Final Day – Ensenada Mexico

We wake to the ship pulling into the bay.  We see that we are docking at the same spot but this time we are coming in bow first with the pier on our starboard side.  Last time we backed in and the pier was on the port side.

We had put out our room service request last night around 11 pm.  When it still had not shown at 8 am (we requested 7:30 – 8 am delivery) we look outside and sure enough they never picked up the order.  ARGH

So I call Room Service and mention no one picked it up.  She blamed the cabin steward, I responded it is not the cabin steward’s job as he is done well before we go to bed and put it out.  Of course this only adds to the frustration we have had with service on this ship. 

She promises it will only be twenty minutes and she is right it is delivered and we are happy (although the order was not correct we just didn’t feel like doing anything about it).

We really are in no rush to get off and we relax in the cabin for quite a while.  The weather is much nicer this time here than last time.  We are in shorts/t shirts and sandals.

As soon as we get off local officials are there checking bags for fruits/vegetables open bottles.  There is even a sniffer dog (the little boy in front of us got a kick out of that as the dog sniffed his backpack harness).  Many people are not aware you can not take off coffee/tea/apples/bananas and a lot is getting thrown out.

the shuttle you can take

We decide to walk into town.  If you want there is a shuttle for $2 per person to town and it is $1 per person to come back.

First stop is Starbucks and then we plan out what we are going to do.  We really want to get away from the touristy area and so we head in land a few blocks to a busy street and then we turn right.  

We walk and walk, we check out the shops and the merchandise and we are amazed at the sweet sixteen dresses… WOW and they are not cheap.  We probably walked for about an hour and a half before finding a place to eat.  

We chose Tacos Maru and we have a lovely local meal at a very reasonable price.

We walk back toward the main drag and then back track and head across the waterway to the old Casino that is now a museum and Cultural Center.  The cost to enter is only $2 and it is a fair museum, nothing that will blow your socks off but it is informative and we learn some new things. 

We walk outside around the gardens and then into the Cultural Building.  Now this is impressive.  This building use to inhabit a large hotel and Casino that the gangsters use to frequent.  Then when the embargo on Cuba came into effect the celebrities use to flock here for a getaway and to gamble.  The building is very large with historic pieces still intact.  It is showing its age and could benefit from a real historic renovation.

I think the city should really invest some money here.  Make it look like it used to when all the old celebrities use to come here.  Set up a cultural show and dinner and marketed it to the tourists.  They would love that. 

hmmm I wonder if they will regret buying this

We walk back to the ship for around 2:00 pm.  One thing with so many new cruisers they are not aware of the procedures so as we approach the gate to the pier no one has their cruise cards out.  We just flash ours and come right thru.  When we enter the security line again it is long and people are not aware that they have to remove items from their pockets.  They also have to show their cruise cards and of course they are searching for that.  I would say it took twice as long than normal to get on board.

the line for the International Cafe

I was craving something sweet from the International Café but the line is CRAZY.  Guess everyone else had the same idea. 

I run up to the Horizon Court to grab some cheese/bread/dried fruit to enjoy our last bottle of wine with. 

this poor guy was stuck here for two hours

When I head out on deck I see that a bunch of seagulls are on the deck above us.  We see that the people above us left food out and guess who is enjoying it.  The birds.  But when we come out the birds fly away, except for a small juvenile seagull who is trapped in the 45 degree angle of the aft balcony between the steel wall and the glass railing.  It just doesn’t know to back up and fly away it just sees forward and it’s reflection and keeps trying to fly up and forward but can’t go anywhere. 

After about an hour (after I went and got our boarding passes printed) I see that the people above us have in fact closed their balcony door now.  But they did nothing about the bird stuck there.  I call the front desk and ask for the Environmental Officer to come to the cabin.  They show up at ours (go figure even though I said it was Caribe Deck Last Cabin).  They head up there but they call us later to say they can not go in the cabin cause it has do not disturb up.  Really!  Gee it is a bird that needs assistance.  Even we tried to call the cabin but there is no answer obviously they put up do not disturb and left the cabin and the bird.  Shame on them.

Finally after two hours the cabin steward attends to it with a bath towel and it flies away.  Gee for a while there I thought the bird would end up in California.  The woman above us says the bird has been there an hour now and we respond actually it is over two hours we called it in but they could not take care of it cause you had do not disturb on the door.  Okay Vickie patience, but I am hoping this person has learned something.

We pack up our stuff… always a sad thing.  We don’t have a lot but we do have a bag each and one small roller bag for carry on.  But we do need to take into consideration the no liquids things and pack accordingly.  Both bags are well under weight so at least we don’t have to worry about that.

Our flight tomorrow is around 2;30 and we have a direct flight home to Vancouver.  The flight is not long so we should be home around 6:30 pm after a quick stop at the grocery store for essentials for lunches/breakfast the next day.

Back to the grindstone Thursday.  Christmas time is always a crazy time with passengers on the buses.  I think we have around 8 weeks until our next voyage in January so stayed tuned.

I will be preparing some more podcasts about this voyage and some of the ports and will do a few blog posts just on certain ports for information. 

I hope you have enjoyed the journey with us.  It has been great.