We sailed on the Dawn Princess from San Diego to the Mexican Riviera during the week of March 16-23. For the previous three years, we had taken this cruise on the Carnival Pride out of Long Beach. We selected this cruise, hoping that the decreased distance from San Diego to Mexico would improve the chances of warmer weather during the sea days. We have found the first day out of Long Beach, and the final day of the cruise to be very cool.

We flew into San Diego from Kansas City on Friday and stayed at the downtown Doubletree Hotel. Unfortunately, we cannot recommend this hotel. The hotel is tired and service is lacking. There were numerous issues, the ice and soda machines weren't operational, the maid neglected to clean our room, and so on. We would recommend the Holiday Inn which is directly across the street from the cruise terminal and conveniently located to restaurants and entertainment. It is worth noting that the San Diego airport is very close to the cruise terminal, so cabs are probably in order rather than cruise ship shuttles.

We spent a very pleasant Saturday at the San Diego zoo which is a 10 minute drive from downtown San Diego. Our sons and their friends from LA jointed us on Saturday evening and we were now a party of eight. We had booked 4 balcony cabins on the Baja Deck (628, 630, 632, 634), and found them to be conveniently located, small but adequate and enjoyable. Read more