My husband and I went on an excursion set up by our cruise on my birthday vacation to go to this winery. I did some light research and found that it was something I would be interested in participating in. We started my cruise on August 19, and on August 21, my birthday, we were scheduled to visit and tour La Cetto.
My first experience with them was with their bus picking our cruise group up. Our guide, Larissa, lined us up outside the cruise ship, gave us a sticker with her name on it so we could affix it to our shirts, and explained when we would be leaving, which was about 10 minutes later when everyone from the ship on the excursion disembarked and met with us.
We all filed into the bus, and it was a pretty full group. What I appreciated was seeing all types of people on the bus: Black, white, gay, straight, sober, and inebriated. Everyone was cordial. There were a group of 50-something women in the back of the bus who clearly all knew each other (probably cruising together). These ladies were inebriated, though not obnoxiously so, and they were absolutely enjoying themselves.
As the bus departed the loading area, Larissa stood in the front with her microphone and introduced herself and set expectations. She was friendly and funny. She comically tried to teach us some basic Spanish words to use while in Ensenada. I speak a good amount of Spanish, so it wasn't really helpful to me, but it was a little funny hearing other people attempting to pronounce some of the words. She also taught us a Mexican song and got us all to sing along with it.
As we made the nearly 50-minute trek to the first vineyard, Larissa expertly explained all the sites we were passing. This was really interesting, as this was my first experience as an adult in a foreign country, so it was fascinating to see how the architecture and style of buildings looked different from American ones. We passed a five-star hotel that looked a complete mess but that is apparently popular among celebrities like Rihanna who have stayed there in luxury. Overall, the scenery was pretty and interesting to see. I was like a kid in a candy store.
One challenge my husband and I did encounter was the women in the back. They were so lively and animated that they were talking over Larissa as she was explaining the sites to us.
We arrived to the first winery, which was a small vineyard that is family-owned. Once here, we were greeted with the smell of freshly cooked pizza and wine scents. The establishment had samples of wine and jellies for us to test. Most of the wines were delicious, especially the honey wine. The jellies were good, too. My husband and I ended up purchasing a bottle of the honey wine and the chocolate/strawberry jelly. The staff of the winery were fantastic and professional, and I have to state the prices were very reasonable, almost too low in my opinion.
After having spent about an hour there, we loaded the bus again and went to the second winery, which was much larger and clearly a professional establishment. Our host was a young, little thing, but was so funny. We also got to test some wines, so much so that I got tipsy. They toured us through their entire wine-making facility, so we got to see the process behind the scenes. Everything was so very interesting. Both my husband and I took many pictures.
After about an hour there, we headed back to the bus for the 50-minute ride home. Larissa once again entertained us and made us laugh throughout the process. We got back to the ship a little later than expected, but that wasn't a problem at all.
Overall, this was a great experience. The only notable concern I had was that there were many flies around, so much so that they were landing on our drinks, which is unsanitary, of course. Outside of that, I'd recommend La Cetto to anyone. read more