Inspiration Christmas Cruise Trip Report (12/22-12/26)

[PandaBear62]

Pre-Planning

I booked this Christmas cruise in August. Even at that time it seemed like many of the staterooms were already booked, so I am guessing it will be a full cruise. There will be 7 of us and we have booked three rooms. My mom and daughter are sharing a suite, my dh and I are in an ocean view room and my 2 boys and brother are in another ocean view room.

I suggested this trip to my family because last year was the first Christmas without my dad. It was hard, and I just wasn’t looking forward to the holidays this year. (We would have NEVER done a cruise over Christmas if my dad was still here….not a chance! Christmas was at home, with my dad cooking and videoing all the opening of gifts) But my mom is open to considering other options and all my kids are young adults (ages 20-25), so it seemed like a good idea.

I’ll be honest, I’ve never sailed on Carnival before. It's not a cruise line I would typically consider. But after checking airline prices, I just could not afford flying 5 of us somewhere, plus the costs of the cruise itself, so we decided to choose a cruise that sailed out of CA. We considered week long cruise, which I think was either NCL or RCCL. The other option was a 4 day cruise. I debated back and forth about which length of cruise to take. My mom and daughter wanted 7 days and my sons a 4 day cruise. I finally decided to book 4 days, which automatically meant Carnival. I decided it must have been meant to be, as the very next day after I booked the cruise in August, my best friends son announced he was getting married December 30 (the day we’d be getting off the ship for the 7 day cruise)

I’m the one who has done all the research, booked the cabins and planned our excursions. I’ve also informed my mother and brother the purpose of the trip is to be with family and I don’t want to hear if the food isn’t awesome. In fact, I told them to assume it probably wasn’t that good and enjoy the surprise if it is. I have also put the kibosh on any talk of politics, as we have family members with wildly divergent views. I basically don't want to hear any complaining! Both my mom and my brother have a tendency to be critical about things and I don't want to listen.

I booked a private wine tour for Ensenada, which I am excited about. We enjoy wine tasting and have been to all the regions in California. I know we can’t purchase wine for the cruise, but we may very well purchase some and then have the cruise line store it until the end.

I haven’t booked anything for Catalina yet. It looked like we could do many things when we arrive, so I've decided not to book ahead.

We are staying at the Marriott Renaissance the night before and will drive to the port Friday morning and park at the pier. I have purchased Faster to the Fun for two of our cabins. I figured on a short cruise like this, getting on earlier is better.

 

We are carrying on 6 bottles of wine, to enjoy in our rooms, or maybe to bring to dinner. We are not purchasing the alcohol beverage program, as I just don’t think we get our money’s worth. If my sons want the soda card, I’ll purchase that, but the rest of us will drink water (or tea, for my mom) because that’s what we prefer.. And then we’ll order alcoholic drinks as we wish.

I'm hoping that writing this report will help out anyone considering this cruise, as it was hard to find trip reports about this specific itinerary.

[BonnieSte]

Looking for to reading it

[PandaBear62]

Day 1 Friday December 22

The family drove two cars down to Long Beach on Thursday December 21.. Everyone made good time until the hit LA and that's when traffic slowed to a crawl. My husbands car went to Hermosillo Beach first to drop off my daughter to visit a sorority sister that night.

My brother flew from Virginia and I flew in from NorCal, as I was working. We both Ubered to the hotel. I was feeling tired and stressed, as I went straight to the airport from work, with just a few extra minutes before the plane started to load. There was no beverage service on the short ride as there was an expectation of turbulence and I tried to get out quickly to catch the Uber. So by the time I was at the hotel at 6 I was starving as I had nothing to eat the entire day. So rather than join the family when my brother arrived at Rockbottom Brewery (right next to the Renaissance), we ate hamburgers in the hotel bar.

I basically crashed after that and dd joined me late that night.

In the morning we had certificates for breakfast and I had quite a good eggs Benedict. I made sure everyone had their boarding documents and filled out the health survey. We headed to the pier about 11, parked, and easily sent our luggage with the porters. We divided at this point, with my mom and daughter to priority boarding (junior suite) with the rest of us to the FTTF line. As there was virtually no one in front of us, we were quickly though the lines and directed to wait in the priority boarding area. After about 15 minutes we were informed by another Carnival staff we were on the wrong side of the rope and we were moved. This kind of became a recurring theme of the trip…...while we were thrilled with the wait and housekeeping staff, the other Carnival staff left something to be desired in terms of knowledge and organization. Within about 15 minutes we were heading on the ship. Thanks to cruise critic, even though the doors to the hallways were closed, we knew we could go through and disperse our carry ons to our rooms. We didn't hang around...just dropped off and left. I was really grateful I spend the extra for FTTF. Our lines were so short and went so fast, and dropping off our carry ons right to the room…..was a benefit. My picky mom and brother also agreed! Our first stop was the Lido deck for lunch. I suggested everyone try Guy hamburgers, as the line may be longer another day and at this point, there was virtually no one in line. Everyone agreed they were good and liked personalizing their burger. Another win for me.

While we were sitting around eating lunch, a waiter came by offering some kind of frozen drink, my mom offered to purchase drinks for anyone who wanted them. The next thing I knew, my brother was talking about buying the drink package. I explained that both he and my son would need to get it, and then off they went to the bar. So I suggested to my dh that we should consider it. We walked over to where it was being sold and met Michelle, who was very knowledgable and basically sold us on it. . Then my mom came over and the next thing I knew, everyone had the drink package. I seriously have no idea how it happened. Had I not explained to everyone that we would carry on wine and just order a couple of drinks as needed? Did I not clarify how expensive the package was? Did I not point out that our family isn’t typically that big of drinkers? Yes, I did say all these things, but in the end it didn't matter. We were all now possessors of a cute little sticker on our card called “Cheers” so I ordered a spiked lemonade and dh a Frog Island Iced tea. The spiked lemonade was only supposed to be served in a pitcher, but I was given an individual drink. We began to explore the ship and were properly awed by the Shakespeare library and admired the gingerbread houses. As we wandered I treated myself to a mochachino (thank you Cheers) and we ended up at the Alchemy Bar. I tried the basil martini, which I never would have done if I hadn't had the liquor package. I was glad to have tried it, as it intrigued me, but probably wouldn't order again. As it turns out, my dh was wearing his Bulldog sweatshirt (Fresno state) and the bartender was from Fresno, so we kind of had a connection there.

The muster drill was at 4:45. We were in one of the lounges. The former was gathering in the lounge and then walking up as a group to the lifeboats. It did seem kind of ironic, in that we were constantly being told to be quiet and not be on phones because there were important announcements to be made. But we could barely hear the directions to be quiet because of the music being piped over the loudspeakers. It seemed that we were being constantly told that if we didn't attend the muster, we would have to attend a second version if it when this finished. But, we were there. Kind of a classic preaching to the choir moment. The muster drill took almost a hour. It seemed long to me, but that may be because I haven't cruised in a couple of years.

After the muster drill we were back in the Alchemy bar, wandered around the Casino and checked out some shops.

 

We had the 8:15 seating for dinner. When I booked our cruise it was the only dinner option available. I was not particularly impressed with the menu (for my taste), so had three appetizers: a shrimp cocktail, tomato soup and the duck potsticker. The potsticker was very dense and I enjoyed it. The shrimp cocktail wasn't great, but not bad either. I liked the tomato soup. One son had the lasagna. It looked very good and he liked it. Many chose the mahi mani and liked it. The cheese plate for dessert was popular with our group and they especially liked the blue cheese. They thought that particualr cheese was excellent. I had vanilla ice cream which was also good. very "vanillay", which is what I like.The boys had the melting chocolate cake which they really liked. My mom ordered the "chocolatini" and my brother and I had port, which we all agreed were nice.Both my mom and brother agreed that dinner was better than they were expecting. Some of our group went to the comedy club but I was tired and headed down to the stateroom to read a bit and go to bed.

[easyboy]

Sounds like you are all enjoying your cruise start. Will be following along.

 

 

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[PandaBear62]

Pictures from Friday.

The atrium area looked pretty with all the wreaths.

 

The gingerbread was pretty as well.

 

 

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[PandaBear62]

More pictures.

My hamburger from Guys

 

My basil martini

 

 

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[PandaBear62]

Another Christmas decoration.

 

 

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[PandaBear62]

Day 2 Saturday December 23

I was up about 7:30 today. I had ordered tickets for ropes type course called Aerial Adventure at the Descanso Beach Club for two of my kids and wanted to make sure they left in time. This was through the Catalina Island Company. It was about a mile walk for them. I had a mimosa from the lido bar that was barely adequate (cheap champagne?) and a latte from the coffee shop. I had an omelette made at the Guy Fieri hamburger place. I asked for a small one (one ladle of egg, not two) and that's what they did, I had it made with tomato, onion and arugula, with cheese and it was really good.

We got the kids off and the rest of us went to get our tender tickets. The Fun Times and app noted you needed tender tickets before heading down. No one was the the lounge, it was closed and there were no signs directing us. So we traveled down and got on a tender to Catalina. Annoyance….a photographer as you exited the ship, to take your picture with a pirate. Traveled two more feet and then it was a photo with a buoy. Another attempted picture with a dolphin. There was another picture attempt, but can’ remember what it was. I realize Carnival wants to sell pictures, but that is way too much!

We walked along the main promenade as well as up a block or two on the side streets. We walked as far as the casino building before heading back. I had originally planned on us taking the food tour on Catalina, but it was $92. After paying for the drink packages yesterday I didn't want to spend another $500, which is why we just wandered. There was what looked like a wedding being set up as we initially walked by. When we walked back there were people around so I found a bench near the promenade to see if the wedding would happen soon. It did. It looked like it might have been a second wedding, as there was the bride and groom and what I originally thought were groomsmen (guys in khaki pants and blue dress shirts). But I think they may have been the children. Anyway, we were a bit away, as were most people on the promenade and beach. One family went right behind the chairs and were videoing the ceremony and the mom was up right up in the front side taking pictures and videoing. Finally the wedding photographer said something and the family appeared to back off. Everyone in their group looked happy and it was a beautiful place to have a wedding.

We walked back to the ship and went to the Lido deck for lunch. I had two Blue Moons and Mexican food from the Blue Iguana. I had a bowl made and it was really good. Others in the family had tacos which they really liked and the rest had burgers from Guys. It might have gotten old, having the same type of food every day for a week, but we were perfectly happy eating there. We wandered to the adult pool area to check it out and then went to the bar in the atrium and I had a vanilla mule, which was yummy. I went to the art auction with my daughter at 4 (she wanted to go). I stopped to get a glass of wine at the Violin Bar, rather than drinking the free, presumably cheap, champagne. We enjoyed it, but of course, didn’t buy anything. They were referencing a Thomas Kinkade sale the next day, which she also wanted to attend. At the same time the boys attended Sports Trivia, which they won! Eventually we headed to the Alchemy Bar before dinner and I enjoyed a Cosmopolitan. I also tried the Caribbean Manhattan, as my father in law always drank Manhattans. I didn’t really care for it, but that’s the beauty of the drink package. I didn’t care if I didn’t like it or finish it. We ran into the comedy club (Punchliners) for the 7:45 show and it was ok. Not great, but ok. The comedian was Jason Andors. I had heard really good things about the comedians on the Carnival cruises, so I did have higher expectations.

For dinner, I had the Italian Wedding soup for an appetizer. It was good. Other people had had the caprese salad, the flatbread, the caesar salad and the roasted pumpkin soup. Everyone generally enjoyed them. For dinner I had the grilled beef tenderloin and it was quite good, as was the side of polenta. My dh had the chicken chow mein, which he said was quite spicy and my daughter had the root vegetables in the pie crust. I also tried sides of the mac n cheese and creamed spinach. I liked the mac n cheese but the creamed spinach was too saucy. A good flavor but not thick enough. I tried the banana white chocolate banana pudding for dessert which was also good. The boys, of course, had the chocolate melting cake and my daughter, the chocolate panna cotta. She said it was too rich and sweet. And we had port for dessert. Our beverage server, Alexander, brought us a better port tonight...10 year old I think. It was really good!

 

After dinner the kids went somewhere (I don’t remember) and my dh, mom and brother went to the piano bar. I was really excited about this. The pianist was Carson Rhodes and he could play beautifully and I really liked his song choices, but his voice was really not good. So that was a big disappointment. So we didn’t stay very long. We went back to the room, as I knew we had a big day tomorrow.

[PandaBear62]

Strawberry santas at coffee place. I didn't have one (don't like strawberries) but they were sure cute!

 

 

 

Playground very close to getting off the ship. It was empty when we left the ship but full of kids by mid day.

 

 

Sign in one of the shops, lol.

 

 

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[PandaBear62]

The casino building in background. We were guessing the set up was for a wedding.

 

 

Christmas tree in Avalon.

 

 

Ship in distance.

 

 

Yes it was a wedding!

 

 

 

 

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[Clarea]

Very nice photos, following.:)

[riclop]

Thanks for the report.

[UBP....YES!!!!]

Thank you for your Inspiration review Pandabear!! I will be on the Inspiration in Febuary.

How was the weather?? I noticed people attending the wedding were wearing fleeces, sweaters and long shirts, what would you recommend packing.

Thank you, Brian

[Keith1010]

I enjoyed your review and the photos.

 

Keith

[SadieN]

Thank you for your Inspiration review Pandabear!! I will be on the Inspiration in Febuary.

 

How was the weather?? I noticed people attending the wedding were wearing fleeces, sweaters and long shirts, what would you recommend packing.

 

Thank you, Brian

 

 

 

Weather on the mainland was 40s-60s that week. Cold by SoCal standards. Warm by Chicago standards. :D. February is the start of our rainy season.

[Mutumbojimbo]

Great review so far, I'm definitely interested in the rest.

[PandaBear62]

Thank you for your Inspiration review Pandabear!! I will be on the Inspiration in Febuary.

How was the weather?? I noticed people attending the wedding were wearing fleeces, sweaters and long shirts, what would you recommend packing.

Thank you, Brian

 

Our "highs" were supposed to be 70. It did seem warmer. I wore a fleece style jacket in Catalina and was almost too warm by noon (and I get cold!). In Ensenada, since we were in and out of the van and then in wineries, I just wore a lightweight sweater.

[PandaBear62]

Day 3, Sunday December 24

I realized I forgot to note that we downloaded the Carnival Hub app before we left, and also paid the $5 per person to have the texting ability. It was definitely worth it and I would recommend using it. It was convenient having the schedule. Some of the menus for the main dining room were listed as well.

Today we got up for our 10am wine tasting tour. As usual, we ate breakfast from the food served at Guys and Blue Iguana. The buffets were typically crowded and did not look appealing. I am wondering of the weather had something to do with it? Or did people just not realize the good options by the pool? Or maybe with kids, they liked the buffet better? All I know is that we reaped the benefits! I had oatmeal today, a favorite of mine. Everyone else had the breakfast burritos. The topping bar for these was great.

I booked our tour from a place I found online. The cost was $55 per person, because we were a group of 7 (I believe 4 would have been $75 per person). The company is called Wine Route and the web page is wineroutebaja.com.

I definitely originally considered the Carnival Wine Tour, as I wasn’t sure if we could do our own tour on Christmas Eve. That tour is about $50 per person for about 3 hours, I think. So I feel our tour was about the same price, even though we had to pay our own tasting fees, since we had a tour that was twice as long. It’s hard to say exactly what the tasting fees were, since we purchased wine and other items at 3 of the wineries. The one winery we only tasted at ended up being $54 or 7 of us.

The biggest differences in the tours were the length (3 or 3 ½ hours vs 6 ½), the number of wineries (2 vs 4), eating lunch in Ensenada and the type of wineries (boutique vs large)

We walked off of the ship early and waited by the tour busses, only to discover that we hadn't walked far enough. Because they are not an “official” company, they have to wait off the pier. So after a little panic, we met up with Eugenia and Luigi. I had sent them some winero we were interested in, but also knew that the itinerary would be based on what was open on Christmas Eve. I also asked for a lunch restaurant that could accommodate our party, which included my brother who is deathly allergic to nuts, my daughter the vegetarian and the boys, who would probably want pizza or hamburgers. I also asked for it to be reasonably priced. Eugenia assured me it wouldn’t be a problem. Luigi is the driver and Eugenia the tour guide. As we drove to the wine region, she provided information about the region and answered our questions.

I had considered the cruise line tour, which goes to 2 wineries. But I was confident we’d prefer our own tour.

We started our day at Santo Tomas winery.(http://santo-tomas.com/) This was a wonderful winery and we had a great time here. I am not a white wine drinker at all, but really liked the French Columbard. They also market a line of chocolates and we had the white chocolate with walnuts with the white and it was amazing! Also the milk chocolate with cinnamon with red. Their port was great as well. I think we bought 4 bottles here, plus chocolate. I absolutely want to return here.

Our second stop was Misiones de California. This is a YouTube video he produced.

This was an amazing stop. Raul was a wonderful host. I believe this stop is by reservation only. We tried 5 wines, and the olive oil and tapenade. We ended up purchasing two bottles of the Vino Tinto, a Nebiolo and Capistrano (a blend of 5 varietals). Not to mention a lot of olive oil and tapenade. Seriously, this is one of the best wine experiences I have ever had in my life! And we’ve been to Napa, Sonoma, Paso Robles, Santa Maria, Morgan Hill/Gilroy, Livermore and Temecula.

We also stopped at Vinisterra. http://www.vinisterra.com/esp/index.php This was a nice winery as well with a personable host, but Santo Tomas and Misiones de California set the bar so incredibly high, it just wasn’t as good. We should have gone here first!

Our fourth stop was Sol Y Barro. https://www.facebook.com/solybarro/ We also enjoyed this winery and purchased wine here. The young man serving us was very nice.

We stopped for Lunch and Familia Samarin. We needed a little help from Eugenia here, as no one speaks English. http://restaurante-familia-samarin.business.site/

Our meal here for 7 was $94. We ordered a pitcher (it was large!) of fresh lemonade (really good) and Sangria (also great). Two of the guys had bottled coke. We had a fantastic cheese tray and 2 orders of guacamole for appetizers. We then ordered a roasted veggie plate (amazing) for dd, and three wood fired pizzas for lunch. (My brother noticed the oven and guessed they would be good). The pizzas were excellent.

This was one of the best wine tasting days I’ve ever had. I am now a convert to Mexican wines! Of course, the difficulty is that these are primarily boutique wines, so you need to come here and buy.

We were back at the ship about 4:30. Eugenia was very aware of when the ship sailed and assured us we’d be back with plenty of time and she was correct.

My dh went to watch the Hawaii Bowl, as Fresno State was playing in it. This was his big complaint about the ship….no sports bar. There was no real place to get a drink and watch sports. He was watching at the coffee shop.

My mom and daughter and I went to the Kinkade art sale. My mom had gotten an offer in her cabin the night before, giving her a free print. My brother told her that there had to be a catch, so we weren’t sure what would happen. Well, there was a little pressure to have Parkwest frame the print, but we refused. Actually, there price wasn’t bad for custom framing, but we still declined. My mom was charged $35 for shipping in a tube (way overpriced) but not a bad price for dd to get a Kinkade print. We were kind of amused because there was a lot of emphasis on Kinkade and his family and and how his love for his wife was emphasized in each painting. Since Kinkade was from our area, we knew about his leaving his wife and all the issues within the family when he died. But dd really likes him and we enjoyed seeing his work.

For dinner tonight my brother said the Prosciutti ruffles were very good and the melon had a good flavor and was ripe. My mom enjoyed the red beet carpaccio and the frog legs. I had the veggie spring rolls. They were fried, but were fried well (a nice tan color) and were crispy, not soggy. Daughter had the mango cream soup and it was good. I had the roasted strip loin for dinner and it was very good. Like, really good. And cooked exactly how I like (medium, but with a little red throughout). I like my meat between medium rare and medium, and I find I never get it that way! My brother had the veggie lasagna and he liked it a lot. And I don’t remember what the others got. I had the s’mores parfait for dessert and it was really good.

 

Everyone pretty much went their separate ways after dinner. People were tired and maybe we had a little too much “togetherness”.

[PandaBear62]

Santo Tomas

 

Raul at Misiones de California

 

Vinisterra

 

 

Sol Y Barro

 

Samarin

 

One of the Christmas Events. Kids and staff singing together. It was packed.

 

 

 

 

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[PandaBear62]

Chocolatini

 

S'mores parfait

 

 

 

 

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[myjillian]

Thank you so much for sharing. I'm glad that your family had a great time...and I'm sure your Dad was with everyone all the time. My father died the Sat before Easter and my mother the Monday after Easter ( not the same year) so for us Easter is a sad family Holiday. I believe you will find creative outlets for everyone. They are lucky to have you.

[PandaBear62]

Day 4, Monday December 25

I slept in longer this morning. I was one of the last ones up and going from our family. I wanted to try the dining room for the brunch. They all wanted to go to the Lido deck to our same location for breakfast. (Have I mentioned they like breakfast at Blue Iguana and Guys?) I stopped by my coffee shop and Michelle (from Alchemy) was there working. I tried their Irish coffee drink (made with milk, unlike a real Irish coffee). It was really good. I headed over to the dining room and it was busy!I was able to get a table quickly, because I was by myself. Larger groups had to wait. I ordered a mimosa, and while it took awhile to arrive, it was WAY better than the one the other day on the pool deck. It was quite nice! Breakfast, on the other hand, wasn’t as good. I had the Eggs Benedict and it just wasn’t that good. On the other hand, there was a table of three young adults next to me. They were ordering one of each of many of the breakfast entrees and they were liking all of then. I asked if I could take a picture of the frosted flakes french toast. They were having a great time!

 

At 11:45 dh, youngest ds, dd, my mom and I went to Harry Potter trivia. Someone got all 20 questions correct! Dd and ds were the ones answering questions…..I was just along for the ride. They got 15 of 20 correct, with a couple they were close on.

 

At 1:30, dd and I went to the Ladies Pampering Session. We arrived about 10 minutes early and it was evident that the event would be more people than expected. Everyone was waiting in a small room. SOme ladies began to “organize” us and we shared where we were from (primarily California) and then began singing Christmas carols! Truly a spontaneous activity and it was very enjoyable. It started about 15 minutes late and we were taken into a room with folding chairs. People were on the floor on yoga mats and sitting on yoga balls, as well. It was basically the skin cleaning regime they were selling. They did offer a 75 minute package that was basically a massage and mini facial (I think) for $99, but of course, you had to do it that afternoon or evening. A couple of people did sign up.

 

We wandered around a bit more and went to the jewelry sale and then ended up at the Alchemy bar. Katie made a yummy orange flavored champagne cocktail with vodka.

 

We met for family pictures at 7:30 before our 8:15 dinner. Actually, the pose I liked least while the pics were going on was the one we ended up buying!

 

Dinner was a special holiday menu. I will post the picture below. I knew what the menu typically was and I definitely thought the holiday menu wasn’t as good. I tried the pumpkin bisque and turkey dinner. I should have tried the shrimp and chosen a different side. I forgot to take a picture of the dessert menu, but I had the pumpkin chocolate thing (picture below). Dd had the fettuccine, but made without the meat. My mom had the shrimp, and my brother the regular fettuccine.

 

My brother wanted to go to the Punchliner after dinner, so we did. It was the R rated show. It was the same guy as before: Jason Andors. I’m not a huge fan of R rated comedy, but it can be funny. He wasn’t funny at all. It was just stupid with lots of male anatomy jokes and profanity.

 

Our family had the consensus that there just wasn’t enough to do on a sea day.

[PandaBear62]

Frenchtoast

 

Christmas dinner

 

Dessert

 

Bar at Comedy Club

 

 

 

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[1maggie1]

Great review!

[PandaBear62]

Day 5, Tuesday December 26

Dh was up early (about 6) but I stayed in bed a bit longer. We stopped by the coffee shop for lattes and left the ship about 8:20, as we all had our luggage. I expected to have to do a customs declaration but we didn't have to. We basically bought wine, olive oil and the tapenade. Dh had an appointment for his global access (waits for San Francisco are crazy long) at 10. He was done by 9:40 and we set off for home.

Traffic was quite heavy driving home along I-5, although ironically, not in the LA area. We stopped at Highway 46 on 5 and tried to go to In n Out Burger. It was so crowded, you couldn’t even get to the parking lot or the drive through. Dh tried to drop me off and the line was out the door so we went to McDonalds instead.

 

Final Thoughts

 

• Drink package. It was fun but I'm not sure I'd buy again unless I was doing a weekend cruise. On the other hand, maybe…...We loved the Alchemy bar and drinks there were all $10.95 there. Two drinks there, a glass of wine with dinner, port after dinner, a beer with lunch and coffee in the morning just about meets the cost. It would probably depend on the cruise and time of year and the ports.
  
• Ensenada. I can't emphasize enough how much we enjoyed our private tour. Ensenada has some really nice wineries. I hope I’m not breaking rules by recommending the Wine Route (www.wineroutebaja.com). Eugenia is the tour guide and Luigi the driver. They do other tours and will combine or personalize them. If you utilize them please say Julia referred you.
  
• Carnival food and wine. We were generally pleasantly surprised by the dining room food. Just a couple of duds. I can't comment on the buffet food because we never ate there. It really didn't look appealing. We really like Guy’s Burgers as well the Mexican food next to it. The tortillas for tacos are freshly made. Staff made a bowl for me rather than a burrito. The breakfast foods served at these locations is also good. We really liked the omelettes and breakfast burritos.. These lines were seldom crowded. Maybe because it was a little chilly on deck and people stayed inside? I felt the wine selection was decent. My mom and brother favored Conundrum and I generally drank the Layer Cake Cabernet. We also enjoyed chocolatini’s after dinner and the 10 year port. Loved the Alchemy bar, especially when we had Michelle or Katie make drinks off the menu to our preferences.
  
• Tipping. I know this tends to be a controversial topic, so I am just posting what we did. Please, no criticism. I know it's not required but we basically tipped .50 on a water or coffee and $1 per drink. We gave an envelope with $10 to our cabin steward. We basically kept the room clean ourselves and our only “extra” was asking for a hairdryer and one extra towel. I gave the same steward $20 for the room that held my brother and two sons. More work and I am sure, much messier. We gave $30 to our beverage server (the very delightful Alexander from Columbia) and to our waiter (Sudiatra “Sudi”). They were both personable and very attentive. My brother is deathly allergic to nuts and Sudi took his order the night before,to make sure his food was freshly prepared. We had sparkling water waiting for us at the table after the first night and we always had Alexander making sure we had wine refills. Finally, I gave $20 each to Michelle and Katie in the Alchemy bar. They were always so personable and we truly enjoyed our time at their bar. As I said above, I wasn't really sure of tipping protocols. But we can afford to offer a little more, especially when we were treated so well.
  
• Carnival Staff and Organization. We had positive interactions with our wait staff and bar tenders, etc. I wasn't particularly impressed with the more administrative staff or rather, the organization staff of the ship. As I mentioned above, playing music and then expecting people to hear you speak as you tried to talk over it. Or putting on the “Fun Times” and app you needed to go to a certain lounge to pick up a tender tickets and that lounge is closed, with no staff member or note on the door. Or not bothering to post a sign. Or once you showed a drivers license and room key to get on the tender. It would be easy for staff to tell you you'll need both again to get off the tender and on the ship (so we wouldn’t put them away). Or when you ask a question about the Carnival Hub app, having the guest services staff make it clear they had no idea how the app worked.
  
• I liked wine tasting in Ensenada so much I booked a 2 day Disney Cruise next fall for dh’s birthday.. It wasn’t cheap ($1200 for two nights), but I suggested it for dh’s birthday. DH thought it was too pricey and suggested we stay at the Grand Californian that weekend and go to Disneyland. That was going to be $2000! So we decided to keep the DIsney Cruise reservation.