PHOTO Review:Inspiration to Ensenada & Catalina + "Behind the Fun" Tour & Queen Mary

[sailawaybellaluna]

The three day was nice. It was an early friday morning flight from Portland, Oregon and then a late afternoon flight home on Monday. We had two kids already and was pregnant with number three so the whole point of the get away was one last trip before baby.

 

We wanted just a few days away and it was perfect....far enough away to feel like a vacation but close enough in case we needed to get home quick.

 

This time for the 4 day we had some vacation plans with friends and that fell through but my MIL and SIL still agreed to babysit so again this is close enough to get home if needed and just far enough to feel like a vacation. We looked into other ports but to spend a whole day or so traveling to and from plus cruise time didnt settle with me. My husband works 12 hour days so this quick cruise is great since he only has to take a day or two off.

 

We don't normally get away without kids. We usually always go as a family but since family offered we decided to go for it.

 

How did you feel the safety on the boat was for your son? I know thats a crazy question. I'm normally not the worrying type but for whatever reason I worry about my kids on the ship and wanting to stand on the rails watching then falling over. Crazy I know!!!

 

Hello Excited7! How nice that you'll get to go away for a little trip without any kiddos! :)

 

To answer your question regarding safety, I really didn't worry about that. This was his 4th cruise and I've never been worried about him potentially crawling through the rails and falling overboard or anything. The rails are perfectly spaced and rounded, so it'd be quite difficult to have an accident.

 

In fact, I never thought I'd book a balcony cabin, but on our cruise on the Breeze last fall, my parents (who traveled with us) had a cove balcony and I didn't have any concern at all. It felt very safe. That being said, we don't leave him alone or with ship staff ever. We're always all together, or in the evenings, my husband and I will swap him for an hour or so to visit the casino or the shops, etc

 

Hope that helps with your fears...Have a great time!

[sailawaybellaluna]

Great review, look forward to seeing more

 

Thansk so much Genner! May I ask - what part of England do you live in? I lived in Bath for a year (for grad school) and Birmingham for a year...I absolutely love England! :)

[sailawaybellaluna]

I'm loving your review! We'll be going on the Miracle 4 day in Oct and have been pondering doing the Wine Country tour. Now that I've read about your experience and have seen your pictures I'm convinced to book it. I'm really interested in the olive oil.

 

Such a beautiful family you are! Thanks for sharing!

 

Oh, thanks so much! I didn't realize the Miracle will be doing this run in the fall - I should check that out too!

 

You won't regret the wine tour...I was hoping to write more about it today, but we spent the entire morning/afternoon moving our little boy into a new twin-sized "big boy" bed and redecorating his room. And then we had a family dinner tonight, so my fun on cruise critic has been delayed a bit. :D

 

Back to the wine tour... you'll love the olive oil at LA Cetto!

 

I'll finish up writing about the second winery in the morning. :)

[Excited7]

To answer your question regarding safety, I really didn't worry about that. This was his 4th cruise and I've never been worried about him potentially crawling through the rails and falling overboard or anything. The rails are perfectly spaced and rounded, so it'd be quite difficult to have an accident.

 

In fact, I never thought I'd book a balcony cabin, but on our cruise on the Breeze last fall, my parents (who traveled with us) had a cove balcony and I didn't have any concern at all. It felt very safe. That being said, we don't leave him alone or with ship staff ever. We're always all together, or in the evenings, my husband and I will swap him for an hour or so to visit the casino or the shops, etc

 

Hope that helps with your fears...Have a great time!

 

 

Thanks! The kids are dying to go on a cruise....might be next family vacation! They are never far from us either. Thanks for the tips and discriptions. Can't wait for more review

[cruisinJenF]

I LOVE the wineries out there in Ensenada!!! It's gorgeous! Rolling green hills and miles and miles of grapevines. I hope to go back when they are harvesting the grapes. When we did this tour at the first of Feb we did LA Cetto second so I think it depends on which group is where. Loved the Honey Wine at the small winery and I loved their seasoned Olive Oil. It's a great tour with beautiful scenery. Love Ensenada! I hear so many people complain about it- well if all you do is get off the ship and tour right there at the port then that's your fault I say! Get out and explore- its fantastic!!!!!!!

 

Great review!!!!!

[sailawaybellaluna]

I LOVE the wineries out there in Ensenada!!! It's gorgeous! Rolling green hills and miles and miles of grapevines. I hope to go back when they are harvesting the grapes. When we did this tour at the first of Feb we did LA Cetto second so I think it depends on which group is where. Loved the Honey Wine at the small winery and I loved their seasoned Olive Oil. It's a great tour with beautiful scenery. Love Ensenada! I hear so many people complain about it- well if all you do is get off the ship and tour right there at the port then that's your fault I say! Get out and explore- its fantastic!!!!!!!

 

Great review!!!!!

 

Hi CruisinJenF,

 

I absolutely agree, the scenery out there is Beautiful! We did go once in May and the vines were beautiful! The other times I've been have been in January and February, but the green hills and (bare) vineyards are still lovely!

 

I agree about Ensenada - you've gotta have a plan and go for it and you'll really end up enjoying your time in that port!

 

Thanks for reading along! :)

 

Up next...the visit to Dona Lupe's winery!

[sailawaybellaluna]

Ok, so where was I...

 

Oh yes, wine tasting in the Guadalupe Valley outside of Ensenada!

 

So, we finished up tasting at LA Cetto. If you're planning to purchase olive oil or wine during this tour, I'd recommend doing it at this winery. The costs are very reasonable, and everything was very good quality!

 

Next up: a very small family run winery called Dona Lupe (sorry, can't find the tildas on my laptop keyboard!).

 

 

Dona Lupe is basically a small little house with a lovely patio overlooking the vineyards. Dona Lupe (who I believe is in her 80's) makes an amazing assortment and jams and dips and other goodies. Her son is the primary wine maker. Inside the home you can sample lots of little gourmet foods, but the wine tasting is done on the patio outside. It is much more casual than LA Cetto - you get a plastic cup with which you can get four separate tastes. They do offer some cheese and pizza during the tasting. The wines were (in my opinion) not that great. Very juice like without any notes of oak. Just not the developed bodies and aromas of other wines from the region. And, I thought they were quite pricey with the cheapest being around $22/bottle.

 

Still, a very fun experience!

 

A few pictures:

 

 

 

After our tasting at Dona Lupe, we boarded the bus and headed back to the ship.

 

There is the option to be dropped off downtown and walk through the market area, or visit Papas & Beer or one of the other restaurants. A few people opted to do this. But, because we had so much loot from the wineries (and the weather was freezing!), we headed back for a relaxing afternoon on the ship.

 

More to come...

[sailawaybellaluna]

Once returning to the ship, we ordered some room service and just relaxed for a bit...

 

We headed up to the Promenade deck (which I just love - it's so fun to sit in those window seats!), and watched the sunset.

 

 

After watching the sunset, we headed to the MDR for dinner. We went a bit early because we were worried about how long the wait would be! We were seated almost immediately.

 

I ordered the redfish with a sweet potato/yam mash (if I remember it correctly?!). To be honest, I didn't love it and was so glad I ordered a baked potato as well! :)

 

 

I can't remember what else I ordered because I didn't take any more pics! I think my son had the mushroom fettuccine of which I stole several bites...If I had to guess, I'm pretty sure I had the warm melting chocolate cake for dessert - haha.

 

One cutback I did notice was the $2.95 charge for cappuccinos in the dining room folllowing dinner. We always had these for free (even on the Breeze during our September cruise). No big deal, I just had tea after dinner, which was still free.

 

We headed back to our cabin and our son was thrilled to have another towel animal!

 

 

I was on bedtime duty tonight while my husband went and lost $20 in the casino...

 

When he returned, I headed to the marriage show with our cruise director, Jacques. The ship was rocking SO bad, I nearly fell off my stool in the Paris lounge! Anyway, it was the same old marriage show - 10 questions. It lasted about 35 minutes and wasn't as hilarious as some, but still funny. (Sidenote: Has anyone heard "Erky from Turkey" on the RCCL cruises? He is HILARIOUS and does the best marriage shows!!).

 

Following the marriage show, I lost money on the slot machines, and then headed to bed for the day...

 

Next up, Sea Day and my "Behind the Fun" Tour!

[sailawaybellaluna]

Today I was pretty excited for my "Behind the Fun" Tour. I signed up around 4:30pm on the day we embarked in Long Beach, and it had already sold out! They have two tours: One at 9:30am and one at 10am - both on the sea day. They allow 16 people per tour. I was put on the waitlist, but a ticket had been delivered to my cabin on day 2. Turns out, our tour had 17 people, so they let me go anyway!

 

Okay, let me back up...

 

Before my tour started (kids under 18 aren't allowed, so I was going alone), my husband, son and I went to the MDR for breakfast. I wanted to use my VIFP drink coupon! So difficult to use that coupon on a cruise with only 1 sea day! Another noticeable cutback: they have the MDR closed now except on Sea Days. Which actually, is probably a wise decision for Carnival to make. But, I just wish they'd let us use the VIFP drink coupons at anytime in any venue! Also, this ship does not have the Punchliner Comedy Brunch...

 

Ok, so breakfast in the MDR. I had about 30 minutes to eat with my fam before heading to the Shakespeare Library for my tour.

 

I had the eggs benedict with hashbrowns and it was WONDERFUL. I used my drink coupon for an Irish Coffee with Bailey's (YUM) and I used my son's for a cappuccino (also for me). My husband was going to use his for a coke. Coke! I said, you've gotta get alcohol or something at least worth $8 - it's free! :D

 

This was the only time we encountered a really bad waiter. Our guy was in a horrible mood! Really bad! Not sure what happened, but he wouldn't talk to us and barked at his co-waiter (I felt bad for that guy). I guess if you have to work serving people 7 days a week, week after week after week, you're bound to have a foul day. I know I would!

 

Up next, Behind the Fun! Was it worth the $55???

[sailawaybellaluna]

Oh, I forgot to post above when I was mentioning the VIFP drink coupon...

 

I also noticed there wasn't a party for VIFP members on this cruise. Kind of a bummer. I actually really enjoy the passed appetizers, drinks, and the video about Carnival. They did have one on the Breeze and the Victory, but not the Inspiration...

[sailawaybellaluna]

So, I headed to the library for the "Behind the Fun" Tour. It said to be there at 9:45am. Strictly no purses, skirts, open toed shoes, cameras, phones, etc.

 

And guess what? Nearly EVERYONE showed up with open toed shoes, cameras, purses and phones! Ahhhh! I'm pretty intense about being on time, so it was a little frustrating to sit and wait for 30 minutes while everyone ran back and forth to their cabins so they could be prepared for the tour. Finally, we departed at 10:15am.

 

Our tour guide was a member of the training staff from Zimbabwe. She was very good, although when I asked her a couple of questions, I got very canned responses. I asked a question about salaries and career pathing and her response was, "everyone is very happy with the salary they make". Hmm. I have known people that have worked for cruiselines and I know there is a huge variation regarding salaries, and it's often divided along cultural lines. For instance, all security is hired by recruiters in India while gift shop staff is primarily hired from the UK, etc. A cabin steward's assistant had told people on our ship that he made $76/month. I realize this money is all savings (their food and cabins of course are paid for), and this is considered pretty good for some economies around the world. But given all the scrutiny Carnival in particular has been put through with the recent Triumph disaster, I just thought some information could be more appropriately shared (or answered), because I'm quite sure not "everyone is very happy with the salary they make"...

 

I was still pretty excited about the tour. My husband joked that being excited over this tour makes me a official "cruise junkie". I think that's true. :D

 

 

I had done a similar tour on the Celebrity Century years ago, and it was free. This one cost $55. Most of the time was spent with Chef Jorg in the Galley. Learning about the food preparation and the amounts of food that are ordered, prepared and consumed each cruise. Some facts:

 

 

Chef Jorg was a great host and a wealth of information. It was really interesting to walk through the kitchen and meet the pastry chef, soup chef, seafood chef and meat chef. We walked through the storage rooms and meat freezers as well. At the end of our time in the kitchen we were given chocolate covered strawberries to munch on before heading off to the laundry facilities...

[rippy13]

I love your review so far! We will be on the Miracle in December & have already decided on staying on the Queen Mary before our trip. I do have a question. One of the stops on our cruise is Ensenada & were thinking of doing the winery tour. Do you have any idea whether they can ship anything or would we have to worry about that. We are flying to get there so... Thank you for any help.

[sailawaybellaluna]

We headed down to the laundry room to meet the manager who was from Indonesia. I struggled a bit to understand and hear him, but it was pretty neat to see the machines they have down there. I was able to participate in putting one of the wet sheets into a machine that instantly dries, irons and folds it in less than a minute! I'd never seen anything like that!

 

We also visited one of the staff mess halls where they eat after that, as well as their training room.

 

We headed up to the bridge to visit with the captain. The waves were SO rough, that nearly half our group got pretty sea sick up on deck 10. I had to hang on to the wall for balance, and was feeling pretty queasy. The captain wasn't too interested in answering questions. He's a man of few words. ;)

 

But it was interesting to be up there, see the equipment and the beautiful views. We also got a photo taken with the captain which was delivered to my cabin later that evening.

 

After that we headed over to meet one of the dancers who gave us a tour behind the stage of the dressing/costume area. It was a little difficult to get information or communicate with her as she was constantly rolling her eyes and making sarcastic comments. :confused:

 

The tour ended in the staff lounge where there's a bar, pool table, tv and internet cafe. We were asked to fill out a survey regarding our thoughts on the tour, and we were given a free cap, lanyard and bracelet.

 

I returned to my cabin to find this, which I thought was a really nice gesture:

 

 

It was a really fun tour to take. Ideally, I would've loved to take it on a larger ship such as the Breeze or the Magic, so I'd probably consider doing it again (although it is $95 on the bigger ships). But it was still a really interesting and fun way to spend a stormy morning at sea!

[sailawaybellaluna]

I forgot to say, on the "Behind the Fun" Tour, they gave us all a recipe for the famous Warm Chocolate Melting Cake.

 

Here you go!

 

 

(Sorry about the quality...it was folded up in my pocket because I wasn't allowed to take my purse on the tour)!

[sailawaybellaluna]

I love your review so far! We will be on the Miracle in December & have already decided on staying on the Queen Mary before our trip. I do have a question. One of the stops on our cruise is Ensenada & were thinking of doing the winery tour. Do you have any idea whether they can ship anything or would we have to worry about that. We are flying to get there so... Thank you for any help.

 

Hi Rippy13,

 

Thanks so much for reading along!

 

I don't think you'll regret staying at the Queen Mary - it's a fun piece of history for any cruise junkie! :)

 

Our tour guide on the winery tour did mention that the wineries do NOT ship, and if you wanted anything shipped it would have to be from town or Tijuana?! I'd probably recommend purchasing white (if you like whites!), and simply sticking them in your suitcase wrapped in those special bubble wrap wine bottle holders. At least if it breaks, it won't stain all your clothing!

 

Oh, and I should say: we didn't check our wine when heading back to our cabin. Someone mentioned it to my husband but I "didn't hear" correctly, and we ended up with all of it in our cabin. So, you might be able to consume a bottle or two on board before you disembark. :)

 

Have a great time!

[sailawaybellaluna]

After my "Behind the Fun" tour, I picked up a quick salad from the Lido deck and headed back to the cabin with our little guy so he could take his nap. Of course, the excitement of the ship was too much, and after attempting a nap for over an hour, we opted to go walk around and hit the shops.

 

I was really looking forward to the tea they serve on the Sea Day at 3pm in the Rhapsody in Blue. I love the teas on board Carnival ships and I think they really do a great job with them!

 

My little guy, drinking his "tea" (Milk):

 

 

The guys "fist bumping" when they saw the cake cart make an appearance:

 

 

 

It was a really nice time, and we had a funny situation arise while we were there...

 

Christian from Romania was serving the cakes and came to our table and said, "You all look so familiar. I have seen you before". Of course, I assumed we had seen him the last time we sailed the Inspiration, 9 months ago. But my husband wasn't on that cruise, and he insisted he recognized my husband too. Turns out, he was on the Breeze in September and was good friends with Luis and Daniella and Yvonne who we spent lots of time talking to during that cruise!

 

My husband was pretty embarrassed. He said, "when the crew start recognizing you from previous cruises, you know you cruise too much"! :D

 

Christian is expected to move to the Sunshine this summer. I told him we were considering that ship, so to keep his eye open for us!

[sailawaybellaluna]

After tea time, we decided to sit along the promenade and listen to the music, and just enjoy watching the sunset. They have a corner seat which is perfectly situated so you can see the entire back of the ship - I love sitting there!

 

 

 

We relaxed there for a couple hours, drinking wine and reading/playing games on the iPad before heading to dinner.

 

Shockingly, nothing on tonight's menu called out to me, so I had 3 appetizers which were all pretty good. I forgot to take pics though...

 

Since it was our last night on board, the crew treated us to a special song, "Leaving on a Fun Ship"...It was pretty funny, and of course, our little guy loved swinging his napkin in the air:

 

 

After dinner, we decided to wander to the shops and pick up a Christmas ornament and some perfume before hitting the comedy show in the Candlelight Lounge. We went to the family comedy show and stayed for about 20 minutes. The guy was pretty funny, but it was way past our son's bedtime so we left around 9pm...

 

The cruise was almost coming to an end...

 

More to come.

[Dicecatt]

That behind the scenes tour sounds fabulous. When you were talking about the purses and cameras I laughed out loud...I was training online with 50 other people and they sent so many communications out about systems requrements, you can't use Windows 7. In red. And highlighted. Like, a dozen times.

 

I'd say a quarter of the class had Windows 7. So irritating to wait while they all went through that crap.

 

So, I have questions...leaving Friday (yay me)...as far as anytime dining, what times would you guess are best for going when there won't be a large wait? We are actually waitlisted, EVERY meal time is waitlisted for us since we just booked :D but we are hoping for anytime or late.

 

We did decide to go for the QM after your report, seems like it will be so much easier and that is worth a few more dollars.

 

That tea looks like so much fun, how early did you have to get there to get a spot?

 

Thanks:)

[sailawaybellaluna]

That behind the scenes tour sounds fabulous. When you were talking about the purses and cameras I laughed out loud...I was training online with 50 other people and they sent so many communications out about systems requrements, you can't use Windows 7. In red. And highlighted. Like, a dozen times.

 

I'd say a quarter of the class had Windows 7. So irritating to wait while they all went through that crap.

 

So, I have questions...leaving Friday (yay me)...as far as anytime dining, what times would you guess are best for going when there won't be a large wait? We are actually waitlisted, EVERY meal time is waitlisted for us since we just booked but we are hoping for anytime or late.

 

We did decide to go for the QM after your report, seems like it will be so much easier and that is worth a few more dollars.

 

That tea looks like so much

 

Hi dicecatt!

 

I know you're waiting on those scanned dailies- I'm working on it! :)

 

To answer your questions...

 

I'd say Anytime Dining was CRAZY between 6:15 - 7pm. If you get there before 6:15 or after 7pm, it won't be so difficult to get a table. If you're not happy with the dining they assign you, I know the maitre'd is available starting at 1:30pm the day of embarkation to deal with change requests.

 

The tea was so much fun! I got there about 2:50pm and snagged a table for 3. At 3pm, the place was PACKED and people were sharing booths or having to sit up on the piano bar. So I'd suggest to arrive 10 or 15 minutes early.

 

You will enjoy the Queen Mary! Just a word of advice regarding the early check-in: the staff will tell you it's in the engine room, but it isn't so easy to find it!

 

You actually have to go back outside from the main entrance, and then walk to the back of the QM and enter through another entrance. Apparently there is a way to get there internally, but after trying for 15 minutes we gave up. :)

 

Enjoy!

[sailawaybellaluna]

Well, our cruise has come to an end.

 

We usually do the self-assist when departing the ship, and this time was no different.

 

I ordered room service for 6:45am, knowing it would arrive very early, and boy did it! At around 6:25 we were awoken with a knock on the door.

 

We hadn't even started packing! But since we just had a short drive home (no flight), we figured we could just cram everything in our suitcase.

 

Our cabin steward wasn't banging on the door or forcing us out like I've had happen on some cruises, so that was nice.

 

We packed, tidied the cabin up, and were off the ship by 8:30am. No lines or crowds to leave! It was so easy! Just a short line through immigration (where I had to request our passports to be stamped), and that was it! So simple!

 

We walked across the parking lot to the Queen Mary's parking lot and were home by 9:45am!

 

All in all, we had a great time but it would've been SO much better with some nice weather. Oh well. I shouldn't complain, living in SoCal we get plenty of nice weather!

 

I'd say this a good value for money and a fun little cruise!

 

If you have any questions, please let me know! I'll work on getting the daily "Fun Times" uploaded here shortly...

 

Thanks so much for reading along!!!

[alexkrn46]

Very Nice review, you have beautiful family.

[Excited7]

Awesome review! Thanks so much :)

[sailawaybellaluna]

Very Nice review, you have beautiful family.

__________________

 

Thank you so much alexkrn!

[The Phoenixx]

I loved reading your review. My daughters and I will be sailing on March 11th. Their first cruise. The first one I will enjoy. My last cruise was a bummer (the company I was with turned me off from cruising.) The girls will take surfing lessons and we will get massages in Ensenada. Looks like the glass bottom boat tour will be our deal in Catalina Island. I loved the pics of the ship and all the detail of the activities you went on. Thank you so much!

[sailawaybellaluna]

Awesome review! Thanks so much

 

Thanks for reading along Excited7! :)