Our First Cruise Experience at Ensenada, Mexico Henry won the cruise deal from one of his "secret" websites. It was 4 nights with port stops at Catalina and Ensenada, Mexico. It was our first cruise so we really have nothing to compare to but we were overwhelmed as cruise-virgin. Overall, we felt it was good for being free and relaxed. The ship is huge and has 10 decks and was very well-kept and incredibly clean. Our cabin on the sixth deck was ocean view style and was kept very clean by a great cabin steward. The room seemed to be well-cleaned every time we left. Every night the after dinner, he would leave a towel-fashioned animal character on the bed. We enjoyed the swan better than the elephant. However, our room and the ship were extremely cold. We felt that there was no heat on board, and the chilly weather of the ocean made us cold the whole time. So bring your jacket or nice sweater when sailing on the cruise. The ship has a casino, several pools, several different bars, and several restaurants which including the 24 hour buffet style, in case if you feel hungry at the middle of the night. They also have a daily newsletter provided activities every minute of the day. One of the most interesting aspects of our cruise was the dining time. We had the same table for dinner all 4 nights and we were grouped with people that we don’t know. We were so hungry at the first night so we decided to change the dinner time 2 hours early. That night we were grouped with one couple whom we felt that they just recently got married. We thought that they were strange because we said Hi to them and tried to start the conversation but they did not respond anything back to us. However the next 2 dinner nights we were grouped with other friendly and so very energetic group of people. They shared with us about everything: their life, their work, their children, and the wine taste experience. We think that this cruise had some interesting people on it. At first we thought that Carnival cruise attracted younger crowd, but it seems the majority was 40+. Our headwaiter was terrific. He always made sure that we had everything we needed and let us order as much food as we wanted. The entertainment at the dining time was very interesting. They variety shows impressed us a lot. The day we arrived at Ensenada was very inviting and confusing. It was a great feeling to wake up in the morning with the curtains open and see the Mexican flag flying in Ensenada. But we were not sure what we were supposed to do in Ensenada. We just followed the crowd and got on the bus to downtown. We ended up each paid $15 to visit the blowhole place at La Bufadora. It was pretty cool although nothing exciting and nothing bad. The drive from the docking station to this place was long, and the road has a lot of looping curves along the ocean. They have an open air market in this area which has variety of gift shops. We wandered the streets of Ensenada, visiting all stores and a stop at a wild party restaurant. Overall from the beginning to end, it was a “smooth sailing” cruise for first time experience. But we must say that cruising is fun. Both of us agree that we would not take this cruise again, but perhaps we would take another Carnival cruise to better ports in the near future.