An overview of our cruise:
We're back from our cruise and overall had a fun time! Our room was fine. We had two uppers, which gave us a little more room on the floor. The kids really enjoyed having a bed coming down from the wall. The room was a smaller than the Disney cruise rooms we have had in the past, but no problem really. The ship was fine. My favorite food on the ship was the chocolate melting cake (ordered every night although some nights it could have been cooked longer), the Souffle, Lobster night, and I liked the Thai Chicken appetizer one night. I regularly asked for a garden salad with dinner, which wasn't on the menu. There was no problem. I liked the later dining time, because we didn't have to rush to go to dinner when coming back from port, etc... We met another family - first time cruisers who sat with us. It was fun to get to know each other. The ship was clean - except the shower could have been cleaner in the room. The kids liked the towel animals every night. The kids had fun on the ship and both said we must go again! It's an easy, inexpensive vacation for a family to take. I believe the kids program could be better organized though. My kids didn't go in often. But, the talent show gave kids their time on stage in one of the bars. The seating could not see all the performers well, and there wasn't a lot of fan fare to it. The kids had about a minute to perform. They could have done it on the main stage and made the performers really feel like stars! The Connect Four challenge was one game put in the middle of the floor and they just said "boys against the girls." No individual kids could really challenge or play in elimination rounds. The pool was clean and fun for the kids. The Hairy Chest contest was really funny. The Blue vs Red table seating contest got a lot of people involved and out dancing on the Lido deck "late"! I didn't go to many of the adult only shows, since we had the kids. The family shows were entertaining.
We booked the Rissalena catamaran cruise out of Cabo on our own. We did not take the Cruise excursions. Mexico time is an hour later than the cruise ship time. We were one of the first off the ship on one of the tenders. We needed to take a $3 pp water tax just about 100 ft to the Rissalena, just across from where we docked. The catamaran was really clean and nice. The staff of three were really professional and nice. One of staff had a brother that took the cruise ship folks out snorkeling. They served as many drinks as you wanted. There was bottled water and sodas available also. They took us to the arch (we saw sea lions), and then to a bay to snorkel (watch out for little jelly fish).The water temp was fine. They had clean equipment to use. They served us fruit, chicken, rice, chips and guacamole for lunch. One of the other small snorkeling boats in the same bay had snorkelers in the water near us from the cruise ship. They said they paid $75 each on the excursion. Rissalena charged $55 for adults and $27.50 per child. We returned to the port at about 1PM, with plenty of time to shop in town. I would recommend this excursion. When we returned to the port, we walked around the port without taking a water taxi. It gave us a chance to see the town and shop a little. It was hot and humid in Cabo when we were there.
In Ensenada we did not book an excursion from the cruise either. They charged $3 per person to get to town from the ship on a bus, and $2 pp to return. The walk from the ship was not really far and the kids could walk it with no problem (a few blocks). We walked up and down the main street shopping. There was restaurants and bars. My daughter wanted to buy a few necklaces for herself and a couple friends. She bought one from a street vendor. She went back to the same street vendor to buy another two, for a little more discounted price. There was another girl working and she sold us two necklaces. My daughter was thrilled and talked all about her treasure and how her friends will love them. We found my husband and son in a little street restaurant a couple blocks down getting something to drink. As my daughter laid her necklaces on the table she told my husband and son how she picked them out and bought them. Just then, the original street vendor came running into the restaurant and wanted more money for the necklaces. When we said we agreed on a price and bought them already, she took them from the table in front of my daughter and gave her the money back!!! It was unbelievable. My daughter fought back tears. We ended up finding the necklaces from another place and bought them. We never explored out to find horseback riding on the beach, like we originally planned.
Mexico isn't one of my favorite ports of call, but for the price and the Carnival cruise value, it was really fun for our family to get away. Food was good and plenty, our room was comfortable, our bed was comfortable, the ship had plenty to do and was nice, and fun. There was lots to do, shows were entertaining, and you could just relax anywhere and enjoy yourself.
When we docked in San Diego, we planned to go on another one of our own excursions - SeaWorld. We had fun!