About Us Myself and DW are mid-forties and avid cruisers, this trip we were traveling with DW's sister and sister's husband. We prefer RCCL but will cruise on other lines depending on itinerary/cost factors. We had never sailed from the west coast and had never been to Cabo or Mazatlan. We had previously spent a week in Puerto Vallarta (P.V.) and enjoyed it. This cruise was also a relatively good value.

Pre-boarding We flew to LAX a day early (Sat) and stayed in Redondo Beach area, DW had Marriott points and the Redondo location was convenient to San Pedro. We rented a car from Avis at LAX, used it on Sat. with plans to return it to the downtown Long Beach Avis office on Sunday morning. We would then cab from Avis office to the San Pedro pier. This strategy worked well, we actually dropped the wives and luggage off in San Pedro on the way to Long Beach Avis. Our wives got the luggage portered onto the ship and awaited our arrival back at port to check-in. The car rental cost was $48; taxi to pier from downtown L.B. was $16.

Embarkation We were upgraded by RCCL several days before sailing (from inside category L to the Royal Suite - as unbelievable as that sounds) and therefore needed new luggage tags prior to boarding. These were easy to obtain from one of the porters and luggage was easily sent on its way. We went inside to check-in at approx. 11:10; there was virtually no one in the priority line at that time. We waited in the priority lounge for approx. 20 minutes and then we allowed to board. One of the easiest embarkations I've ever been involved in. Read more