One of my favorite parts of being on a cruise ship are the port stops and the different excursion types and opportunity to do activities that may not be available back home. Since all previous MOR cruises have been in the Caribbean, excursions were pretty easy to figure out as most of them either have something to do with being in or on the water as it is so beautiful there. The Pacific Ocean doesn’t lend itself to these same type of excursions as the water is much colder and not as clear. Because of this, we avoided water activities and chose to take a bus tour around the area that landed us at the La Bufadora Blowhole south of the city. This overhyped tourist stop is nothing more than a few blocks of shops selling the same overpriced merchandise as pretty much every other tourist city in Mexico. We did have fun here doing some shopping and having plenty of cheap beers. I did pick up 3 killer Iron Maiden Eddie masks that will look awesome on the wall of our rock room. We got back on the ship early with just enough time to catch Loudness in the theater for a mid-afternoon show. Akira Takahashi is an incredible guitarist with amazing technical skills and Loudness simply crushed the few hundred MOR cruisers that chose to start the party early. The Sail Away show on the pool deck for day 3 was the Winery Dogs. They have been playing the MOR cruises for several years now and have always been one of my favorites to see. After the killer solo Richie Kotzen show on day 2, the Winery Dogs show seemed a bit dull and didn’t pull me in at all. They are a great band, but I just wasn’t feeling it. The rest of the night for me included shows by the Iron Maidens, Warrant, Autograph, Vixen and Steelheart. The highlight was easily the Steelheart show. They were fantastic and it is incredible to even think that the voice of the Rockstar movie, Milijenko Matijevic (Mili) can still hit all those high notes. Every song and every note was perfect. #3 show for me on this cruise. Others in our group went to see John Corabi, Great White, Mike Tramp, Eric Martin & Pat Torpey, Tuff and a very late night show by Britny Fox. 5 straight days of music so far and 50 shows to choose from. Remember when I mentioned “Survival of the Fittest”? Day 4 will put that to the test as it is a full day out at sea with 37 different shows or other band related activities planned. Better get your sleep!
Nice