? Regarding 2 Winery Tour Ensenada

[DavidsNana]

Can anyone who has been on this tour (Princess Cruises) tell me how much walking there is while at the wineries and if there is anywhere to sit while on the tour and in the tasting facilities. My husband has a very bad back and has problems standing for long periods of time and walking more than a block at a time. Just wondering if I should bring the wheelchair for this tour. Thank you in advance for your help. Barbara

[CWcruisers]

There is really not a lot of walking at either winery. Your husband could decide to skip the tour part and just get something to sip on. There are lots of tables and chairs close to the tasting room but none inside.

[DavidsNana]

Thanks so much for the 1st hand information. I will take the wheelchair and that way he can either do the tour with me or sit and take in the scenery and have some wine. Very much appreciate your replying. Barbara

[lois1112]

Ive done this tour and agree not much walking and always places to sit

the wine was not great, but I loved the people and the scenery

[DavidsNana]

Thanks for the information, very helpful. Nice to know that there are plenty of places to sit. Barbara

[BrandiGreg]

Ive done this tour and agree not much walking and always places to sit

the wine was not great, but I loved the people and the scenery

We did the wineries tour in December and we thought the wines were great, though we usually drink them from a 5 liter box with an orange clearance sticker on it. LOL After the first few samples (I think there were 6 glasses half full), it could have been rubbing alcohol....we just enjoyed the ambiance and the buzz! Then we went to another place AND THERE WAS EVEN MORE. Needless to say, the bus brought us right back to the ship and we staggered back to our cabin with the biggest smiles. :o Well worth the excursion price in our opinion. It seemed most of our tour mates agreed. Have fun!

[CWcruisers]

The bus ride out to the wineries is always so quite, but coming back, all of a sudden, everyone is your best friend.:p

[Cruisedreamer1]

Has anyone taken both wine tours? How do they compare? One goes to St Tomas Winery and the other goes to Dona Lupe's and L.A. Cetto.

[timbom]

Can you get these tours from a vendor on pier or is it only available thru ship???

Edited September 14, 2013 by timbom

[CWcruisers]

IMHO the best tour is the one that goes to LA Cetto and Dona Lupe. That takes you about an hour out of town and you will be amazed at how the landscape changes. The Santa Tomas winery is in town, really not much charm.

 

I have always used the ship tour, it's a really good value for the money, which is not much, unless it has gone up since the last time I did it. Ours was $30/person and included a bottle of wine, which they let you bring to the dining room with no corkage fee since is was a ship sponsored tour. This was on Carnival.

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

We booked this tour for our October cruise!

 

Seems to be a relaxing way to spend the day and see a bit of Ensenada country-side!

[dyer4789]

We just went this past weekend, it was on a Carnival cruise but it was the same excursion, going to LA Cetto and then the other less commercial winery.

 

There was some walking at LA Cetto, you see the fermentation tanks, their wine cellar, and then the little area where they have their parties. Then you go to the tasting.

 

At the other winery you go directly to taste and you can sit the whole time.

 

It was a really good excursion, I was really pleased with it.

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

We just went this past weekend, it was on a Carnival cruise but it was the same excursion, going to LA Cetto and then the other less commercial winery.

 

There was some walking at LA Cetto, you see the fermentation tanks, their wine cellar, and then the little area where they have their parties. Then you go to the tasting.

 

At the other winery you go directly to taste and you can sit the whole time.

 

It was a really good excursion, I was really pleased with it.

 

Thanks for the review!

 

Were there snacks served...or even food available to purchase?

I think I read one review that said pizza was served on this tour, but have not seen a tour description that mentioned anything like that.

 

This will be a nice tour for us!

[dyer4789]

Yes,

 

At LA Cetto they served cheese and bread with the olive oil that they make. There was one fellow cruiser who said they took this cruise only so they could come back here to buy olive oil to bring home. A friend of my wife had given her money to buy jugs of the olive oil back too so we bought that there as well as wine.

 

At Casa de Dona Lupe's, they serve pizza. It's a flat bread style. They also served wine smoothie that my wife really liked but I didn't. Inside they do sell sandwiches and pizza if you don't like the one that is free (they served us a veggie pizza and I'm more of a pepperoni guy). They bake the bread for their sandwiches there and my wife bought a loaf of bread fresh out of the oven although we had a hard time trying to explain what we wanted to buy because they didn't speak english and I haven't used my spanish for 10+ years. They also sold spices and candy, but, they did serve pizza that was free and there was snacks you could buy. They also had cheese with the wine for free. You could obviously buy whatever other food you wanted.

 

I thought it was a great excursion for sure. They gave us each a bottle of free wine also. If you buy the wines at the wineries they were about 7 dollars a bottle. The olive oil was also about 7 dollars a bottle.

 

One note, this was our first trip to Mexico. The lady there said you were allowed to bring back 3 bottles of wine per person without paying duties. That is not true, we found out later that you can bring 1L of wine back per person without paying duties. You can bring as much as you want back but you are supposed to pay. We brought back 5 wine bottles and all they did was inspect it to make sure it wasn't Tequila and said we didn't have to pay. The duties are left to the discretion of the agent and for wine it's not very much even if you had to pay. But it was just something we didn't know about and we were thinking it would be expensive to bring back extra wine so we almost just left our free wine's on the boat, but then we decided to see what would happen.

[SadieN]

Dona Lupe also sells speciality jams, jellies and salsas.

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

yes,

 

at la cetto they served cheese and bread with the olive oil that they make. There was one fellow cruiser who said they took this cruise only so they could come back here to buy olive oil to bring home. A friend of my wife had given her money to buy jugs of the olive oil back too so we bought that there as well as wine.

 

At casa de dona lupe's, they serve pizza. It's a flat bread style. They also served wine smoothie that my wife really liked but i didn't. Inside they do sell sandwiches and pizza if you don't like the one that is free

 

thanks, dyer!

:)

[aggiejade]

Yes,

 

At LA Cetto they served cheese and bread with the olive oil that they make. There was one fellow cruiser who said they took this cruise only so they could come back here to buy olive oil to bring home. A friend of my wife had given her money to buy jugs of the olive oil back too so we bought that there as well as wine.

 

At Casa de Dona Lupe's, they serve pizza. It's a flat bread style. They also served wine smoothie that my wife really liked but I didn't. Inside they do sell sandwiches and pizza if you don't like the one that is free (they served us a veggie pizza and I'm more of a pepperoni guy). They bake the bread for their sandwiches there and my wife bought a loaf of bread fresh out of the oven although we had a hard time trying to explain what we wanted to buy because they didn't speak english and I haven't used my spanish for 10+ years. They also sold spices and candy, but, they did serve pizza that was free and there was snacks you could buy. They also had cheese with the wine for free. You could obviously buy whatever other food you wanted.

 

I thought it was a great excursion for sure. They gave us each a bottle of free wine also. If you buy the wines at the wineries they were about 7 dollars a bottle. The olive oil was also about 7 dollars a bottle.

 

One note, this was our first trip to Mexico. The lady there said you were allowed to bring back 3 bottles of wine per person without paying duties. That is not true, we found out later that you can bring 1L of wine back per person without paying duties. You can bring as much as you want back but you are supposed to pay. We brought back 5 wine bottles and all they did was inspect it to make sure it wasn't Tequila and said we didn't have to pay. The duties are left to the discretion of the agent and for wine it's not very much even if you had to pay. But it was just something we didn't know about and we were thinking it would be expensive to bring back extra wine so we almost just left our free wine's on the boat, but then we decided to see what would happen.

 

This is just the information I was looking for. Thanks for sharing details about the two wineries.

[Smokeyham]

IMHO the best tour is the one that goes to LA Cetto and Dona Lupe. That takes you about an hour out of town and you will be amazed at how the landscape changes. The Santa Tomas winery is in town, really not much charm.

 

I have always used the ship tour, it's a really good value for the money, which is not much, unless it has gone up since the last time I did it. Ours was $30/person and included a bottle of wine, which they let you bring to the dining room with no corkage fee since is was a ship sponsored tour. This was on Carnival.

 

Thanks for the very specific information. We will be going on Princes, and I'll look for the tour which includes La Cetto and Dona Lupe.

[xbatt8]

A question was asked by an earlier respondent and I didn't see an answer.

 

Has anyone every done the winery tour offered on the minibuses that take you into town? I'm curious if they are at all similar.

 

Thanks,

 

Bob

[M&M Mousers]

LA Cetta has a tasting room about a mile north of Ensenada on Hwy 1. We've been to the winery and got hooked on their unbelievably delicious fresh olive oil. Until you've tried it you don't know what you're missing. We go to Ensenada every year now and go out to the tasting room and buy 6 gallons of the olive oil. Muy delicioso! Last year it was $32/gallon.

If you go to the winery you'll be able to taste it on pieces of fresh baked bread. Make sure you do. You can get wine anywhere, but fresh olive oil? here in the states? Take advantage of it while you're there.

Edited January 15, 2014 by M&M Mousers
ended too soon

[M&M Mousers]

Hi fellow Vegan - we've taken the winery tour from the bus station in town. Same tour. Same guides. Only one road goes out there, so same views. Less money. You get on the little bus at the boat, it will take you to a tour hub in town, you buy your tickets there then go on the tour. You don't have to worry about missing the boat, they have radios and cellular and will make sure you get back on time.

P.S. LOVED THE BABY GOT BACK VIDEO

Edited January 15, 2014 by M&M Mousers
forgot a comment

[xbatt8]

Awesome. Thank you very much.

 

Not that the Carnival tour is very expensive, but....:D

 

Bob

[Nanatravel]

We too loved the winery tours booked through Princess to Casa Don Lupe and LaCetto. There isn't much else worth doing at Ensenada and the ship's tour was reasonably priced. Enjoy.

[gracebest]

IMHO the best tour is the one that goes to LA Cetto and Dona Lupe. That takes you about an hour out of town and you will be amazed at how the landscape changes. The Santa Tomas winery is in town, really not much charm.

 

I have always used the ship tour, it's a really good value for the money, which is not much, unless it has gone up since the last time I did it. Ours was $30/person and included a bottle of wine, which they let you bring to the dining room with no corkage fee since is was a ship sponsored tour. This was on Carnival.

 

Does anyone know if Princess has the same policy of not charging a corkage fee for wine in the dining room received on a ship sponsored tour?

[beachblonde102]

Hey there, I am not sure on the policy but we took the laCetto winery tour thru the ship. It was really nice. After the tour they gave us each a bottle of wine. We weren't charged corkage, but it was the last evening of the cruise....

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app