4 Night Baja Cruise Shore Excursion Review: Ensenada Off Road Bicycle & Winery Tour

[Sailfish]

 

4 Night Baja Cruise Shore Excursion Review: Off Road Bicycle & Winery Tour

 

We just returned from a New Years Eve Cruise aboard the Monarch of the Seas (please click on the hyper link for my complete review). Here is some info about of our shore excursion that we booked through the cruise line. Please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions. I found limited feedback and information about our tours on the internet so I thought I would add mine to help others in the same boat!

 

Good luck!

 

Ensenada: Off Road Bicycle & Winery Tour

Recommended: Yes, for more experienced mountain bikers

 

My husband and I go mountain biking often, so when we saw this tour combined with a visit to a small local winery, we jumped at the chance. Although quite fun, this tour is not for everyone, despite what the cruise line will tell you. The terrain is very hilly and steep at times; even the tour guide had to walk his mountain bike up several steep hills, so be warned!

 

The tour guide will meet you at the pier in Ensenada. Then, you take a bus to the outskirts of town where you are issued a mountain bike. I initially got a bike that was not in good shape, and requested another one. The tour takes you on very hilly terrain, so having the ability to smoothly shift up and down is a must. The dirt road is uneven, with lots of pot holes, steep down hills and a few obstacles, so you have to be careful and comfortable on terrain like this. People who have an issue with speed, are fearful of steep downhill biking, getting rattled on uneven terrain or are unable to peddle up hills should find another tour. It is what it is and a load of fun if you like this sort of thing. The tour guide was not in the best of shape, which surprised us, so we had to make frequent stops. I was enjoying the pretty scenery and hilltop views way too much to complain, but my husband was a little annoyed.

 

After about an hour, we stopped at a small private winery. We met the owner and got a very intimate tour that was both very interesting and quite enjoyable. I didn’t care for the wine; because I thought the winery was so cool, I really was hoping to buy a few bottles of wine to take home, but it was so bad, I couldn’t bring myself to spend $40 a bottle on wine I would never drink! At the end of the tour, we got back onto our bikes for the 5 minute ride back to the place where we began the tour. We got on a bus that took us back into downtown Ensenada or to the ship. The rest of the afternoon was spent shopping.

[suziehmkr]

Suzi - thanks for posting this. We are trying to decide what we want to do on our October Monarch cruise and this one was a consideration. Thank you for being frank about the terrain & what is involved. I appreciate it! :)

[Sailfish]

Suzi - thanks for posting this. We are trying to decide what we want to do on our October Monarch cruise and this one was a consideration. Thank you for being frank about the terrain & what is involved. I appreciate it! :)

 

I hope you and others don't misunderstand - we had fun on this tour. But I also believe the information the cruise line provides you at their online shor excursion site is different from the actual tour, though it does imply it is somewhat strenuous.

 

It was interesting to note that we were the only ones on this tour - off of a sold out New Years cruise, so I asked the guy leading the tour about this. He said that it's among the most unpopular tours his copany offers as its a workout. He says weeks will go by and no one does it - but he implied that cruise line passengers are lazy! The same company that organized the mountain biking tour also does the ATV tours. We had a full bus heading over to the location where we got the bikes - the ATV's were there also.

 

Both the guide and the guy following us on an ATV were smokers. Our guide was kind of wimpy and walked his bike up most of the steeper hills. I initially got a bike that had problems changing gears - once I got a replacement (they had an extra one with the guy in the ATV) I had no more issues. The hills were kind of steep, but as long as you went down the approaching hills fast enough, getting half the uphill climb covered by your momentum paid off big time. The problem was the guide kept breaking on the steeper downhills, so he had no momentum - a sign he didn't know much about mountain biking!

 

Good luck.

[suziehmkr]

No - I didn't get the wrong impression at all. I am glad that you gave, what I feel is a great review. Glad you enjoyed it. I am just NOT in that good of shape. :D

[jeniroosen]

Hey Sailfish -

Was thinking about this excursion. The man and I both race mountain, road and cross but don't seem to be able to find anything up to our "caliber" if you know what I mean, when it comes to excursions. Was the picture you posted from the trip? It looks like a dh bike with the triple crown front fork.. Why would they put you on a dh bike for a mtb tour?

[Sailfish]

Hey Sailfish -

Was thinking about this excursion. The man and I both race mountain, road and cross but don't seem to be able to find anything up to our "caliber" if you know what I mean, when it comes to excursions. Was the picture you posted from the trip? It looks like a dh bike with the triple crown front fork.. Why would they put you on a dh bike for a mtb tour?

 

No the picture does not diplay the bike or the race, but the picture was obtained from the tour company.

 

That said, although we mountain bike for fun frequently up in the foothills of the Sierras in Northern California, people who do not like going up and down steep hills should avoid this tour. People who are into competative mountain biking probably should also stay clear of the tour, as it will most likely not give you the challenge you are looking for and disappoint you big time. We found the tour guide to be a little lame; it was obvious he was not into mt. biking at all. When we indicated our level of competency to be what we thought was low intermediate - meaning we are in decent shape, enjoy biking on uneven hilly terrain but interested mostly in seeing the countryside - the tour guide said he would take us on a longer, more challenging route. The route wasn't so challenging that a person in decent shape couldn't have easily come with us. But I know that most passengers not familiar with mt. biking might find this tour simply too much work.

[ronrythm]

Was there any single track or was it all dirt road?

Thanks

Ron