From spring through fall, Princess has beautiful ships cruising from the greater city of Los Angeles to Hawaii, the Mexican Riviera and along the California Coast.
As a first time cruiser, though, you might not be ready for a two week cruise to our 50th state or a longer journey that gets you all the way to Tahiti and her isles, no matter how great the tropical rewards may be.
Princess makes it easy by bringing truly wonderful ships to 3 and 4 night escapes.
Golden Princess will be making this voyage through December 4, when she begins her South America season, and Sapphire Princess will take over for the first quarter of 2014.
Last Saturday, Julie and I couldn't resist the incredibly low rates offered for the Monday morning departure of the 3 nighter to Ensenada. We went back to basics, booking an inside room for this voyage.
Because we booked a couple of days before the embarkation date and went with the cheapest room possible, we were assigned a forward stateroom, but it was on the Lido Deck.
If you've seen "The Love Boat," you know the Lido Deck is where sun bathers relax on lounge chairs around the swimming pool.
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| Movies Under the Stars Poolside on Golden Princess |
However, on the new large ships of Princess, there are now two considerably larger swimming pools, one of which has Movies Under the Stars, a huge outdoor movie screen where they showed Monday Night Football, "Man of Steel" and underwater documentary footage, among other things during our cruise, while the other is within a solarium with a retractable glass roof for cooler days. There's also an outdoor grill and pizzaria right by the pool, as well as several bars and an ice cream shop. We spend a lot of time in this area on most cruises.
Beyond the two pools, you'll soon find the Horizon Court, serving delicious buffet meals.
And that's just one deck of this 18 story ship that is over three football fields long.
Staying in the cheapest room on the ship, we enjoyed fantastic meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as more cookies and ice cream than I care to admit, plus fantastic entertainment.
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| Alfred and Seymour |
On this three night cruise, we saw two full production shows, some very funny comedians and lots of great musicians. We particularly enjoyed the British Invasion production show, break-dancing comedians Alfred and Seymour, and singer-guitarist Toby.
We danced a song or two in a few of the live music venues, but we ignored the late night party scene, which is an entirely different level of entertainment where someone like my nephew Jered, who lives for dancing, would thrive.
"But wait," you say, "doesn't that ship only stop in Ensenada?"
Quite true.
Ensenada may not be Ka'anapali Beach, but if you've ever gone to a Mexican restaurant and enjoyed some chips and salsa with a cold drink, then why not experience the real thing?
It's an easy walk into town. Most meander over toward Papas & Beer, checking out all the shops in the area. While it has the name recognition and occasionally wild atmosphere, there are lots of other sidewalk bars with cheaper drinks and a more authentic feel.
Julie and I wandered toward the Malecon this time. Along the way, we passed a posh Starbucks with wifi, for anyone who wants to conduct business or surf the web on their shore day, but many of the non-chain local cafes and cantinas also offer free wifi.
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| Ensenada'a Jumbo Mexican Flag |
There are lots of authentic fish taco restaurants on the walk toward the bay, and I can imagine whiling away a day sipping beers and snacking, but we had a big breakfast on the ship, so we just strolled around.
Eventually, we headed over to Papas & Beer, window shopping as we walked, but we decided to go back to the ship for lunch.
After all, we were doing this as inexpensively as we could, just to see how far we could stretch our vacation dollar.
We had even brought a twist off bottle of wine (one per adult is allowed on Princess) from home so as to avoid buying drinks, although we did have reduced priced margaritas in Skywalkers one night.
The ship, of course, was less crowded than on a sea day, but rather than go inside the formal dining room for lunch on this sunny day, we ate delicious Lido Deck food by the pool. Our plan to return to town for a cerveza and chips faded in the sunlight by the shimmering pool and views of fishing ships going out and into the port.
Julie normally insists on a midship balcony, so how did it work out being in an inside room?
Actually, I have to say we slept great. It's like the ultimate blackout curtains, and we really had no place to go anyway. We could have set a wake up call, or had room service bring us complimentary coffee, rolls and fruit as a wake up call, but neither was necessary. We slept in until almost 8 AM one day, which for us is unheard of, but we weren't Rip Van Winkle and Snow White.
As far as being forward, our large ship cut through the water so smoothly that we really never sensed any significant motion in our room.
I highly recommend this cruise for Southern Californians who have always wanted to try cruising but aren't sure if they can take being at sea for a full week or longer.
And for people who live outside of the Golden State, this cruise makes a terrific cpiec of a longer stay in the great city of Los Angeles, home of not only world-famous beaches and amusement parks but also world class art galleries, music venues and theaters.
Better service leads to better trips!
