7
day Mexican Riviera Cruise aboard
Carnival Cruise Line’s ship the “Elation”
The idea of a cruise conjures up images of retired folks, newly-weds, couples celebrating anniversaries, family reunions, or people wanting to escape their dreary lives. Not exactly the mix of people I'm itching to hang around with for 7 days. So, when Marcelo, Salsa Salvaje (www.salsasalvaje.com) instructor, announced that John Riddle of DanceFun (www.dancefun.com) asked us to teach on the cruise, I was skeptical about how much fun I’d have. Would it be worth the money I’d be spending to just get on the cruise? I consulted friends about what to expect on cruises. Responses ranged from, “Aren’t you worried about the virus outbreaks on that cruise line?” to “I’m jealous. Salsa, sun, water, Mexico, sun, food, pampering, sun. What’s not to enjoy?” (Credit first quote to co-worker Elizabeth. Credit the second quote to Salsacrazy himself.)
After a bit of research, I discovered that 1. I didn’t need to bring a lot of cash with me (a good thing since graduate student life leaves one with no disposable income) and 2. the virus outbreaks were mostly in Florida area cruises and that they were contained, but if I kept to bottled water and cooked foods, I’d be pretty safe from catching something that would give me diarrhea. On Hallie Kuperman’s (www.centuryballroom.com) suggestion, I bought bonine, which is a milder form of dramamine, to prevent seasickness. I also packed my little vial of White Flower Oil, a Chinese ointment that smells like eucalyptus and is a cure-all for everything from headaches to nausea. As a last thought, I brought a piece of ginger with me in case I felt sick.
Before I bombard you with my day-by-day account of the cruise, here’s a summary of the trip. Over 100 people attended the DanceFun event. People came from Seattle, Oregon, the San Francisco Bay Area, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego. Our small but significant group was less than 10% of the 2000 people who were on the cruise ship. The cruise set-sail from Los Angeles, spent the first 2 days at sea, the next couple of days at different ports in Mexico, and the last day or so back at sea returning to Los Angeles.
During days at sea, DanceFun organized several hours of salsa workshops at all levels for each day. Privates lessons were available and arranged independently between students and instructors. Each day, DanceFun organized a salsa dance social, DJ’d by Tony “El Tigron” Gomez of Los Angeles. Some of the highlights for the salsa socials included a 70s theme social, birthday and anniversary celebration night, and prizes for the best cabin-door decorations. Aside from the organized socials, some of us die-hard salsa dancers got a hold of a boombox (thanks Alma!) and danced to salsa CDs late at night in one of the ships clubrooms. The floors inside the ship were marble and were a little sticky for dance sneakers. Floors outside on the deck were wooden and great for dancing in either dance sneakers or dance heels.
Dancers ranged from raw beginners to professionals, with about 15% at the beginner range, 15% at the professional range, and bulk in the intermediate-advanced range. Ratios of gents to dames on some nights seemed to favor the ladies, and on other nights definitely favored the men. One of the best things about DanceFun events is that everyone has fun dancing with everyone and getting turned down for a dance is rare. Intimidation factor sinks to near zero when you get a group of people who are real and not egotistical and just love to dance. It’s one of the characteristics that makes DanceFun’s well-organized events so successful.
Now on to the details of my salsa cruise experience:
Day
1 – Sunday
5:45am.
With barely 90 minutes of sleep the night before, I drove to pick up Naomi
at 6am. The Salvaje crew met up at Marcelo’s pad at 6:15am. Michael drove
us to the airport, and while he and Marcelo were discussing the pros and cons
of buying your own pad versus paying rent, the rest of us dozed or watched
a dark and drizzly Seattle whiz by. The flight itself was uneventful.
10am. When we landed in LAX, we faced a long, unmoving line for the shuttle to the port. After standing in that line (and not advancing) for what seemed like hours, the five of us ditched the line and decided to catch our own taxi-van to the port. Heh heh, we beat the lines to the port. Or so we thought.
12:30pm. At the LA port, there must have been over a 1000 people trying to check-in to the ship. That line was probably the longest line I’ve ever stood in. Despite the long line, people were all very patient. We all must’ve been eager to get the vacation started. The trip officially began when, after checking us onto the cruise, just prior to boarding the ship “Elation”, crewmembers took the first of our many cruise photos.
3pm. Once on the ship, we dropped off our luggage in our respective cabins, and made a beeline to the buffet at Tiffany’s. Boy was I starving! On my second plate of food, I finally exhaled a sigh of relief, inhaled the relaxing air of the ship, and looked out the window. It was then that I noticed no lines on the pier. Mental note: next time, check onto ship after 3pm.
5:30pm By this time, the ship had just started to set sail. DanceFun hosts John and Anita greeted the group at our first salsa social. We received name tags, salsa canvas bags, and a convenient little schedule of events for the week that we could tuck into the plastic nametag holder. Our hosts welcomed us to the event, introduced the instructors, and let DJ Tony spin the salsa while everyone worked off their giddiness on the dance floor. Excited to debut my sexy new dance shoes from Jim Hadley’s Experience Store (www.salsapromotions.com), I stepped onto the dance floor. Whoa. It was gonna be a little trickier dancing on a floor that was moving at who-knows-how-many-knots-an-hour in the ocean. Even with the ship’s anti-rocking vertical stabilizers, yes, you could feel the ship move. The experience reminded me of the nights I danced on one of those salsa cruises around Elliott Bay that Claudio Valentino organized every Friday night in the summer. I had to focus to hold my balance (or more like regain my balance after losing it!). It definitely would be too tricky to Argentine tango on a cruise.
8pm. The formal dinners were outstanding, with a different 4 course menu selection each night. Vegetarian, seafood, and meat options made the nightly decisions tantalizingly difficult. We were shy about ordering stuff on the first night. But boy, on the second night, when I realized we could order more than one appetizer/entrée, well, then the feasting commenced. Thus began my nightly pig-out sessions.
11pm. After dinner, our group checked out one of the clubs on the ship called “Jekyl and Hyde.” The dj’d played top pop hits, a little hip hop, 80s music, and other clubby dance stuff. Needing to work off our dinner, we busted a few moves on the dance floor. Rather than let the bronze pole in the middle of the dance floor be an obstruction, Paula took the opportunity to exhibit a sultry pole dance. Then, so did a few other ladies. Yes, we have footage captured on video tape. We also have footage of people doing the electric slide, dancing salsa to non-salsa music, and simply goofing around. It was hilarious! Or maybe we were delirious from how little sleep we had the night before.
Working up a sweat, we thought it would be perfect to jump into one of the Jacuzzis on the boat. Unfortunately, we found out the jacuzzi’s were drained after something like 9pm each night. While on deck, though, we noticed how pleasantly warm the night air was. We then wandered to club on the ship called the “Cole Porter Lounge.” There, a band of Filipino men were doing an amazing job covering old hits like BeeGees tunes or Smokey Robinson’s stuff. In between sets, they let us play a salsa cd, and the dancers took over the floor. After their final set was over, we were still not ready to turn in for the night. Alma Frey went to her room and brought up her boombox. Voila. As long as the music kept playing, we kept dancing. By the end, there were only about 5 of us left. The person with the most endurance must have been El Tigron, who, as it turns, out, is a Seaon Stylist dancer. While he was patiently showing us a few cool shines on 2, one by one, we sat down, exhausted and without enough brainpower to continue absorbing new footwork. Now that’s the way a night should end!!
Day
2 – Monday
The
next morning, Paula got up around 6am. Naomi and I probably wouldn’t have
known to get up if she hadn’t returned at 10am. Ours was an indoor cabin,
with no window, so it was pitch black if no lights were on. Groggily, Naomi
and I got ready for the day as Paula gushed about how warm and sunny it was
outside, how she had already gotten a chance to do a power walk on the track
on deck, lay out in the sun, and jump in the Jacuzzi. Our first workshop was
going to begin soon, and we had just enough time to dress, grab some breakfast,
and head off to teach our first lesson.
Workshops
on Monday ran til about 5pm today. Several workshops ran simultaneously in different
rooms. Each room was wired for sound, and the instructors had wireless headset/microphones
to speak into. The workshops were well attended. Immediately
after the day’s workshops, we had a salsa social. After that was over, a few
of us headed to the Jacuzzi for a much needed soak at the end of a long day!
While relaxing in the outdoor Jacuzzi, we spotted an orbiting satellite above
us. That
night was the cruise’s formal dinner night. Everyone on the boat was decked
out. I mean tuxes, ties, suits, cuff-links, up-dos, manicures, etc. And then
there were the salsa dancers…in our finest salsa wear, some in black dance sneakers
and all.
After dinner, several dancers met up for late night salsa and reportedly took over the Jekyl and Hyde club til 4am. There was a mix-up about our room key so a few of us crashed in another room. With all the buzz in the room, it was bound to be another sleepless night.
Day
3 – Tuesday
After
a private lesson, I headed over to where our first workshop was. In today’s
workshops, Marcelo and I got to teach a meringue and then a salsa class. Marcelo
felt a bit sick and had to run out of the meringue class for a second. He
caught whatever Rachel had the night before (which she got before getting
on the ship). By the end of the night, though, Marcelo was back up to speed.
We hit the jacuzzi again at night before heading out to dinner. At the social
dance tonight, John and Anita called out all the people who had birthdays
and anniversaries in the month of January. Each of the celebrants received
a birthday card and t-shirt. What a great way to recognize individuals. Stacey
and Francisco then led us into a birthday dance tradition. All the guys formed
one circle. All the ladies formed a second circle. In the middle of each circle
were the dancers of the opposite sex who were celebrating something. While
the DJ played a song, the people outside of the circle got to dance for a
few bars with each of the people in the middle of the circle. It was very
cool. Not sure what else we did tonight, but we might have gone to check out
the ship’s nightly big show and then to Tiffany’s for the crepes at the midnight
buffet before calling it a night.
Day
4 – Wednesday – Puerto Vallarta
After being on sea for a couple of days, we were all very excited to leave
the ship for land. DanceFun organized a half-day excursion and salsa dance
exchange at Puerto Vallarta, led by Bernie Lozano, salsaweb correspondents
for Mexico. Our air-conditioned tour bus first took us to Le Cliffs – a scenic
spot atop a cliff. There were gorgeous views aplenty. You could tell this
was a tourist stop because there were also highly polished silver jewelry
and other trinkets.
You can
tell what people think about tourists by what they try to sell you. One such
item I witnessed something for the first time. Pinky-nail paintings. A young
man sat diligently painting intricate ocean scenes with birds, sea, and land
onto a porcelain tile using his pinky fingernail, which he’d dip into different
colors of paint. Whoa. Some people are resourceful. Then I witnessed another
event. Somebody actually bought one! Whoa. Some people really have nothing
better to spend their money on. Americans…
After Le Cliff, we boarded the tour bus and headed to lunch at Chico’s Paradise.
Chico’s Paradise was indeed a haven. From the open-air restaurant was a beautiful
view of a secluded area perfect for a refreshing dip, complete with a short
waterfall into translucent warm freshwater. The food, being Americanized-
Mexican and expensive, was the one disappointing factor. After eating, came
the dance exhibitions. Salomon and Sandra Rivera, a Guatemalan group, a Mexican
group, a danzon couple, and Marcelo and myself gave exhibitions. The danzon
couple stole the show with their graceful, melodic, elegant dance. They also
gave a basic lesson in danzon. While the DJ played salsa, we were encouraged
to dance with people from a different country. Hence, the event was billed
as a dance exchange with people from other countries. Cool idea.
Afterwards, the bus took us to downtown Puerto Vallarta. We explored Rio Caule and Old Town. Since the short jump into the water at Chico’s Paradise wasn’t enough and we wanted more playtime in the water, we headed to the beach. Tony didn’t bring his trunks, so we went off in search of a pair he could buy. Everywhere we went, they tried to sell him Speedos. Must be because they’ve seen the cruise-brochures touting men in Speedos. Real people don’t wear Speedos.
In the search for normal trunks, we got a chance to walk and explore. At one point I bailed hard on an unevenly paved stone step. Tony pointed out there aren’t any ‘watch your step’ signs unlike at every stairwell on the boat. Thanks for the warning, bro.
He finally bought a pair of shorts and upon headed back to find the group on the beach, we discovered we had been ditched. Near the beach, we ran into Ricardo and his cousin. Turns out he saw the group take off and pointed out the direction in which they went. As luck would have it, we found them pretty quickly.
From where we were, we took a local bus to where the shopping area was, Malecon (Boardwalk). The bus was like 5 pesos. At 10 pesos to 1 dollar, it was 50cents each for busfare. At Malecon, we enjoyed an amazing sunset. To cap the scene off, an old pirate-like ship full of loud intoxicated people (likely Americans) sailed into the sunset. We called the boat, the “Booze-Cruise.” Another observation: everywhere we went, kids were trying to sell us Chiclets. They must think Americans need lots of breathmints, probably to get rid of the margarita-breath.
We took another local bus back to the port. At one stop, a teenage boy stepped on board and announced his wares to all. Nobody made a purchase, so he stepped off at the following stop.
That evening, we jumped into the jacuzzi and then had dinner at 8pm. Salsa that night ran from 10pm – 1am.
Day
5 – Mazatlan Thursday
In Mazatlan, we were free to wander the city or participate in one of the
many paid exhibitions sponsored by the cruise. Several of us chose to check
out the Deer Island kayak and hiking daytrip. I didn’t bring my camera since
I didn’t think I’d have a safe place to store it. However, I regret not bringing
it. Our stuff was as safe as could be with this organized group. A katamaran
took us to the sandy white shores of this small, uninhabited island. While
there were no deer on island, there were plenty of fish in the warm water.
Handsome rugged local tour-guides met us there. After a refreshments (included
in the tour package) of pastries and fruits like papaya, melons, bananas,
we paired up into kayaking teams. The guides expertly explained how to kayak
and led us out into the waters. It was an unusually calm day out at sea, the
weather was perfect, and the water was so nice and warm that we purposely
flipped our kayak over and ducked into the water. After about 45 minutes of
kayaking, we returned to the beach, where we had more fruit and pastries.
They also had plenty of canned soda and bottled water for us.
The guides
then led us on a short hike up to the top of island for another lovely beautiful
view. We learned that the national plant of Mexico is a kind of cactus. One
of the tourguides was an ornithologist and described the many birds we saw.
After the hike, some of us jumped back into water for a nice swim. Some people
played volleyball while others lay in the sun. We also played a couple of
brain-teaser games with the tourguides.
The objective of one game was to form four equal triangles using eight sticks,
where the sticks can’t overlap. The objective of the second game was, using
20 stones in clusters at the corners and at midpoints between the corners
of a square, to make each side sum to 9 stones.
When our time at Deer Island was over, *sigh*, some took the katamaran back to the cruise. Our crew took a short ride to the Golden Zone, a touristy ritzy part of Mazatlan. Again, we were met with people selling wares and services and experiences. A couple of us tried out parasailing. It was $15 for fifteen minutes. While waiting for them, roving merchants approached asking if I wanted to have my hair braided (apparently this is a very popular services among Americans), or to buy jewelry, handbags, sombreros, sunglasses, and hammocks. It was like having a flea market march pass where you were sitting on the beach.
After the parasailing was done, we took a taxi (which looked like a golf-cart) to meet up with the rest of the Dance Fun group at “Senior Frog’s Bar” for a little salsa and dancing. Senior Frog’s is a chain we saw at each town we stopped. There were even Senior Frog stores selling t-shirts and mugs and stuff. Kinda like a Disney Store. The food there was Americanized, too. And how were the well-advertised pricey drinks??? Watered-down. I’m not sure there was even any alcohol in the multiple shots we had.
The salsa dance that day was supposed to start at 5pm, but we got back to the boat a little late (didn’t realize that it wasn’t realistically walkable from Sr. Frog’s to the port) and there was a snafu with the sound system in the room. But the dance was only delayed for half and hour, and the DJ made up for it by staying an extra half-hour. After dinner, we enjoyed the Carnival cruise show of the night and then retired to the cabin to watch Gold Member at midnight.
Day
6 – Cabo San Lucas Friday
On the last day out, our crew chose to participate in the snorkeling expedition.
We met at 10am and boarded a small boat that would take us out near the famous
arches of Cabo for our snorkeling experience. What an experience. It was like
swimming in a tropical fish tank for an hour! Such colorful fish and corals
in such clear waters! I wished I had signed up for the earlier snorkeling
expedition (7am) which allowed for a longer time in the water.
On the boat, I kicked myself for not bringing my camera. I missed my opportunity to take pictures of the breathtaking arches, Los Arcos and Lovers Beach. Marcelo was smart and brought his camcorder. Not surprisingly, the salsa crew was the life of the party. On our way back to the Elation, the footage looked like an MTV video with the salsa ladies cavorting in bikini’s on the small boat. Free (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) drinks were included in this package. But who in their right mind would want to drink alcohol before noon?
Back aboard the Elation, we set sail for Los Angeles. That afternoon, the salsa workshops continued. Since I had free time, I hit the gym. The machines were weird. Working out with free weights on the moving ship was also weird. I noticed the gravity changes the most when I tried to do pushups. Sometimes, when I pushed up, it was super easy. Other times, I got pulled down and was stuck (when the ship fell). Try doing pushups in an elevator as it rises and falls and you get the picture.
That night, the DanceFun party had a 70s theme. People were serious about their costumes! Naomi and I went at Solid Gold dancers/Charlie’s Angels with our gold catsuits. Prizes were handed out for most outrageous (Bettina and ?), funniest (Paul), most realistic (Francisco aka Elvis). DanceFun added an extra prize for most glamorous (Naomi and I). They then awarded winners of the door décorating contest. There were some pretty interesting entrees. We thought about decorating the door to the diva’s cabin by taping Paula, the pole dancer to the door. Then we thought about decorating Marcelo’s cabin door by taping him to his door. Competition was stiff, though.
After the dance, we changed and headed to dinner. Aftwerwards, we caught the late night adult-rated comedian show. The place was packed and he was worth the time. Funny guy.
Day
7 – Last day at sea Saturday
Alma started off the day with a merenguerobics class up on deck. It looked
like so much fun. After lunch, I napped and headed to the gym again. While
waitin for my private lesson group to show up, we saw school of dolphins heading
towards ship and then turn away. That was cool.
That night, we prepared out luggage for the porters and left them outside the cabin doors. The final dance of the cruise was fun and we took a huge group photo. After dinner, some of us met up for an unscheduled late night dance at Cole Porter. We noticed that in comparison to the first night, dancing while balanced on turns and steps was much easier. I guess we finally got used to the ship’s rocking.
Day 8
- Sunday
The ship arrived at the LA port by about 5am. We woke up around 8:30am, went
through immigration, wolfed down breakfast and waited for our section to be
called to disembark. We said our goodbyes to our new friends and headed to
LAX via taxi-minivan. After getting off the ship, I was still in sea-mode
for a day or so. I found myself swaying every so often, and wondering if it
wasn’t the ground swaying?
A few words about the instructors, my impression:
You can tell that all of the instructors really enjoyed dancing and teaching. Everyone smiled a lot when they were dancing, no matter who they were dancing with. I love that. It’s very telling.
Salomon and Sandra were the most perfect and precise dancers. The best cha-cha dancers of the crew hands-down. Couldn’t take my eyes off them when they were dancing together. Wonder if Salomon is a professional photographer? He always had his nice camera with him and took a ton of photos. Probably as many as our own photographer, Paula.
Francisco and Stacey were the ultimate professionals! They were so genuinely welcoming it was like we were all being invited to share their family pastime of dancing. The whole family had the biggest smiles on their faces at all times. Their kids John (4years old) and Lindsey (less than 1 year old) were the cutest. Little John surprised us with a great robot imitation. On top of that, he demonstrated a few shines with Daddy Francisco. He even did the windup before leading a turn. Lindsey, the baby, never cried once in public and seemed to enjoy being held by anyone and everyone.
Alma was hilarious and a wonderful and patient instructor. Her ladies’ styling class was a hit. Let me tell you that she can hold her tequila, too. Ricardo was also a popular instructor with bizarro moves and full of jokes and imitations to leave your sides splitting and eyes tearing. Have you seen Zoolander? Well, Ricardo’s got plenty of hilarious lines from that movie. Next time you see him, ask him to show you his happy face, his sad face, his angry face, and his salsa face…
The young Salvaje team was often out in full-force and became known as the highly energetic group with the tall salseras and the lucky guy. At one point, while enjoying the view at Le Cliffs, Francisco observed, “Look at Marcelo. He’s got his shirt-off and his harem at work, with one woman oiling him up, another posing by his side, and another taking a photo of him.”
DJ Tony was on top of the music and was even happy to take requests. He’s one quiet and stealthy Tigron. Turns out he’s a dancer with Seaon’s dance group. No wonder the smooth lead and great tunes. At each dance, he played all salsa. Some requested meringue or bachata and he happily obliged.
John and Anita truly took care of their dancers and instructors. They made sure we had water at every dance and bought drinks on the first night for everyone. Knowing that dancers can be intimidated by strangers, they did a great job making people feel comfortable and like family. By giving out multiple awards and recognizing celebrations, they made everyone feel like winners. I would highly recommend DanceFun events for their wonderfully organized and fun events with fun instructors.
7 Day Mexican Riviera Cruise and Salsa Exchange with Mexico January 12 – 19,
2003, organized by DanceFun (John Riddle)
For photos from the trip and more info on DanceFun events, go to www.dancefun.com