Ydraw Mexican Riviera Cruise: 2013-2014

I know I just posted a year in a review, but this was something that deserved its own post.- my very first cruise!

For just about the past 2 years, I've been working for a video marketing company- Ydraw. We create whiteboard videos for companies all over the world. I've been mostly involved in sales and I've really enjoyed all the different people I've been able to meet and the companies that I've learned about. It has been a huge growing opportunity and I'm thankful that I've been able to keep a good job here in St. George. Last December, our bonus was a paid for vacation to the Mexican Riviera. I had never been on a cruise before- and like I've mentioned before, I get really carsick- so to be honest I was terrified I was going to be miserable. Not only that but I have this weird fear of being in the middle of the ocean with no way of getting off onto land. However, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and although I did get seasick, I still had a really good time!

We left St. George at the crack of dawn on Sunday morning and drove to Los Angeles to board our boat. We cruised on the Princess Cruise line. I could not believe how incredibly huge that boat was. It has 17 floors! How insane is that? Our cruise had 3 stops- Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas, and finally Ensenada. We were supposed to go to Mazatlan, but the drug cartel had been really bad there so we weren't able to stop. We spent a few days where we were simply cruising on the ocean and the water was so calm- which I was thankful for.

Leaving the port in LA

Every night we had an assigned time to eat and the food was absolutely delicious. I think I had salmon almost every night, along with another plate of food to try. We could order as much as we wanted- and I always had at least 2 plates and 2 different desserts. I seriously could not believe how good the food was. They had so much fresh fruit every morning. I lived off pineapple. They also had some pretty fun entertainment nights. One night in particular were these two comedians who were absolutely hilarious, and it was clean humor, so that made it even better! Other nights were spent playing shuffle board on the top deck, or watching a movie on the enormous big screen on the top deck of the boat. They would lay out the lawn chairs every night and offer free popcorn and bring out blankets so you could watch a movie under the stars in the middle of the ocean. Such a cool experience. There was so much to do on that boat when you spent the day at sea, that you would forget you were even on a boat.

Our first formal night on the cruise- Ydraw crew

Our favorite stop was Puerto Vallarta. It was absolutely beautiful- we went zip-lining there in the middle of nowhere and we had a blast! We did get eaten alive by mosquitos (which I still have scars from) but it was totally worth it. It was New Years Day when we went and the whole zip-lining crew that was helping us was totally hung over from the night before, haha, but it was kind of funny.

Our huge boat

Street market

Where we went zip-lining

The crew after zip-lining

Wow! Look how white I am!

Cam's birthday cake on the ship

New Years Balloon Drop on the ship!

New Year's Day

Puerto Vallarta Beach

Poor little guy was missing a leg

Haha, he doesn't look too excited to kiss me here

On the street of Puerto Vallarta

Looking out over the city- love this pic!

The next stop was Cabo San Lucas. We ended up not doing much here but walking around and visiting the beach. It was a really hot day- but it was nice to just walk around and see the street markets. 

Tyra and Curtis holding a real baby lion!

Our boat from the beach in Cabo

On the way back to the cruise ship on a tinder boat

Our final stop was Ensenada- it's kind of a dirty town, but they took us to where 1 of the world's natural ocean blow holes are- and that town was so pretty! We rode an hour long bus ride to get up there and right outside the cliff was a huge street market. It was fun to visit and see all the beautiful scenery.

Here comes the water!

This guy totally posed for my picture haha I loved it! 

Yummy street churro

This is what the blow hole translates to in Spanish

Street market on the cliff side

All in all, it was a super fun trip- we got to see so many cool things and now I can finally say I've been on a cruise. I'm moving up in the world! Thanks Ydraw for the good times!