DeSoren Family

A few people have emailed us and wanted to know how much this cruise cost. We paid $549.00 each plus airfare (which was cheap as well, LGB is the best LA airport!). Which worked out $69.00 a day per person. The price covers room & board and all onboard activities. It has been to date the cheapest vacation we have ever taken together. It’s pretty easy to see why people like cruising so much.

Our last few days on board the Norwegian Star were spent relaxing. We got into the habit of heading down to the Blue Lagoon restaurant and ordering dinner and lunch and then hiding in our cabin.

Having the balcony was a HUGE plus for us. It became Joshua’s default position with a book in hand. While Anthony started to work his way though the stack of DVD’s he packed. Most of the time we had the sliding glass door open, day and night. If we ever do another cruise a balcony will not be optional but a requirement.

The last two days were really non-eventful for us. We did a little onboard shopping for trinkets and gifts. We have continued our tradition and got a magnet and coffee mug from each vacation destination we traveled too. The on board market covered that little need nicely.

Anthony attended the future cruise planning seminar, which turned out to be a plug for the new NCL Epic cruise ship. Again nothing helpful other then “Go to our website for more information…”. Onboard internet was free only if you traveled to the NCL homepage. Anything else was a scary 75¢ a min! We checked out the NCL homepage and the speed was terrible for the rate they were charging, their own homepage took over a min to load. We kept looking for the commodore 64 300 baud modem that just had to be attached to the ship board computer.

Joshua became a fan of the cigar lounge and visited it nightly for a cough/cigar and scotch. He even bought a Cuban cigar while we were in Mexico and tried it while on board. Anthony made it every clear that this was a vacation only event and this dirty habit would not come home with us. Both of us are ex-smokers and know how easy it is to start back up.

We attended the on board magic show, which was really funny… but not like you would think. We sat in the side balcony and were able to see how the magician did most every trick. It was pretty funny as we debunked each trick to each other.

We did the Asian restaurant and Anthony had his first taste of Sashimi. Joshua who is a huge fan of Sushi was not impressed.

Thursday night was the Chocolate Buffet. We both got a full plate of chocolate goodies and headed off to bed as the buffet was at 10:30 pm (that’s about hour past Anthony’s bed time).

Disembarkation day was the most “exciting” part of our last 2 days. We woke early again as we wanted to get off the boat during the first wave of debarkation. The process turned out to be a mad house. Half the ship seemed to have the same idea. We are going to a separate blog on the horrific personal behaviors we saw on this trip, debarkation day was the highlight of the selfish nasty behavior we saw in our fellow passengers.

Joshua broke the handle on his suitcase as we tried to take our luggage down the stairs rather then the elevators, which were packed with rude unbudging passengers. It took us about 30 mins to get off the ship, from cabin to customs, which was about 15 mins longer then it needed to be. All because of our childish fellow passengers

Customs was by the way a huge joke. Don’t understand why I have to take my shoes off and x-rayed and scanned if I get on a plane, but take a cruise from a foreign port and they just wave you through. They didn’t even look at our passports!

We had kept the tube that Joshua’s Cuban cigar came in for a kept sake and were worried we might get questioned or have it taken away. They did not even look in our bags. So much for Homeland Security. We could have brought back a case or two of Cuban cigars, or even a global thermonuclear device.

We got picked up by Enterprise car rentals, as we had booked a car for our 2 days in LA. The rental shop was close by and we were driving off to Harbor Avenue in Anaheim within 30 mins. Yes, that makes 2 trips to Disneyland in one year.

OK WE KNOW WE HAVE A PROBLEM…. admitting it is the first step to recovery.

1:30 am ship’s time, we have reached the edge of Hurricane Rick. Huge swells all night had the ship is rocking and rolling like an amusement park ride. According to the ships travel information channel, the ocean water is 86 degrees, the TV did not list the wind speed or swells so we knew it was bad. We should be safely in our sheltered port in 6 hours, but it looks like it’s going to be a bumpy ride. The view of the storm from our balcony is AWESOME, you can see and feel the power of the ocean and the storm, it was a bit scary. We found out later before we arrived back in LA that this night the ship was hit with 70 mph winds and 18-20 foot swells.

After the Joshua had woken up, a 30 min process, we headed to breakfast then de-boarded the ship, into the pouring rain and wet but beautiful Puerto Vallarta Mexico . Luckily we walked right on to our waiting tour bus. This was mixed blessing. It was nice to be out of the rain but this tour was so not our cup of tea.

The tour guide spoke just enough English to lead the tour, but no more. The speakers on the bus were set at 11, normal buses volumes only go up to 10, but this bus goes to 11. So we were deaf about 10 mins into the tour. Once off the bus the tour guide did not have any megaphone so we missed about 2/3rds  of what he said.

First stop was the old town sea wall and then up to the Parish church. Dedicated to the Queen of the Americas. Built by a gentleman named Ramirez.  If you’re a ICS member this should ring some bells and raise an eyebrow or two. The church’s name is the Church od the Lady of Guadalupe..

The parish was lovely, but they only gave us 15 minutes to visit it. They then took us to a jewelry store and gave us 45 minutes to shop. Both of us hated this and wanted to go back to the parish. So we walked around and explored some of the “non-kickback” shops and we found and wonderful working mans restaurant, it smelled amazing!

Back on the bus and off into the jungle to see were “Night of Iguana” was filmed. The movie that made the town what it is today…. apparently. Our next stop was for a free drink before we headed back to the ship. The free drink was offered in a…. Jewelry shop and another 45mins wasted.  We again ditched the group and headed to a drug store and got some soda’s and hit the non-kickback stores for some little items. We did buy a hat for Shawn in the kick back store, and kinda regretted, we paid to much, but he will love it…. We hope.

We both were very unhappy at the commercialism and the spending push NCL sold us. Our tour of the city highlights was more a tour of kick back shops and stores then a tour of the city itself. We would not take the same tour again. If we travel to Purto Vallarta again we will do it alone, rather then with a tour group.

Once we got back to the ship we stood in the rain and got soaked as we re-boarded the ship. We changed clothes and had a sit down lunch on board. After lunch the weather was looking better outside so we decided to go for a walk around the port area. Most of the stores were nothing but tourist  crap-o-la, but just as we had decided to head back we found this little store run by an elderly gentleman and his wife. The items inside were nicer art pieces. And we found a nice vase as a gift for ourselves for LESS then we spend on Shawn’s cheap Mexican hat. It was a real nice find.

We re-boarded the ship changed clothes again, and headed up to deck 13 for the sunset. The weather finally was working in our favor. It was clear and amazing. Joshua got some wonderful shots. Check out all the photos HERE. The mountains and port looked wonderful and we had the deck almost to ourselves.

So just like the day, dinner was a real let down as well. We ate at Aqua, and both ordered the lamb. Both of us were served very very very pink, and Joshua likes his meat pink…. that is medium rare, but this was raw. Worst of all it was served on a bed of cold semi cooked lentils (Joshua hates cold lentils with a passion). It was so bad we walked out and never returned to Aqua for the rest of the cruise.

So we ended the day in our room, Anthony watched a Dr. Who episode on the laptop and Joshua read on the balcony. We have two more ship days before we return to LA, and we are hoping for smooth waters and a speedy trip. We are both looking forward to visiting our favorite Disneyland hotel and of course Disneyland itself.

After a night of huge swells and a constant rocking of the ship, we woke to the lights of Mazatlan in the distance. By 7am we were at breakfast and the ship was slowing entering the port.

We dashed back to the room and packed our travel bag.  We booked the old Mazatlan walking tour the day before. So we put on our hiking shoes and headed down to deck 4.

We were met by our tour guide, Shelia. She was is an American who moved to Mazatlan back in 1981. We boarded a little shuttle that took us to the main port building. Mazatlan does not have a cruise port, the dock area is a commercial dock so we had to be escorted by shuttle to a safe area.  Once in the port building Shelia got two cab vans that took the group down to the sea wall.

The weather was warm, but overcast. It sprinkled on us for most of the day. But it was nothing for two Oregonians.  We walked along the sea wall. We got to see a cliff diver, who swam to shore and asked for money. Then he started swearing at the crowds who did not tip him. There was another gentleman who was collecting tips for the diver, and we are not sure that they were together. From the diver’s reaction and the hasty retreat of the other guy…. We are guessing not.

We then walked down to the old town area and stopped in a little shop. We got a free drink (soda pop) and had our first restroom break. We didn’t buy anything.

The tour continued thru the old town area. Shelia explained the history of the mansions that make up the old town area. Most are greatly in disrepair. But a few looked kinda cool, either of us are ready to move there.

We stopped by the oldest working bakery in Mazatlan. Joshua bought some gingerbread cookies.

We then stopped by a museum, overlooking a nice little square. We then headed over to the opera house and then walked over to the cathedral. From there we visted the city market and the senior frog store where we picked up some cool board shorts and a t-shirt for Anthony’s nephew.

After shopping the tour ended and we headed back to the boat with Mike and Mike, a couple from Canada that we met on the tour. We did a little more shopping at the port shops and then reboarded the board.

We had dinner at the buffet market and then it was NAP time!

After our nap Anthony headed down to the spa, on our first day aboard the ship Anthony won a free foot and ankle massage. IT WAS HEAVENLY!

We headed down to dinner at about 7:00pm, which was ok.  We headed back to the room and watched DVD’s that we brought and then headed to bed early.

Oh we got a letter on our door, since they canceled our day in Cabo San Lucas they credited our account $9.01 per guest…  not quite $20.00 bucks wooopie!

Our photos from the day can be found HERE, should be good as we had dueling cameras.

Day three started at 3 am with HUGE swells. Both of us jumped out of bed to look for the tsunami that surly had just hit the ship. After not finding it we both went back to be bed.

We woke up and headed down to Versailles for breakfast. Again, window seating and a wonderful breakfast. Joshua had waffles & corn beef hash and Anthony had the French toast.

We walked the deck again and headed back to the room for a nap, yes we are being very lazy, but it’s our vacation.

Right before we had to get ready to meet up for our tethering group for our walking tour, the captain announced that due to safety concerns he was canceling Cabo San Lucas. The waves were ok now, but with Hurricane Rick heading in the waves were only going to get worse. So it would be too dangerous to tether the boats back to the boat in the afternoon. The captain was worried about re-boarding us safely.

So we had a second sea day. This translated to a bed day for us. We watched TV and slept most of the morning. Then had lunch, then headed back to the cabin and slept until dinner.

The Captain had the ship moving painfully slow all day. And the waves pounded the ship over and over. The hurricane was 350 miles away, but boy could we feel its presence.

We had dinner at the Endless summer Mexican restaurant. It was mostly horrible. It was the first time we had a white server; he was even from the United States. He was mostly horrible too. He was way too into a large party next to us to pay us any attention. Anthony ordered the chicken fajitas and they delivered without any of its condiments. He just had a hissing hot plate of chicken for about 5 minutes. Anthony refers to it as his on-board Chicken Steam Facial.

After dinner we walked around the ship a bit and then headed to bed.

Anthony didn’t get seasick, but was feeling poorly all day due to the waves, Joshua was a rock.  The waves were quite bad and did not calm down until almost dawn the next day. Luckily we purchased some sea sick pills before we left Portland.

Our first full day at sea. We woke early, before dawn. The sea was all dark and mysterious, a very cool view from the balcony. Light from the ship lighting the waves so the faded from a light blue to dark black.

We showered and walked the decks before breakfast, alone. No one was up, it was a ghost ship. We headed to the Versailles dining room again, but this time for breakfast. This time the view was wonderful, and we were the third couple in the dining room. So 6 diners, 20 staff members, we have never had a more attentive servers. All we had to do was look up from our food and 2 servers were

After breakfast we headed to the shore excursions talk in the theater. Which like all the programming on board turned out to be infomercial. We decided to book the walking tour, since we have never been to Cabo San Lucas. We will find out tomorrow if we wasted our money or not.

We spend most of the day being very very lazy. We slept a lot.  Anthony stripped down to his underwear and sunbathed on the balcony. Joshua wandered down to the Havana Cigar bar and had a scotch and cigar.

We had lunch at the buffet restaurant. It was ok, nothing to great. But dinner was very nice. We ate at the Italian restaurant, which is the buffet restaurant converted at night. They hang curtains and move in new table decorations. Anthony had veal shank with polenta; Joshua had the salmon with navy beans. Joshua bought a bottle of wine. The cool thing is the bottle will follow us from restaurant to restaurant during our cruise.

After dinner we watched the “Music of the Night” a salute to the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber.  It was mostly horrible. A few of the singers nailed it, but most of them should have just been nailed up for the horrific butchery they performed on the “Music of the Night”.

We turned in after that.

Take a look at our photos from on Board the ship HERE

Our vacation started at 5:00 am with the alarm clock blaring. We had packed everything the night before, so we both took turns showering, before driving to the airport.

We parked the car in the economy parking lot as Sam’s plane from Phoenix was scheduled to arrive later in the afternoon. So we left the car, with some money and some peanut butter cups, for him to drive home.

We got through security easily and headed straight for coffee and chai tea, then down to our gate A-11.

Our plane was a tiny little Horizon Air jet, which only holds 40 people and we were all packed in like sardines. Thankfully we were seated in the third row, so we were last on and first off.

We arrived at Longbeach airport two hours later. The sun was out and shining and it was a big temperature jump and we both quickly started to take off layers and got into our sandals. It was a beautiful day, our vacation had truly started.

We collected our luggage and walked over to the shuttle van area. Unlike our last trip to Longbeach, this time the van was there on time and we had no issues, other than waiting for the other passengers to show up. But for $38.00 bucks, which included the tip, it was a great cheap way to get to the port.

The shuttle took about 15 minutes to get us to the port. Upon arrival we were promptly met by porters who took our checked bags off to security for us. We then walked over to main entrance to the port.

The Norwegian Star was docked and it’s HUGE! We were met at the door by NCL representatives who checked to make sure we had our passports and check in paperwork. We then walked through a security checkpoint and then right up to the check in desk. We had no real wait. We got our room keys, had our photos taken, got our boarding card number and then headed over to the waiting area.

15 minutes later we were up again and heading to the ship, and 10 minutes later we were onboard the ship. With free champagne in hand we explored the ship for a bit. The unwashed masses all headed up to the buffet. In fact, all the crew kept directing everyone to the buffet. We ignored them and waited and hit Versailles, the fancy free restaurant. We where the third customers in the doors and got a wonderful window seat with an amazing view of the dock area. Ok it was not that great of a view, but the lunch was wonderful.

Just as we were leaving the restaurant they announced the rooms where ready. So we headed up to our room, 9086, ninth deck, with a huge balcony. There were two twin beds, which we quickly merged into a queen bed. We had everything we could need, but our luggage, which had yet to arrive.

At 3:30 they announced the muster drill. We headed down to our assigned spot with our life vests. Sorry no photos. Right after the drill they announced the cast off BBQ party on deck 12. We walked up to the front of the ship and got a great spot right at the center of bow of the ship. We watched a huge cargo ship come into the port and several smaller ships sailed by. Then just when we thought the ship would never set sail, it did.

It was at this point we had our only negative moment of the day. And it came from a fellow passenger not NCL. Just as we were having our romantic setting sail moment, Anthony was shoved out of the way by a short rude man and his ugly girl friend.  Fearing criminal prosecution for double homicide, we chose to LOUDLY express our displeasure and left.

We walked to the aft of the ship and were all alone and it was 100% more romantic and special. We watched the coast guard escort us out, and watched the port of LA slip away. We then headed back to our room and napped until dinner.

Dinner was an interesting event as well. The ship is really moving now so this was our first meal with motion. We ate a light dinner and had a yummy coconut soufflé for dessert. After dinner we headed right to bed.

We too lots of photos and you can see day one HERE.

Desoren.com (AKA Anthony and Joshua)

Is on vacation aboard the Norwegian Star for 7 nights. October 17th – 26th

Watch for posts from our vacation, fun photos and more soon!

Until then please enjoy this 80’s flashback:

Shawn came over to the house Sunday with a large pumpkin in tow. Friday his class took a field trip to a pumpkin patch, and he of course got the biggest one.

Dressed in his Superman outfit that he just got at Target, he proudly showed us his new super suit and his new Pumpkin carving kit that his mom had picked up for him and then he listed out the priorities for the day. Video games (he had had a good week so got a full hour) and carving his pumpkin.

We all played UP the video game for a while and then had bangers and mash for lunch with peas….. which are not Shawn’s favorite food item. But to his credit he ate them all.

After lunch we had quiet time. Shawn does not take naps… don’t belive us, just ask him. BUT 45 mins of quiet time, he will tolerate. This time he read long with 3 disney books we had; Wall-e, Meet the Robinsons and Leo and Stich.

After quiet time the pumpkin butchery begin. The kit that Shawn presented had several plastic pokers and 2 dull saw blades. It also came with a book that had about 10 patterns. The patterns ranged from a easy traditional smiling face to a 1 hour nightmare witch’s face….. he of course HAD to have the hard one.

So Anthony cut the top off and Shawn started scooping out the insides into a big bowl. Then under intense supervision by Shawn, Anthony was allowed to start the carving or at least the tracing. The tracing took about 30 mins to trace the pattern out. Then about 45 mins to actually carve the pumpkin. Shawn would do the easy lines and the harder parts he would “instruct” Anthony on how to do it for him.

While the cutting & drilling took place, Joshua cleaned up the pumpkin seeds and roasted them for a yummy afternoon snack.

Joshua had a Tri-met flashing badge and that with the LCD orange lights we used last year combined to do a very cool effect inside our witch pumpkin. Shawn wanted photos, so we marched into the backroom closed all the window shades an did a photo shoot. Which you can see at HERE

After our photo shoot, Shawn asked for us to cut his hair. Something his mom had given the ok for in advance. So Joshua grabbed the clippers and shaved his head with a #2 clipper guard Joshua did a great job.

Then while Joshua and Anthony cleaned up the loose hair and pumpkin bits Shawn took a quick shower and then redressed himself in his superman outfit. We have no proof soap was used, but we do know he got wet and he looked super cute with his new hair cut and his new super suite.

It as been a while since we have posted. We have been dealing with a bunch of grown up issues and it is creating a bunch of stress. As we mentioned before our landlord is putting our house on the market. But she is offering it to us first, something that we are now looking into.

Our adoption caseworker would like us to do this before the spring as she is hoping to have us to committee by then and moving close to or after placement could really screw things up for our chances of a placement. On top of that President Obama wants us to do it before November 30^th so he can give us $8,000.00 that we could use for our down payment or for closing costs.

Our options are to:

1) Buy the House

2) Move and rent a new house or apartment by Christmas

3) Or buy a different house and close before November 30^th, then move before Christmas

And just to add to the fun we are 9 days away from a vacation that will take us out of the country and unreachable for a week. A vacation that we booked and paid for in full prior to the present crisis. A vacation we where taking only because we really really needed a break due to the stress. AAGHGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

A realtor friend of ours pointed us to a home loan guru. Gary at Mortgage Monkey www.mortgagemonkey.com. Joshua had a meeting with him last week and turned over all of our information and taxes. Some time this week we should know what we are pre-approved for and what we could offer on the house or a different house or on nothing at all.

Since then we have been in full red alert panic mode. Trying to be prepared for any outcome we have been driving around for the past two evenings looking in the windows of houses that are on the market. Which sounds fun but it has only depressed us more.

Our guess is we are house snobs, that or the housing market here in Portland crazy. Everything is so pricy for so little. On the plus side we have found we can rent nicer homes then what we have now cheaper! So if we have to rent and move, it looks like we will be ok and might even come out ahead.

Further on the plus side we had a great visit last Sunday with Shawn. Since the weather was lousy we stayed home. Anthony and Shawn cooked breakfast then played UP the video game. Then before lunch they cooked 2 pumpkin pies! We then all spent the afternoon reading from the Dangerous Book for Boys.