Baja - Mexico Travelogue:
With our YTB credentials, I was able to book inside cabins for $140.00/pp with Carnival Paradise for this 5 days 4 night cruise, bear in mind, this rate does not include, port fees, taxes and fuel surcharges, total booking came out to $289/pp.
December 15th – Monday – 2008:
Day 1 - Queen Mary - Long Beach Harbor: We embarked on our Christmas Cruise to Baja Mexico with our dear and close friends Long Espinas and Sarah Stuart-Tongco. Long Espinas, as a formal introduction for those who may not know it, was a professional Singer and Recording Star for Villar Records in the Philippines. The best thing about this cruise is that Sarah and I got to work half of the day before we had to board Carnival Paradise.
Sandy & I left Riverside at around 12:30 PM, went to pick up Long in Corona, and Sarah in Claremont. For a Monday afternoon, traffic on the 10 FWY I thought would be light, instead we got into a parking lot traffic around Azusa Avenue, we took the surface street and headed southbound to the 60 FWY, traffic was not as heavy, with pockets of congestions around the 60/605 junctions.
We arrived in Long Beach around 2:45 PM, we unloaded our suitcases with one of the porters, I parked the car in the parking lot for $10/day rate.
Prior to us boarding, we have already pre-registered online with Carnival Fun Pass. The check-in time took approximately 1.5 hours, as soon as it was our turn to get our boarding cards, it took less than 10 minutes to check in.
With Passports and Boarding Cards on hand, we were all excited and lined up for our Boarding Photo shoot. (A note to a first time cruiser, just take as many pictures as you have an opportunity to create a photo journal of your trip; be aware that these pictures are not cheap). We stopped and posed for the photos and somehow between the photo shoot, escalator and INS check in, Sarah misplaced her boarding card which caused a slight delay on our boarding process. INS officer actually went all the way down to check if the card fell and someone have turned it in, but to all our dismay, it was nowhere to be found.
INS officer instructed Sarah to proceed to the Courtesy Booth on the Promenade and have a new card re-issued and void the lost one. We did, this process took about 15 minutes to complete, all in all, it was a very effortless & pleasant check-in.
One hour after we boarded, the announcement came to proceed to the Queen Mary Lounge on the 8th floor for the required emergency evacuation drill. As in any cruise, there is no way around this drill, it is required, so we had as much fun with every new passenger we met during this exercise. I happen to sit right next to couple from Alberta, Canada and we were all having a ball during this drill. A word to the wise, a few inconvenienced passengers were not happy with this, unfortunately we all had to go through with it so you might as well have a blast.
Sarah, Long, Sandy & I went up to the Lido Deck to grab a light snack before dinner, our assigned late dining is at 8:15 PM. We toured the Promenade, the shops and get familiar with the lounges, casino and clubs. We were lucky to find a Filipino Band booked at the Leonardo Lounge, with that, we requested our dear friend Long to sing a song for us and jammed with the live band until it was time for us to leave to have dinner.
Our dining room was the Destiny Dining Room, I would advise for anyone to start showing up at 8:30 pm instead of waiting in a really crowded line to get the tables you’re already assigned to. There were approximately 2000+ guest for this cruise, due to the time and length of food service the two main dining rooms are Elation & Destiny, early seating starts at 6:15PM, late starts at 8:15PM, again, it is always advisable to go to dinner 15 minutes later in order to avoid the rush.
Our head waiter, was Arvin from the Philippines and assistant waiter, Aravelo from Hungary. Both very pleasant and eager to please us every which way they can. Being served and pampered during dinner is just what everyone expects for any cruise, the menu are all gourmet and preferred specially for the guest by the Head Chef.
Joining us for our dining company were Dorothy & Igal from South Bay, and Sharlene & Tony from Culver City. Both couples are just a delight to become friends with and genuinely FUN to have dinner conversation with. (I will have a special BLOG for these two wonderful couple later).
After finishing our scrumptious dinner and to die for “Melting Chocolate Cake”, we proceeded to the Normandy Theater the Opening extravaganza. The theater was packed by the time we got there and we had to be separated for better viewing. When the show ended, Long and Sarah retired early and Sandy & I followed along for tomorrow will be a long day.
With our YTB credentials, I was able to book inside cabins for $140.00/pp with Carnival Paradise for this 5 days 4 night cruise, bear in mind, this rate does not include, port fees, taxes and fuel surcharges, total booking came out to $289/pp.
December 15th – Monday – 2008:
Day 1 - Queen Mary - Long Beach Harbor: We embarked on our Christmas Cruise to Baja Mexico with our dear and close friends Long Espinas and Sarah Stuart-Tongco. Long Espinas, as a formal introduction for those who may not know it, was a professional Singer and Recording Star for Villar Records in the Philippines. The best thing about this cruise is that Sarah and I got to work half of the day before we had to board Carnival Paradise.
Sandy & I left Riverside at around 12:30 PM, went to pick up Long in Corona, and Sarah in Claremont. For a Monday afternoon, traffic on the 10 FWY I thought would be light, instead we got into a parking lot traffic around Azusa Avenue, we took the surface street and headed southbound to the 60 FWY, traffic was not as heavy, with pockets of congestions around the 60/605 junctions.
We arrived in Long Beach around 2:45 PM, we unloaded our suitcases with one of the porters, I parked the car in the parking lot for $10/day rate.
Prior to us boarding, we have already pre-registered online with Carnival Fun Pass. The check-in time took approximately 1.5 hours, as soon as it was our turn to get our boarding cards, it took less than 10 minutes to check in.
With Passports and Boarding Cards on hand, we were all excited and lined up for our Boarding Photo shoot. (A note to a first time cruiser, just take as many pictures as you have an opportunity to create a photo journal of your trip; be aware that these pictures are not cheap). We stopped and posed for the photos and somehow between the photo shoot, escalator and INS check in, Sarah misplaced her boarding card which caused a slight delay on our boarding process. INS officer actually went all the way down to check if the card fell and someone have turned it in, but to all our dismay, it was nowhere to be found.
INS officer instructed Sarah to proceed to the Courtesy Booth on the Promenade and have a new card re-issued and void the lost one. We did, this process took about 15 minutes to complete, all in all, it was a very effortless & pleasant check-in.
One hour after we boarded, the announcement came to proceed to the Queen Mary Lounge on the 8th floor for the required emergency evacuation drill. As in any cruise, there is no way around this drill, it is required, so we had as much fun with every new passenger we met during this exercise. I happen to sit right next to couple from Alberta, Canada and we were all having a ball during this drill. A word to the wise, a few inconvenienced passengers were not happy with this, unfortunately we all had to go through with it so you might as well have a blast.
Sarah, Long, Sandy & I went up to the Lido Deck to grab a light snack before dinner, our assigned late dining is at 8:15 PM. We toured the Promenade, the shops and get familiar with the lounges, casino and clubs. We were lucky to find a Filipino Band booked at the Leonardo Lounge, with that, we requested our dear friend Long to sing a song for us and jammed with the live band until it was time for us to leave to have dinner.
Our dining room was the Destiny Dining Room, I would advise for anyone to start showing up at 8:30 pm instead of waiting in a really crowded line to get the tables you’re already assigned to. There were approximately 2000+ guest for this cruise, due to the time and length of food service the two main dining rooms are Elation & Destiny, early seating starts at 6:15PM, late starts at 8:15PM, again, it is always advisable to go to dinner 15 minutes later in order to avoid the rush.
Our head waiter, was Arvin from the Philippines and assistant waiter, Aravelo from Hungary. Both very pleasant and eager to please us every which way they can. Being served and pampered during dinner is just what everyone expects for any cruise, the menu are all gourmet and preferred specially for the guest by the Head Chef.
Joining us for our dining company were Dorothy & Igal from South Bay, and Sharlene & Tony from Culver City. Both couples are just a delight to become friends with and genuinely FUN to have dinner conversation with. (I will have a special BLOG for these two wonderful couple later).
After finishing our scrumptious dinner and to die for “Melting Chocolate Cake”, we proceeded to the Normandy Theater the Opening extravaganza. The theater was packed by the time we got there and we had to be separated for better viewing. When the show ended, Long and Sarah retired early and Sandy & I followed along for tomorrow will be a long day.
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