Panorama: Puerto Vallarta
Good morning! There’s a lot of traffic on this road in Puerto Vallarta.
It looks like we’re right across the street from a shopping mall.
We’ve got company coming.
It looks like a lot of boats were waiting for the Royal Princess to park and now they’re all heading out.
There’s also a Walmart with covered parking across the street.
The towel animals are out for the final port day.
The coffee shop line is about six deep. I stopped by the ocean plaza bar for a mocha with no line.
I brought my mocha to the MDR for a little breakfast.
Avocado toast, ham and hash browns.
I stopped by the atrium bar for a drink after breakfast. They have some horrible bar service this morning. This bartender can apparently only handle one thing at a time. He finished making a Bloody Mary for someone. Then he takes the order of a guy that was there before me. That’s fine.
After he makes that drink he takes the order of a guy with three kids that just walked up. Then a lady who arrived at the bar about 5 minutes after me. That was enough. I started heading up to lido deck. This is my first time having that bartender. It’s always been a girl down there who is pretty good. I’ll try to avoid this one in the future.
It took less than two minutes to get that fun ship at the Red Frog Rum Bar. I was sitting in the atrium for a good 10 minutes and didn’t even get to place an order.
I’m heading off of the ship.
I don’t have any solid plans today. I’d like to check out that mall and Walmart across the street. I need to pick up some nail clippers. The ship is sold out. I’d also like to walk on the Melancon down by the beach.
I may have made a mistake here. You actually can exit by that white tent and walk right across the street to the mall.
I got on the shuttle which takes you to the port area over by the Royal Princess.
There really isn’t much in that port area. They are still working on it. A few shops are open.
Once you get to the end of that maze of an unfinished shopping mall, you come to an area where you can catch a taxi.
You can’t cross the highway where this comes out. I’m not sure if I’m going to the Melancon or if I’m just going to cross the street and back track to Walmart, so I skip the taxis and start walking.
I like the Mexico sign right next to the Irish Pub.
I would later find out this isn’t the route taxis take to and from the Melancon. They take a road with less traffic. If you want to catch a cab, I strongly recommend doing so in the port area.
It wasn’t a boring walk. There were a lot of malls, shops, and hotels along the way. There wasn’t much of a water view though since all of the buildings were blocking it. I did stop at a pharmacy to get the nail clippers I needed.
I traveled a great distance. It was shop after shop after shop shop shop shop…then finally I saw an opening.
The ship in the middle would be a good indication of how far I walked.
This is the direction we’re going.
We made it to the Melancon. There’s a lot of art work here.
They have a lot of bars and restaurants in this area as well.
Art everywhere.
This pier looks interesting so I decided to check it out.
I caught a cab back to the ship. The ride was $12. The driver said he had to drop me by the Port area by the Princess ship so I had to walk through that area and take the shuttle again.
I’m not sure the driver was telling the truth because I saw taxis dropping people off at the entrance by Panorama. I think he was just doing what was more convenient for him.
My plan is to eat lunch and then get back off of the ship to check out the mall and walmart.
I stopped by Pasta Bella which is an included lunch up in the space that is Cucina Del Capitano at night. I’m going for a chicken alfredo.
This is the view.
This is what they have on the buffet for lunch.
I stopped by the gelato station again. They have pineapple and butter scotch.
I went with butter scotch.
Cakes.
I had to get cookies n cream because I didn’t think a green cake would be cookies n cream. I was right. This is not what I would consider a cookies n cream cake.
They have a daytime dive-in movie happening by the pool.
I made it back off the ship and across the street to the mall.
And Walmart.
And we’re back on the ship at the Red Frog Rum Bar.
This Pina Colada looks right but it tastes like straight alcohol.
I believe a pirate ship is attacking the Royal Princess.
I decided to try Guy’s Smokehouse for dinner. Here is the menu.
Dragon fries
Half rack of ribs
Sweet potato mash
I also had a porter beer. Somehow that picture ended up just being the can of utensils on the table.
The smokehouse wasn’t my favorite for dinner. The ribs didn’t have a lot of meat on the bone and the corn was dry. I did like the dragon fries. I think the dragon fries or trash can nachos would make a great late night snack at just $4 each.
This is what they had in the MDR.
They have a trio of violins playing in the atrium.
After dinner I hustled down to comedy because this is the Hasbro the game show/love and marriage show night in the main lounge which means everyone is going to be going to the comedy shows.
This is the first adult show of the night. I missed both of the PG shows while I was eating.
I arrive at the comedy club but it’s closed for cleaning. It’s 7:55 and the show starts at 8:30. There is a huge line that goes almost to the hero’s bar. I got in line. This is the view.
I decided since I waited in line I might as well snag a seat with a chair back. This is what it looked like after the line cleared. The seats next to me weren’t filled until 8:17.
I started talking to the lady next to me and didn’t track the rest of it. The place was standing room only by the time the show started although there were a couple of empty singles two rows in front of me with a lady sitting between them. On a rare occasion where I’ll take a good seat with a back like tonight I’ll make sure I’m leaving two together.
That show let out at 9pm and the next one is at 9:45. They cleared the place and said they would open the doors in 15 minutes. I went back to my room to check on laundry and returned 20 minutes later. This was the scene.
As a platinum cruiser I get three free bags of laundry on a cruise of this length. I’m starting to run low on clothes so I sent out two bags tonight. I managed to rip both of the paper bags. This is why you always need to pack duct tape, My clothes should be ready in the morning.
Tomorrow is a sea day.
