Today we spent the day on Catalina Island, a place we have been to several times, most recently earlier this year with some neighbors. As familiar to us as Catalina is, we were pleasantly surprised this time at what a nice day we had. It started with perfect weather that was neither oppressively hot nor rainy and cool, but rather perfectly sunny and warm, but not hot. The last time Kim and I came, we rented a multiperson golf cart and went around the loop circumnavigating the city of Avalon and saw what there was to see within the city limits. This time, to give the granddaughters a little something extra, we booked a Bison Eco Tour. Given the amount of reduction in the bison herd on Catalina in the last 20 years, it was not clear that we were going to have any bison encounters.
We booked this tour through Royal Caribbean so we were picked up at the dock by our tour guide carrying a paddle that designated us as group 25. We all had our little matching 25 stickers on our shirts (something that always makes you feel so special), and we, as a group, trundled off to the middle of town where the transportation depot resides. We boarded our open-top Humvee and headed off up the hill to the north of Avalon. Once we reached the midpoint in the hill, we went through a gate that indicated that this was territory that we had not been allowed to go into with our golf cart. The climb up the dirt hillside road that clings to the cliff and is bounded by eucalyptus trees was quite spectacular.
Once we were amidst the central hills of the island, the driver/guide was regaling us with Catalina trivia while lowering our expectations about encountering local wildlife. Just then, we encountered four bison right on the road. As if that was not special enough, we then saw more on the ridgeline…and before heading back to the coastal cliffs, we saw another few. No foxes or mule deer, but lots of the allusive bison ( I think we saw 20% of the island’s herd).
Back on Front Street in Avalon, we got a table overlooking the bay and our moored monster cruise ship. It was actually a resplendent sight on a sunny summer day and made our seafood lunch extra special. A beach resort town on cruise ship day is a busy place. Busy enough that I let the shoppers shop while I grabbed the next tender back to the ship. I spent the afternoon on my room terrace facing the harbor and waiting for the shoppers to catch a later tender.
Walking around the ship now that everyone is into the swing of the cruise is a study in one tropical bar after another. There are pool bars, pubs, high-tech robo-bars, sports bars, cafes, and more pool bars on every side of the many pools and spas. It’s all very curious to a non-drinker like me. You keep reading about how alcohol consumption in the US is declining, and fairly notably so over the past few years. Gallup’s annual poll found the share of US adults who drink alcohol fell to 54% in 2025, down 4 points from 2024 and 8 points from 2023. Among people who do drink, the average number of drinks consumed in the past week dropped to 2.8 in 2025, down from 3.8 in 2024 and 4.0 in 2023. That’s meaningful. A 2026 Addiction journal analysis notes this marks a genuine shift: alcohol consumption and binge drinking among US adults appear to have begun declining over just the past 2–3 years, though researchers caution the data isn’t yet definitive. More US adults now say they don’t drink at all than at any point since the 1950s. The reasons why are interesting. Rising health concerns are the top issue with 53% of Americans now saying that drinking, even in moderation, is harmful. A generational shift is also in process, with Gen Z drinking notably less than older generations (Dry January, Sober October, etc.). Interestingly, one caveat: not all sources agree on magnitude with IWSR data, suggesting that weekly drinks per US adult have actually hovered in the same 10-12 range since 1975, and some reporting that Gen Z drinking participation actually ticked up recently. So the “decline” shows up more clearly in participation (fewer people drinking at all) than in total volume consumed. Despite fewer drinkers, total market value keeps growing with the US alcohol market valued at $543 billion in 2024 and projected to reach $806 billion by 2033… but that’s driven by “premiumization” and price increases, not higher volume.
Meanwhile, the cruise market is showing the opposite trend from alcohol. The cruise industry is booming, not declining. Global cruise passenger volume hit a record 37.2 million in 2025, up nearly 90% with cruisers indicating they intend to sail again. That’s up sharply from 31.7 million passengers in 2023, a 7.5% increase versus 2024 alone. The Caribbean remains a dominant destination, holding 43% of global capacity and hence all the tropical bars on board our ship. So, alcohol is a shrinking category by participation, while cruising is in one of its strongest growth stretches ever. Furthermore, the cruise industry estimates that roughly half or more of cruisers buy alcohol drink packages. Our current line, Royal Caribbean, has stated that more than 50% of cruisers on their ships purchase drink packages. Royal Caribbean now requires both adults in a cabin to buy the package if either one does, eliminating the exemption for non-drinkers after guests were sharing one package between two people. Since packages typically only pay off if you drink 5+ alcoholic beverages a day, this reinforces the sense I get walking around the ship that cruising is for drinkers.
Tomorrow we dock for our last day in Ensenada. What is a Mexican beach vacation without Margaritas and Piña Coladas? I may even need to get one….or at least a mocktail…
Our Ensenada excursion was organized as an open top bus tour of the city, which took all of about 30 minutes since this is actually a very small town, so small that the only way to get here is by ship or by car since there is no airport. The city is only two hours south of Tijuana so I guess they figure they can remain a small beach resort and moderate sized port (the third largest in Mexico) and get by on that. Our tour guide has given us all the usual warnings before unleashing us onto the downtown shopping district. We’ve already broken most of those rules and have bought several aprons, some churros, and in my case, a pair of Oakley knockoff sunglasses. Who knows whether we got a good deal on any of it and I’m not sure it really matters since the dollars involved were all pretty small. I have found a shady bench on the main drag and I’m letting Kim and the girls wander the stores working hard to find something to satisfy their gathering instincts. Every car and truck that passes by seems to be playing mariachi music, which does give this a certain Mexican beach town feel. Despite the title of this story, I have yet to see a place that sells Piña Colada‘s, so maybe we’ll have to wait till we get back on the boat to indulge.
I have spoken before about the fact that in the seven years that we’ve lived in San Diego we haven’t really traveled into Mexico. In fact, this will be the first visit we’ve made to Mexico in all that time. I almost feel like it’s not a real visit since we never even had to show a passport to get off the boat and wander the town. We do still plan on taking my business school friend, John Alexander, up on his offer to help set us up on a full-blown Mexican adventure to the Mexico City area where I’m sure we’ll be able to find the requisite Piña Colada.