On Sunday May 18, 2008, the Wade family along with Gordy, Linda, Michael, Kristin, Mel, and Karen emabarked on a week long cruise on the Carnival Pride to the Mexican Riviera. We went to Puerto Vallerta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. It was a fantastic vacation.
Because we had booked suites, the McGuire's and the Wade's were given VIP boarding. 
Which was terrific until I realized that we had left our camera backpack at the curb when we checked our bags. This had all of my camera equipment, Patrick's laptop, and our digital video camera. A costly mistake to say the least. After boarding the ship, Gordy and I backtracked through the lines to the curb where the porter took our bags. Unbelievably the backpack was sitting about 10 feet from where we left it. We were so lucky.
We met up with everyone at the buffet, had a quick bite and the $10 drink of the day and then went to check our room. Our suite was really nice, a big room, nice bathroom and a vanity outside of the bathroom.
The McGuire's room was absoultely fabulous. The were on the aft starboard side of the ship - room 8-273. They had a sitting room, a vanity room, a separate bedroom, a walk-in closet and best of all a huge wrap around balcony.
While we waited for our bags to arrive, we took a tour of the ship led by Thomas. 
Thomas was allowed to wander the ship by himself provided he took a walkie talkie with him, he was out and about before we even got your carry-on bags into our room. His walkie talkie call sign was "Sushi Boy" which I am sure annoyed other people but we thought was funny. As he gave me a tour, he pointed out places of interest. Places of interest to a nine year old boy. I think just having the freedom to come and go as he pleased was the best part of the trip for Thomas. The best part for Madigan was room service every morning for breakfast. She diligently filled out the room service card every night and hung it on the doorknob before she went to bed.
After the lifeboat drill, we had a private sail away party on the McGuire's deck. They had brought some Rose Regale sparkling wine on board which was absolutely perfect.
Our second night on board was formal night. We had a great time dressing up and having our pictures taken. By a happy mistake, we had our pictures taken without having to wait in line. We were rushing downstairs for the"free drinks" (watered down nasty tasting Whiskey Sours) at the Captain's Party. But we stopped for our portraits before we made it to the party. Good thing. The lines after the "party" ended were really long.
We were at sea for 2 days and our first port of call was Puerto Vallerta. When we pulled into port on Wednesday morning, our ship docked right next to the Disney Magic. 
We had taken the Magic on our Carribean cruise in 2006. We had a nice time in Puerto Vallerta but honsetly it was just so hot. We went to a really nice restaurant called "The Blue Shrimp" and roamed around the town for a few hours. 
That night at dinner we had some excitement. Patrick had some side dish that had eggplant in it. OK - add eggplant to the list of foods he is allergic to... we got to see the medical clinic up close and personal. Not fun.
The next day we were in Mazatlan which was my favorite port. In the morning we took a pulmonia 
(golf cart type vehicle) to tour the city, and then spent the afternoon on Stone Island at a restaurant called Moloki. The coconut shrimp was fantastic. After lunch, Patrick rented an ATV
and took the kids on rides while Karen and I sat drinking Coronas in a lounge chair. The water was really warm and the warning of jellyfish didn't scare any of us off.
It was a little chaotic for us because we hadn't booked excursions through the ship. Patrick found a parasailing excursion and he purchased one for he and Thomas to ride tandem. I went on the boat with them to take pictures and we had a great time. I was a little nervous watching them, but Thomas was all smiles.
The last night of the cruise we went to "David's Supper Club" which was a very nice restaurant on board that had an additional charge. It was well worth it and we had some very nice wine and some fabulous food.
