We just returned from our cruise on the Paradise out of Long Beach. Great ship & crew.

We were some of the first off the ship around 9 am, took the shuttle bus to town ($3 charge each person for round trip). The shuttle company, Las dunas tours, had a "Tour Guide" on the bus that told you about the tours they offered, but not much about the town.  There tours were cheaper that what I had found on line, but we had booked the wine tour thru Carnival (more about that later). Was dropped off 1 block from main shopping street, but not much open until 10-11 am.  We were looking for my mother's prescriptions, so we did not look in the other stores much. 

There are a lot of bars with specials & they have people at the port passing out information. Examples are Papas & Beer, 6 beers & 4 tequila shots $20 & across the street had $25 for all day beer.  Saw a couple of people returning that must have taken advange of the specials, one girl could not walk, 2 guys had to drag her.

Our wine tour was great, the guide lived in Ensenada all her life & was very proud of her town, & gave us lots of interesting facts & trivia.  You may be able to get the tour cheaper, but we were so impressed with our guide & tour, it was worth booking thru Carnival for a little more money.  The guide & people at the wineries were so nice & spoke English better than I do. The bus was very nice & the countyside was worth the trip even if you do not like wine.  The cellars at Casa Pedro Domecq are right out of the movies & you get a free bottle of wine.  At Cetto you see the operations, the grounds & views are wonderful. I do not have enough space to discribe everything, but we were very pleased with our choice & if we go to Ensenada again, would do the same tour. Hope this information helps.

Thank you for the review. We booked the same tour for our cruise in December, glad you enjoyed it.

Glad to hear you enjoyed the wine tour.  Do you each get a free bottle of wine or is it per household?  Was this the three or four day cruise? 

We were on the 4 day cruise but I'm sure the tour is availble on any cruise going to Ensenada.  Each person does get a bottle of wine, it was a pretty good rose wine. We did not have to surrender it when we returned to the ship, so we chilled one & drank it. We were flying home & did'nt want the extra weight....LOL.  It was our last night, so I don't know if that is why Carnival did not take it, or because it was wine? 

GOOD-BUCK:

We were on the 4 day cruise but I'm sure the tour is availble on any cruise going to Ensenada.  Each person does get a bottle of wine, it was a pretty good rose wine. We did not have to surrender it when we returned to the ship, so we chilled one & drank it. We were flying home & did'nt want the extra weight....LOL.  It was our last night, so I don't know if that is why Carnival did not take it, or because it was wine?

Nice review of the wine tour. We're going in just over 5 weeks. What did you end up doing in Catalina?

Carnival gives you back any booze you purchased onboard or on an excursion the last night of the cruise.

~ MattInSoCal 

I subscribe to the Catalina Website and they sent me this schedule 

All of Sept.,Catalina Pottery & Tile Exhibit, Catalina Museum
Sept 6-9, Avalon Billfish Classic
Sept 13-15, Zane Grey Marlin Tourney
Sept 17, Tin Cup Tourney
Sept 18-20,51st Annual Festival of Art
Sept 20-22, Catalina Classic Tourney
Sept 25-27, Catalina Island Blues Festival
Sept. 26, Catalina Island Women's Forum Wine Festival
1st 3 weekends in October - JazzTrax Festival


www.CatalinaChamber.com

here is what's going on in Catalina this month and part of October:

All of Sept.,Catalina Pottery & Tile Exhibit, Catalina Museum
Sept 6-9, Avalon Billfish Classic
Sept 13-15, Zane Grey Marlin Tourney
Sept 17, Tin Cup Tourney
Sept 18-20,51st Annual Festival of Art
Sept 20-22, Catalina Classic Tourney
Sept 25-27, Catalina Island Blues Festival
Sept. 26, Catalina Island Women's Forum Wine Festival
1st 3 weekends in October - JazzTrax Festival

www.CatalinaChamber.com

4bolts:

I subscribe to the Catalina Website and they sent me this schedule

That could be helpful for others heading there this month, though the Catalina port calls are (usually) only on weekdays. Sally mentioned that she wanted to pop over there for the wine festival, but she has to work that weekend.

I'm wondering what GOOD-BUCK & co. actually ended doing on the Catalina call from their cruise as I know they were undecided.

~ MattInSoCal

Seems like every place is starting to offer wine festivals. Have to imagine the prices for the wine would be quite high there.

The last time we were there we took the "island" tour, walked up and down, ate, then headed back to Oceanside.

Hi Matt ......... In Catalina we just walked around town & up to the Bell Tower by the Zane Gray house.  I think it was uphill both ways, beautiful views, but not an easy walk.  Would not recommend it for most people.  My hubby is the marathon runner, so he thinks its fun. When we got back to town we ran into some friends we met on the ship that had rented a golf cart & rode around with them for about 30 min.  Then we went to a bar that had $5.50 large margaratis (on main street sign our front with specials),  bought a couple for our chaufferus & visted them. Looked around the shops some, but we are not much on souvernirs. Beautiful views, great weather, good company, so a very nice day all around + a pretty good work out.

Now getting ready for our Halloween cruise on the Ecstasy from Galveston to Cozumel.

 Hi Vicki and Don - How did Don do in the Marathon?

Matt - Mom & I did the "Behind the Scenes" tour of the casino ($27). It is a new tour that is similar to the regular Casino tour, but it does not include a movie. We booked it at the Discovery Tours desk on the street at the end of the Green Pier. Price included the museum. We were told that they are planning to have a zip line in the next couple of weeks. I don't have any other info about it. 

Sorry, I did not go back into this site until now, thought it was dead.

Don did well in the marathon, came in third for this age group (60-64).  It was not as good as he wanted because he normally places 1st or 2nd.  Told him it could have been all the fun, food & wine before the run. We try to book cruises after runs, but could not work it out this time.