New to Carnival..have a few ?.s

[lovinsea]

Hi, first time trying Carnival..we have booked Carnival Spirit for Hawaii leaving from

Ensenda and returing from Hawaii....my question is we are flying into San Diego to the

Carnival port...do they check you in there and take your checked luggage? What is the

procedure for getting you to Ensenda, do they provide the buses and is it quite a

hassle? We once took a Rccl trip from Hawaii and they let us off in Ensenda and provided

buses to LA...I would not do that route again....took a looong time thru customes almost

missed our flight. Do you just wait around for buses to Ensenada, when do they start

to load the passengers? Does your checked luggage go ahead, and not on your bus?

 

Anyother things I may need to be made aware of? I appreciate any Info you can

give me...

 

Thanks. Ann

[yogi2929]

If you have booked the Carnival transfer they should pick you up at the airport. Speak to you TA or call Carnival directly (if you do not have a TA).

 

I highly recommend a Carnival transfer from San Diego to Ensenada.

[Kurbanfan]

You check in at the port, they check your luggage and load you on a bus to Ensenada where you board the ship.....

Going thru to Ensenada will be a breeze......it is the coming back like you did on RCCL that can take hours.........

You can take a taxi from the airport to the cruise port.....it is about 5 minutes away.....

[osiebosie]

I, too, would do the CCL transfer.

 

We did this cruise once, but the other direction: from Hawaii to Ensenada. Our bus trip was an ADVENTURE from Ensenada to SD. I don't know why in the world Carnival won't jut go on from Ensenada to SD. We saw another line do the same thing, stop in Ensenada, but they then cruised on to SD.

 

Our bus driver got lost in Tijuana. I don't care to take that trip again!

 

On the way from Hawaii to the west coast, one day we encountered a humongous pod of dolphins. They were leaping and flolicking and swimming right up to the ship! It was one of the most amazing things we've ever seen while cruising. I'm talking hundreds of dolphins. Maybe you'll get to see the same thing.

 

Shay

[lovinsea]

I, too, would do the CCL transfer.

 

We did this cruise once, but the other direction: from Hawaii to Ensenada. Our bus trip was an ADVENTURE from Ensenada to SD. I don't know why in the world Carnival won't jut go on from Ensenada to SD. We saw another line do the same thing, stop in Ensenada, but they then cruised on to SD.

 

Our bus driver got lost in Tijuana. I don't care to take that trip again!

 

On the way from Hawaii to the west coast, one day we encountered a humongous pod of dolphins. They were leaping and flolicking and swimming right up to the ship! It was one of the most amazing things we've ever seen while cruising. I'm talking hundreds of dolphins. Maybe you'll get to see the same thing.

 

Shay

 

Thanks all for your replies...on our trip back from Hawaii (on RCCL) we also had a

bus driver who lost the way to San Diego and were heading in the opposite direction

while and passengers kept telling him to turn around..when we finally reached the

boarder he pulled into the line for auto's and then had to back up with all the cars

behind us (who were not too happy) and get into the line for buses. NEVER AGAIN!

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I, too, would do the CCL transfer.

 

We did this cruise once, but the other direction: from Hawaii to Ensenada. Our bus trip was an ADVENTURE from Ensenada to SD. I don't know why in the world Carnival won't jut go on from Ensenada to SD. We saw another line do the same thing, stop in Ensenada, but they then cruised on to SD.

 

Our bus driver got lost in Tijuana. I don't care to take that trip again!

 

On the way from Hawaii to the west coast, one day we encountered a humongous pod of dolphins. They were leaping and flolicking and swimming right up to the ship! It was one of the most amazing things we've ever seen while cruising. I'm talking hundreds of dolphins. Maybe you'll get to see the same thing.

 

Shay

 

I think it has something to do with the PVSA

 

The cruiselines with the exception of NCLA can't take you from one American port to another without going to a distant foreign port.

 

Maybe Ensenada isn't considered a foreign port?

 

I'm sure somebody could clarify this. Where is Cuizer2??

 

Bill

[osiebosie]

Yep. Cruise ships have to go to a foreign port, thus Ensenada. However, RCCL was porting at Ensenada and then cruising the pax to SD. CCL disembarked the pax in Ensenada.

 

After our luggage going into one bus and us onto another, and then our bus getting lost, CCL got a letter from me. Believe me, if a CEO had been on the bus with us, CCL would change this particular point of this cruise.

 

Otherwise, our Hawaiian cruise was AWESOME!

 

Shay