Virtual Reality in Baja

In preparation for its June 5 debut of year-round, three- and four-day cruises from Los Angeles to Ensenada, Carnival Cruises’ 1,452-passenger Holiday has added a host of goodies. They range from a $1-million entertainment center with the first virtual reality machines at sea to shipboard wedding packages and new productions of musical shows.

We went aboard in Miami, before the ship’s departure for the West Coast, to check out the changes since the last time we’d cruised on it. The Holiday made its debut in 1985, the first of three sister ships that includes the Jubilee, which makes seven-day cruises from Los Angeles to the Mexican Riviera.

The Holiday’s sunbathing area amidships is dominated by a water slide, 114 feet long and 15 feet high, which empties into the pool. There’s a smaller kiddie slide at the children’s pool on another deck. Fitness buffs will find a modest spa and gym, nothing like the gigantic 12,000-square-foot spas on Carnival’s newer mega-liners.

The most striking changes are in the former Blue Lagoon Lounge, now the jazziest (and one day, perhaps, the most profitable) game space that we’ve ever seen at sea. Two virtual reality machines, with three-dimensional gunfights and 32-channel digital sound, cost $4 a game. There’s a cockpit contraption that one can strap into for a ride like that in a helicopter or airplane, complete with pitch, roll and yaw. A motorcycle race with handlebars that vibrate, race cars with the road projected on a mounted screen and Mortal Kombat games are available.

New are ID-credit cards for children and teens. The cards help to prevent underage drinking at shipboard bars. They can be used in the entertainment center, but kids could run up quite a bill if a spending cap isn’t put on at check-in.

The new shows on board, “Here’s Hollywood” and “Broadway,” debuted on the line’s newest mega-liner Fascination last summer, and are the most technically elaborate at sea, with laser lighting and superb sound and costumes.

During the cruise each night, the dinner menu has seven main-dish choices, which may include two seafood selections, two vegetarian options, and such meat dishes as rack of lamb, chicken a la Grecque and beef Wellington.

The three-day cruise sails to Ensenada; the four-day adds Catalina Island. Fares range from $339 per person, double occupancy, for an inside cabin with upper and lower berths to $1,369 per person, double occupancy, for a veranda suite with private balcony.

For more information call Carnival at (800) 327-9501.