We are a couple in our early fifties with grown children. This was our sixth cruise: the second to the Mexican Riviera and the first on a Holland America Ship. Since we live in California we drove to the San Diego pier and were able to park right across the street. That was very handy, especially when we returned.

EMBARKATION/LUGGAGE SERVICE/DISEMBARKATION The embarkation process went very smoothly even though the computers were down. We had pre-printed our boarding passes and had entered our credit card information on the HAL web site which helped us get processed without delay. The line was fairly long, but moved quickly. The HAL agent who served us was quite tired having just returned form a long voyage himself that morning, but quickly had us checked in and was very pleasant.

We were quite impressed that once on the ship we were able to check our carry on luggage. Since we had driven to the ship we had used two large hanging bags to avoid wrinkled clothing. It was so nice to have a place to hang them while we enjoyed lunch. Read more