Cruise ship travel questions...

December 20, 2006 6:33 PM

I won a cruise to Baja, Mexico!! Now what do I do when I get there?? Help me by Suggesting things to do at the ports of call…

First… the details…

The cruise is from Carnival Cruises on the "Paradise" - I depart on February 5th… and I know nothing about anything… so I have a few questions...

The weather… (blame me being from Canada and never going so far south… ) Will it be warm in Mexico ? Or cool and rainy?


What should I do when I get there ?
The ship has stopovers at Catalina Island, CA and then Ensenada, Mexico - I don't have much money to go on ship sponsored outings… plus I like the idea of doing things off the beaten path… what should I do when we get to these places?

Is it safe to just wander around carrying a DSLR in Ensenada?

is crime a fear I should be worries about?



Have any other cruise tips ?

THANKS! :)

posted by MathewS to Travel Smart (7 comments total)

Weird, I won that same cruise in a sales contest five years ago. You're not in camera sales, are you?

Ensenada (assuming it's not raining) will be warm but not hot -- at most, you'll need a light jacket, and not even that if it's sunny.

Catalina Island, on the other hand, can surprise you. The town's right on the water, so it gets nippy if the wind is kicking up and/or it's overcast (which is quite common in February). The deck of the ship, likewise, can be brisk, because there's nothing between the deck and the wind.

(Disclaimer: I was living in Arizona five years ago, so my definitions of "warm" and "chilly" are probably different than yours!)

I can't give any good advice about the sites, because all I did (at both stops) was wander around shopping and taking bad pictures. (La Bufadora is impossible to photograph!) In Ensenada, you can save a little money by ditching the cruise-affiliated tours and finding an independent tour operator -- as soon as you get off the ship, there will be people hitting you up for tours.
posted by faster than a speeding bulette at 7:15 PM on December 20

If you like scuba diving, and have time, Catalina has some interesting kelp forests. As I recall, Avalon (your likely port of call) is a pretty tiny place, so you'll probably just end up wandering around some of their stores and checking out their historic casino or whatever that building is.

You can find some potential activities here though.
posted by willnot at 10:21 PM on December 20

Find out if you can grab an excursion to La Bufadora. It's an amazing natural ocean blowhole about 45 mins out of Ensenada.
posted by afx114 at 10:44 PM on December 20

Ensenada is very safe in my experience, and most everyone speaks English. It's quite touristy, the main drag is: taqueria, pharmacy, bar, crafts store, taqueria, pharmacy, bar, crafts store, repeat. One of the things I really enjoyed doing there as a 19 year old partying over New Year's was eating fine French Cuisine (usually out of my 19 year old price range) for Mexican cheap prices at a restaurant on the main drag. I'm not sure from google what it was called, and being from Canada, maybe you eat French food a-plenty? I dunno.

Anyway, I can't speak to naturalist excursions, though I'll be cruising there myself in January. The town scene is mildy interesting, if you can relish buying folk art chotchkes, food, drink, etc. at nice prices. I spent my time there practicing Spanish with the delightful bilingual barstaff and running into Matthew McConaghey, who declined my offer of a drink! ;)
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 1:16 AM on December 21

holy crap, this is the exact same cruise my girlfriend and I are thinking about taking on the 5th.
posted by fishfucker at 9:15 PM on January 8

yeah, we are taking this cruise (tried to get Royal Carribean but failed). Crazy.
posted by fishfucker at 11:53 AM on January 22

We just got back! Had a pretty good time. Later on I'll add some notes about this cruise.
posted by fishfucker at 4:25 PM on February 9