One night to Mexico and one day and two nights back

Our next adventure is on the Carnival cruise ship the Inspiration.  Our cruise left Long Beach on January 2.   We checked into our cruise at the Carnival cruise terminal, which is the geodesic dome built to house the Spruce Goose airplane. After waiting on several long lines, we boarded the ship, dropped our bags in our staterooms and managed to find the Lido Deck which a lunch buffet was being served until the boat had to prepare for departure.  The pre-departure safety drill included tagging all kids 12 and under with a wristband which would tell crew members where the kid belongs in case of an emergency.  Laura was upset to be tagged with a nonremovable wristband while her brothers were not.

Laura loved singing karioke

We explored the ship until our 8:15 dinner in the main dining room.

When we woke up the next morning we were docked in Ensenada Mexico.  We entertained ourselves on the ship for the morning (miniature golf, ping-pong, chess,  shuffleoard),

then took a topless bus tour in the afternoon ("The bus is topless, not the passengers", and it's "the only topless bus in Ensenada").

Waiting for our bus tour of Ensenada.  Our cruise ship is in the background.

Dave and tour guide on our bus tour.

Back on the boat around sunset, the boat is getting ready to depart.  The birds like to hang around the eating area.

We dressed up for the formal attire dinner.  At the end of the meal, the wait staff sang and danced with the kids.

The kids spent the evening in the teen activity rooms.

The third day of our cruise was "at sea".  It took us approximately 12 hours to travel from Long Beach to Ensenada, but it took 36 hours return to Long  Beach, so we cruised much slower on the return trip.

That morning, we started off with brunch in the dining room

Laura's fruit plate was a work of art.

The kids enjoyed chocolate chip pancakes for the main course.

Apparently Carnival is know for its towel animals--a different one in each stateroom each day.  Today we had a dog and the boys' room had a stingray..

Then the kids took advantage of some of the planned activities and played video games in the teen room.  Laura spent the day with her new friend playing games in the Shakespeare Library, hanging out in the pool, and participating in Harry Potter trivia.  While Dave, Joshua and Benjamin enjoyed a late afternoon screening of the Wonder Woman movie, I packed our bags for home.

In the atrium of the cruise ship.

The next morning we had a quick, early breakfast, then disembarked from the boat.

The kids standout outside the buffet eating area in front of the pool.

We stopped at the Getty Museum on our way back to Fremont.