4 Day Baja Mexico *Inspiration* Review & Pics

[AutumnBM]

Hi all!

 

I originally wasn't going to write a review for this cruise because I didn't think many would be interested in it but changed my mind because ,well, at one point I was looking for a review on this cruise and barely found ANYTHING! So maybe SOMEONE will find this review useful!

 

Cruisers were only myself, Autumn, and my husband Jordan. We left out of Long Beach & cruised to Catalina Island (only 26 miles away!) and Ensenada, Mexico. We booked it about 40 days in advance for the following reasons 1) Winter smacked us around hard 2) We both were in dire need of a vacation 3) It was in April & we're still wearing hoodies 4) It was different 5) It was cheap

 

The week leading up to our cruise I ended up having a rough week health-wise and I was genuinely scared about our flight (3 hrs & 40 minutes from Chicago) and the cruise itself. Mostly fear that I wouldn't be able to go through both easily but luckily, things turned out perfect. Once that glorious California sunshine hit me, I felt awesome! It's amazing what warmth and sunshine can do for a person but being on this cruise helped me feel better!

 

 

 

Now here's where I'll start breaking down some points into review form before I attach some pictures --

 

 

The Good --

1) We were on a cruise

2) The weather

3) Mongolian Wok. I could eat Wok every. single. day!

4) Our table mates were pretty nice

5) Quiet room

6) Steve White in the Punchliner comedy club was very funny

7) Lots of good games/trivia/game shows to take part in!

8) I liked our cruise director Jase a lot, very funny!

 

 

The Bad --

1) Ports were NOT bad but neither of us would cruise to them again. They were worth a day's visit though!

2) The new menus SUCK!!! Food quality SUCKED as well. I still ate (and pretty well!) but it was hard to find anything in the main dining room worth eating.

3) Wait staff not great. Forgetful and clumsy. Asked for peppercorn sauce for my steak, received a cup of brown gravy that comes with ALL steaks & was told it was peppercorn (it wasn't) - forgot Jordan's melting cake completely one night - often forgot his coffee. Breakfast staff was no better.

4) Cabin steward did a good job but not very friendly.

5) John DiCosta in the Punchliner was kinda dumb and not funny at all. Was mostly bored during his shows.

6) More swaying & rocking back and forth on this ship than any other. I got home last night & I still feel the rocking!

7) Long Beach terminal was HORRIBLE! By far the worst embarkation process we've been through. These people were sloppy, slow, & soooo unorganized. Disembarkation (debarkation?) was thankfully nowhere near as bad.

 

 

Now, before I go on - I'm not one for complaining (I'm truly just thrilled to be able to cruise), but it is what it is. I think it's safe to say I can join the ranks with most everyone else & say their quality has dropped. However, it WAS a smaller, older ship. It IS a training ship. It isn't a more popular cruise option. Pretty much walked into the poor quality willingly. We had a great cruise overall though & now we're excited for our Valor (September) cruise! I'm sure things will pick up then.

 

 

Ok! Let's post some pictures :::

 

 

This was our weather in Chicago the morning we left -

 

OH WAIT! That's ALWAYS the weather in Chicago. It was the weather last night when we got home too. Surprise surprise.

 

Oh, but this was the weather in Los Angeles -

 

Look at that sunshine. I'm surprised I didn't just burst into flames then considering I never get to see it here (I'm a little dramatic)

 

LAX was a breeze getting in and out of. Jordan led me to wherever we needed to be to meet up with our shuttle driver while I was busy scouring the place for celebrities. Our shuttle (Prime Time Shuttle) was easily accessible & quick. We made it to the terminal in about 35 minutes.

 

 

^^LONG BEACH! I was dying. I've never been to California (said in my best hillbilly voice) *and that's kind of a lie anyways, I lived there as a child but don't remember any of it* -- anyways, long story short - I LOVE CALIFORNIA. Can we just move there?! NOW?! YESTERDAY?!

 

 

^^The cruise terminal & this bird who photobombed me perfectly.

 

 

^^The Queen Mary! Jordan was kicking himself for days because neither of us even thought of going down earlier and staying a night in the QM. Next time though. Next time.

 

 

^^And the main atrium. I took some ship pictures for those who may be interested but I think most everyone has seen the Fantasy class ships. They pretty much all look the same.

 

 

Next up will be more ship pictures, first night's dinner with the new American Table menus, and Catalina!

 

First though, gotta help make dinner...back later!

Edited May 3, 2014 by AutumnBM

[sanmarcosman]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review. I sail the Inspiration this Monday the 5th but I live in San Diego County year round :)

[AutumnBM]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review. I sail the Inspiration this Monday the 5th but I live in San Diego County year round :)

 

 

No problem :) I am so jealous of your location, btw!

[Mistyhon]

Looking forward to reading this. We almost booked this for a quick trip out of the terrible MN winter.

[JinxyB]

Thanks for the review- I'm doing this same cruise over the summer and have never been to the two ports. Where was your cabin located?

Edited May 3, 2014 by JinxyB

[Seany527]

Excited to read this :).

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[shredie]

No problem :) I am so jealous of your location, btw!

 

Those of us who live in California sometimes forget we're lucky to have cruising options so close. The ports are just an excuse to cruise for me. Been to both before, plenty of times, but it's more fun going there on a cruise ship.

[AutumnBM]

OK. We're still only on day 1!

 

Our room was pretty nice. A standard interior room (interior does not bother me on shorter cruises) on the Upper deck. U44 to be exact - it was very quiet which I loved. My sleep had been terrible the previous few days so I was excited to crash on a cruise ship bed. I always sleep so well on cruises. Anyone else?

 

Our cabin steward's name was...I have no idea. We saw her 3 times. The only time she spoke with us was the first time when she brought me a hair dryer and nothing after that, so I have no idea. She did a great job though with our room so I can't complain other than that.

 

First day was spent exploring the ship and laying around. I had to make a trip to the Mongolian wok station for lunch (of which I was hoping if I ate something I would enjoy I could convince my appetite to come back *another side effect of not feeling well the week before cruising!* -- luckily though, I was right. I ate a LOT!) and it was officially vacation!

 

 

^^Serenity. This ol' gal needed some R&R.

 

^^My favorite photo from the trip. I finally managed a good sunset photo!

 

 

Now let's talk dinner. This ship has switched to the new American Table menus, which I was excited for. The excitement is now gone.

 

We got sat at a table for 10 & luckily all of our table mates were really awesome. I doubt any of them are reading this but "you guys were great!"

 

Some food porn from the first night --

 

*Appetizer for me that first night was the vegetable spring rolls - still very good. I love those things. No picture*

 

^^Chickpea Biscuits - a vegetarian option. Actually, these were not bad. Jordan & I both ordered them and we both liked them!

 

^^Warm date & fig pudding. My dessert for the evening - it was REALLY good. I would order that again in a heart beat!

 

^^Nutella tiramisu. Jordan ordered this just so I could try it, it didn't taste like Nutella at all and it was very dense. Not at all light & creamy as good tiramisu should be. Had about 3 bites and called it quits.

 

^^Our sweet little room! I slept like a dream that night and it was much needed!

 

 

Next up ya'll - Catalina. Finally, some meat to this review!

 

Ps - I LOVED Catalina! Gorgeous!

[AutumnBM]

Looking forward to reading this. We almost booked this for a quick trip out of the terrible MN winter.

 

I feel ya. Winter was HARSH this year :(

 

 

Thanks for the review- I'm doing this same cruise over the summer and have never been to the two ports. Where was your cabin located?

 

 

We were in cabin U44! It was an interior but still nice!

[AutumnBM]

Excited to read this :).

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

Yay! I'll try to get Catalina up in the morning!

 

 

Those of us who live in California sometimes forget we're lucky to have cruising options so close. The ports are just an excuse to cruise for me. Been to both before, plenty of times, but it's more fun going there on a cruise ship.

 

 

Yes, you are VERY lucky! At least when we lived in Charlotte we had Charleston only 3 hours away but Chicago is close to NOTHING!

[freddymale]

thanks for starting another review, looking forward to reading it and see all the pictures, as I dough I will ever sail from there.

and btw, i like the short hair looks really good on you

[AutumnBM]

Next post is about Catalina Island & elegant night.

 

I woke up at 5 AM (!!!) as my body was still on central time - I tried my hardest to sleep more but it just wasn't happening so while Jordan decided to get up and go read somewhere on the ship, I laid in bed & watched "Full House" & "Fresh Prince" (sad but true, I may have cried at the episode of "Full House") before finally forcing myself to get up & get ready because we were already at Catalina anyways. May as well go eat breakfast! *And take lots of pictures*

 

 

We had our breakfast (eggs benedict for him, eggs & sausage for me) and made our way off the ship. We found the first line to get off the ship & onto a tender boat but got snapped at by an older lady because she thought we were trying to cut the line or something (perhaps if people stood in a single file line, we would not have had that problem) before Jordan took us to the other exit and we managed to get into a line that only had 2 other couples in front of us. Score. Suck on that, rude lady.

 

 

^^The casino/theater from the ship (and slightly zoomed in)

 

^^Overlooking Serenity

 

^^From the ship

 

^^Tendering

 

^^Still tendering

 

^^We actually rode our tender boat to the island with 2 of our table mates (whom I will simply call "Idaho" because I never learned their names) & when we got off the boat we took each other's photos.

[AutumnBM]

thanks for starting another review, looking forward to reading it and see all the pictures, as I dough I will ever sail from there.

and btw, i like the short hair looks really good on you

 

 

Thank you! Is this Eric? How sad that I don't know everyone's CC names that I talk to on Facebook!!

 

You should see the hair first thing in the morning hahaha Jordan got his first real taste of me trying to tame this wild beast in the AM on the cruise. You'd think it would be simple...

[AutumnBM]

This is the first cruise that I didn't plan ANYTHING for. I didn't even do that much research. I just wanted to be on vacation and relax and to be honest, I couldn't find much info about these ports anyways, so I thought we'd just wing it.

 

We took Catalina by foot. We walked all over & saw pretty much all there is to see & went in most of the shops. The only thing I wished we had been able to see was the Wrigley memorial thing as I am a Cubs fan and figure that would be pretty cool.

 

 

^^If I could walk this little road every day I would be a happy girl. The weather was flawless. The palm trees make me giddy. I just would love to live by the ocean...and not frozen Lake Michigan.

 

^^CUBBIES! Yeah, they're pretty bad, but I like 'em.

 

^^We walked inside but no pics. Sorry guys. Nice though!

 

^^The water at Catalina reminded me of the water at Grand Turk. Had that nice emerald look in some spots & turqoise everywhere else. It was beautiful though. I didn't get in the water here but lots of other folks did, I just went back to the ship and went swimming there!

 

^^We walked to the complete opposite side where you can buy tickets for the Catalina Express or the helicopter rides and took some pictures with the ship. Here's mine!

 

 

Catalina took us about 3 hours (3.5 tops) to cover. I feel like we saw and did everything that the island has to offer outside of snorkeling/fishing but it was nice. I think it would be an excellent addition to any trip to California - just shoot down to Catalina for a relaxing day trip. I'd go back.

[freddymale]

Thank you! Is this Eric? How sad that I don't know everyone's CC names that I talk to on Facebook!!

 

You should see the hair first thing in the morning hahaha Jordan got his first real taste of me trying to tame this wild beast in the AM on the cruise. You'd think it would be simple...

 

lol..so true..I would think it would be, but as I don't have much hair I wouldn't know..lol:D

[AutumnBM]

The rest of the day literally went like this --

 

Rest

Nap

Read (Jordan)

Fall asleep somewhere

Lay around

Serenity. Drink. Lay around.

Dinner

Comedy

Sleep

 

 

It was a full day!!!

 

^^We are such party animals ya'll! My husband is a railroader, he works nearly 7 days a week from 4 AM and don't get home til about 6:30 PM, you'd think he'd want a break from the railroad but nope. That is the book he chose to take on vacation & relax with. And he apologizes in advance for the amount of thigh he's showing there, I didn't realize it when I took the picture.

 

^^Laying out on Serenity, calls for a Funship.

 

^^Elegant night! Table mates took this for us.

 

^^Blurry food pic but it's one of the new menu options - root vegetables in pie crust. I don't eat lobster or even prime rib so I decided on this (I am not vegetarian or vegan but I do tend to gravitate more towards veggie dishes) - I ate about a quarter of it. Jordan ate a quarter of it for me & the other half just went to waste *sad to say it* - it was ok tasting but it tasted like Thanksgiving. Lots of sage & just wasn't what I wanted on a cruise. VERY reminiscent of Thanksgiving dinner.

 

^^Passionfruit Flan. Actually, I really liked this! Would order again!

 

 

^^And ending the night with some comedy. The comedians on this ship were pretty good, one of which we liked better than the other. Steve White was a funny guy, the other guy was just "meh" - did lots of goofy voices that would be funnier to kids.

 

 

And then ,once again, it was time for bed because let's face it, we're old and let's not forget, I woke up at 5 AM that morning...

[pattimelt]

The only thing I wished we had been able to see was the Wrigley memorial thing as I am a Cubs fan and figure that would be pretty cool.

 

I spent $7 on my trip to Catalina and did the trolley tour. It took us around the island, and one of the stops was the old Cubs field. You didn't miss much, to be honest. It looks like a high school field. That was the ONE thing I wanted to see when I went to Catalina, and although I LOVED the 'small town, old-timey' feel, I think my friend and I only spent a couple hours on the island itself. We walked main street and did the trolley tour, and then we went back on the ship ourselves. I want to go back though, and do some more sightseeing.

[AutumnBM]

I'm really looking forward to the next installment. Great review so far!

 

Thank you!!

[AutumnBM]

I spent $7 on my trip to Catalina and did the trolley tour. It took us around the island, and one of the stops was the old Cubs field. You didn't miss much, to be honest. It looks like a high school field. That was the ONE thing I wanted to see when I went to Catalina, and although I LOVED the 'small town, old-timey' feel, I think my friend and I only spent a couple hours on the island itself. We walked main street and did the trolley tour, and then we went back on the ship ourselves. I want to go back though, and do some more sightseeing.

 

 

Ahh that sucks :( But better to know it now than to waste money on a visit next time! I hope to go back again someday too!

[AutumnBM]

Next up is Ensenada day!

 

Now I read absolutely NOTHING positive about Ensenada & I did not make any plans for that day (again, I intended to wing it the whole cruise) but I figured we'd go through the main part of town & shop or something.

 

 

When we got off the ship (2nd day in a row that getting off the ship was a breeze!) we took the available bus/trolley thing into town for $2/person. While on the ride into town, the driver gave us some options of things that are available to do in Ensenada through them - one of which was visiting La Bufadora (the blowhole/gieser) for $15/person & spending a few hours in their open air market. Jordan asked me if I would like do that since we didn't have anything really to do. Sure why not? Wingin' it!!!

 

 

They dropped us all off in town right at the ticket station for La Bufadora & we paid the $30 & got on ANOTHER bus with a group of people from the ship (probably about 12 people) & our tour guide Raquel got on with us & gave us some info about Ensenada along with some info about where we were going. It was a 45 minute bus ride & GOING was not bad but COMING BACK was horrible. I could not wait to get off that bus!!

 

 

Some notes about Ensenada -

1) On our 45 minute bus ride, we saw town, desert, slums, mountainside, and eventually ocean.

2) We were told do NOT buy anything from the children trying to sell you things because if they make money doing that, they won't go to school. But boy if those yungin's don't try their hardest! They will stand outside your window & shake their maracas & offer you bracelets while you turn away & hope that the bus gets the f out there quickly because you hate not buying something from the kiddos...

3) The vendors in Ensenada are about 20x worse than anyone you may encounter in Nassau. These people are obnoxious & persistent.

4) They take American money obviously but most everything I saw was done in Peso price which confused me. I saw a $25 Subway sandwich sign, Jordan saw a Nissan for $13.5 million, I saw cheap packs of cookies being sold for $10...

5) This is not touristy, nice Mexico like Cozumel (which I'm sure has dangerous sides as well) - this is legit Mexico.

6) Borrowing a joke from the lame comedian that I didn't like from the ship "You left Chicago to vacation in Ensenada?! Who's your travel agent?! STEVIE WONDER?!?!" - I may have actually laughed at that.

 

 

Ok most of those were pointless but you see my point - Ensenada is most definitely NOT a destination spot! However, we had a GREAT time & really enjoyed ourselves there. Probably wouldn't vacation there alone though.

 

 

Ok, so moving on...La Bufadora. You drive on mostly horrible roads so your bus is throwing you around everywhere and eventually you end up on dirt road which is no better. The ocean side at La Bufadora is beautiful though! And the gieser itself is pretty. We had a little over 2 hours to walk through the market & check out the gieser and that was ample time for us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

^^This was taken from our bus window as we were driving. Lots of cactus and just dry, orange dirt.

 

^^The open air market is basically a flea market! Except at normal flea markets, the vendors don't run out after you in the streets and ask you to come look in their shop...

[AutumnBM]

 

 

^^Water swirling towards the blowhole

 

 

^^And it erupts!

 

 

^^Tried our hardest to get a decent pic with the water behind us but this was what we stuck with

 

 

 

 

^^Thank you dear table mates (John & Venus...ya know, if you're reading this) for always being there to take our picture!!!

[AutumnBM]

Jordan & I checked out most everyone's station just to see what they had but leave it to us to be drawn to anyone with food!

 

Typical flea market goodies including shot glasses, blankets, ponchos, sombreros, leather things, fake Michael Kors/Burberry/Coach, etc - so we bought NOTHING. You could have your name sewn into a bracelet in 3 minutes or less or have your hair braided in 15 minutes (or less).

 

Original intentions were to just skim past everyone but as the vendors kept offering us churros (and I was good and passed them up twice) I finally caved & took the dang churro (and 3 more WITH NO REGRETS) -- and eventually I took the pina colada, and the candy, and the honey roasted peanuts, and ,well, you get the point. Eventually I stopped saying no & started sampling everything. Which is how I ended up with this thing ::::

 

 

^^NO REGRETS! Pina colada in a pineapple. Better than any ice cream!

 

^^The guy who ran this stand let us sample quite a few of his things but our favorite was definitely the red strips on the front tray - dehydrated mango strips that have been rubbed down with hot chili powder. Who woulda thought?! It was awesome.

 

^^Annnnd we had to have bread. Ended up with blueberry & cream cheese pastry from here. We really like to eat.

 

^^And of COURSE we had to stop by the pharmacy to pick up a few things...*I'M KIDDING*

 

 

You'd think we wouldn't be hungry after all the random bits & pieces we'd bought or sampled from the vendors but we were. We wanted tacos & the tour people had given us a coupon for a free margarita from a place called Habana Banana so we went there first only to not really be all that impressed. They looked pretty American-ized & were only selling big plates of food. I just want tacos!!! So, went walked back through the market to find a cheap taco stand ($1.50/taco) & that was lunch. You tell the lady what you want your taco filled with (pork, chicken, beef, sausage, or cactus) and you dress them yourself with condiments. I won't lie - those tacos (and pina colada) were the best things I had all cruise. Carnival could really take note on how to do tacos (the port of call option on the menu that evening was steak tacos, our table mate ordered them - took 2 bites and wouldn't eat anymore)

 

Not to mention - there was one lady who did nothing but pull out dough balls from a tub, press them out into tortillas, & throw them on a flat top. They were SO GOOD!

 

 

^^1 chicken, 1 beef - with cabbage, pico, lime juice, & some weird red pepper sauce that was fantastic.

 

^^The tortilla lady at work

 

 

After lunch it was pretty much time to get back to the bus and make our way back to the ship. Excuse my french but it was hot as balls out & I couldn't wait to hit the pool (pool was actually freezing cold that day so I didn't stay in but still...) -- the bus ride felt like it took 2 hours going back! Some people chose to stay in town & hit up Papas & Beer but we went on back.

 

Ensenada gave us a good day overall. It was different but something that we would have never got to do otherwise so I have to say I had a great day!

[Jotravelnut21]

Great review Autumn!

 

Really enjoyed the pics too.

Have you more to come? I hope there's a bit more. I would like to see any pics you have of the restaurants/bars maybe. Any on board tips?

 

We are doing this cruise in 7 weeks time! Our first US cruise.

We have been to Catalina several times before and love it. We have done the bus tour of the Island and also hired bikes and explored ourselves but our favorite was the glass bottom boat. Fantastic underwater views of the kelp and fish.

 

We are reasonably nervous of Ensenada, having heard some awful stories so I found your review interesting.

Thanks again for posting.

Jo :)

[welldone60]

Great review Autumn!

 

Really enjoyed the pics too.

Have you more to come? I hope there's a bit more. I would like to see any pics you have of the restaurants/bars maybe. Any on board tips?

 

We are doing this cruise in 7 weeks time! Our first US cruise.

We have been to Catalina several times before and love it. We have done the bus tour of the Island and also hired bikes and explored ourselves but our favorite was the glass bottom boat. Fantastic underwater views of the kelp and fish.

 

We are reasonably nervous of Ensenada, having heard some awful stories so I found your review interesting.

Thanks again for posting.

Jo :)

 

We have been to Ensenada several times. Stay in the tourist area and you will not have any problems. Carnival does a wine tasting tour that is one of the better tours for this port.

[Jotravelnut21]

We have been to Ensenada several times. Stay in the tourist area and you will not have any problems. Carnival does a wine tasting tour that is one of the better tours for this port.

 

Thanks for the post.

But Oh Dear!...... that wine tasting sure sounds good to me but DH doesn't drink alcohol at all.....so not much fun for him! :(

 

Jo :)