My husband and I, both in our early 30's, traveled on the Diamond Princess from December 16th-23rd, 2006 to the Mexican Riviera. It was our first cruise of what will hopefully be many!

Pre-cruise hotel: Since we live in Las Vegas, we drove down on Friday night and stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. It is still in the middle of renovations, but the rooms were gorgeous. We were able to see our cruise ship when we woke up in the morning, which was really exciting. The breakfast in the morning was good, but it took a while to get fresh food up. The parking was very safe and the shuttle service to the port was excellent. The only complaint we had was that it took them forty-five minutes to get us a shuttle back. We will probably take a taxi next time!

Embarkation: We got there around 11:00 and got into boarding group 3. They started boarding around 12:00 and we were on the ship by 12:30, 12:45. I thought it ran smoothly. Read more