Quotes of the Week

 The temple is a place of revelation. There you are shown how to progress toward a celestial life. There you are drawn closer to the Savior and given greater access to His power. There you are guided in xolving the problems in your life, even your most perplexing problems.

-- Russell M. Nelson

It is for reasons known only to God why prayers are answered differently than we hope -- but I promise you they are heard and they are answered according to His unfailing love and cosmic timetable.

-- Jeffrey R. Holland

The more clearly we understand our divine destiny, the more immune we become to Satan.

-- Sheri Dew

Two Super Sea Days; Long Drive Back Home

Cruisin' With the Cougs Day 6 was a sea day. As always, BYU had figured out some great ways to entertain us. There were some panel Q&A for some of the athlete legends.

The Cougarettes performed various dance numbers with lots of costume changes.

The ship offered non-alcoholic beverages to our group of passengers. 

Each day a specialty drink was highlighted. 

I really got a kick out of the names of all the non-alcoholic mixed drinks that were offered on our BYU cruise. Clever!

Our BYU cruise director said the bartenders were very confused about us and asked why the adults are ordering so many kids' drinks (soda).

They ran out of Coke and chocolate milk. A coffee girl was pushing a coffee cart around during one meal and after that no one ever came around again with coffee.

There was one evening program we did NOT enjoy. It was Patrick & the LVB. 

The BYU cruise director announced the performers and warned that they would be playing loud music, but don't ask for them to turn it down. Just enjoy it. 

As soon as the deafening music began, people soon began to get up and leave the theater. I kept trying to figure out if Royal Caribbean had booked these performers well before the BYU cruise was set and so couldn't have them not perform??? 

Whatever the backstory of how they came to be on our ship will remain a mystery, but it sure seemed strange to have them entertaining that evening. We stayed through the whole performance because we didn't have anything else to do. Our hearing will never be the same!

I do think if they had played the same music only turned it down many, many decibels, it could have been enjoyable. They played a few songs we had heard before. There were people (mostly younger people) who were getting into the music, so different strokes for different folks.

Cruisin' With the Cougs Day 7 was another day at sea. It was wonderful that the water was calm during our whole cruise. 

In the past, I have not felt that great on sea days, but this time I did wonderfully well not feeling seasick at all. I will be forever thankful to have found higher doses of ginger to work wonders for motion sickness--both car and ship movement.

We had another day of entertainment provided by BYU. 

We went to a show put on by the ship's ice skating performers. It was amazing how much they can do on such a small ice rink.

At one point during the day when we went back to our cabin, I was surprised to see my shoe sitting in the middle of the room. I was absolutely sure I had put my shoes away before we left.

Upon closer inspection, I found this little guy inside my shoe.

The towel bat had been flying above us for a couple of days.

It is always apparent when the cruise is coming to an end when there is a tip envelope sitting on the bed.

Despite it being the final evening, we had one more night to enjoy, so off we went to the dining room to eat with Randy and Susan Bambrough once again. 

I decided to order two main dishes because I wanted the turkey dinner, but I also wanted spaghetti Bolognese again because I had barfed it up the first day on the ship.

Shockingly, it wasn't repulsive being the last thing I ate before throwing up like some foods have been in the past. It was yummy!! I shared it with Nani.

These two girls and their great love for chocolate!!

The evening entertainment was a re-cap of the week along with some stunts by the cheerleaders and Cosmo. 

At the end there was a big announcement that there would be a second Cruisin' With the Cougs in two years. 

They were getting us all pumped up about that and getting us to pre-sign up for that cruise so they can know how many people are interested in cruising once again. FUN!!!

We usually went upstairs to the Star Lounge after the evening show to see what kind of musical thing was going on up there. This was our usual bench.

This was our second usual bench--the one with no pillars blocking our view.

We decided to forego the late-night BYU party and balloon drop on the Royal Promenade. We were all tired and knew we had a big travel day ahead of us. So we went to bed.

In the morning, we ate our breakfast as usual in the Windjammer buffet. Then we got in the long line of people carrying off their own luggage and waited until the gangway was in place and the line started moving.

The line wrapped all the way around the ship! 

We were glad we had parked right next to the ship. The only problem was we were in such a rush to get to the port, get parked, and get ourselves and our luggage all checked in that after a week, we forgot where we parked. We wandered around a bit, but eventually found the car. 

Then a moment of panic when Glen couldn't remember what he had done with the car key. Crisis averted!! He found the key and we were on our way.

We had a full, long day of driving going from Los Angeles to our home in North Salt Lake all in one day. 

As we were driving by Primm, Nevada, we spotted the place we were all convinced poisoned us at the beginning of our vacation. Good riddance, Primm! 

We will never think of Primm without remembering how sick we got from our short stay in that town in the restaurant inside this casino.

Our Las Vegas lunch stop was at In-N-Out Burger. YUM!!!!

We stopped again somewhere south of Provo where we ate dinner at Zupas.

After all those hours driving, Glen and I were happy to be home. We felt bad Nani still had some driving to do to take Kathy home in Hooper and then drive to her home in Ogden. But she made it!

My assessment was it was a very fun vacation. It was my favorite cruise ship experience by far. We didn't love the Mexican ports, but Ensenada's stained glass window tour made up for the other tours.

Shockingly, I must say that with my meager love of sports, I was wholeheartedly into everything that was said and done on the ship. I loved it. Who says you have to be an avid BYU sports fan to enjoy Cruisin' With the Cougs??!!??

I have now just thought of something on the ship that I was NOT wholeheartedly into like Glen was every time we went to our cabin and he turned on the TV and rewatched every single game from the past that was playing all throughout the weeklong cruise. 

Glen lost no time in arranging all our newly-acquired BYU magnets on the front of our refrigerator. It is a constant reminder of our unique cruising experience. 

If anyone were to ask Glen his opinion of the cruise, I think this says it all.

Stay tuned for our Cruisin' With the Cougs 2.0 blog posts in the summer of 2027! Anyone else on board for cruising with us??

Sabbath Sea Day; Cabo San Lucas; Puerto Vallarta

Sunday was Day 3 on the cruise ship, and it was my favorite day of the whole cruise. We started the morning by going to a performance by Hilary Weeks entitled Sweet Sabbath. 

Her music brought such a peaceful, reverent feeling into our hearts as we listened to what she sang and also the personal things she shared. Beautiful!!

After lunch we went to a Sunday Devotional with BYU coaches and athletes each taking a few minutes to speak.

We spent some time each day in the casino. That's where we had to line up to go to the shows. Nani and Kathy found a way to make the time go by quicker by eating an ice cream cone. 

Nani was impressed with the number of young men and boys on the ship who wore their Sunday clothes the entire day.

Glen wore his church clothes all day. Kathy wore a dress all day. Nani and I opted out until dinnertime because our feet in Sunday shoes aren't that comfortable.

The mid-afternoon devotional we attended was by artist Dan Wilson. He talked to us and shared pictures of the paintings he has drawn of his Experiences Painting the Image of Christ.

Dinner that evening was dress-up attire. Thought I better get in some food photos or it would not be a cruise blog.

Looking down on the Royal Promenade, one might wonder where are all the people???? 

Our evening's entertainment was put on by the Truman Brothers. They provided a very beautiful musical program for us. What a great way to end the Sabbath Day. Loved every minute of that sea day.

Day 4 found us in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. We were eating breakfast and looking at this view as we sailed slowly into port.

We had signed up for a city bus tour. We went to this shopping area to line up and wait to get on the bus. 

Got our dork dots stuck on us so they know where to tell us to go.

We were taken to the Cactus Blown Glass Factory.

We were shown how they make glass animals with blown glass. It was an interesting demonstration to watch that process. Then we were turned loose in their store in hopes we would buy their wares.

We spent our time looking at all the blown glass items for sale and then looking at all the stained glass windows all throughout the building. Since we had already learned how stained glass windows are made, it was interesting to see the colorful windows all throughout the building.

Still wearing our tour dork dots, we got on the bus for our next stop.

We next got off the bus at a luxury hotel overlooking the water. Our guide touted it as "the most beautiful place in the world." Uh...we beg to differ...

The multi-level patios provided a place for us to view our cruise ship off in the distance. 

At this port, the cruise ships had to lower their anchors, and we had to get on the smaller tender boats to get us from ship to shore. That always takes a lot of time.

At our next stop, our guide walked us to the big flagpole and told us that would be our meeting place after we wandered around the area for a while.

Our guide took us up to see the historic Catholic Church.

Then we were let loose to shop for a while.

As quickly as we could, once we got back to our drop off point, we got in the long line to get tendered back to the cruise ship. The gigantic BYU banner let us know we were getting on the right ship.

This elephant was our greeting as we stepped into our cabin that afternoon.

The theme for the evening was island. We were each provided with a blue (of course!!) lei which made us all look festive.

Once again, Randy and Susan Bambrough joined our group for dinner.

The evening entertainment was Rise & Laugh with stand-up comedian Steve Soelberg. He had us laughing before he ever came out as silly pictures and jokes were showing on the screen.

I wish I had taken a photo of every single one, but here are three I took.

The comedy routine was very clean, funny stuff. It was an enjoyable hour of laughing entertainment to which we could all relate. 

BYU Cruisin' With the Cougs Day 5 was in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. 

Since we had a late morning arrival time, we decided to go to the sport court and watch the athletes teaching groups of children and youth the tricks to their skills.

Jimmer Fredette is coaching the group to the right.

BYU stuff everywhere!!

We went to a Leading Saints Podcast Interview in the Star Lounge.

After eating lunch, we got another dork dot and went on a city bus tour. This bus definitely struggled with air conditioning. The day was very, very warm. Our guide stopped to let us walk around the waterfront.

We were very impressed with the bright yellow trees that flower year-round. Each tree really stood out, and the vibrant pop of color was so beautiful.

Church of our Lady of Guadalupe.

My favorite stop on the tour was The Tile Park where everything was covered in colorful mosaic artwork. 

Of course there were opportunities to shop. None of us were interested in doing shopping, so we just walked as the sellers were trying to lure us into buying their wares.

Another stop on our tour was a silver store where our tour guide gave our busload of people 45 minutes to shop. Not interested in buying jewelry or objects.

Glen got fed up with the shopping stops and I was fed up with the hot, stickiness of the day. I wanted to get back to the ship and shower before dinner.

So... Glen took matters into his own hands and rounded up a taxi driver to take us back to the ship. That was the best part of the excursion. Glen enjoyed communicating with our driver in his native Spanish language while the back seaters were hoping the crazy, fast driving would result in getting us safely to our destination.

Of course, we could not just walk through the gate to get on the sidewalk to the ship. NO!!!! We were directed to make a long walk through a mall and a bunch of shops before getting to the sidewalk lined with booths and booths of local people trying to sell us things. 

The entertainment that evening was BYU Celebrity Feud. Earlier in the cruise, the passengers had been asked to respond to some BYU trivia questions, and those answers were used in playing this Family Feud game.

It was so fun and funny. So many great laughs at their answers and at their comments. 

We had enjoyed the early showing so much that Nani had the brilliant idea to see if we could possibly get into the later showing since we knew there would be different BYU celebrities and it would be a whole different game.

Luckily, we got in to the second show. We stood in the back for the whole hour, but it was well worth it. So many good laughs once again. We loved it!! Great way to end that day.