One day the ship lay at anchor in a tiny passage at the foot of Placentia bay. The piper and another sailor asked for and received permission to spend the afternoon exploring the nearby hills. The terrain was difficult, and at some point in the afternoon they suddenly came upon a steep cliff, the piper lost his footing and fell to his death. The other sailor returned to the ship but being afraid he might be accused of playing some part in the pipers death, decided not to tell the true story. He explained instead, that they had become separated and after searching for more than an hour, he had returned to the ship, hoping that his friend may have done the same. The following day a search was carried out but without success, and the ship left, eventually returning to England, without finding the pipers body.

Around that same time visitors to that area of Placentia bay began to report hearing music coming from the nearby hills, as the strains of the bagpipes were carried over the winds. The stories continued for years and the tiny inlet became known as Piper's Hole. Many ships refused to anchor there, but gave the area a wide berth.

More years passed and the piper's companion, now an old man, lay at the point of death in a London hospital. The old man desperately wanted to tell someone the truth about what happened that long ago afternoon at Piper's Hole. Clasping the hand of the visiting clergyman, he poured out his story - this time the truth, and passed away with a burden that had followed him for years, finally lifted.

Meanwhile far across the Atlantic, in Piper's Hole, the bagpipes fell silent, never to be heard again.

Each day at your dinner time, we would go back to our cabins and get all dressed up and go for dinner in the dining hall to the rear of the ship. There were waiters there for your every need throughout the whole meal, and they were very upbeat people, ours were at least. The food was very good, it was prepared by a top chef, and you ordered off of a set menu. After dinner you could go and get pictures taken in your formal wear around mid ship.

Every morning you get up when you want to and go upstairs to the top deck and choose what you want for breakfast and eat it outside in the morning sun next to the pool, or on the upper decks. Caught some rays in the afternoon and went to a show, or down to the casino in the evenings. The smaller kids were ecstatic that you could get ice cream whenever you wanted, 24 hours a day, and I must say that I enjoyed it myself.

Once we arrived in Acapulco, we went Jet Boating that afternoon. I wouldn’t really recommend the jet boating if you are squeamish, it was done in really dirty water and because of all the sulpher in the water it reeked, but if you are up to getting a little dirty and soaking wet and don’t mind the smell, this is definitely something you should try. I thought it was rather fun, but the rest of my family didn’t think of it in the same way as I did.

That evening we went out to watch the Cliff Divers and have a few drinks. This was quite a good outing I would definitely recommend this one to everyone. The restaurant is built right into the side of a cliff and the divers are doing their dives right in front of you into the dangerous waters below. Have a beer or a margarita and sit back and enjoy the show.

After this the ship set out again, this time back towards San Diego stopping along the way in Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa where we went on a city tour, and did a little shopping. This was a nice stop, Zihuatanejo is a small fishing village. The port isn’t even big enough for the ship to dock, you go into shore in the little rescue boats. I enjoyed the little shops and markets, it was a nice relaxing stop.

Then we were off again to Manzanillo, where we got off the ship and went to an all inclusive resort on the beach. We spent 4 and a half hours relaxing on the beach and in the pools of the resort having drinks whenever we wanted. The food at the resort was pretty limited in choice, and it wasn’t very good, but the scenery and buildings were very nice.

Having your own secluded little world on the ship to go back to every night was a very nice feature to have. Especially if the food wasn’t very good on shore, you always knew that when you got back in the evening you could go get pizza or Chinese, Italian or Burgers, and so on.

All together these shore excursions ended up costing about $258 per person, some weren’t really worth it, but most were. The air fare from Vancouver, BC, Canada to San Diego, CA, United States, plus the cost of the cruise came out to about $1656 per person. Not bad considering it includes the air fare.

From Manzanillo we cruised back to San Diego, California, and began our departure, everything went very smoothly throughout the entire trip. It was very hot out but the breeze made that unnoticeable while on board the ship so be careful and put on sunscreen, I ended up with a pretty bad burn from laying on the deck too long one day, but other than that the service was rather good, and overall it was a very enjoyable voyage for the 8 of us that went. Happy travels.