We spent a picture perfect day in beautiful San Diego, California yesterday. We left LA on Thursday, and to quote our cruise director “Captain spent 18 hours at sea sailing you down to a place you could have driven to in three hours.” That said, we are so glad we got to pick up some more time in this little slice of West Coast heaven. Although it was gray and overcast when we arrived at 8:30, by about 11 a.m., it was sunny, 74 degrees, and gorgeous.

San Diego Zoo

We have visited SD twice previously, but we never made it to the famous San Diego zoo, so that was our focus on Friday. We caught an Uber from the port over to Balboa Park, home of the zoo (and some beautiful gardens we have visited previously). It was really crowded, but it’s such a huge zoo, there’s plenty of room to spread out. We took their sightseeing bus for an overview of the whole zoo, walked a ton of steps checking out their beautiful animal habitats, and rode their skybuckets back to the entrance at the end of our time there. Highlights for us included seeing the giant pandas and red panda, maned wolf, California condors, koalas and kookaburra (reminding us of our Australia trip), capybara, and so much more. We definitely could have spent another day or two here!

A Perfect Ending to Our SD Day

After we left the zoo, we were lucky enough to catch up with our friend Barry Shill (friend from both high school w/Betsy and college with Betsy and Rob), who lives in SD. Barry met us for drinks at the Pier overlooking the port, so we had beautiful views, good friends, craft beers, and perfect weather- a definite recipe for success, and the best ending to our day in San Diego. We were right next to our ship’s dock so we cut the timing closer than we normally do getting back to the ship. We ended up walking thru a completely empty terminal and security station and got back on the ship with five minutes until “gangway up”. When we arrived onboard, we were relieved when security told us there were still ten other passengers not back yet. We weren’t last!

Our special Captains Club perk today was getting invited to watch our SD sail away from the helicopter pad at the bow of the ship. The views were unbeatable, and the free sparking wine was not bad, either. 😍

Oh Ship

Our shipboard shenanigans over the last two days have included a GREAT comedy show by Steve Caouette, who just arrived on the ship the day of his show, and almost didn’t make it. He told our audience the (true!) story that while flying to LA to board the ship, his plane caught fire and they had to make an emergency landing in a municipal airport landing strip. They thankfully landed safely, but the airport had no commercial flights. Our comedian had to call an “emergency number” for the shipboard talent, and the good folks at Royal Caribbean (Celebrity’s parent company) worked out a flight for him on a mail transport plane!! So he flew to LA in a four seater plane with mail sacks! How’s that for dedication?!!?

Our onboard critter spotting has also really been elevated the last two days! On Thursday night we saw a humpback whale breach near the ship (no pics, but so amazing to watch!) and Friday we saw a whole pod of dolphins playing nearby. We have a few poor quality photos of that (below), but it was a spectacular sight!

Santa Watch 2026 by Rob

Rob has confirmed that Santa is a grumpy stick in the mud. Rob was very excited when Santa showed up at the silent disco Thursday night. Using his best elf choir training and fancy dance moves, Rob tried to engage the reputed Jolly Ole Elf in a song and dance. Well, ole not so jolly poopy pants just glared at him like he was number one on the naughty list. Who would not want to dance with this . . . ?

Saturday morning brought success in the form of Betsy not only making it to one, but two dance fitness classes while Rob went to the gym, and won a soccer shootout tournament! Inexplicably, they gave him an actual medal (below) for winning. Rob is wearing it around the ship, as one does with this level of victory. Betsy was given nothing except the ability to eat today’s soft serve ice cream with less guilt. We also hit the art auction (won some raffle items!) and spa bingo (lost). It is cooooold (57 degrees) and overcast today, so no sunnin’ for us!

Saturday is a sea day, and then we arrive Sunday in San Francisco for our overnight there, so stay tuned for more excitement! Thanks for adventuring with us!