It's tradition that the ballroom team goes on tour shortly after school gets out. In the past, they've tried to go to Disneyland every other year with a smaller tour (in Utah) in between. When the prices for Disneyland and travel increased beyond the point of convenience, the coaches tried to come up with another solution. In 2024, they first made plans to go to a resort in Arizona, but when the kids weren't able to commit, they changed it to Lagoon. But they still didn't have enough kids that could/would go, so they canceled tour for Ana's final year of ballroom.
So in the fall of 2024 they decided to go big and plan early. They chose to have the team go on a cruise to Catalina and Ensenada. And they made the kids commit early by requiring payments throughout the year.
Since Ana didn't get to go her final year, she and I tagged along with Miriam's ballroom tour in spring 2025. I was supposed to help chaperone one room of ballroom girls, but my daughter wasn't even staying with them (we opted for a room with just the three of us), so I didn't do a good job of checking in on the kids. Thankfully, all but one of the girls in that room had their parents on the cruise with them, so I figured they were covered.
Monday, June 9
We woke up at 3:45 a.m. and left for the airport at 4. Our flight didn't have until 6 and Miriam wasn't sitting next to us, but we switched seats around with another family and within our family so that I sat across the aisle from my girls. We had an hour layover in Seattle, then a longer flight with Ana sitting behind us and Miriam and I next to each other. We all watched movies, read and napped with varying degrees of success.
After getting our luggage, we waited a long time by the baggage claim and then outside the airport for our charter bus. We drove a half hour to the cruise port; the driver had no idea where to take us, so it's a good thing Tiffani Bailey, the coach who came on tour, was reading signs to him.
The ballroom team manager and her husband drove to California with all the ballroom costumes and supplies and met us at the cruise port. We unloaded their van, then the three of us checked in and got on board. Ana, Miri and I found to our room and were confused because there were only two twin beds with no room for more. Then we learned that they pull out and set up bunk beds later in the day.
We got a late lunch at the buffet then took a whirlwind tour of the ship with Ana leading. W played movie quote trivia, classic rock "Name that Tune" and Star Wars trivia (with Makio, another ballroom kid and Star Wars fanatic, joining our team). The only three questions out of 30 we got wrong were "What was Yoda's name going to be," "How old was Rey at the beginning of Episode 7," and "What's the full name of an ATAT." I worried I wouldn't be off much help, but I totally carried.
I couldn't justify the drink package for the three of us (the cost wasn't nearly as good as it had been on the Princess Cruise lines when Seth and I had gone), so instead I promised the girls that we would buy one mocktail per day. So we tried our first ones and headed to bed while Miriam went with friends for a bit.
Ana and Miriam on the flight.
On the ship for the first time.
Touring the ship.
The library with a globe.
The grand staircase.
The beach chairs on the deck.
Playing Star Wars trivia.
With our fancy mocktails. From this point on we only ordered piña coladas.
Tuesday, June 10
Determined to keep up my exercise regiment, I got up early and ran on the last available treadmill, then walked another mile on the outdoor jogging track before sitting on a chair and looking out over the ocean. Then I went back to the cabin to shower and wake up the girls. We went to the buffet for breakfast and had smoked salmon bagel with other good food. This was our full day at sea, so we spent time taking advantage of all the ship had to offer. Ana and I went hot tubbing and Miriam joined us for a while before checking out the water slides with ballroom friends.
We played Harry Potter trivia, Queen "Name that Tune" (and won despite only getting 14 out of 20 but received snazzy light-up rings as our prizes) and left or right trivia before getting lunch at the café promenade. We learned that we could ask for piña colada at any bar despite the bars not specifying or on their menus. This cruise had theme nights for dinner, and Tuesday was formal night, so we got fancy for our dinner reservation at 5, then went to the ship's Showgirls show. It had some cute classic showgirl numbers as well as some borderline risqué stuff.
Miriam found her ballroom friends at the breakfast buffet. That was one disadvantage to staying with us in our cabin: sometimes it was hard to find and spend time with her friends. She had to hunt them down or wait for them to communicate via the (sometimes flaky) ship internet.
Ana headed to the pool.
In the hot tub in the "18+" area.
Playing garbage.
Our team name for Harry Potter trivia. We didn't get first place, but we still were awarded wands (which were the papers above rolled up and taped).
Miriam at Harry Potter trivia.
Drinking our mocktails at Queen trivia.
Ana on formal night.
Miriam on formal night.
The three of us together on formal night.
Our table (which we were assigned to and included all ballroom parents/families) on formal night.
Miriam tambourining it up at the lounge. This musician would take requests, then sing/play them. Miriam requested "Obladi" by the Beatles and then played along.
Wednesday, June 11
I ran on treadmill and then walked outside again, but I was there earlier so there were more treadmills to choose from. Then I showered, woke up the girls, went to breakfast at the buffet, and got tender tickets. This was the first time I've been on a cruise that requires tenders. For those who don't know (because we certainly didn't before this trip), some ports are too shallow for the cruise ship to dock at, so you have to ride a smaller ship (a tender) from the cruise ship to the dock. We should have gotten tickets earlier despite the instructions saying that you weren't supposed to go down to get them until your entire party was ready to leave, so we ended up having to wait about an hour before we could go. So we walked around and found how to get to the helicopter pad and checked our emails and texts while we had a good signal.
We tendered to Catalina, walked a loop I'd found on a website before that took us through the Avalon flats with lots of cute little houses packed right together, did some souvenir shopping, ate lunch at a cute little seafood place on the pier named Earl and Rosie's Seafood (the fried garlic cheese curds were amazing), then walked a longer loop through the hills and saw the fancier houses. They were so tall and had so many floors and balconies and crazy steep driveways.
We walked back to the dock and rode a tender to the ship, took a little nap (Ana and Andrea slept, Miriam watched Dr. Who), then went to Marvel trivia and an escape room-style mystery puzzle with two other families. Our team solved the mystery and did it quickest. Then we had dinner at the dining room where Andrea had the escargots (Ana tried one), then we listened to some jazz standards. Ana and I tried to watch an ice skating show, but there were no seats left, so we called it good and went back to bed while Miriam spent some time with ballroom friends.
Catalina in the distance while we wait for our tender.
Ana and Miriam reenacting the "I'm the king of the world!" scene from Titanic. Everyone HAS to do this when they find themselves on a ship, right?
Still waiting for our tender. We found the helicopter pad!
Walking the streets of Catalina. No matter how hard we tried, we could not find a pocket watch for Miriam to buy as a souvenir (in Catalina or Ensenada).
Shells embedded in the cement at Catalina.
Saying hello to a Catalina native.
Eating lunch at Earl and Rosie's.
On our second walk higher in the hills.
Cruise ship in the distance.
Yes, he does.
With Catalina in the background.
Ana's feet (with her marvelous Chaco tans) hanging over the side of her top bunk.
Thursday, June 12
This was the one day we had breakfast in the dining room just for the experience, then we went back to the room for a while until we dropped Miriam off at the theater for her ballroom workshop and rehearsal. A major bummer on this trip was that the ballroom workshop and show were scheduled on a port day, which meant Miriam had much less time to spend in Ensenada, and we couldn't do any excursions. But we made do with the time we had.
Ana and I went off the ship to Ensenada and paid the $4 ticket to ride the bus into downtown and get the scoop on the area. The bus company also offered a bunch of excursions, but we didn't have the time for those, so we just learned from Big Tony about saying, "No, gracias," when people pressured us to spend money. Then we got off, and Ana and I learned firsthand how crazy-pushy some of these store and restaurant owners are. We heard everything from, "Senoritas, welcome to my store!" to "It doesn't cost to look," to "It's only money!" to "It's happy hour: two for one shots" (mind you, it was before noon), to "Free Mexican boyfriends!" etc. We were completely overwhelmed, but after we walked up and down the street a few times (with owners saying, "Hey you're back! Want to see my store now?") until we found a few quieter stores with not-pushy or less pushy owners. We bought souvenirs for the family, then went back to the bus depot to catch our ride back to the ship.
We made it back to the boat in time to see the end of Miriam's rehearsal, then take our stuff to our cabin and head back into Ensenada. We walked to a food cart I had read about (La Guerrerense), but I was the only one who was interested in the seafood tostadas, so I ordered their most popular item with crab salad, scallops and octopus. Then Ana found another restaurant on Google Maps (Tequilera Tacos & Grill) and we walked to it. It was quiet, clean, well-serviced and had quick, delicious food (tacos for the girls, piña agua fresca for me and orangeade for the girls) and it was all reasonably priced.
Then we walked a little farther to get the most delicious stuffed churros (Cafe la Churreria) I've ever had (chocolate for Ana, caramel for me, pineapple for Miriam) before walking back to the boat.
We went to the room for some quiet time, then got Miriam's hair and makeup done in time for rehearsal. Ana and I went on the water coaster and slide, then changed and met at the theater for the show. There were several people who came including the family we met at the mystery game and a couple from Idaho Falls who just happened to be on the cruise and heard about the kids performing. There were a few technical snafus with the show, but the dancers all did a great job.
Then Miriam ran her stuff back to the cabin while Ana got some pizza from the café promenade for us to eat. We did that, then went to the escape room with a bunch of other people. The escape room was really good. There were so many people in our group that I felt like there were people who couldn't do anything because there were too many cooks. But at least the three of us were able to contribute, and Ana basically carried. She caught on to so many tricks and puzzles. It was really fun.
Then we went to the Bolero to listen to Latin music and drink piña coladas and play garbage (a card game) until it was time for our later dining time. We knew we wouldn't be able to eat at our regular 5 p.m. reservation because of our scheduled escape room, so we showed up at 7:45 like our waiter told us to. Even though he had given us the instructions to show up at that time, he seemed surprised to see us. But they were able to get us a table. Between the pizza and the piña colada, we weren't able to eat very much. Then Miriam went to meet her friends and Ana and I went to sleep.
Ana and Andrea in Ensenada.
Miriam at her ballroom workshop.
Group photo of all the ballroom kids who came on tour.
Ana and Miriam in Ensenada.
Proof that we made it to Mexico.
On the streets.
Tacos for lunch.
Our delicious churros. I would go back to Ensenada for those alone.
Our towel animal.
A fat seal hanging out on the dock while Ana and I waited to see Miriam's ballroom show.
Miriam dancing the Charleston. Although her ballroom team had eight girls and four boys, only half of the girls went on tour. So the coaches had to reconfigure all of the dances from what the kids had learned for school.
Dancing with Makio.
This is what I mean about the lights. Why does Miriam have a spotlight? I'm not complaining ('cause my kid's the cutest, donchaknow?), but the other girls (minus the one in the lift) were completely in the dark during this part of the dance.
Taking a bow at the end of the show.
The three of us after helping to solve our escape room.
Ana cherishing the towel animal.
Playing garbage and enjoying our mocktails while listening to Latin music.
Friday, June 13
I woke up earlier than I intended but decided to go run anyway. As soon as I exited our cabin, I realized I didn't have my room key. I ran in the gym by myself (Was I supposed to be in there? Maybe the gym isn't open on the day everyone disembarks?) then walked the track and caught up on emails, messages, etc. before going back to the room, knocking on the door and waking up Miriam (Ana was in the bathroom). We showered, packed, ate breakfast at the buffet, cleared out of the cabin and met near the elevators on our deck (8). We sat on the floor and played garbage until all the ballroom kids met, then we left the boat (which is a whole process). We loaded the costumes into the manager's car, got on the bus, drove to the airport, ate lunch, flew to Seattle, had our flight delayed by hours (ugh), ate dinner in the Seattle airport, walked around, did Duolingo, played games, watched shows ... basically did anything and everything we could to pass the time. It was a long boring day, but we eventually made it back to Idaho Falls after midnight.
Walking on the deck after running (illegally?) on the treadmill.
Ana crashed out while packing in our cabin.
