On the last day of our Alaskan cruise, we put a deposit down for Uncruise’s “Continuing Adventure” program, where paying a certain amount while we were still on the ship allowed us a substantial discount on our next booking. The program gave us until the end of 2025 to sign up for that next cruise, to be taken no later than the end of 2026. Well, things being things, and personal tribulations consuming much of 2025, we found ourselves at Thanksgiving without even having thought of booking our cruise.

With the Pacific Northwest already turning to cold days and colder nights, the one requirement was, this time, we wanted to go somewhere warm and sunny. Uncruise had several itineraries that fit the bill; the Galapagos, Hawaii, and a couple different cruises in Baja California. One seemed to jump out more than the rest - a 7-day cruise around the Sea of Cortez, involving many isolated locations for daily activities, whale watching, and sea lions. We decided on dates the first week of February, even though it was likely still a little too early for any major whale sighting, to sail out of La Paz.

A couple of emails back-and-forth between Margaret and one of Uncruise’s ultra-helpful agents, and we had the cruise booked, thinking we would hammer out additional details, like flights and hotels, later. Again, things being things, we found ourselves a couple weeks into January, with no further details finalized, and again emailed our ultra-helpful agent to see if we could still add on their package deal for a hotel.

“No problem, we’ll book you for Friday night at the same resort in Cabo San Lucas where we have our hospitality suite, the bus will leave from there Saturday afternoon to take you to the boat.”

Perfect. Fewer decisions for us. The resort cost was more than we’d ever spent on a hotel, but it was “all inclusive”, so we wouldn’t have to pay for meals, so it felt like a reasonable solution. It also had a “show” advertised for the night we were there (every Friday, actually), meaning a bit of fun before the cruise. Okay!

The next several weeks were spent making sure we had suitable clothes to take - lots of UPF shirts and pants, swim suits, shoes for hiking and water activities (no “alaskan sneakers” this time) and hats - as well grabbing our passports from the safe deposit box, and working late hours to prep for our time out-of-the-office.

The shuttle driver told us that in the last year, the resort had been sold, and changed focus to timeshares rather than hotel stays. This probably would’ve been good to know before booking our stay, because it proved to be the one low point in an otherwise fantastic vacation. While the room itself was fine, most of the food options in the resort were available only to “members” (ie: timeshare owners). Those of us only staying a night or so were relegated mainly to buffets. And the food at the buffets was… not great; runny eggs, overcooked and impossibly tough meats, rubbery sea food, fruit past it’s prime. The Friday night “show” was a fun romp through traditional Mexican music and culture, but again, the food was barely serviceable, with the one saving grace being some relatively tasty mini cinnamon churros; it’s hard to mess up fried dough. The resort had no fewer than 6 pools, including a swim-up bar (drinks, fortunately, were included in the cost), but seemingly no other true amenities. People we met had said they were staying for 2 weeks or more, and honestly we weren’t sure what they would do for that long. We spent about 90 minutes walking on the beach, and it was all we could do to try to fill up just the 24 hours we spent at the resort.

The hospitality suite opened at 9:00am the next morning, to collect our bags (which would be delivered to the boat before us). We checked in, and inquired about things to do in town, since the resort really wasn’t our scene. The agents told us a 30 minute walk would get us to the town square, where there are many galleries and shops, and a small farmer’s market. Since the bus for La Paz wouldn’t leave until 3:30pm, we opt to make the walk and see what we can see.

The town square proved to be far more interesting than we thought, even though it’s still decked out in Christmas decorations. Featured near the center is an old church, Mision San José del Cabo, with a polo-shirt-and-jeans-clad statue of Saint Carlos Acutis, the first “Millenial Saint”. We also visit several shops, which showcase some beautiful Mexican artisans. We’re also on the hunt for sunscreen, as well as some Airborne, just as a precautionary measure since we’d both been so intensely at work the last week before. We visit several phamacia (which we discover can mean a shop for just about anything, not just medicinals), and while the sunscreen was an easy find, the Airborne not so much. None of the pharmacists had heard of it, despite several attempts with Google Translate and much odd miming. The best we could find was [at least what we think was] Vitamin C tablets. Then it’s back to the resort to sit around one of the pools sipping down some cervezas, and waiting for the bus.

Popping back into the hospitality suite, we meet several of our fellow future travellers, and munch on some snacks. We also meet Daniel, a jovial man from Baja, who is one of the Expedition Guides on the cruise. There’s also, surprisingly, a film crew from Amazon Prime’s Porthole Cruise Magazine. They will be shooting an episode of the show during our cruise; so not only will we have one of the best vacation videos ever, but we’ll get a bit of a behind-the-scenes look at how these episodes are made. As we sit, and more passengers make their way to the hospitality suite, we take a quick count. Including the film crew and us, there look to be around 30 guests. Happily, just a few more than our Alaskan cruise.

Our cabin on the 200 deck is smaller than the upgraded quarters we had on the Wilderness Explorer, but not by much. A queen-sized bed, with two bedside tables, plenty of maneuvering room, and a window that looked directly out with no walkway in front. The entry door opened to the interior corridor, though one still had to go outside to get to the lounge upstairs on the 300 deck. But considering the warmer climate of Baja, spending time outside on the boat came to be more welcome than it might be in Alaska.

As I mentioned, the configuration of the Safari Voyager is a bit different than the Wilderness Explorer, with the lounge and bar in back, meaning less opportunity to settle in with a drink and watch the oncoming sea. Instead, there is a long bench outside in front of the bridge that proved to be a favorite lookout point. Again, perfect for warmer days in Baja, maybe a little colder in Alaska. Where the Wilderness Explorer is 3 decks, Safari Voyager has 4, with the dinning room situated on the bottom deck of both. Where the activity gathering spot on the Wilderness Explorer was always “Aft 300”, on Safari Voyager it will be “Aft 400”.