Dawn Princess 11-night Mexican Riviera from San Francisco 1/25/07 - 2/5/07 Ports of Call: Mazatlan, Acapulco, Zihuantanejo/Ixtapa, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas Captain: Tony Draper; Cruise Director: Stuart McGunigall; Maitre d Hotel: Luigi Moretti

This was DH and my 7th Princess cruise, 16th overall, first longer-than-7-night sailing, first on a smaller-than-grand-class Princess' ship. The average age of passengers was around 60; we noticed only a few children on the cruise. We were among the few passengers who had traveled from east of the Mississippi for this cruise: We usually sail in the Caribbean but wanted a change this year, the opportunity to sail on a smaller Princess vessel, and visit San Francisco where we hadn't been for about 25 years.

Our trip started and ended with two glitches; I'll get these issues out of the way quickly so I can focus on our mostly-positive cruise experience. Our flight from DTW the day prior to sailing was delayed about 90 minutes due to equipment problems. This cut into our sightseeing time in San Francisco but we were able to make a quick trip to Trader Joe's for wine to carry onboard (4 bottles) and had a lovely dinner at House of Prime Rib where we had dined in 1973. We stayed at Courtyard Fisherman's Wharf that was fine for a one night stay prior to sailing. Read more