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Monterey

10/23/2015

The next day was Monterey. I was excited for this stop. Princess doesn't stop here so it was a nice treat to go somewhere that normally does not get cruise ship guests. On our agenda was a nice walk along the coast to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We took the Monterey Bay Coastal Trail. It was beautiful!! The weather was ideal for our mile-long walk and the trail is a mix of scenic and quaint.

Connor decided that this was the day to make his parents look incompetent. As soon as we arrived at the aquarium he began screaming. Nothing made him happy. Holding him, strolling him, offering food, etc. NOTHING! I was not about to waste the $75 we had just dropped on buying the tickets to get in. We attempted to look at some of the tanks, but it was not happening. We walked over to the food court to eat and perhaps calm him down. Sometimes he acts out when hungry and he doesn't know why he feels like crud.

The food court is nice. They have healthier options than most places which was impressive.

After the cool down session we decided to embark on our adventure through the place. We found kid friendly areas, there were plenty! So we let our son play to burn off some steam, again in hopes of calming him down. I call the last one "Short Kid Problems" He behaved during the time we were in the kid areas, but the moment we moved on to other things he broke out in tantrums and naughty behavior.

The aquarium is awesome. Connor has been to the "big ones" Shedd (I was not impressed) and Georgia Aquarium, so we make it a point to bring him to aquariums everywhere we go. We actually liked the Sea Life Aquarium in Grapevine Texas, small be really nice. He loves fish and animals in general so it just makes sense.

The back of the aquarium has a large deck area that affords some amazing views of the bay. We spent quite a bit of time out there looking for otters and other animals. It was a beautiful day for us. We came from Florida where it's in the 90s, so the upper 60s/low 70s was blissful.

We explored the touch tanks for a bit. My son kept petting the drain instead of the animals. It was kinda funny. We kept telling him that it was not an animal and he insisted on petting it. Okay, you're not crying at this point, whatever makes you happy!!! As a kid 23 years ago I remember the jellyfish section being amazing. It's still beautiful to this day! We then made our way to the back room area with the large tank full of sharks, sardines, and other large sea life. Connor was enthralled with it for a few minutes until the naughties came back!

As soon as I snapped this picture of him, he took off running. Full speed. Back through the jellyfish exhibit. I took off after him through the crowd. He didn't look back for a second to see if we were even following him. Generally he will check to make sure Matt or I follows. Not today.. He was on a mission. Now if you've ever been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium you may know that the jellyfish exhibit is very dark. Good luck catching a 2 year old running through there! I finally caught him in the entrance where the sardines swim in circles above. He was cracking up laughing when I caught him. Thats about when I threw up the white flag ad surrendered. We left to make our way back to the ship at this point.

I lacked a lot of photos from the aquarium because I was busy chasing, calming, and disciplining my son. It was not a good day for us. I am sad because I wanted to get more photos of it. As luck, or Murphy's Law, would have it: Connor fell asleep within seconds of leaving the aquarium. We decided to walk through Cannery Row and along the trail again to make our way back to the ship. It was peaceful and a great way to unwind from the chaos of the day. It's a shame that Florida weather isn't conducive to beautiful walking trails. We only have a handful of cool days in our "winter" that would allow for a nice long walk. Most other days it's far too hot or rainy!

We chose to ride on the top of the tender for the ride back to the ship because it was nice out.

The moral of today's adventure is: Dress your kid in this shirt on the left and you can guarantee he'll prove you wrong!

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San Francisco- Hop On Hop Off Bus Sites

10/21/2015

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Our plan for the second day was to use the HOHO Bus to see all the popular things in San Fran. I bought the tickets directly through Big Bus, they were the same company that offered them through Royal Caribbean. It was a few dollars cheaper on our own. This was my first mistake. Let me explain...

Last time I was in San Francisco was 2009, with a friend. We were there for a teaching conference. We bought HOHO tickets and used the bus to get around and see everything after the conference had ended. It worked out perfectly, so I assumed it would work the same way this time. I could not remember the company I bought them from last time, but it was NOT Big Bus. I would highly recommend choosing another company. Big Bus stops at some weird, random, useless locations in my opinion. It doesn't stop at Alamo Square, but a block away down a hill. It stops at the "wrong" side of the Golden gate Bridge. What do I mean? I mean it stops on the North side where the angle is so sharp that it's near impossible to get a good shot.

Here is my photo from 2009 (I am on the left, my friend on the right). We stopped at the South side of the bridge. Great angle. Nice displays & signs explaining the bridge. A store. Just all around better location. The bus from 2009 stopped on both sides.

Here is the BEST shot I could get on this recent trip. While beautiful, the bridge is barely visible. It was very difficult to get a good picture because this was was also overcrowded. A lot of people just hanging out on the viewing wall made it difficult to find a spot for a picture.

One positive than I can mention is that when we got off the ship they allowed us to go on the buses that were parked inside the "terminal" rather than make us walk down the street to the official stop. They had Big Buses inside the terminal because that was the company assigned to the Royal excursions. I assumed that they might make us go outside because we bought our tickets on our own. We rode around for close to an hour before the first place that we wanted to get off.

We got off here because I wanted another picture in front of the Painted Ladies. I grew up watching Full House as a kid, so these houses always looked so cool to me. The grass was in pretty bad shape, I am guess it is from the drought? Connor spotted the playground. We let him play for 20 minutes because most of the trip was focus on things we (Matt and myself) wanted to see, we made time to let him burn off some energy in between stops. This was the 1st of three playgrounds for the day!

Next up was the Golden Gate bridge, I already shared the photos when explaining my disappointment in the bus stops. But I was able to get a nice shot while we were riding over the bridge.

I wanted to get off a Lombard Street to show Matt the curvy street. Except that Big Bus doesn't stop anywhere near that section. It drives through a regular street with nothing to see but stores. So we ended up staying on the bus until we got to Chinatown. There we walked through some shops, ate lunch, and then we found another playground!!

I saw a sign for this "tea" that I like. It goes by various names: Milk Tea, Bubble Tea, Boba Tea, etc. I was excited. There aren't many places back home that serve it. People have always told me it is better out on the West Coast. So I ordered one. Ugh! The lady that made it must have thrown a bunch of stuff in a cup without measuring. It was way too sweet, gritty (too much powder), and just not the same. I was let down!! I'll stick to the East Coast version!

After Chinatown we hopped on the bus again and headed back to our ship. We were tired. It was about 3:30pm at this point and we needed to get the little guy to nap. and he wouldn't... We ended up going to the Windjammer for dinner right around when we sailed back under the Golden Gate Bridge! I was tempted to go back upstairs for some evening shots, but I was too tired from the long day we had. We even saw some whales breaching the water throughout our journey away from the city by the bay! So my photos are from inside the buffet. Oh well.

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San Francisco- Alcatraz Night Tour

10/20/2015

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*Warning, this is lengthy. The night tour is amazing and I could not help but share all my photos and details. All of the images can be viewed larger by simply clicking on them :)

I had been to Alcatraz in August 1992 with my parents on our family vacation. Matt has never been. While I was searching for the different tour options I came across the night tours. They are only offered on certain dates/ seasons. I thought it would be really neat to see if at night. Maybe it would add to the scary effect!? Some people have said that they would rather go to Alcatraz in the day for their first trip. So I was a bit hesitant. Was Matt going to miss out on something by going at night? I am always second guessing my choices when it comes to vacations because I want everything to be memorable, perfect, and worth it! Matt actually got on me about this during this trip. I kept asking "Did you like it?" after everything we did. He told me to calm down and just enjoy myself. Not everything turns out the way you want.

The roof of each ferry is covered in Solar Panels! Downstairs there are TV screens explaining how they derive their power from alternative sources. It even shows the percentage of power coming from each source at a given time. We went sailing by our ship as we headed off to Alcatraz. The Alcatraz pier and the one in which the Jewel docked were right next to each other. We had chosen the earlier night tour, it began at 5:55pm. I am glad we did because this gave us additional time after to explore the island and attend the "extra" tours.

Well I can assure you, making your first Alcatraz trip a night tour is totally worth it. I am so glad I booked it. When you arrive it is still daylight, so you can see the outside of the buildings with sunlight. We had some great opportunities while there. When we got back home from the trip Matt said the the Alcatraz tour was his favorite part of our entire vacation.

A guide, National Park ranger,walked with us from the bottom, all the way up (I think he said it's equivalent to 13 flights of stairs). He would pause along the way talking about history and other facts of the island. This gave everyone the chance to catch their breath and still have energy for the self guided/headphone tour inside. Once we arrived at the cell house we were directed to a line that wraps around the showers/receiving area for new inmates. At the end of this line you were given headphones in your preferred language.

At this point the tour is mostly self-guided with your headphones. You can pause if you want to take more time to explore an area. The cellhouse was actually pretty crowded and there were moments where it was hard to see something being discussed because of the crowd. As the evening went on it got better as people headed back off the island. I will let the next few pictures tell the story of the tour.

Once our headphone tour ended we had the opportunity to see the hospital. They don't always open it to the public, but on this evening it was. We headed up there to check it out. Medical equipment from those days was so different. The wheelchair creeped my husband out, so I took a picture and told him I would use it as torture if he ever crossed the line with me, haha.

We also saw "Birdman's" cell/ hospital room. They kept him up there because he was so bad!

After the Hospital, we opted for two of the bonus tours. First up was the "Behind the scenes" tour. We weren't sure what this meant, but it sounded interesting. We were warned that you must have stable footing to go on this tour. Our guide was fantastic. He really knew a lot about the history and details of Alcatraz. I wish I could remember his name!

He took us in to Corridor A, which is locked during normal "business hours." Within this area there is a stairwell that goes DOWN. It leads to the underground area of Alcatraz. Many many moons ago there was a Citadel on the island and that building was incorporated in to the construction of the prison.

We got to go under the main prison to see the old construction, corridors, rooms, etc. It was fascinating. I don't want to give away too much just in case someone has the chance to go on the tour.We had to wear hardhats because the area is old and there are low ceilings.

We went on one final tour of the evening which focused on the story of the infamous 1962 escape of three inmates. The guide was incredibly knowledgeable about the details of the case. I have always been curious as to whether they survived the ordeal. During this tour I was able to get some of the most impressive night shots of the buildings and island.

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San Francisco- the Golden Gate Bridge & Pier 39

10/19/2015

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Up next was San Francisco. Our ship was scheduled to arrive at the terminal 2pm. Sailing under the bridge was to be a little after 1pm (I think... Memory is getting hazy about certain specifics at this time). We had a quick lunch in the Windjammer and then headed to the front of the ship to get ourselves a good viewing spot! We were dead center on deck 13.

After we passed under the Gold Gate Bridge, I had assumed it would be rather quick to clear local authorities and have the chance to get off the ship. I was wrong. It took another 30 minutes for us to reach the docks. We ended up hanging out on our balconies for a while until we heard the all-clear. Our plan was to explore Pier 39, check out the sea lions, have a Boudin's bowl on the pier, leave my son with my dad around 5pm and head over to the Alcatraz dock for the night tour.

I think we finally got clearance to get off the ship around 3pm. The five of us headed over to Pier 39 to see the Sea Lions. It was a ten minute walk at the most. I was happy that we docked at the old pier. Crown Princess was over at the new cruise terminal, which is nice, but a bit father from the nice waterfront area. By the time we got there, Connor had fallen asleep in his stroller. Bummer, we wanted him to see and hear them! We had our photos snapped in front of them and then continued wandering.

Everyone, except for me, ordered a clam chowder in a bread bowl. I don't "do" seafood, so I went with tomato soup with asiago croutons. Mine was delicious, everyone else in the group said theirs were yummy as well. Last time I was in San Fran I ate at the main location a littler further down on the waterfront. My dad said he always ate at the small one on the pier. We went for it out of convenience. After our soups we wandered in and out of the shops on the pier. Some of my photos from this time are missing because my dad took them on his phone and we haven't swapped pictures yet. At this point we parted ways. Matt and I headed off for Alcatraz boats. My dad, his wife, and my son stayed on the pier. My dad took Connor on the carousel and then back over to the Sea Lions. They taught him how to bark like them and for the rest of the cruise my son would imitate them. It was very cute!

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Santa Barbara & Solvang

10/16/2015

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The first stop on the cruise was to the city of Santa Barbara. The first thing I noticed was the beautiful Spanish-style architecture. I always love seeing other places and occasionally fall in love with the vibe there. Had I spent more time in SB I could have had the opportunity to get to know the town. When I looked in to day trip activities the only things that came up were winery tours. We aren't winery people! There is a bus that will bring you around townSo through some research I found out about a town named Solvang. It is a Danish town about 45 minutes from Santa Barbara.

Santa Barbara is a tender port. I always get nervous with tender ports because there is the potential for severe backlogs when trying to go ashore. For the first hour-ish they allowed people to go down to "beat the rush." By the time we finished breakfast and headed down it was tender ticket time. We managed to get tickets for number one.

It was an easy trip to the wharf, no delays, no issues.

I reserved a car from Avis in advance, it was about a 20 minute walk from where the tenders let us off. Avis opened at 9am and we arrived at 8:50. The guy working opened the doors early because there were quite a few people waiting to pick up for the day. He was quick and got everyone in to their cars faster than I expected. I had reserved a small SUV for the day. We were given a Chevy Equinox. It was spacious enough for the five of us for the day.

We took the scenic route there along the coast rather than the mountain road. Someone on cruise critic told me about it, so we followed those directions.

We spent the day walking around looking in the shops, eating pastries, pretzels, and stopping for some coffee and hot chocolate. Right when we went for the coffee it started to rain. We weren't happy, but the locals were because the state of California is in a drought.

We enjoyed our time in Solvang. I wish we had eaten lunch in one of the restaurants but we filled up on treats throughout our day! I remember the Cruise Compass saying that the last tender was at 4:30pm. My husband, who likes to give me a heart attack, told me he saw 3pm. So now I was in a panic during the whole ride back to Santa Barbara. I kept running everything through my head:

1) Get gas
2) Return car
3) Walk to wharf.

It was raining throughout our entire drive back. I was happy for the locals, but it made for an interesting afternoon. We arrived at Avis and took care of the car return, but then we had to walk back to the wharf. About 20 minutes. The problem was, we had my son's car seat. Car seat straps cannot get wet, if they do they are no longer effective. So I asked the guy at Avis for a garbage bag to cover the seat. He went in the back and bought out a car seat bag that they use when cleaning them. I put the seat in a bag and then placed the seat on top of the stroller. The little one insisted that his monkey doll/blanket be safely put under the bag so he didn't get wet.

The next dilemma was my husband. He wasn't wearing a jacket and did not want to get drenched on the walk back to the ship. The guy at Avis gave him a car seat bag too. Matt proceeded to tear holes for his head and arms. Everyone was laughing at him, but in good fun of course...

and then we had this!

I was in flip flops, so by the time we got to the wharf my feet were wet and cold. Thankfully part of the tender waiting area was covered so we were able to stand under it.

On the way back to the ship our tender saw a life jacket floating in the water. They have a duty to check out the situation and make sure there isn't a person attached to it. So we went in circles for a few minutes as the crew members retrieved the lifejacket from the water. It was pretty choppy out there. I never get seasick, but I was feeling queezy during this experience!

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Los Angeles- San Pedro Cruise Port

10/14/2015

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I will start here since this is where we began our journey in California! We flew in to Los Angeles International, grabbed our bags and headed to the shared shuttles area. In advance, I reserved a ride with Super Shuttle. They are a nationwide company with blue vans and yellow writing. You may have seen them around in your town. We shared the van with two other couples headed out to San Pedro, they were also embarking on cruises the following morning.

Crowne Plaza- San Pedro

I booked us for one night at the Crowne Plaza in a regular room. The location was perfect. Just a couple of blocks from Harbor Blvd and the port. They have a free shuttle that will bring you to shops or restaurants nearby. They also provide complimentary shuttle service to the cruise ships. We checked in and headed to our room. Come to find out they gave us a free upgrade to a two room suite. We had a full bathroom plus a half bath. A living room with wet bar and then a bedroom with two queen beds.

The hotel itself has plenty of amenities. There are ballrooms for events, a restaurant, pool, gym, quiet floors, and more. It is conveniently located near restaurants. An Enterprise Rental Car Center shares the building on 6th Street.

Green Onion

After we had settled in and dropped our bags at the Crowne, we walked across the street to the Green Onion Mexican restaurant. It's on 6th Street (the cross street that the hotel is on). It took all of two minutes to get there from the Crowne. The food was good, drinks were strong (I didn't finish my margarita). When we arrived it was fairly empty, but by the time we had finished our meal the dining room was packed and there was a line at the door! It wasn't anything fancy, but it was typical tex-mex food which we all enjoyed.

Grinder

We woke up pretty early on Saturday because our brains were still on Eastern time. The front desk staff at the Crowne told us of a few places that would be open at 6:30am since we were awake and ready to go! We took a short walk, perhaps 10 minutes at the most, to a diner on Harbor Blvd called Grinder. It was your typical diner/Denny's style place. They had a couple of unique options on their menu for breakfast which was nice to see something different!

Harbor Blvd

San Pedro's harbor holds a few goodies. There is a nice little park with nautical theming and a Veterans Memorial. The Red Trolley Car was closed for the season & maintenance, but I would imagine it's a nice treat for kids and adults to ride along the waterfront area on it. Ports O Call Village includes little shops with trinkets and a few places to grab a bite to eat as well. There is plenty to do for an afternoon and evening before a trip. If you are spending more time in the area, a quick drive over the Vincent Thomas bridge will bring you in to Long Beach where you can see the Queen Mary 2 and a few other sights!

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California Coastal Cruise

10/13/2015

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We just got back from a 7-night cruise along the California coast. Rather than do my typical day by day review I plan to do something a little differently this time. I am going to do my reviews based on the cities we explored: Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Solvang, San Francisco, Monterey, and Ensenada. A few cities will be split up in to multiple entries because I have a lot of information to share. For example, L.A. consists of far too many areas to write about in one shot. I'll include my run down of the ship, Jewel of the Seas. I will end with an updated "cruising with kids" and "flying with kids" entry as well. This will obviously take course over the next few weeks.

Let me know if there is anything specific you'd like for me to elaborate on and I will do my best to include the information based on my experience.

Mini Golf on Jewel of the Seas

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Monterey

San Francisco- Hop On Hop Off Bus Sites

San Francisco- Alcatraz Night Tour

San Francisco- the Golden Gate Bridge & Pier 39

Santa Barbara & Solvang

Los Angeles- San Pedro Cruise Port

Crowne Plaza- San Pedro

Green Onion

Grinder

Harbor Blvd

California Coastal Cruise

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Monterey

San Francisco- Hop On Hop Off Bus Sites

San Francisco- Alcatraz Night Tour﻿

San Francisco- the Golden Gate Bridge & Pier 39

Santa Barbara & Solvang

Los Angeles- San Pedro Cruise Port

Crowne Plaza- San Pedro

Green Onion

Grinder

Harbor Blvd

California Coastal Cruise

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Categories

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San Francisco- Alcatraz Night Tour