This guest trip report is from Rachel, whose sailed on a 5 night Pacific Coast sailing from San Diego to Vancouver on the Disney Wonder in April 2022.
Guest Trip Report: April 21, 2022 5 Night Pacific Coast on the Disney Wonder
Travel Day and San Diego
My mom and I go on trips together just about every other year. We originally had this cruise planned for September 2020. Then it got pushed to May 2021. Then we decided to just book for April 2022. And we finally got to go!
We flew into San Diego on a very early flight the day before embarkation. We wanted a little time to see San Diego without having to stay an extra night. This worked perfectly. We landed at about 10:30am and were in our hotel room at the Intercontinental San Diego by 11am. We were surprised that our room was ready that early, but it was so nice that it was.
We loved the Intercontinental hotel. It is situated right across from the terminal at the port and was just so convenient. The room was very nice, very clean, and definitely enough room for the both of us. We’d definitely stay here again.
We got settled and then looked around the area for a place to eat lunch. We decided on Carnita’s, which was just across the street. All the seating is outdoors, but it was a beautiful day in San Diego, so this was fine by us. We got there right as it opened (it was 2 hours later for us and we were already hungry!).
We split a pulled pork sandwich, fish tacos, and guacamole with chips. We also got some mango margaritas from the bar and it was an excellent meal. All the while, we had a great view of the port.
After lunch we walked back across the street to our hotel because we were meeting our San Diego tour guide there at 1pm. I had booked a private 4 hour tour for us of San Diego through Another Side of San Diego Tours. We booked the Ultimate San Diego Tour.
Our guide picked us up from our hotel in a large SUV and drove us around to several spots in a highlight tour. We drove by some things, but also got out at several places too. There was an agenda (because they know the top spots to visit), but because this was a private tour, they also can tweak it a bit to your liking.
Our first stop was the Island of Coronado. Our guide took us to a beautiful park that overlooked the city. Along the way we got to gawk at the beautiful homes on the island and talk about its history. I did not write down our guide’s name so of course I have forgotten it! But she was from the area and very knowledgeable about the history of the city and surrounding areas.
We stopped at the Coronado Hotel as well. She found parking while we explored for a few minutes.
Back over in San Diego, we drove through several neighborhoods downtown including the Gaslamp Quarter, Embarcadero, and Balboa Park. Then we went to the top of Mt Soledad for a great view of San Diego on one side and La Jolla on the other.
Then we went down to La Jolla for a closer look. We parked at one lookout point with stunning views and got out to take photos.
Then we went closer to the beaches with the seals and pelicans. Our guide parked the car and showed us an almost hidden path to take along the coast. It was about a 10 minute walk until we got to a park area. She left us to go get the car at this point and we were able to wander around and get a little closer to the seals.
After that, our guide drove us back to San Diego and dropped us off at our hotel. She was able to drop us off anywhere we would like, but we had reservations for dinner at the hotel restaurant so we wanted to be dropped there.
The hotel’s restaurant is Vistal’s and has an amazing view of the port. We chose to be seated inside only because it was a bit blustery and the view was just as good from the inside.
We both ordered the steak frittes and shared some warm buttermilk biscuits before calling it a day.
The time change for us made it feel 2 hours later than it was and our early flight didn’t help! Thankfully, we had two very comfy beds waiting upstairs for us.
Up Next: Boarding the Disney Wonder!
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