Ensenada

[jdb in AZ]

Has anyone had a good time in Ensenada? We did the jeep tour because another couple invited us along. It was a good way to see the country side but when the guide's jeep escorted us through Ensenada to get back to the ship I was glad we weren't wandering through the streets.

I realize the main purpose of stopping in Ensenada was because the cruise was required to stop in a foreign port, but i wish there was something interesting to do.

[stsomewhere]

My mom and I went on the Cultural and shopping tour.

We went to the cultural center. We had a guided tour. The architecture was amazing inside. We had margaritas and wandered around the vendors and gardens,

Next to was the shopping area. We were dropped off for about 90 minutes. We looked through shops, went to some food carts. Absorbed the atmosphere.

Final stop was at a wine shop, we did a sampling.

I never felt unsafe. You just need to be aware.
We did see miltary in the back of a jeep with machine guns. OUr guide told us they were looking for stolen cars and drugs.

[ImDMous]

We stopped in September on one of the Cali Coast Pixar cruises. We went on the wine tasting excursion and had a great time. There is an amazing wine area about 45 minutes outside of town, we had no idea there were so many wineries down there. The prices were obviously much cheaper than the wineries we visit near us, we came home with 8 bottles and spent about $30.

[cats mom]

I'm glad I found this thread!

I'm going to copy and paste a post I just made on the 2014 dates thread and delete it over there so I don't get in trouble for going off topic on that thread.

Ensenada was getting pretty universally slammed over there and I just wanted to provide a different perspective.

I'm leaving the quotes from the other thread for context:

Originally Posted by DCL Repeaters

Just my personal opinion, but Ensenada is not a family friendly port of call. Wish we stayed on the ship during the recent Hawaiian cruise that stopped in Ensenada.

Originally Posted by Computer Magic

Totally agree. We did the Pixar Cruise and there was a stop in Ensenada. We didn't feel safe. We went or a port adventure for Taste of Mexico. We took a brief walk around town. We were approached by multiple people asking for handouts, selling or trying to push us into a store. We couldn't wait to get on the bus to get back to the ship.

I didn't see anything withing walking distance.

Originally Posted by DesertGal

Totally agree. We were on the California coast cruise in October and wish we hadn't even gotten off the ship in Endanada. It was not family friendly at all and we ended up going straight back to the ship (after a bus ride)

I feel like a lone voice in the wilderness, but we had a great time in Ensenada!

We hired a cab to take us to Las Canadas to do the canopy tour. We've done several similar tours, both through DCL and on our own, and we thought Las Canadas was one of the better courses we've been on, and it was by far the most affordable. ~ $12 per person.

Our cab driver waited for us while we were at Las Canadas and then was more than willing to take us anywhere else we wanted to go. He said most tourists head straight to La Bufadora, but we had no interest in that, so we just had him drop us off in the shopping district.

DS was all about getting a taste of some local food so we hit La Guerrerense, which is a street cart on the corner of 1st & Alvarado, and I highly recommend it.

As far as the shopping area in general... Yes, there were street vendors and shop keepers trying to get people to buy, but I didn't feel it was any worse than many other touristy port areas we've visited. And yes, if you're near Hussongs or Papas & Beer or the like you'll see and hear the party crowd, but again no different than other ports.

We walked back to the ship from the shopping area, so taking the bus there and/or back isn't really necessary unless you want to.

I don't know that I'd book a stand alone vacation in Ensenada, but I'd love to go back for a port stop again, and I'd definitely be getting off the ship!

Anyway, just wanted to provide a different perspective.

[ludari]

I had a good time in Ensenada by staying on the ship.

In my younger years I visited Ensenada numerous times with my friends and I never really any good times we seem to bring some bad experiences as well. That was over twenty years ago so things may have gotten better but I prefer not to risks it.

[Sparky47]

We were on the October Hawaii cruise and we did the Wine Country Tour in Ensenada - it was relatively inexpensive. There were 4 in our party and we did it because after 4 days at sea we thought we were going to need to get off the ship and do something. By the time the day rolled around, we didn't want to get off the ship (especially since it was our last day). We ended up loving the tour. The countryside was beautiful and the wineries were very nice. We came home with complimentary wine, as well as some delicious olive oil we purchased. It ended up being a great day and we loved the tour.

The only downside was that the tour was almost an hour longer than expected. (We had told our server we would be "a little" late and we ordered our main course ahead but we were REALLY late). If it wasn't our last night on the ship we wouldn't have cared.