Below you will find my rather lengthy review of the Diamond Princess to the Mexican Riviera from March 12-19, 2005. I traveled with my mother, Debbie, and my best friend, Audra. This was my second cruise (Sapphire to Alaska in 2004) and their first. Hope you enjoy! If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at jimmie@ou.edu.

Day 1 - Pre-Cruise Stay in Dallas

For those of you living near the DFW area, this may be of interest: We had an early morning flight on Saturday, so we decided to stay overnight at the Best Western Irving Inn & Suites near the airport on Friday. The rate was $59/night (internet), and this includes free parking for up to 14 days, plus free breakfast & roundtrip airport shuttle. The hotel was great - I have stayed there before - and they were one of the only ones I could find that offered free parking for the duration of our trip. Everything went off without a hitch, except that upon arriving in Dallas after our trip, Audra called the hotel to send the shuttle, and they wouldn't come and get her because the reservation was not in her name. (We had flights arriving at different times) We thought this wouldn't be a problem because the desk clerk at check-in had her fill out a parking form for her car, as well. Oh well, it all worked out and she had a friend come to pick her up. When we arrived in DFW late Sunday night after our cruise, we opted to take a cab rather than wait for the shuttle...which turned out to be a mistake since the cab cost $21 and we saw the shuttle pull up for someone else just as we were leaving. Grrr....oh well, lessons learned. Read more