Catalina was very nice, maybe because it is part of the US. We had to be tendered in which was my first times, but it was easy and simple. Cataline had great weather and nice people. Lot of neat shops all in walking distance. The excursions were much cheaper off the ship after you walk past the first Carnival station. We took the scenic bus tour around town and also did the semi submarine. I forgot my camera lense on the tour bus and later realized while in the submarine. So we walked back there to find them waiting for my return. They were very nice about it!!
In Ensenada, we had to take a shuttle to get to the town. On the shuttle a lady is telling us what to do and not do while there. She mentions not to buy anything from the kids because they want them to go to school and not leave off the street. She also mentioned how not to get ripped off and to bargain with the locals. We decided to go see the Blow Hole and had to take a 35 minutes trip out of the town. We were warned before we got there that we would have to go through 600 ft of vendors on the street. Our tour guide offered to walk us down to the blow hole and would point out the safe place to shop on the way back out. Once at the Blow Hole the sights are beautiful. It was very nice and took lots of pictures. However the trip out was the worst. My boyfriend was grabbed by vendors trying to pull him into their stores. Some vendors were selling "happy meals" which were vigara and other prescription drugs off the street. After this trip we went straight back to the ship for the rest of the day. We were at port from 9am to 10pm. So we were on the boat from 2:00pm on and it did not bother us at all.
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