My first and last cruise took place following my 50th high school reunion. Since it was such a special occasion, a couple of us on the reunion committee thought it would be a great idea to continue the celebration with a “mini” cruise aboard the Carnival line that sailed along the southern California coast to Ensenada and back in four nights and five days.
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Some of the alumni were seasoned cruisers and knew what to expect. This, being my first cruise, I had no expectations. It would give me a taste of what all of the hoopla seemed to be about and so I promised myself that I wouldn’t have any preconceived notions– that I would be open to experience all that cruising had to offer and make my final analysis only after I’d disembarked and returned home. I never had the desire to be on a cruise ship with 2,000 other passengers only to wait in lines at ports, to wait in line for food or to sit at a preassigned table with people I didn’t know. But, this time I was cruising with former classmates, people I knew, so the timing was right for my maiden voyage.
I tried to keep an open mind as I stood in line at the terminal waiting my turn to board ship. My cabin was on the boarding deck, so I didn’t have to walk very far. My luggage arrived pretty fast and was sitting outside my cabin door shortly after I checked in. My first glimpse at the cabin reassured me that I had made the right decision in booking solo. It was smaller than I had imagined– about the same size as my bathroom at home. There was a large window though, and a small TV in the far corner. The bathroom was tiny, but I didn’t intend to spend much time there. I was happy to find that there was a small safe in the closet– just big enough to hold items I didn’t want to take on offshore excursions. My first impression was that it was small, but cozy and ALL mine for four nights. The sculpted towel on the bed was a nice touch.
After getting to know my cabin, I ventured out to explore the ship. Not seeing any of my fellow classmates, my first stop was the atrium bar located just down the hall from my cabin. I sipped on an Arnold Palmer in a corner table while enjoying the live piano music with five other people in this quiet, semi-private area. “This isn’t so bad”, I thought. And then I walked up the circular stairway to where the action was. There were people everywhere– eating, sitting in the small swimming pool and hot tub, having their photos taken by one of the 200 photographers (a slight exaggeration) set up on board, and ordering drinks at the bar. I quickly escaped the crowd and made my way to the outside deck where I could enjoy the salt air and a view of the Long Beach harbor.
Deciding to sail alone had its advantages and disadvantages. I enjoyed having a cabin to myself and not having to plan my daily activities around a roommate. On the other hand, it would have been nice to have a sightseeing partner and dinner mate, instead of tagging along with classmate duos and being the only single at an all-couples dinner table– although I did get special attention from the waiters and my classmate couples, who were trying to disguise their pity for me at having to travel alone. They were not aware that I was traveling alone by choice, not by lack of popularity, but I must admit that I enjoyed the fuss.
After dinner I wandered into the casino– a smoke-filled windowless noisy den of small-stakes gamblers who were thoroughly enjoying themselves. I talked briefly with a former classmate who was sitting in a chair by the wall, bored, waiting for his wife to run out of money so he could retreat to his cabin. Once I breathed some fresh air outside, I was ready to experience the stage show. I joined some classmates and we had a pretty good time. The comedian was funny and we had great front-row seats. Afterwards a few of us went outside and climbed the stairs to the top deck. It was windy and cold, but refreshing. Were we the only passengers who seemed to enjoy fresh night ocean air?
I retreated to my cozy cabin fairly early where I read my Aaron Elkins mystery book and reviewed the photos I took with my point-and-shoot camera. I loved the large window where I could watch the waves crash against the side of the ship. I’ve always enjoyed my privacy, but this time was especially nice.
The morning of the 18th I awoke to find that we were anchored off the shore of Catalina Island– a beautiful view from my picture window. I hurriedly jumped out of bed, ate a quick breakfast and jumped in the shore excursion boat with a bunch of strangers.
Once ashore I found two other classmates, Janice and Walt, whom I ended up touring Catalina with. I guess that everybody else was sleeping in. Since it was so early, we had to wait a while for shops to open so we spent time walking and taking photos.
- After wandering through the shops, we decided to go on the glass-bottomed boat ride in hopes of seeing some colorful fish. Janice and Walt fell asleep waiting to see something other that the common gray shore fish that were lured by the sound of the boat motors and promise of food. I spent my time taking photos of the shoreline.
That night it was dinner as usual at the same table with the same classmates. They were very welcoming and happy to see me (I was a little late). They kicked out a couple who wanted to sit at our table and pulled out a chair for me. I couldn’t decide between two entrees so the waiter brought me both, along with sides that went along with the main dishes. I went to bed a little earlier the second night, because I wanted to get up early the next morning and also spend more time alone with my book.
The morning of the 19th we pulled into port in Ensenada, Baja. After a quick breakfast of pastries and juice, I joined Yolanda and her husband, Jim, on shore. Our first stop was an animal sanctuary booth where tourists could have their photo taken holding a baby lion. This was the highlight of the cruise for me. The cub was sooo soft and cuddly (I treasure that photo).
After donating some money to the sanctuary, the three of us decided to hop on a bus to La Bufadora. La Bufadora is a marine geyser or blowhole located on the Punta Banda. It had been years since I’d been there and little had changed. There were more shops and vendors, but the food and the souvenirs were the same as I remembered them. We took photos in front of the blowhole and shopped for souvenir trinkets before enjoying tacos and margaritas with the discount coupons our bus driver gave us.
Back in downtown Ensenada we sampled tequila at a tequila store and purchased handbags that were claimed to be 100% leather (not). Before we boarded the ship we bought some more souvenirs at the discount shops next to the gangplank.
Dinner that night was good, better than usual, and the company, delightful. About 11 pm I was very thankful that I had the cabin to myself. I remembered my son’s warning about cruise ships. “Good luck, mom! Passengers always get sick on cruises.” I have traveled to Costa Rica three times, spent over a month in Brazil, ate tacos on the streets of Mexico and Baja several times, sampled Andoulie from a stranger at a restaurant in Paris and I’ve never been sick from eating food in other countries. Yet, here I was, vomiting my guts out accompanied by nonstop diarrhea all night long. Now I understood why the sink was so close to the toilet. I was thankful that I brought along extra underwear. When I called the first aid room a recorded voice said that it was closed until 8 am the next morning. I was finally able to get a hold of a cabin steward who brought me ice cubes from the bar. It was the best they could do for me, he said. Exactly at 8 am I once again called the first aid station and was told that I would have to walk down there to be treated– that they didn’t make in-cabin calls. I told him that I was worried that I couldn’t make it that far without having an accident in my pants (again, I was glad that I brought several changes of underwear).
The medic told me that I must have picked up a bug and he gave me some pills to take. He said that since he didn’t know what caused it, I would be quarantined to my cabin for the duration of the trip and be put on a restricted diet. Broth and jello and crackers were delivered to my room. All of a sudden the good deal turned out to be expensive. although I didn’t mind a day of rest because I was still fatigued from working on and attending the reunion and then immediately taking the cruise. So I spent the day at sea confined to my cabin while the rest of my group swam, drank and partied.
- At first I thought that my intestinal explosion might have been caused from the food I ate in Ensenada. It was not until we were disembarking in Long Beach that I discovered that several people who stayed in cabins on my deck experienced the same symptoms and were also quarantined. My son wisely never said, “I told you so.”
- On an encouraging note, the couple in the cabin across the hall from mine informed me that they had been on a total of 61 cruises and this was the first time they were ever sick. They warned me that cruise lines use the oldest ships for their short cruises and that I shouldn’t judge cruises by my first experience. Well, we’ll see. This is what I now know:
- Cruise ships are floating hotels with too many people doing the same thing at the same time
- If you don’t like standing in lines, you won’t like cruising
- Cruise ships are petri dishes for bacteria and viruses
- If you don’t like eating dinner with a table full of strangers, you won’t like cruising.
- When you experience a port-of-call excursion you’ll experience it with 2,000-3,000 other tourists– hardly what I would call an adventure
On the other hand…
- Cruise ships afford you the opportunity to see several ports of call without having to lug a suitcase around
- Cruising gives you a sneak preview of countries that you may want to visit someday
My advice…
- Travel with a partner, but book separate cabins
- Bring extra batteries because there is only one outlet per cabin and strips are not allowed
- Carry extra underwear and a bottle of Pepto-Bismo
- Bring lots of disinfectant wipes
- Bring the smallest camera you have
Bon Voyage!