Background: We sailed on Sapphire Princesss Mexican Riviera cruise, December 10th to the 17th, 2005. This was our thirtieth cruise. Our previous cruises include ten on Princess, thirteen on Royal Caribbean and six on other cruise lines. We started cruising in 1978 on board the Pacific Princess. Our last cruises with Princess were on the Ocean and Dawn Princess in 2000.
Embarkation: We drove our own van to the pier in San Pedro, arriving around twelve-forty. I dropped my wife and our luggage off in front of the terminal building and proceeded to park the van. Parking is $12.00 per 24 hour period. I found a parking spot close to the ship and left the van at twelve-fifty. I noted the time since I was curious as to how long it would take us to board the ship. While I was parking my wife had made arrangements for our luggage. Our tickets were checked as we entered the terminal building. As we exited the escalator to the second floor we were directed to the registration area for Captains Circle Platinum Members. We walked right up to the counter, and after presenting our passports and credit card we signed a paper declaring we were not sick and issued our cruise key card. We then proceeded to a security check line, reserved for Platinum members, and were quickly processed. We made the usual stop for our embarkation photo and boarded the ship. We were on board the ship within 25 minutes of my leaving the van. As we boarded the ship we were greeted by a white gloved crew member who directed us to an elevator, which was manned by another white gloved crew member who whisked us up to the Lido Deck (deck 14) where our cabin was located. Upon exiting the elevator we were met by another crew member who directed us to our cabin, L 305 on the starboard side of the ship. Our friends, who are not Platinum members, also experienced a very smooth boarding process.
Our Cabin: Our cabin, L305 (Category BA on the Lido Deck) is described in the brochures and on Princesss internet site as an Oceanview Double With Balcony&Enjoy approximately 237 to 277 (or internet information 307 square feet) including balcony. Our cabin, even though it is the highest priced in the category, barely made the minimum of 237 square feet with the balcony.