We have always wanted to do this cruise. We were booked on the NCL Spirit out of Tampa and cancelled without any penalty about six months prior to the cruise date. We had booked a balcony and as the prices dropped we up-graded first to an extended balcony and then hit the jack pot and ended up with an AFT extended balcony on the Main deck (number 4), just above the Anytime part of the main dinning room.

We took a 7 hour drive from Arizona to the port and checked into the San Pedro DoubleTree. We made reservations in advance for the most inexpensive room and about a week before we were scheduled to arrive used our CLC membership to re-book and got a rate reduction that was better the hotwire, priceline or anything else. The DoubleTree was great, not any better then ***+ but with the free parking for 15 days I would recommend this hotel and plan on staying here for our next cruise. The hotel manager, Tommy introduced himself to us at breakfast, the bell hops, front desk and shuttle drivers to the port were all very nice. The breakfast buffy was a little on the spendy side, but we saved so much on the room, went ahead and enjoyed the convenience of eating at the hotel. The night before we had dinner at the 22nd Street Landing Seafood Bar and Grill just a short walk from the hotel. Good food, service and wonderful views.

Embarkation was slow. The ship was late getting in due to bad wx coming back from Mexico. We were in the first group after the VIP's and boarded around 2pm Read more