Sept 20,2011 Wonder Repositioning Cruise

[ludari]

I wasn't going to fly in a day early, but after reading about that poor family that missed their cruise I'm going to.
I want very much to stay at the Pan Pacific but I can't find it for less than $270 usd (including taxes)

Anyone else thinking of staying here? Have you found a palatable price?

I was considering flying in a day early but decided against it. I only have carry-on and my flight arrives early.

 

[Makayna]

I might do some more research to see if there is a public beach near port that we could hang out at, if not, we can always stay on board and make use of the pools.

As far as I can find. there's not a public beach nearby. My FH google maped it and he said it didn't look like there was anything close, and then I posted here, asking that question, and somebody else said no, there's not a beach nearby.

 

[Makayna]

Victoria is a beautiful city, especially the Habour area, we were there several years ago. I'm thinking about either the carriage ride or the double decker bus. I think those are the only ones my son would enjoy. Me, I would love to do tea at the Empress.......but the cost for two people is quite high.

Janice

To me, I thought the carriage ride was very pricey. But is that per person or per family? I assumed it was per person. If it's per person, then it's even more than the Empress! WAY more! $375 for the carriage versus $99 for the Empress with tea! Unless, you're talking about the trolley, in which case, I guess that's not TOO bad.

 

[taaren]

To me, I thought the carriage ride was very pricey. But is that per person or per family? I assumed it was per person. If it's per person, then it's even more than the Empress! WAY more! $375 for the carriage versus $99 for the Empress with tea! Unless, you're talking about the trolley, in which case, I guess that's not TOO bad.

Wow that is crazy expensive. I think if you go to the Empress for tea directly its more like $65/pp (at least it was last time I was there - though reservations were necessary and were made far in advance during busy season). And there's a bunch of places that do tea that are wonderful for more like $20-$30pp that have architecture that is not as beautiful but food that is much tastier IMHO. If I have time there's one right by the dock in a green building that had the best clotted cream though I don't remember the name I can see the location in my head. Maybe I'll see if I can find it on a digital map.

As long as we're talking about Victoria excursions, is anybody else interested in the Butchart & Butterfly Garden one? That's at the top of my list and since Disney is saying 'limited availability - books fast' I was thinking if its sold out by the 75 day mark when I can book (or if I want to go cheaper) there are private tour companies that will sell you the same thing (essentially transportation + tickets) for about 30% less than Disney, only Disney won't hold the ship for somebody if outside tour companies somehow bring one back later than expected. But if there were a group of us that wanted to go the non-Disney-vendor route we could probably get an even nicer group rate, and the vendors usually deal with cruise people so they must make sure to have mechanisms to always return guests to ships in time. So let me know if anybody's interested and we can try to narrow down the other-vendor tour operators once we get some feedback from the Alaska folk.

Haven't looked at Ensenada excursions yet - DH just says he wants to drink & buy tequila when he's in Mexico, so I'll have to look this weekend at the excursions and see what the possibilities are that might accommodate his wants.

 

[mommyto3princesses]

Thanks for posting the Ensenada excursions. We would love a beach day with yummy fish tacos and a good margarita.

I'm curious to find out if it's Estero Beach Resort. A lot of cruise ships plan excursions there and the picture looks like one on Estero's website.

 

[yukongirl123]

To me, I thought the carriage ride was very pricey. But is that per person or per family? I assumed it was per person. If it's per person, then it's even more than the Empress! WAY more! $375 for the carriage versus $99 for the Empress with tea! Unless, you're talking about the trolley, in which case, I guess that's not TOO bad.

Oops...I did mean the trolley...wishful thinking I guess

 

[rosiep]

I was considering flying in a day early but decided against it. I only have carry-on and my flight arrives early.

I only changed my mind when I noticed the next flight after mine wasn't until that evening. I thought I'd be stuck if my flight was cancelled. Ah well....I'm looking at it as if it adds to the adventure! I'll get to explore Vancouver for the day.

Thanks for posting the Ensenada excursions. We would love a beach day with yummy fish tacos and a good margarita.

I'm curious to find out if it's Estero Beach Resort. A lot of cruise ships plan excursions there and the picture looks like one on Estero's website.

I showed my daughter the excursions and she said she'd like to do the resort too.

 

[yukongirl123]

I was considering flying in a day early but decided against it. I only have carry-on and my flight arrives early.

I would love to be able to fly with just a carry on.......

 

[CrystalS]

To me, I thought the carriage ride was very pricey. But is that per person or per family? I assumed it was per person. If it's per person, then it's even more than the Empress! WAY more! $375 for the carriage versus $99 for the Empress with tea! Unless, you're talking about the trolley, in which case, I guess that's not TOO bad.

Further down in the excursion description it says that the carriage can hold 6 people and that you only need to purchase one ticket for your group. So if you had 6 in your group it would work out to 62.50 each.

 

[Makayna]

Further down in the excursion description it says that the carriage can hold 6 people and that you only need to purchase one ticket for your group. So if you had 6 in your group it would work out to 62.50 each.

Wow! Thank you for posting that! I totally missed that! LOL! Unfortunately, FH and I are the only 2 in our party, and we're actually doing a carriage ride to take us from the chapel to the reception for our wedding, so we really don't NEED to do the carriage ride in Victoria. Of course, I WANTED to, but there are other things there that I want to do too, so we'll probably do one of those instead.

Wow that is crazy expensive. I think if you go to the Empress for tea directly its more like $65/pp (at least it was last time I was there - though reservations were necessary and were made far in advance during busy season). And there's a bunch of places that do tea that are wonderful for more like $20-$30pp that have architecture that is not as beautiful but food that is much tastier IMHO. If I have time there's one right by the dock in a green building that had the best clotted cream though I don't remember the name I can see the location in my head. Maybe I'll see if I can find it on a digital map.

As long as we're talking about Victoria excursions, is anybody else interested in the Butchart & Butterfly Garden one? That's at the top of my list and since Disney is saying 'limited availability - books fast' I was thinking if its sold out by the 75 day mark when I can book (or if I want to go cheaper) there are private tour companies that will sell you the same thing (essentially transportation + tickets) for about 30% less than Disney, only Disney won't hold the ship for somebody if outside tour companies somehow bring one back later than expected. But if there were a group of us that wanted to go the non-Disney-vendor route we could probably get an even nicer group rate, and the vendors usually deal with cruise people so they must make sure to have mechanisms to always return guests to ships in time. So let me know if anybody's interested and we can try to narrow down the other-vendor tour operators once we get some feedback from the Alaska folk.

Haven't looked at Ensenada excursions yet - DH just says he wants to drink & buy tequila when he's in Mexico, so I'll have to look this weekend at the excursions and see what the possibilities are that might accommodate his wants.

Thanks taaren for the info! I'm SO afraid of missing the ship if we do a non-Disney excursion! I've pretty much decided that if we do ANYTHING, it'll be a Disney excursion because you never know what COULD happen, and I like the security of knowing that we WILL make it back to the ship if something happened that delayed us.

As for the Empress tea, FH and I will be living about 5 hours from there, but with the cost of gas to go up there again to do that on our own time, that would eat the savings you would get from doing it on your own in a heartbeat! So, I still think we're gonna go with that excursion in Victoria. As for Ensenada, I'm still not sure. The tastes of Mexico one looks yummy, but the price seems a little high for what you get. The resort one does look nice, but looking at the pictures, that's a VERY rocky beach with no sand to go swimming in the ocean, and that's probably the main thing I'd want to do there. I still think staying on the ship wins, but since this is our first cruise, I kinda wanted to explore each of the ports and experience the culture of the area. But, I can't really justify the costs, since none of those excursions are things that I REALLY want to do, or that are super unique to that area. Ugh. Torn.

 

[rosiep]

As for the Empress tea, FH and I will be living about 5 hours from there, but with the cost of gas to go up there again to do that on our own time, that would eat the savings you would get from doing it on your own in a heartbeat! So, I still think we're gonna go with that excursion in Victoria.

My husband and I stayed here for our 22nd wedding anniversary...I loved every moment of it! Tara and I are absolutely going to do afternoon tea here.

 

[CrystalS]

I called DCL today. The excursion coodinator was out for lunch so they couldn't confirm the resort name, but the CM's supervisor said that she has stayed there before and that there was access to a beach to swim.

Then I decided to scour the internet for more information on the Estero Beach Resort (since the photos on DCL look identical to the ones on the Estero Beach website) and found one site found this:
"In front of the hotel to the south is the mouth of the estuary. And to the north the sandy beach starts, becoming wider as it heads north towards the Ensenada harbor"

 

[CrystalS]

I called DCL today. The excursion coodinator was out for lunch so they couldn't confirm the resort name, but the CM's supervisor said that she has stayed there before and that there was access to a beach to swim.

Then I decided to scour the internet for more information on the Estero Beach Resort (since the photos on DCL look identical to the ones on the Estero Beach website) and found one site found this:
"In front of the hotel to the south is the mouth of the estuary. And to the north the sandy beach starts, becoming wider as it heads north towards the Ensenada harbor"

But now I just found this review:
"Its the perfect place to relax by the pool, or jaccuzi. Take a nice walk on the beach, fish, play with your kids. (No swimming at the beach) The staff here are super friendly, courteous, quickly respond to your needs. Love this place!!'

Maybe someone wants to call the resort or DCL again to talk to the excursion coordinator? lol

 

[rosiep]

Oh that is confusing! The Estero Beach Resort website sure makes it sound like it has beach access...I wonder if you just can't swim in it.

And...ok..I have an embarrassing question: How does the money work? If I were to get a poolside massage...is the bill presented in US dollars or pesos? Do you think I can just use a CC? And if it's in pesos...how do I figure out the conversion??

 

[Makayna]

Oh that is confusing! The Estero Beach Resort website sure makes it sound like it has beach access...I wonder if you just can't swim in it.

And...ok..I have an embarrassing question: How does the money work? If I were to get a poolside massage...is the bill presented in US dollars or pesos? Do you think I can just use a CC? And if it's in pesos...how do I figure out the conversion??

Most places in Mexico will take US Dollars because they're worth more than pesos (hard to believe that the US dollar is worth more than ANY other country's currency! LOL! ) But I'd check ahead of time with the resort to make sure.

 

[ludari]

I only changed my mind when I noticed the next flight after mine wasn't until that evening. I thought I'd be stuck if my flight was cancelled. Ah well....I'm looking at it as if it adds to the adventure! I'll get to explore Vancouver for the day.

I understand. I would be concerned as well if the next flight wasn't until that evening. I explored and enjoyed the Gas Light District near the terminal when I was in Vancouver a few years ago.

I would love to be able to fly with just a carry on.......

Thanks It's pretty easy for a single guy traveling alone. Plus I've become more efficient with my packing over the past year.

 

[ludari]

Anyone else not interested in disembarking at Ensenada? I've been to Ensenada numerous times in my early twenties and really had some bad experiences with local police scams. Things may have changed over the past twenty years but I prefer not to take any chances and just stay on the ship.

 

[yukongirl123]

Anyone else not interested in disembarking at Ensenada? I've been to Ensenada numerous times in my early twenties and really had some bad experiences with local police scams. Things may have changed over the past twenty years but I prefer not to take any chances and just stay on the ship.

I think we will be staying on the ship also, Ensenada does not have a lot of appeal for me. There haven't been a lot of positive things posted about this town. If we were planning to get off the ship, I would definitely book a DCL excursion. We are doing the Mexican Riviera cruise right after this one and would much rather do excursions in Cabo & Puerto Vallarta.

Janice

 

[Makayna]

Anyone else not interested in disembarking at Ensenada? I've been to Ensenada numerous times in my early twenties and really had some bad experiences with local police scams. Things may have changed over the past twenty years but I prefer not to take any chances and just stay on the ship.

I think we're probably staying on the ship as well. None of the excursions appeal to me, and if we WERE to get off the ship, we'd DEFINITELY want to make sure that it was a DCL excursion. Ensenada is not the greatest town and I don't understand why DCL is going there, since they already have the non-US port requirement met by starting in Vancouver and going to Victoria. I would have MUCH preferred they stop in San Diego instead!!

 

[KatiezMom]

I don't think we are going to get off the ship in Mexico either, not to thrilled with any of the choices. I wish we were going to San Fransisco but that just gives me another reason to book next years repo trip We didn't plan on getting off the ship in Victoria since we live so close and have been there, done that but then Steve saw the microbrewery tour and wants to do that so now dd, my mom and i might be to the tea at the Empress.