DH and I sailed on 3/24 on the Diamond Princess to the Mexican Riviera, along with our two daughters, ages 6 and 10. This was our kids' third cruise, and our fourth. For us, the ship was the destination, not the ports, so you won't find info about the ports in this review. We picked this cruise because we could drive to San Pedro from Phoenix, and the price was very attractive.

EMBARKATION/DISEMBARKATION: We drove up to the cruise terminal at noon and dropped off our luggage. I handed our bags over to a porter while DH parked the car. We waited in a short line for check-in and then waited for our boarding group to be called. The whole process from the time we drove through the terminal gate until we were on the ship took 2 hours, which I found completely acceptable. At cruise's end we signed up for "Walk Off" disembarkation. We were anxious to hit the road early for our drive back to Phoenix. The handout said to be ready by 7:45 am, and our group (Group B) was actually called a few minutes early. We were in our car and on the road by 8:05. Just be sure you have wheeled luggage and not too much to handle. We saw some people struggling with too many bags, but for us it was a breeze.

CRUISING DURING SPRING BREAK: We need to cruise when our kids are out of school, so Spring Break was a good time for us. We were told there were 700 kids (under 18) on this sailing. Obviously we're somewhat biased since we have kids, but we didn't have any major complaints about the Spring Break crowd. I was awakened a few times by loud, probably drunk, people staggering down the hallways at 2 or 3 in the morning, but they sounded like young adults, not kids. Read more