Archive for the 'Baja California' Category
Four-day Baja Mexico cruise in 2010 for $154
September 25, 2009 5:56am
You could easily spend more money staying at home than hopping aboard one of Carnival’s four-night Baja cruises. These short, round-trip excursions from Long Beach stop at Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico — just a fun, quick and inexpensive dose of the cruising life.
Deal: On the Carnival Paradise, the trip is available to advance bookers for incredible prices, for certain dates in 2010. Book way ahead for the lowest price I’m seeing, which is for the sailing leaving Monday evening, Nov. 29, 2010 (and returning on Friday morning, Dec. 3). An interior stateroom is available for $154 per person (before taxes and fees; based on double occupancy). After taxes and fees, for two people, that’s a total of $393 — or less than $50 total, per person, per day.
Rest assured, you can still get a good deal not quite as far off. For sailings Jan. 18 and Feb. 1, 2010, pre-tax rates start at under $180 per person. Read the rest of this entry »
Normal waits reported at San Ysidro after Mexico border checkpoint reopens after shooting
September 23, 2009 10:02am
If you’re driving to or from Mexico today through the San Ysidro Port of Entry near San Diego, you can expect the usual waits of 45 minutes to an hour, not the hours of backups that plagued the checkpoint last night after a shooting incident, officials said this morning.
After the shootout involving U.S. agents and a convoy of suspected smugglers Tuesday afternoon that injured several people, all 24 northbound lanes were shut, said Angelica De Cima, spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in San Diego. At 8 p.m., half the lanes were reopened, and at 4 a.m. today, the rest were reopened. Southbound lanes were not affected by the closures, she added.
As of 9 a.m. today, Customs and Border Protection was reporting 45-minute delays for passenger vehicles at San Ysidro, after posting hourlong delays earlier this morning, which is pretty normal there, the spokeswoman said. The agency regularly posts and updates a chart showing wait times for commercial and passenger vehicles and pedestrians at various checkpoints.
—Jane Engle, assistant Los Angeles Times Travel editor
Photo: A federal agent with a security dog watches vehicles waiting to enter the U.S. on Tuesday at the San Ysidro border crossing near San Diego. Credit: Lenny Ignelzi / Associated Press
Loreto, Mexico: Cozy up to whales, and sunset margaritas, on Sea Kayak Adventures trip
September 18, 2009 9:06am
For an up-close look at gray whales along their Pacific migratory route, you may have trouble beating a trip to Magdalena Bay, a two-hour drive from Loreto, Mexico. The protected inner coastal waterway, along the western coast of Baja California Sur, is a popular spot for whales giving birth and rearing their young.
According to Nancy Mertz, co-owner of Sea Kayak Adventures, the great creatures here readily approach skiffs, seemingly forgetting the days of whaling, when the very existence of the species was threatened.
One of the many companies offering whale-watching excursions in Baja California, Sea Kayak Adventures runs various types of tours — whale-watching and otherwise — in Mexico (and elsewhere internationally). One of its early-2010 trip types, in particular, might be of interest to those of you who don’t want to miss whale-watching season but have limited time for such an adventure. Read the rest of this entry »
SkyTeam’s new Mexico Pass a boon for intra-country travel?
September 17, 2009 2:04pm
To see a whole lot of Mexico in a little bit of time, you’re probably better off traveling by sky than road. To help make ventures by air easier, global airline alliance SkyTeam has just added a Mexico Pass to its cadre of discounted-flight packages for various countries and continents internationally (like Italy and Asia, for instance).
Though the Mexico Pass program doesn’t seem to be up and running smoothly just yet, those eager for a long-winded, exploratory look at the country — rather than a quick one-resort stay — might want to keep this option in mind for future travel.
The pass allows passengers from the U.S. and other international departure points on any SkyTeam airline to obtain discounted intra-Mexico flights on Aeromexico. To take advantage of the special rates, you must buy at least three flight coupons for travel within Mexico (there is no coupon maximum), and these can be booked anytime before your departure to Mexico. All coupons must be booked outside of Mexico.
Some of the 42 destinations included in this pass offer are Acapulco, Cancun, Campeche, Cozumel, Guadalajara, Los Cabos, Mazatlán, Mexico City, Monterrey, Oaxaca, Puebla, Veracruz and Zacatecas. Read the rest of this entry »
Disney Cruise Line ship headed for L.A. and Alaska in 2011
September 11, 2009 9:32am
Disney Cruise Line’s on-again, off-again romance with the West Coast is back on for 2011, when the Disney Wonder will split its time between Mexico cruises out of Los Angeles and Alaska cruises out of Canada, the company announced today, Sept. 11.
Best known for its Caribbean itineraries out of Florida, Disney Cruise Line had summer flings with Southern California in 2005 and 2008, when the Wonder’s sister ship, Disney Magic, sailed to Mexico from Los Angeles. But Alaska will be a first for the family-friendly ships.
In 2011, the Disney Wonder will do seven-night, round-trip Alaska itineraries out of Vancouver from May 3 to Sept. 6, with stops at Tracy Arm, Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. Fares will start at $939 per person, double occupancy.
Hurricane Jimena: Travel waiver/change policies from airlines
September 1, 2009 10:35am
Our friends over at the Outposts blog report in a Hurricane Jimena update that Cabo San Lucas is no longer in the path of Hurricane Jimena, which is just short of being just short of a Category 5 hurricane. However, the Baja California peninsula is still on alert. “The Mexican government has extended a hurricane warning northward on the Pacific side of the peninsula from Cabo San Lucas to Punta Abreojos, and along the gulf side to Mulege,” Outposts reports.
Many of the airlines are trying to accommodate customers who are altering their travel plans because of the hurricane. Find out more information here:
American Airlines: If you are traveling to, from or through Cabo San Lucas Los Cabos, Mexico (SJD), Mazatlan, Mexico (MZT), Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (PVR), Aug. 30-Sept. 2, and your ticket was purchased no later than Aug. 30, you may change your reservation without penalty as late as Sept. 3-8, 2009. To change travel dates, contact Reservations, (800) 433-7300, within the United States or Canada. American Airlines Hurricane Jimena information page.
Cruise ships shift course to avoid Hurricane Jimena in Baja California, Mexico
August 31, 2009 5:42pm
At least four cruise ships sailing out of Southern California are making last-minute itinerary changes to avoid powerful Hurricane Jimena, which today, Aug. 31, is heading toward Baja California, a resort-studded peninsula in Mexico. Although Jimena’s course is unpredictable, landfall could occur by Tuesday, forecasters said.
In Cabo San Lucas, part of the area under a hurricane warning, workers this afternoon nailed sheets of plywood to storefront windows in the marina, and hotels and restaurants cleared away umbrellas, chairs and other outdoor furniture, the Associated Press reported. Jimena has been classified as a Category 4 hurricane.
Among the ships being rerouted:
Carnival Elation, which left San Diego on Aug. 29 for a five-day cruise, will call on California’s Santa Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico, rather than Cabo San Lucas.
Mexico travel alert from U.S. State Department
August 21, 2009 12:16pm
Citing rising violence, the U.S. State Department’s latest Mexico alert urges travelers to delay trips to parts of Michoacan and Chihuahua states.
The alert, issued Thursday, advises U.S. citizens to delay unnecessary travel to those areas and to exercise “extreme caution” if a visit is necessary.
The alert notes the abduction and killing of two resident U.S. citizens in Chihuahua in July. It gives no details from Michoacan (which includes the city of Morelia and the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, which draws many visitors), and a spokesman said he was not immediately able to supply more than was in the posted alert.
Pleasant Holidays offers cancel-for-any-reason coverage
August 6, 2009 10:26am
Pleasant Holidays, the giant package-tour operator based in Westlake Village, this week began offering cancel-for-any-reason coverage to customers who book its trips to Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean and Costa Rica.
Unlike its regular Protection Plan, which refunds trip deposits if you cancel for reasons such as illness, death or job loss, the new Cancel Anytime Protection Plan Plus covers you for virtually any unforeseen cause, said Jack E. Richards, president and chief executive.
The downsides: Cancel Anytime Protection costs more (starting at $119 instead of $89 per adult) and reimburses you for only 80% instead of 100% for many of the covered causes. And of course, as with all such plans, there’s plenty of fine print.
For plan details, visit Pleasant Holidays’ website, call (800) 448-3333 or contact your travel agent.
— Jane Engle, assistant Los Angeles Times Travel editor
Photo: Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve in Hawaii. Credit: Annie Wells / Los Angeles Times
4-day Mexico cruise for $154, and other Carnival deals
June 26, 2009 11:20am
Thinking about cruising this fall or winter? If you want to get your feet wet with a short excursion to Baja, now’s a good time to secure an advanced-bookers’ discount. Some of Carnival’s “Early Saver” rates for its three- to five-day Mexico excursions from Long Beach and San Diego are incredible deals.
Deals: Various itineraries are available, some midweek and others weekend, some from Long Beach on the Carnival Paradise and others from San Diego on the Carnival Elation. The starting rates listed below are for the cheapest of the bunch, the interiors, though if your tastes run fancier, or at least less claustrophobia-inducing, rest assured that discounts are offered across all types of staterooms. Prices are pre-tax, per person and based on double occupancy.
From Long Beach:
> Three-day cruises departing on Fridays hit Ensenada. Early Saver rates begin at $229 per person on the Dec. 4 and Dec. 11 sailings. Read the rest of this entry »
