November 2022 Cruise
Photo by Rick Silber
(Part of the On the Move blog series)
In November 2022, my husband and I took a cruise that left Los Angeles, stopped at various ports with the last one being Panama City, and including a pass through the Panama Canal. Here are only a few of our photographs and links to a couple videos about our trip.
Of course you can’t start a cruise without the obligatory selfie of...."Look, we're going on a cruise!”
Photo by Rick Silber
Our home for the 12 days was the Norwegian Jewel. We actually had been on this ship previously on our cruise to Alaska. Since it took awhile for the crowds to return to cruising after the pandemic, our ship was only 60% full making it all the nicer.
Our first stop was Cabo San Lucas where you must take snaps of the famous arch.
Photo by Diane M. Dresback
We wandered around town and ended up in this fun little bar by the ocean. We couldn’t drink the water, so we had to drink the beer!
Photo by Diane M. Dresback
The second stop was in Puerto Vallarta where we took a walk downtown and hung out on the beach eating chips and the best fresh guacamole. Then it was on to Costa Rica for ziplining with the longest run being almost a quarter of a mile through the trees.
Here’s a short video from these two stops: Creatures & Ziplining in Puerta Vallarta and Costa Rica
We stayed aboard the ship in Acapulco. We’d both been there before and decided to take some downtime and enjoy the ship when most people had disembarked.
Next up was Guatemala. When we arrived, one of their volcanos was acting up. Little puffs of smoke kept erupting. Apparently nothing to be concerned with but you never know!
Photo by Diane M. Dresback
The whole town of Antigua was celebrating a flower festival leaving the streets packed with people and flowers. We found the cool little El Viejo Cafe that had the best croissants ever!
Ship Fun - Every day the Captain would give a short talk to the passengers—likely a mandatory duty. Due to the typical noise of people and machines and music around the ship, you only could hear what he was saying if you were in an elevator or some quiet location. He had such a funny, dry sense of humor that we looked forward to listening. He clearly searched for something to talk about. One time at the end of a couple minutes of random topics, he said, "if you're still listening, you probably need to find something better to do." Too funny.
Photo by Diane M. Dresback
Jackson Rayne was one of the entertainers aboard. He performed two excellent magic shows. This is the souvenir he gave to me after bringing me up on stage during one of his shows and having me put an industrial sized staple gun to his head. WHAT?? Thankfully he was excellent at his craft and no blood was spilled.
Photo by Rick Silber
I love watching how the local guys handle the big cruise ship ropes now that I wrangle them myself at the lake...only MUCH, much smaller!
Photo 1 by Diane M. Dresback, Photo 2 by Rick Silber
The final port was in Panama City. The day before we got off the ship, we went through the Panama Canal. This was definitely the highlight of the cruise for me. So much so that I decided to create a brief video focusing just on that experience. What a fascinating journey!
Here’s the video: Passing Through the Panama Canal
On the flight back to the United States, we witnessed this wondrous sight from the high vantage point of the airplane. I bet it’s a much different perspective if you were standing on the beach—still gorgeous, but not the same. It made me appreciate the wonder of nature and what she keeps hidden from us. It also represents to me that every person, in our own country or another, carries inside themselves so much more than we know or understand.
Photo by Diane M. Dresback
Overall, I’d say it was a fabulous cruise. Rick and I enjoyed it very much, especially going through the Panama Canal.
If you know others who would enjoy these thoughts, share this Blog with this easy link: November 2022 Cruise
Find easy links to other blog posts about my travels in the On the Move blog series: On the Move
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Find details about my books at dianedresback.com and my filmmaking at mindclover.com.
