Earlier this month, I got to go on my first-ever cruise. My older brother got married earlier this year and this was their way of celebrating. He also likes to plan things semi-last minute so only I went, as we had new puppies, school was starting and kids don’t yet have passports. I wanted to make an appearance for my brother, so I opted to go solo (you don’t know how hard that was LOL). No but in all seriousness, I would have loved if everyone could have gone.
The cruise left out of Long Beach, CA which meant I also had to fly there from Charleston, SC! This would have been all well and good except we got a visit from Tropical Storm/Hurricane Debby and it made me question my flight plans and whether or not I’d be able to get out. I ended up sitting on the phone with Delta for 2 hrs determining if it would be better to fly out to Atlanta a day early just to ensure I get out of Charleston, and then take my normal flight to LAX the next day. I ended up doing so, which meant paying for a hotel for the night. Didn’t love the extra expense, but the peace of mind was worth it. I made it to LAX ok and was able to get on the cruise!
We all flew into LAX a day before cruise embarkment (the rest of my family flew in from Idaho), and since we were staying in Long Beach, my once home, I had hoped to go down to Huntington Beach (another once home of mine) and see it after almost 20 years. However, my poor mom didn’t get her luggage, so we instead scrambled around shopping trying to get her the basics she would need for the cruise. We were able to get her luggage when we got back off the cruise, so at least not all was lost. It definitely was a bummer not to enjoy my old stomping grounds as planned, but I felt worse for my mom having to be without her planned luggage for the trip. I was thankful we had the day before to get her some things, which is why I recommend always getting into your port city a day before cruising! Shit happens!
Here are some pics of the Long Beach port area, our hotel was a quick walk to the port with our luggage. We stayed at Hotel Maya and highly recommend. I do wish we had gotten to enjoy the pool, but again, the luggage fiasco wreaked havoc on those plans. Oh well!
Our cruise ship was the Carnival Firenze. While I have no source of comparison, it was a nice ship and many that had cruised many times before made comments that the layout made it feel less crowded than other ships. We had some favorite bars and bartenders. It was a great time overall.
The first stop was Cabo San Lucas. My mom and I got off here together while everyone else did their own thing. We didn’t have an excursion planned, so we just walked around to find a good margarita and then were approached by some “sailors” offering us rides to and from the Arch to sightsee for $20 each. The same excursion through Carnival was over $100/pp. They took us on a great harbor tour for 45 minutes and it was perfect. We also had the boat to ourselves! We then stopped at a local bar called The Usual Suspects for a few margaritas before heading back to the ship via water taxi. All in all, without plans, it turned out to be a great time!
The next stop was Ensenada, and I’ll be honest, we heard there wasn’t much here and a lot of people opt to stay on the ship, but a few days before cruising, my mom, little brother and I decided to book a kayaking excursion to La Bufadora, which is the natural blowhole in the ocean that goes off every min or so, shooting 100 ft up in the air. It was a pretty tiring excursion (it was actually a good thing it was overcast that day) but I’m glad we did it. Afterward we got a couple margaritas and spent the rest of the day on the ship.
It was so nice to see my dad, mom, and brothers and everyone else that made it to celebrate. I will say, this being my first cruise, my mom and I booked an oceanview room together with twin beds and we were pleasantly surprised to find that those rooms have TWO bathrooms! One of the rooms has a skinnier shower, larger vanity and the toilet, and the other has a small vanity and bathtub (junior size). Definitely perfect for a girls’ trip when you might otherwise be fighting for vanity space and time! This was on this Carnival ship, not sure about the others, but worth looking into. I know the balcony rooms and others were not like this. Anyway, I’ve already got another cruise (this time with husband and kiddos) booked for their spring break and my birthday week! It is through Royal Caribbean out of Tampa on the Radiance of the Seas. We will be going to Cozumel, Belize, Roatan and Costa Maya. I can’t wait!
