My husband, mother, and father, all took the 8 night Mexican Riviera cruise, embarking on Thanksgiving.

It was the first cruise for all of us, and we were all very impressed! My husband and I like to take city breaks, and prefer Europe over tropical locales; so we were unsure about taking a cruise where you spend a marginal amount of time in port. Although we would have liked to experience the ports for more time, we enjoyed every minute of the cruise from embarkation to debarkation.

Embarkation: I had read some consistently bad reviews regarding embarkation in San Diego...there was definitely nothing to worry about. Embarkation was a breeze. We live in San Diego, so we got to sleep in, and mosey down to the ship around noon. After being dropped off at the cruise terminal, we did find the chaos a little overwhelming (especially the aggressive elderly people, but I guess if anyone has a right to be in a hurry its the elderly). There were a lot of people going in and out, and no apparent lines until after security; just a mass of people. We had completed the fun pass prior to embarkation, so it only took us about 2 minutes to check in and get on the ship. Our room was ready within 10 minutes of us boarding (which had been upgraded about 4 categories), and we enjoyed lunch on the lido deck...with drink specials. Read more