Suzette  

Age: 31 to 40
Occupation: CPA
Number of Cruises: First Cruise
Ship: Holiday
Sailing Date: September 8th, 2000
Itinerary: 3-day Ensenada, Mexico

I do not recommend this cruise for a non-drinker like myself.  Although the evening events were fun, during the day there didn't seem to be anything to do except drink and sit by the pool.  I thought there would be many more activities.

On the first day, before disembarking from LA, we had to go through a lifeboat drill.  The drill itself was ok, but the fact that they held people at the drill as the 6pm call for dinner came and went was irritating for those people.  I would strongly suggest getting the late seating.

I felt the food was reasonably good.  Most of my meals in the dining room were enjoyable.  To avoid the long lines for the breakfast buffet you can eat in the dining room but be sure to order LOTS of things on the menu.  The portions are very small.  Again, the late seating was preferable because you could enjoy a late night out and still sit for breakfast.

I expected the cruise to be totally relaxing in all ways.  During the port day I stayed on board to enjoy a massage and hair styling for the big dress up night.  As with most other things on the ship, the massage and hairstyling were simply opportunities for the staff to sell you additional stuff.   After a nice massage I was bombarded with a heavy sell for body cleansers and insulted when I didn't want to purchase them.  Additionally, when I didn't want to purchase additional hair conditioner for my long hair from the hairstylist I was insulted again.  I thought this was VERY irritating.

To lengthen your cruise you can show up for boarding much earlier than posted.  We noted that the cruise boarding was supposed to start at 1:30pm and read its best not to show up at the start.  We got there at 3pm and the line was VERY long.  We also learned that many of our friends had been on board for hours before we got there as they start letting people on at noon or so.  With such a short cruise, and realizing that the final day is no day at all (just pressure to get you off the ship ASAP on the morning of arrival), we suggest adding a half day to your vacation by getting there earlier.  The check-in process was very swift for us with our papers already filled in.

Don't believe what they tell you about no seasickness on the cruise ship.  Many people on board, including myself and my companion were "woozy" from Saturday night through the docking.  See, the distance is short from Ensenada to LA, and they basically spend the day making laps in the ocean.  The turns are brutal.  We found that the SeaBand motion sickness medicine was the best.  We had pills, but I felt much better with my bands on than my companion with just the pills.  SeaBands are not a drug, just a wristband with a hard plastic nib that does some kind of acupressure on you.  You can buy them in the same section as the motion sickness oral medicine.

The pressure to buy buy buy and tip tip tip was very unpleasant.  I am looking forward to cruising again, but on a higher class ship.  I would also suggest tipping the room steward in the morning of arrival rather than the night before, as is customary.  I felt that after a few days of excellent service it was all over after the guy got his tip.  Also, if you don't want to feel rushed out of your room in the morning, be sure to put the do not disturb on the door.  They came by and made up our room before we were ready to depart it, moving our stuff all around in the process.  I was not very happy with that.

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