Ensenada Wine Tour the Second Time

So a year later and the same trip.  It was decided that we would do the same cruise and tour.  Its amazing how things change in a year.  Some for the best and some not.  We were on the Carnival Paradise again and yet at times it felt like a different cruise.  As far as Carnival and the Paradise go, everything was great and met or exceeded our expectations.  The thing that every cruiser knows and most dread is the life boat drill and even that has been improved.  Rather than make people bring their life vest from their cabins, they are tole adamantly to NOT bring them.  This was the start of what was many changes, most subtle that really made an impact with us.  I can only hope that this is something that is being done across the fleet, if not all cruise lines.

For the excursion, we chose to repeat the wine tour we did last year.  The tour consists of going to 2 different wineries with a tour and tasting.  Last year we went to 2 very large wineries.  This year, the second winery was replaced with a small family store that sold pizza, jelly, sea salts, and had a few bottles of wine for tasting.  The store was right on the edge of the property of the first winery.  We could even see the second winery from last year across the road.  We felt like it was a tourist trap.  The prices were way more Americanized and not what we expected.  All in all the first winery tour and tasting was as good if not better then last year.  The second stop I wouldn't even call a winery and would not recommend it.  To bad you can't pick your stops.  You never know what you get.  Will we do this again next year?  Not sure.  It changed once, hopefully they make another change before we decide.