A long Baja weekend
Three nights, Long Beach to Catalina to Ensenada and back. Carnival Imagination, May 2019. This is the cheapest, fastest, easiest cruise you can take from California — and one of the most reliable ways to test-drive cruising or grab a quick reset. Same general shape as our Ensenada weekend on Carnival Radiance three years later, with the bonus of a Catalina Island stop on the way down.
The trip at a glance
- Ship
- Carnival Imagination (older Fantasy-class ship, since retired — the original "cheap and cheerful" California cruise option)
- Length
- 3 nights · Long Beach → Catalina → Ensenada → Long Beach
- Best for
- First cruisers, anyone curious about cruising who doesn't want a big commitment, long-weekend reset
- Spend
- From around $250/person all-in for an inside cabin
The Catalina stop —
What makes the Baja cruise different from the straight Ensenada run is the Catalina day. The ship tenders into Avalon — a small, walkable harbor town an hour off the California coast that somehow feels like it's a thousand miles away. Glass-bottom-boat tours, a casino building from 1929, fish tacos at the harbor. We had four hours and could've used eight.
See all 4 photos from this trip →
Want to go? —
The Carnival Imagination is retired but Carnival, Princess, and NCL all still run 3- and 4-night Baja itineraries from Long Beach year-round. The shape of the trip hasn't changed. We can plan it.
Read the Ensenada version: A long weekend in Ensenada (Carnival Radiance, November 2022)