco and the Quest in the distance).  Soft drinks were had by all.

View from Mona Lisa Restaurant

The spelling on the sign below may be a bit off, but the importance is very apparent to those who have to go “pipi”.

 

The bus ride back to the pier took about 30 minutes or so and I met Ellen near the bus drop.  We walked around Cabo for a while then went to the Pier Building (free WiFi but very slow WiFi so many e-mails remained in the Outbox).  Afterwards, we caught the tender back to the Quest.

Returning to the Azamara Quest via Tender

Before dinner, we ordered some cocktails – Ellen had a Mai Tai and I asked them to make me a Mojito (not on the list).  The Mojito was absolutely terrific and may become my drink of choice.

Ellen and her Mai Tai

Me and my Mojito

We opted to try a table for two in the back of the Dining Room tonight because we are anchored and there are no vibrations coming from the screws (otherwise it is really shaky back there).  On the menu tonight, Arctic Char on Gnocchi (Ellen had Salmon on her Gnocchi).  I have been asking for a standard green salad with tomatoes, onions, and croutons and they have been great (along with Ranch Dressing – made especially for me tonight).  While the table location is a bit noisier than our usual table, the views are terrific.

View from our Dining Room Table

We listened to a little bit of Max DiFaz’s set before going to the Cabaret Lounge for the first Production Show.  Showtime tonight is “Who Wrote the Songs” performed by the Quest Production Company.  The show featured songs written by Barry Manilow, Burt Bacharach, Ray Charles, Billy Joel, Elton John, and others. 

The show utilized the high tech video set up to back up the singing and dancing.  The music was live and provided by the Quest Orchestra seated to the left and right of the stage. 

 

Katy Knudsen (now a brunette) has a solo

Of course, we know who wrote the songs and we were waiting for the Barry Manilow segment. 

Barry gets his proper respect

  

The Female Quest Dancers (Taylor and Olga)

 

 

The show ran only about 40 minutes but it was full of energy and some snappy dancing.  The real standouts are Taylor and Olga, who simply fly around the stage with boundless energy.

It was still very warm outside so I ventured onto the open deck to capture a picture of Cabo San Lucas at night.

 

Cabo at night

The clocks go forward again tonight, putting us on Central Time.

Seas are smooth…

Thursday, February 20, 2014 – At Sea – Pacific Ocean – Partly Cloudy – 70F/ Cabo San Lucas – Partly Cloudy - 65F

A much improved day at sea…

Sunrise seen from our cabin

The Quest is not due to anchor in Cabo San Lucas until about 7 PM tonight so this is essentially another day at sea.

We ordered room service again since my talk is early this morning at 9:00 AM.  Waffles, cottage cheese, and an egg white omelet comprised this morning’s feast.  Again, good and warm.

The second talk - “Cold Cases Solved” is well attended – a few more people than the first talk (about 150 people).  The talk – though one of the longest – finished at about 9:50 AM giving the next speaker, Vala Ola the Icelandic sculptor, plenty of time to set up for her talk.  We stayed for her talk – she described some famous statues and paintings (e.g. David, Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo) leading up to her own pieces and jewelry collection.  It was a pleasant and informative lecture.

We went to the Looking Glass Lounge to do some reading – Olga and Anton (the couple from Ukraine) were just finishing up their jive dance class).  We stayed for about an hour until the buffet opened up. 

On our way to the Window’s Cafe, I stopped at the Pool Grille and ordered a Veggie Burger – the attendant gave me a slip and said that a waiter would bring my burger to my table in the Cafe.  Sure enough…after surrendering my slip, a burger and cut fries appeared.  I am not sure what went into the burger but it was hot, fresh, crispy, and delicious.

After lunch, we sat and read (listened) on the sunny open deck. 

Finally out on the Open Deck

It was so nice that I slept through about 15 chapters of “Cold Vengeance”.  I had to backtrack and catch up on those chapters.  The new chairs on Deck 5 are plush and comfortable.  We stayed out there all afternoon moving to the shady side when the sun got to be too hot.  We then went back to the room to get ready for dinner.

Dinner tonight is a bit different.  Tonight is the “Azamazing Evening” spectacular.  Because of that event, both dinner venues are serving the same food buffet style.  We opted for the Window’s Cafe because it has a pasta station.  I had the cook make me a pasta with broccoli, tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, onions, and garlic – topped off with marinara sauce and parmesan cheese.  Perfectly yummy.

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Distance from Los Angeles to Cabo San Lucas: 822 Nautical Miles

Local Information. Cabo San Lucas is located at the tip of the Baja Peninsula, situated between the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean.  The Cabo area, first discovered in 1537, had no gold but it was an active port for ships returning from the East with spices, gold, and silk.  Pirates wanting some of this booty were common in the area.  In the mid 20th Century, Cabo became a popular haven for the rich and famous and today, it is a highly successful venue for water sports and beach relaxation.

The Azamara Quest arrived in the Cabo harbor around 6:30 PM and anchored very close to the famous Los Arcos rock formation. 

We were treated to the most spectacular sunset…

Picture Perfect Cabo San Lucas Sunset

Photo by Alex McHale

Starting at 7:30PM, passengers wishing to attend the “Azamazing Evening” will be tendered ashore, taken by bus to Ocean House, and treated to a show about Mexican History (“Step Back in Time”).  Because we are on Deck 4, we were the last group to go ashore.  The tender ride was short and the bus ride took about 30 minutes.  Ocean House is an open air venue next to the ocean and in a very ritzy neighborhood of multi-million dollar homes and villas.  There were snacks and drinks.  I purposely stayed away from food and drink as I generally do off ship.

The show was hosted by CD Russ and after an introduction by Captain Jose,

a troupe of dancers, decked out in ancient tribal costumes, acted out the history of Mexico. 

Fertility Dance

Another segment involved a pair of contortionists – very similar to the ones we see on the ship except they are not from Ukraine.

Very Flexible Mexicans

Probably the coolest segment involved the fire dancers.  A guy seemed to be unfazed by putting his hands and feet and other parts into the flame – I wonder if the flames are unusually cool (they do smoke a lot).  A girl with a flaming hoop pulled off the coolest stunts.

 

                 

Flaming Hoop Girl

When the show was over, the entire cast came out for their bows.

Russ and the Cast of “Step Back in Time”

Then without warning, the lights went out – that was very cool because of all of the stars now visible in a nearly light pollution free sky.  I would have been happy to check out the start for a while but instead a very neat fireworks display started.  It lasted about five minutes but, since the explosions were so close, it was spectacular.  I also found out how difficult it is to capture fireworks on “film”.

Awesome Fireworks

After the fireworks, the busses started loading – even though we are in Group 26, the loading process went pretty quickly.  While waiting for the busses, we chatted with folks and listened to the Mariachi Band doing “Guantanamera” (of course).

Mariachi Band performing

The evening was a little cool (we were all wearing our jackets).

Ellen is Azamazing

Soon we were on our bus and then on our tender for a short hop to the Quest.  We arrived back on ship around 12:15 AM.

Lights out at 12:45 AM so not a lot of sleep to be had tonight.

We are anchored so the sea is smooth.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014 – At Sea – Pacific Ocean – Cloudy – 61F

Azamara Quest

Occupancy – 694                                                                           Net Tonnage – 30,277                                                              Length – 592 feet                                                                     Beam – 84 feet                                                                       Cruising Speed – 18.5 knots

A cloudy, cool day at sea…

My first talk, “The CSI Phenomenon” is at 10:00 AM today immediately following Jim Howard’s talk on whales.  Since the buffet doesn’t open until 7:30 AM, we ordered breakfast from room service.  The waffles, eggs, and cottage cheese were pretty good – it helps to be on a small ship when it comes to getting your room service food hot. 

The talk was in the Cabaret Lounge – only the side screens are operational due to the show requirements; on this cruise I can use a headset, which I personally like.  I was told by the AV guy to stand behind the podium because they have a fixed video camera but I said I would rather wander around the stage and interact with the audience.  When this talk goes on the air, it will be like Clint Eastwood talking to an empty chair (in this case an empty podium).

I set up quickly and had some time to chat with some of the passengers.  One of the attendees had just seen me on the Celebrity Equinox so I don’t think she will see much new stuff.

Alex gave me a nice introduction.

The talk had a good turnout.  Based on an occupancy of just under 400 people, I estimate the attendance at between 100 and 150 people..  The audience was interactive and only a few people left before it was over.  I think the series will have legs. 

We had lunch in the Window’s Cafe and spent the whole afternoon in the Library reading.  I am listening to “Cold Vengeance”, Book 11 in the Pendergast series by Preston and Childs.  I am about 25 percent into the book and it hasn’t started rolling yet.

Dinner was in the Discoveries Dining Room – Gnocchi, Halibut, Empanadas, roasted pepper soup.  All good.

After dinner, we listened to Max in the Club Luxe – he recognized me and waived.

Feeling a bit tired so we went back to the room early (did not go to see Katy Setterfield – Headliner for tonight).

Clocks go forward tonight.

Seas are still smooth but I am ready for some sun.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014 – Embarkation Day – San Pedro, CA – Partly Sunny – 62F

Slept OK thanks to the earplugs – traffic on Gaffey Street is non-stop. 

The Breakfast Buffet is “La Quinta Like” – waffles, scrambled eggs, cereals, fruit, etc.  Pretty nice.  Full of cruise people when it opened at 7:00 AM – thought we would have a quiet breakfast but wound up having a pleasant chat with other cruisers.  The food was good.

Set up a taxi pickup at 11:15 AM. 

You can see the Azamara Quest (along with the Star Princess) from our hotel window.

 

Azamara Quest from Hotel Window

A little after 11 AM, we went down to the desk to check out and inquire about the cab.  The clerk said she would call the cab company and get an ETA.  We took our bags and went down to the front of the hotel to wait for the cab.

Waiting for the Taxi

A few minutes later, the clerk came down to tell us our ride was on the next floor up.  She then said her boss would take us to the port since we had to call a taxi (confused am I).  We didn’t even ask and just loaded our bags and ourselves into his SUV and in less than five minutes we were at the Port (a savings of at least $10).

We checked in and had lunch in the Windows Cafe (the staff served all the guests and there were more sanitizers visible than on our previous sailings).  Lunch was great – Greek Salad, Tuna Salad, Soy Salmon and Veggies, Asparagus Soup – hopefully, a portent of future meals. 

We are now in the Looking Glass Lounge on Deck 10.  From here, I could get a great picture of the USS Iowa Warship, docked just a few hundred feet in front of us.

USS Iowa from the Quest

San Pedro Harbor from the Quest

At about 2 PM, we got the word from Cruise Director Russ Thomas Grieve that the staterooms were ready.  We have a very nice stateroom – 4016.  Nice window – nice bed. (In the past, we have always been in Cabin 6044 – so I am missing my view of the lifeboats).  I had a letter from Activities Manager, Alex McHale, outlining my speaking schedule for the cruise.

Cabin 4016

We spent some time in the Looking Glass Lounge and then changed for dinner.  After the lifeboat drill, we went out on Deck 5 to see the sail away.  It was an interesting, if not picturesque, sail away. 

San Pedro Sail Away

To document our departure from San Pedro, we took a “mirror selfie” in our stateroom.

Dinner is open seating in the Discoveries Dining Room – we arrived a little early since we wanted to get the table for two in the corner (a historically quiet area).  Since we were early, we ordered a Margarita and an Appletini from the Discoveries Bar.  It was very nice not to have to drag out my Sea Pass card – there are about 20 complimentary cocktails and about two thirds of those look real good.  The Margarita was very good (a fine amount of tequila in this drink).

The dinner menu is pretty extensive compared to other ships and we settled on Mushroom Vol au Vent/Pan Fried Snapper/Eggplant Parmesan/Cesar Salad/Crepes/White Wine – Pan Fried Sole.  The service was quick and excellent and we were finished with dinner in about 45 minutes.

We listened to Max DiFaz play piano in the Cafe Luxe.  He is an excellent piano player but in this lounge, he is like background music.  I’m sure the audience will find Max before long.

The Welcome Aboard Show was at 9:30 PM in the Cabaret Lounge.

AM Alex describes the Entertainment Activities

Following Alex, Cruise Director, Russ Grieve came out singing – I guess all cruise directors on Azamara are singers.  Russ did indicate that he had spent eight years in “Mama Mia”.  He does have a very good voice – I guess he played one of the four dads.

 

CD Russ Grieve belts one out

Welcome aboard entertainers – Katy Knudsen (Production Vocalist), Katy Setterfield (Guest Entertainer – Vocalist and hyper-belter).  There are four vocalists and four dancers (many are from the US and two  of the dancers, Anton and Olga, are from Ukraine).  The production cast looks pretty talented as a group and they are scheduled to do four shows including the spiffy “Voices”. 

   

Azamara Quest Production Cast

By the end of the show – 10:30 PM – we were pretty tired.  A few minutes in our room and then it was lights out. 

The seas are smooth and the neighbors are quiet – the best combo.