Carnival Cruise from San Diego to Ensenada on the Elation
By Andrew. Filed in The Americas |
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Cruises. Don’t even care about where it goes. The weekend cruise to Mexico is one of the more relaxing getaways you can do. And I did it! This one left from San Diego and initially, I was going to fly down from LAX since the dock is almost within walking distance to the airport. But I didn’t make the first flight and if I would have just drove down, I would have been there by then! So I went back to the B lot, got in the car, and headed off to San Diego.
Carnival Cruise's Elation
Carnival’s Elation is one of their newest boats. And it’s a decent size! I got there early and past experience with Carnival wasn’t very good for checking in. I was surprised they let people board before noon but no one was allowed down in the cabins before 3… so off I went exploring.
Onboard the Elation
So I hopped on the ship after a REALLY quick checkin (less than 5 minutes) and hit the top deck for some lunch. Everything was open ‘cept the cabin areas so it wasn’t that bad. People were slowly coming on board and this gave me a chance to get totally orientated.
USS Midway Museum
Really close to the Elation was the USS Midway Museum. If I had known it was there, I would have went over to explore that before boarding the ship… but I missed it. Dangit.
Onboard Minigolf
Never before have I seen a mini-golf course onboard. Here it was! All the way on the top deck and forward. Ok, so it wasn’t very challenging and no cool waterfalls or dog houses… but at least it was something.
Water Slide!
LOVED the waterslide into the pool. Pretty tamed compared to the Baldi Slides in Costa Rica (see Costa Rica blog) but it was still fun. Wasn’t open ALL the time and I didn’t bring a swimsuit… but it was still pretty cool.
Itsy Bitsy Staterooms
FINALLY got down to the cabin. Of course it was small. But it was clean and comfortable. On the service, I’m used to having the room serviced all the time on cruise. Whenever you go out, it’s serviced. But on the day we got to Ensenada, I left my room pretty early and didn’t get back to the room until around 1pm. And it still wasn’t serviced! So that was pretty strange. Even Motel 6 would have had it serviced by 1pm! So it wasn’t until dinner that night that the room was finally cleaned and made. Pretty bad for a cruise ship.
Lifeboat Drills SUCK!
One of the suckiest part of any cruise is the life boat drill. You’re all comfortable and want to go out to have fun, and then everyone is herded like cattle to a briefing area, made to put on these horrible life fests that never fit, and then go find and stand by your life raft. Take a huge chunk off the fun meter when this happens.
Won the $600 BINGO!
HIGHLIGHT of the cruise… with THOUSAND playing, I won the $600 BINGO! Did the X! That paid for the cruise AND the weekend! wooHOO! Didn’t play any other bingo games on board… was happy with that one.
Mexican Flag
Arrived to Ensenada at the cruise pier. In back, there’s that huge-assed Mexican Flag that’s been there forever.
The Elation docked in Ensenada
Docked in Ensenada. Wasn’t really planning on leaving the ship since I’ve been there many times. But wanted to get a few things… like have cerviche at the fish market (below) and pick up some Amoxycillan.
Ensenada Seafood Market
BEST place to get seafood is the Seafood market. Doesn’t seem that many tourists goes to this area. This is where many locals and restaurants come for their seafood and there’s several little seafood counters up and down the ally with AMAZING shrimp and crab and stuff.
San Diego Skyline
Back in San Diego. There are some great things to do here that I need to make a return trip for. Mostly the San Diego Zoo. Gotta do! Gotta do!