Now that it has been ten days since we returned from our cruise, I have come up with a few tips and suggestions that would be helpful to remember if we ever took this cruise again…

• On some previous cruises we have been able to board as early as 11:00am.  Not so with this ship.  Even though our boarding ticket said between 12:00pm – 12:30pm, the actual boarding time was after 1:00pm.  So had we arrived there early in the morning, we would have just been sitting around outside the check-in area.  Tip:  don’t bother arriving super early, hoping to board the ship because it won’t happen.
• The Queen Mary hotel is adjacent to the pier and with your cruise ticket you can visit this tourist attraction for only $10, which might be a good way to kill your morning while you wait to board the ship.
• Lifeboat drill:  eh, this was a waste of our time.  We got there early to get seats, but then waited over an hour for them to get their act together before they officially sounded the muster call.  In the future, we’ll just enjoy the ship and go to the life boat drill at the very last minute.
• Adult hot tubs in ship’s aft was a winner, and there is a towel station there so you don’t need to bring your beach towels from the room.
• Skip the opening night ‘Welcome Aboard’ show unless you want to see pre-recorded skits on the big screen and the cruise director talk talk talk
• Sea Day Brunch:  do it.  It is only offered once and the food selections were outstanding.
• Guy’s Burger Joint:  do it.  The toppings bar is a winner.
• Blue Iguana Cantina:  do it.  It is next to the burger joint, and you can have them build you burritos, tacos and taco salads.  Bonus:  in the morning, they make great breakfast burritos.
• Breakfast:  the buffet area can get pretty busy, especially the omelette station.  Fortunately there is another omelette station located in between the Blue Iguana and Guy’s Burger Joint, and not too many people know about this.
• The men’s and women’s locker rooms have their own sauna and steam rooms which are free to use.
• The chilled soups were amazing, and the fruit-based ones were almost dessert-like.  I even ordered the Strawberry Bisque as an after-dinner drink dessert and took it to-go.
• At dinner you get a bread basket.  The bread isn’t that great, so only eat one if you just have to try it, otherwise just skip them altogether.
• The water slides are not just for kids — go up and slide down for the thrilling decent!  But watch out, because the water will splash COLD on you at the bottom.
• The live music was enjoyable and pretty good, from the solo guitar players to the piano man to the band.
• Get your exercise by using the stairs!  Otherwise the elevators were actually all pretty quick and plentiful.
• Don’t bother with an internet plan because the cruise is so short and your data plan should work in Ensenada.
• Punchliner’s Comedy shows were plentiful and rated depending on the content.  Some comedians will be gold, others will suck and it all depends on the audience, so you might as well go and see if you like it.
• Use the daily on board cruise schedule to plan out the activities that you want to try out.  We missed some activities because we were too lazy or just forgot about them, but no big deal.
• Last tip:  no matter what happens, just be glad that you have the chance to cruise and have fun.  You have a room, all the food you can eat, new friends you haven’t met yet, naps that call and time to just enjoy your vacation!