Day 12: Monday, March 9, 2026

Around October 2025 I found an interesting looking winery excursion in Ensenada.  For a very reasonable $50 each (later reduced) we’d visit two wineries, taste about 8 wines, and also get food tasting (plus access to paid tacos for lunch) during a 4-hour excursion.  Given the slim pickings at Ensenada this was a nice surprise.  Given that we weren’t planning anything organized this seemed like a good option.  Left to ourselves we definitely would NOT have gone ashore here. 

We woke up in the morning and, checking weather reports, dressed for what was supposed to be high of about 64 degrees before heading down for a quick Windjammer breakfast.  As we left to head back to our room, E had the good idea to step out on the pool deck to check the outside temperature.  It was obvious that the day was going to be warmer than the forecast, so back in our room we both lightened up what we were wearing, including me putting on shorts.  The advantage to my shorts is that they have a lot of pockets, so I can easily carry wallet, phone, both passports, and both SeaPass cards securely, so E doesn't have to lug around her purse.

We gathered on the pier and quickly found our tour.  We were on a bus with about 30 people headed for the wineries, with our local guide Michelle.  She was very entertaining and not only gave us just the right amount of local info but also made the logistics of what was going to happen very clear, including advising us re: the three things we could NOT bring back onboard from the winery shops (cheese, cream cheese, and flowers).  Otherwise, everything was fair game.

L.A. Cetto was the first stop.  They are Mexico's oldest and largest winery and (supposedly) are known for a wine based on Italian grapes that no one, other than them, has successfully grown outside Italy.  Here we tasted four wines (essentially, a Sauvignon Blanc, a Chard, a Merlot-like, and their normally-only-grown-in-Italy wine).  We both liked the Sauvignon Blanc but were less enamored with the others.  Apparently, they are also known for their taste-to-value ration, with most wines being sold directly at the winery ranging from about USD 10 to USD 30 per bottle – and most were below $20.  As we got back on the bus we also (each) were given a 375ml bottle of their Cabernet Sauvignon, plus a keychain with a fob made from recycled oak barrels.  Several people opted to open up one of their bottles after we left the second winery.  We opened up one of ours for our first meal at home upon return.  Let’s just say that at “free” the wine might have been slightly overpriced.  I’m guessing that Cetto is the Gallo of Mexico.

Figure 11: Our excursion guide, Michelle, setting up for the first pouring at L.A. Cetto.

Figure 12: More proof that we made it onto dry land in Ensenada.

Figure 13: E living her dream...

The second winery (La Casa de Dona Lupe) was just across the street and served us each a flight consisting of some kind of white wine, a honey wine (that was based on red grapes), and two different sangrias.  One sangria was VERY raspberry-forwards and the other less so.  I gave both of those to E.  The honey wine was surprisingly not awful.  We wouldn't buy it, but it was pleasant to sip.  The white was forgettable.  The REAL purpose of this winery is that it offers food for sale.  Normally this is burgers, pizza, and some Mexican standards, but on the day we were there they had two off-menu options also available, both of which we split.  The first were Baja fish tacos that were excellent, served with a nicely spicy hot sauce.  The other was a plate of 5 beef flautas served with a (different) salsa that wasn't as flavorful as the one that accompanied the tacos.  It was still tasty, however.

After lunch, we still had about 15 minutes left to look through the store, selling an assortment of salsas, jams, and flavored tequilas.  We apparently could have asked for tastings of the latter (and WERE offered both salsa and jam tasting options) but we passed on all of them as we were full after lunch.  We did buy some small items for the kids on our way out, however.

Back on the bus, several folks opted to open up at least one of their small bottles of Cab Sauv, and we enjoyed a relaxing trip back to Ensenada where we were redelivered to the ship and into our room by about 230P which meant…nap time!  Well, nap time for E and time to type these notes up for me.  We had a final (6^th) towel animal to add to our menagerie waiting for us.  We didn't realize it, but the fact that we had collected six animals might have been a perk for Junior Suites and up.  E said she overhead our dining neighbors at Chops last night saying something about not being able to get a new towel animal without turning in their existing one.  Thinking about it, this is probably true.  If EVERYONE got to collect 3 animals every cruise they'd have to stock something like 2500 additional towels just for that!

Figure 14: Our towel animal menagerie by the end of the cruise.  When I moved animal #5 (the puppy) from bed to counter his head fell off, so I messed up his face.  However, our stateroom attendant obviously noticed because he fixed it when we were out, as shown here.

We enjoyed another sail away on the balcony heading out of Ensenada.  We actually went out when we heard lots of cheering and catcalls outside and realized that there must have been pier runners out there.  Sure enough, we saw a couple of people just entering the ship and could hear the folks on the dock directly below us saying “there’s still five more”.  Two of them arrived on a port-supplied golf cart almost immediately after that, but the last three could be seen running about a ½ mile away, already 5 minutes after All Aboard time.  The golf cart guys took pity on them and went to retrieve them and they received a huge ovation from the crowd which they acknowledged with apparent good humor.  From there, we watched everything from the cast off of lines, the sideways push away from the dock, until we’re we chased down by the pilot boat and the pilot jumped from our ship to their boat and peel away.  In all, we had a pleasant 30 minutes out there.

The evening was pretty calm compared to our other nights, particularly because we had to do the hated “pack everything up to get the bags in the hall by 10P" dance.  There was only one trivia left that we'd have time to do (5P Afternoon Trivia at the Pub – which, it turns out, we didn't do, opting instead to finish up our final three missions for The Crew sitting outside Café 270), followed by dinner and the 8P farewell show, after which we returned to the stateroom to do our packing.  We decided to forego the option of going down to listen to the Piano/Vocalist (Justin) at Schooner after we had finished packing and spent the rest of the evening relaxing in our room.