Baja Cruise Embarkation: February, 2006

For southern Californians, the easiest way to sample cruising is to drive to San Pedro or Long Beach to board a weekend cruise to Ensenada on Royal Caribbean Monarch of the Seas or Carnival Paradise.

The ships depart on Friday afternoon, visit Ensenada on Saturday, spend Sunday at sea and return to port on Monday morning. If you play your comp time right, you can escape without using a vacation day from work.

Is this a REAL cruise? It definitely is, and you'll be amazed at how refreshing a short cruise vacation can be.

You get essentially everything you have on a seven night cruise except the four extra nights.

Our February, 2006 cruise aboard Monarch of the Seas definitely serves as a good example.

Planning our trip to take advantage of a Monday holiday from school, we were disappointed when my son, Jay, had to work at his parttime job, especially since some of Jay's best friends had decided to take this cruise too.

My mom, always a good sport and pleasant company, filled in for my 19 year-old son.

My wife worked until early afternoon on Friday, allowing Amy's school day to come to a close, before we made the thirty minute drive to the port in San Pedro.

By the time we arrived at the pier, apparently everyone else had already boarded, because there was literally no line for check-in.

We had filled out our pre-cruise registration online in advance, so we were set to go in two minutes flat.

Once on board, we began our usual meandering about to check out the ship.

Admittedly, the ships on three and four night itineraries usually are not the best in their fleets, but they are large, modern ships.

Royal Caribbean Monarch of the Seas is far superior to the old Viking Serenade which she replaced.