Cruisin' with the Cougs!

It was really a spur of the moment purchase when we decided to go on the first ever chartered cruise by a university. BYU Cruisin' With the Cougs announcement came via email to my dad. We happened to be at the Oregon Coast with Mom and Dad for Spring Break April 2024. It sounded fun and Dad was so excited we said maybe we could do that. He called Brian and Brian thought it sounded fun. He called others and Emily and Jeremiah said they'd go as well. So It was booked! Dad booked a room for him, Mom, Emily, and Jeremiah. Brian booked a room for him, Summer, Jaime, and me. It was on our calendars for April 2025! The year rolled by fast and before we knew it we were packing for the week long cruise. Jeremiah ended up not coming but it was fun that Emily still made the trip. 

April11th 

Jaime kept saying that all he wanted on the trip was to meet Kalani Sitake; BYU football head coach. We said it'd be awesome if we could meet him because he seems like such a great guy. We like watching devotionals he's spoken at and seeing him coach in such a positive way. 

Day 1 April 11 we get on the ship and the very first person we see is Sitake! He was so welcoming and more than happy to get a picture with us. I had to get one of Jaime with him alone. It was so cute because we hadn't even pushed away from the port and we saw Sitake and Jaime said, "Ok I got what I wanted I can get off the ship. " hahaha

 We're ready to get this cruise goin'!

The ship was decked out in BYU cougar gear. It was fun. 

The casinos were empty and the bars were cleared of alcohol and shelves filled with Powerade and other drinks to cater to the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

Love all the outdoor spaces. I was looking forward to being in warmer weather as we headed south. 

Repin' the Y flag!

They had lots of activities to do on the ship aside from swimming. Rock climbing, pickleball, table tennis, water slides, seated foot soccer at a table, etc. 

April 12th

Our first port day. We walked around Ensenada at the shops, enjoyed the sun, and some yummy homemade corn tortillas. We'd been here before so we didn't spend a whole of time here before boarding the ship. 

Every time we pulled in to port the ship would drop this giant cougar flag aside the ship. 

In the evening we went to shows. The 12th we listened to Broadway singers Savannah Stevenson and David Osmond sing. They were  incredible! It was such an amazing concert. I loved every minute of it. I enjoyed how they brought their testimonies and life lessons into their program. 

April 13th

 We were at sea all day. 

We hunted around the ship for rubber duckies that were hid throughout the ship. We found quite a few different ducks. Some we wrote our names on and rehid somewhere else for someone else to find to see how many people could find and mark the duck. 

We went to devotional and listened to Jimmer Fredet and another with Coach Sitake and college athletes. We listened to Hilary Weeks sing in what will be her last concert as she said she's retiring to now spend time with her family. What a cool experience  to see her last one!

Jaime, Brian and I went ice skating. 

I helped Jaime make it around the rink once and then he was done. ahaha But I loved that he tried and clung on to me for dear life. 

Brian and I skated a bit more but didn't last too long as the rink was very tiny and more and more people started coming on the ice. But it was a fun short activity. We didn't feel we needed to stay our entire one hour block we signed up for. haha

Because the bars were shut down for alcohol the cruise line and BYU curated a mocktail menu. It was so clever and creative! We tried a few drinks but I'm not big on sugary drinks or drinking my calories so it wasn't something I wanted a lot of. 

Brian tried the Flo rider surfing and did great! He wanted me to do it too but the cost just wasn't something I wanted to give. I got a lot of enjoyment out of watching Brian learn and then be able to get up on his own easily. 

Formal night for dinner!

Mom and Dad looking so good!

The dining room was beautiful. 

We enjoyed the menu and trying different things. I just loved the atmosphere and being with people I enjoy being around. It was a fun evening. 

April 14th

Enjoying our cocktails and the warmer weather!! Another day at sea and enjoying the events on the ship. We saw BYU Sports nation be filmed on the ship in the morning. Jaime and I got some exercise in and some walking around the walking path. Our favorite event of the day was the comedian! His evening show was hilarious. Good clean fun from a member of the church and he enjoyed that some of his jokes were ones we could get unlike a traditional audience at a comedy club. He spoke how fast Sunday testimony meetings are like open mike Sundays and how missionaries can cringe when they bring investigators. hahaha

April 15th

Port day and an excursion! We went zip lining in Puerto Vallarta with Brian and Summer. I liked that there was some hiking in between the zips. It's been a pretty dry season so it wasn't lush and green canopies that we zipped over. It was a lot of fun. Man, some of those lines are so long!

After the zip lines we were able to walk over to the resort pool and swim and cool off. 

We enjoyed just being able to relax, no rush, visit, and have a snack. 

We had quite the expansive view. 

On our walk about to the ship we went under this cute canopy of umbrellas! So colorful and wistful.

Photo op with the sign before boarding the ship. We were looking forward to getting back on board and having some tacos. A perk of a cruise. Your bottomless, free food. It makes buying food off the ship not needed. And less risky. 

Pulling away from port at Puerto Vallarta as the evening rolls in. Time for another day at sea. 

The event show for the evening was Family Feud with BYU coaches, athletes, and former athletes. 

It was hilarious!

We were able to answer the questions in the poll a couple days earlier so it was fun to see what they would guess and what the answers would be, especially the number one answers. One question asked was a food you have at a tailgate party. Jason Buck answered with "shrimp cocktail." Everyone died laughing. No one could believe his answer!! Who brings that to a tail gate party? (For me who eats it. ahah. I like shrimp but not shrimp cocktail.) Everyone in the audience and participates were dying laughing! So after that the BYU Cruisin' with the Cougs official password is "Shrimp!"

After the show Brian, Jaime and I went down to the lounge for karaoke. It's so fun seeing the athletes get up and sing and some even perform a little dance. 

While there we got to have a few chats and photos with Jimmer.

and Sitake.

Enjoying the evening out on the upper most deck! It was so beautiful. We stayed out with Brian till around midnight till we decided we needed to go to bed. 

April 16th

Good morning! Time for breakfast and then fun day of panels with athletes. With a full day at sea it's fun to have these events to go to. 

Hearing about memories or questions be answered by former BYU athletes. 

Listenin to BYU quarterbacks. 

Even former NFL Chicago Bears football player Jim McMahon who played for BYU back in the day was there. He's quite the character. Hearing the banter between the older former athletes was hilarious. Especially Jim and Jason Buck. 

In the afternoon there was a belly flop competition.

Current BYU football player won! He jumped off that diving board and literally splayed open and hit the water belly first. Poor guy was hurting but he won! haha

Another panel and this time with the current football athletes and coach Sitake. What good guys with good mindsets this coach encourages. 

We love to catch the sunsets!

Sneaking in some time alone occasionally. 

Patrick and the LVB (Las Vegas Band). They were awesome! Played so many covers of songs that totally took me back to my younger years. So fun. A loud concert that really pumped the crowd. What a way to end the night. 

April 17th

We got to hear from the basketball players and their experiences. 

The tribute to Lavell was awesome. So many athletes looked up to him. It was really special hearing about moments they had with him and the impact he had on so many lives. 

We got to watch a neat performance of the Cougarette dancers. They put on quite a show. Such talented women. 

The back of the ship was the warmest place today! I love seeing the bright blue water be churned. 

The towel creations on any cruise ship are always so cute and creative. 

The evening show was watching the BYU Cheerleaders

Cosmo can rock the house!

After party festivities! 

Waiting for the big balloon drop. 

Felt like a New Year's Eve party!

Our room. Tight quarters for sure! But we weren't going for a luxury trip this time. It was a spendy cruise so we scaled back on accommodations. Brian, Summer, Jaime, and I had a lot of fun all being in this room together. As small as it may look it really does have a lot of storage space so we didn't feel crowded. We were hardly in the room so I don't feel like we were really lacking in anything. We spent so much time at activities and events that we pretty much only slept and got ready for the day in the room. Our late night chats while we laid in bed were pretty fun too. Just created a fun memory for us!

April 18th

On our flight home you could see landmarks and read about what you're flying over. We were surprised to see this pop up about Chiawana High School! 

We had a great trip. They announced while we were on the ship that they decided the chartered cruise was such a success and they're going to do it again in June of 2027! The crew on the ship were so amazed by the company on this cruise. They loved that they didn't have to deal with drunks and rude people. They gave so many compliments about how they enjoyed working because the atmosphere was just so different. I hope as we try to be disciples of Christ that others around us will feel the same way as those who worked this cruise. My parents are already planning to go on the next one. I don't think it'll be a trip we want to make that year since we already have a couple others planned. We're going to have a lot of changes in the next few years! We will just appreciate and treasure these memories we made on the very first charted cruise...

Cruisin' with the Cougs!!