For background info, my husband and I booked this cruise sort of on the fly to take advantage of good rates (and the week our younger daughter was going to be gone ). We are mid-50's, would rather move than stay still, and are Diamond. We booked a balcony gty for the first time, and would probably not do it again unless the price was really great that E1 was SMALL!Several have commented on embarkation being a zoo. Gotta agree with that it was crazy! We flew in a day early and took the Prime Time shuttle from LAX down to the port (easy to do; booked online and had no problems). When we arrived about 12:30 p.m. there was a huge line down the side of the building, porters were running amok, and there seemed to be absolutely no rhyme or reason to anything. The people in line (in the broiling sun) said they were waiting for luggage tags. Turns out the porters have them; so we snagged one and off we went. Went through the priority check-in and were on board in 10 minutes.Since we've sailed this class several times, we were already familiar with the general layout of the ship. We headed to Windjammer for a bite, and attended to various things (Chops & Portofino reservations). A word about the Windjammer here, based on lunch the first day and breakfast every day after: we thought the service was better than we've encountered on any ship for the last several years. Tables were promptly cleaned, service people were uniformly friendly and obliging. Eliot loved the "green tea man", who made us think of a sumo wrestler (he got into the habit of pouring his hot tea over ice for breakfast). The food was what we've come to expect from Windjammer no more, no less. We loved the girl greeter what a sweetie she was! A huge smile for everyone, and she actually sounded glad to see you. Sorry I never got her name.Our dining room experiences were also about what we've come to expect. The dinner menu has been curtailed, and there were a few things we'd not seen before. Nothing really stood out in my mind as being exceptional, but nothing was really awful, either oh, wait, I forgot the "grilled to order Sirloin Steak" that I ordered on the last night. Must have been an old, leftover "Royal Steak"!! As always, Chops and Portofino were outstanding. Lunch in the dining room was nice, with a wonderful salad bar that included lot of items that were a notch above the standard. Excellent and crowded by the last couple of days. Evidently, word got out!I mentioned we had a balcony gty cabin, 6550. Deck 6 was fine, and location was good since it was conveniently located close to the center of the ship. We are usually higher up. Our only unpleasant room experience was returning to the room after dinner the first night to discover there'd been no turn-down service! We blew it off (it was late and we were tired), but then when room had not been cleaned by 1:00 pm. the following day, we made a call to guest relations. The stateroom was cleaned within the hour, and we had an extremely apologetic room steward who was very attentive the rest of the cruise. Oddly enough, this was the first time we did not tip our room steward on the first day. We had decided just to see if it made a difference, and, well... A word about the Concierge Lounge: we'd received a letter in our stateroom the first day saying that Diamond members would have their "lounge" in the Dragon's Lair. We went to the CL at 5 for drinks the first night, and were welcomed then, and for the following days. Don't think anyone ever went to the Dragon's Lair! Allan Fajardo is the concierge; nice guy, but not a memorable concierge. Farud, the bartender, on the other hand was a delight! Awesome bartender, never forgot what one liked, and always had it ready. His helper, Dennis, was great, too. The CL was crowded, but just felt like a good party.We had a great CC group on board, and enjoyed their company. Too bad about that slot pull... coldest machine I ever saw!! Thanks again to Rick0 for organizing it!The ports were new to us, since we usually go to the Caribbean side of Mexico. In Cabo, we snorkeled on the Princesa (bit of a booze cruise, but hey it was fun!). Since it was hotter than h*ll, the water felt great. Visibility wasn't as good as you find on the Caribbean side, but there were lots of fish. We walked around the dock and marina after returning from the snorkel trip, but didn't leave that area, so I didn't get much of an impression of Cabo other than the harbor. Eliot wanted to go to Cabo Wabo, so we went and had a drink. Ho, hum. Guess I'm over the party bar thing... Mazatlan was hot, dirty, crowded. The "Golden Zone" is a wildly optimistic description. If I'm ever on a cruise with this port again, I'll stay onboard and have a spa day.Puerto Vallarta, on the other hand, was wonderful. Charming (and with 360,000 people, no less), and amazingly clean. Even the little back streets were neat and clean. Just a great feel to the town; lots of atmosphere. Lovely shops that I unfortunately did not get to spend enough time in, and everywhere a view to die for. We ziplined with Los Veranos, and let me just say that it was a terrific trip. The guides were the absolute best! They were knowledgeable, hardworking, and fun. It's a must-do excursion if you have any interest at all in that sort of thing. Book it online; easy and no problems. After the zips are done, you find yourself back at the restaurant/bar that's built at the riverside you've just zipped across. Food and drinks are great, flowers everywhere, and good prices, too!Entertainment on the ship: well, since we had late seating, we were always pretty pooped so we missed a good bit. The ice show was spectacular, and the costumes were just truly fine (in unfortunate contrast to those worn in the one production show we saw Pure Energy). Although, Eliot did point out that the 80's had unfortunate clothing anyway... The show was good but not great. We caught some of Matt Yee on a couple of nights. Oh, my. What a hoot! Go see him, but don't take the kids (he does keep reminding you that it's the ADULT late night comedy show).Overall, we had a great cruise. The weather was good surprisingly cool in LA and on the first night. After two weeks of heat advisories in N. La (that's Louisiana, not Los Angeles) it was wonderful. But, then Mexico was really hot... then the last day we were back in cool, windy weather. No rain. Definitely bring a sweatshirt or hoodie or something like that (or buy one there!). We met lovely, interesting people, ate and drank way too much and got to spend quality time together. What more can you ask for?(well maybe win at bingo, win in the casino.... ) Oh well next time!