I've previously sailed Carnival (11 sailings) and once each on RCCL, Costa and Celebrity. All of my previous cruises were in the Caribbean so this was my first time sailing from the west coast and my first time on Princess.
We stayed at the San Pedro Crowne Plaza and flew into Santa Ana airport. Highly recommend both of these options. Easy walk to places to see and eat from the hotel and they have a port shuttle...... If you don't have a lot of luggage and you enjoy a nice walk, the hotel is close enough that you could walk over
Embarkation: No issues at all....... very smooth