Anyone disembark in Ensenada?

[threeofus]

Go with NCL....Freestyle cruising was a nice change....Dining room food fair but some fo the restaurants were really special.

 

Also princess has a Hawaiian Cruise that begins and ends in LA - lots of sea days getting there and back but sea days are vacation days.

 

The RCL 3am deal sounds horrible.

[sally r]

We have done the debarkation in Ensenada twice..stupid, stupid me! Fool me once, shame on you..fool me twice..shame on me...NEVER AGAIN!

 

I think the thing that really got to me was seeing the Serenade docking (empty) in San Diego as I was trudging into the airport. Why couldn't we have just stayed on, had a lesiurely morning and avoided a total nightmare? It's not the Jones act as the ship could bunker in Mexico for an hour. Or add a day to the cruise, Ensenada is actually kinda fun.

 

We booked the San Diego round trip on the Radiance for next year. Not as good an itinerary but worth it to miss the Ensenada hell.

 

If anyone has specific questions just ask me, the glutton for punishment!

[Croozin Soozin]

Sally, are you going next September???? Bill and I are doing that cruise - what a relief not to have to go through the Ensenada bus ride!!! Also, so nice to only have a five hour flight to San Diego and back!!

 

Susan

[worldsbestcandles]

How does customs work for leaving Ensenada heading back to San Diego? We really aren't there long enough to purchase anything so we wouldn't have anything to declare (given that everything would have been purchased in Hawaii). So are they just verifying citizenship or do you have to fill out a form and have all of your bags checked, etc...?

 

any inof would be great!

Thanks,

WBC

[sally r]

WBC, you are correct as far as not having time to buy anything. Only duty free shopping is on the ship. As far as customs, the first time we did it they never looked at a thing, just waved us through. Second cruise they glanced at our passports. We also had to put our carryons through an xray machine, which I don't think was even on as there wasn't anyone around.

 

Susan we are doing the May r/t..too bad we aren't on the same cruise! How is Bill?

[Croozin Soozin]

Sally - oh too bad - it would have been fun to cruise with you again!!! Bill is doing great, thank you for asking!!! He just had a checkup with his cardiologist yesterday and except for his cholesterol still being a little high, he's in great shape.

 

How are you and Rick doing??? Maybe we'll see you again on our travels!!!

 

Susan

[abridalmaven]

Honestly, why couldn't RCCL make it an 11 day cruise and stop in Ensenada for a night and then go up to San Diego? It has to go up there eventually anyways right?... *sigh*.... Here's hoping all goes for us!

 

 

It is not by choice, it is a US LAW, when they start at a US port, they have to land in an international one ( or vica versa). So if we all had sense we would all write congress to get this stupid law repealed. Only a US registered ship can sail round trip in the US.

Also when we went to hawaii the process was very smooth and uneventful, they ( customs) sealed the cargo area of the bus at the pier and at the crossing we only had to walk across with our carry ons.

[worldsbestcandles]

It is not by choice, it is a US LAW, when they start at a US port, they have to land in an international one ( or vica versa). So if we all had sense we would all write congress to get this stupid law repealed. Only a US registered ship can sail round trip in the US.

Also when we went to hawaii the process was very smooth and uneventful, they ( customs) sealed the cargo area of the bus at the pier and at the crossing we only had to walk across with our carry ons.

 

They could have made Ensenada a port though and just stopped there for a bit and then continued north to san diego. I know it has to stop internaitonally but there isn't anything that says we have to disembark there.

[abridalmaven]

They could have made Ensenada a port though and just stopped there for a bit and then continued north to san diego. I know it has to stop internaitonally but there isn't anything that says we have to disembark there.

 

 

Yes there is.

[worldsbestcandles]

Yes there is.

 

How does the NCL Wind do it?

[harrodsfan]

So glad we didn't choose to do this..Yuck..Its bad enough to leave a cruise ship at 8 am. this sounds terrible.:mad:

[threeofus]

Yes there is.

 

Not true. 2 years ago we took NCL thru the Hawaiian Islands....This was prior to the new american ship Pride of America. I believe we were on the Nor. Star.

All they had to do was stop at one international port....Kirabati. Granted it was a sea day there and a sea day back...but the port was an experience we enjoyed. We did not embark or disembark at an international port - just a visit.

[sally r]

abridalmaven, then why can we do Hawaii next spring on the Radiance round trip from San Diego? We stop for 59 minutes in Ensenada and then debark in San Diego 8 hours later.

 

I have to think there is a monetary benefit for RCL to off load passengers in Ensenada.

[worldsbestcandles]

Sally r and threeofus,

 

Thanks! I knew I wasn't losing my mind! A friend of mine did the wind that stopped only at fanning island....

 

WBC

[lszu]

The day we arrived in Ensenada was the day we went to war in Afghanistan. We cruised right after 9/11.

 

We arrived in Ensenada early in the morning and got on the busses for San Diego pretty quickly. The bus ride itself wasn't even too bad. The bad part was that since security was so high at the time, every third bus was being emptied. We had to get off the bus, get our luggage off the bus, show customs which bags were ours, get the luggage back on the bus, get the PAX back on the bus.

 

Kind of a pain, but worth it in order to have seen Hawaii.

[threeofus]

[quote name='worldsbestcandles']Sally r and threeofus,

Thanks! I knew I wasn't losing my mind! A friend of mine did the wind that stopped only at fanning island....

WBC[/QUOTE]

Exactly. Fanning Island/Kirabati same port. Some cruisers loved going (as we did) and some found it too long of a trip and would rather spend all of their time in Hawaii. That's why NCL registered their new ship...Pride of ... in US.

So you just have to make the stop somewhere. Why RCL chose to disembark in Mexico is a question for sure. Their choice not the law.