Cruisin'

I am still playing catch up on my blogging but I am almost current!

Ryan and I recently celebrated our 10 year anniversary!! We wanted to do something special but we didn't want go on a long trip because we have a big one planned for January (New Zealand bound!). So, we decided to go on a short, 4 day cruise to Ensenada. We decided to make it a family and friends affair- the more the merrier- so we brought the kiddos and our friends, The Climers, along for the ride.

We got down to Long Beach, where the ship embarked from, around 1:30 on a Friday. We were able to immediately board the ship and we headed to the Lido deck to hang by the pool. Unfortunately the pool was closed for the first hour or so we were on the ship, but we had fun just lounging in the sun. Once the pool opened, we couldn't keep the kids out of it! They had a blast on the waterslide and doing flips and tricks into the water. We had a great dinner that night and then dropped the kiddos off at kid's club so we could go have some "grown up" time in the casino and the dance clubs. We had a great time!

The next morning we docked in Ensenada. We had signed up for a shore excursion that took us to La Bufadora, a blow hole, and then to the Santo Tomas winery. The 45 minute long bus ride to the blow hole took us through Ensenada and its surroundings. There was a great market place by the blow hole that sold everything from dresses to candy to trinkets and souvenirs. We walked past the market to the blow hole and spent a few minutes waiting to be impressed. We weren't. I remember a blow hole we saw in Kaua'i that shot up into the air and was very beautiful to watch. This one just sputtered a bit. Oh well. We spent the next few hours wandering around the market and picking out our souvenirs. Then we hopped back bus and headed to the winery in town.
The Winery was pretty neat. It was right in downtown Ensenada but the building was very old. I didn't get to hear everything our tour guide told us about the winery because I was shuffling the kids back and forth to the bathroom. After the tour, we went into the tasting room and were able to taste multiple wines. Living in wine country and being a bit wine snobby, I was not expecting to like any of them. I was a bit surprised as they were not that bad! We actually brought two bottles home.
After the winery we walked around down town and had lunch before heading back to the ship. We had another great dinner that night and, again, dropped the kiddos off at kids club (which they loved) and spent some adult time. I wish I could say we won a bunch of money in the casino but, sadly, we did not. Oh well, at least we had fun!
The next day was our full day on the ship. We hung out by the pool, played mini golf and ping pong, the kids played a few games in the arcade and we had a great time!

The cruise was short but sweet. We had a wonderful time, so much fun! We would definitely do it again, but hopefully to a better destination next time!
Enjoy the pictures!


Fun on the ship:

Fun in Ensenada