I traveled from Oregon to LAX the day of embarkation with my 15 year old daughter for our cruise to the Mexican Riviera. We did the early check in at the Queen Mary at about 10am and walked around for a little than got in line for the people who did the early check in. Embarkation was really pretty fast as we were at the front of the line with only about 15 people ahead of us. When we did the early check in it really was very fast and easy, they did not ask for a lot of docs I had with us just in case and didn't even ask for anything since I was traveling solo with my daughter. We were only in line for about 20 minutes when we started to board. We were on board by 11:45 and eating lunch by noon. After lunch we went to our room and unpacked and put away all of our carry on stuff since our checked in suitcase was not there yet. We had a guaranteed inside and we were upgraded to a 5A with French doors partial view and we loved the room. It was a good size and did not feel crowded and even though we only had a partial view the doors opened and we got all the fresh air we would like. We preceded to take a nap until it was time for the lifeboat drill and we preceded on deck with all the others. Luckily after hearing from others here we did not go up immediately but waited until we were close to the end so we were not so crowded in ( thanks cruise critics). After the drill we went up to lido deck for the bon voyage and sailaway. Afterwards we returned to our room to get ready for dinner. We had to wear the same clothes as our stuff had not arrived yet so we went to dinner and had very nice waiters, they were very attentive and the food was very good. I was surprised at how well they remember everything and how efficient they are. After dinner we walked around the ship a little and went to the first show. My daughter really liked all the shows and let me say that the staff were so nice and courteous to everyone, I was really impressed. They always went out of there way when ever we needed anything. We did not purchase a soda card because we thought we would just drink juice or iced tea as they are free. They also have fruit punch and lemonade free as well as ice cream. ( I had to keep my daughter away from all the ice cream she loved it). When we got back to our stateroom our bags were there so we unpacked and went to bed, we sleep very good as you could barely feel the movement. The next two days were at sea and we mostly spent the days by the pool relaxing and reading and wondering around the ship. The ship was beautiful and very clean throughout. I did not see anyone making any trouble on ship anywhere except for the occasional food critic not liking something but otherwise that was it. For the most part the kids were well behaved and there were plenty of chairs by the pool. Our first port was Puerto Vallarta and we had a wonderful time there. We went to a tiny village called Yelapa but we did it on our own by getting a water taxi for 200 pesos round trip. It is a beautiful and quiet place to relax and swim. My daughter hiked to the waterfalls with another older couple of ladies and than we preceded to the beach where we swam and ate seafood. When we returned we went downtown to look around and do some shopping and afterward we got some dinner at a nice little restaurant. We were back at the ship about an hour early and looked around by the ship and also bought a phone card and made a quick call home to the family to let them know we were doing good. The next day was Mazatlan and we actually had an appt to get our hair and nails done which took a while. I got the recommendation from Mazatlan Frank and he was right on the spot they did a great job and was very inexpensive. Afterwards we went into town did some sight seeing in a pulmonia and got some lunch at a great little seafood place where the locals go. The food was fresh and soooo good. We got back to the ship with about a half hour to spare and went to our room to rest for a while. We had a late dinner in the buffet that night as we had eaten earlier and the food was good there also. After dinner we went to a show and than to karaoke and took some pictures. Let me tell you that you can take as many pictures as you want so you can pick and choose later, but they are expensive. The 8x10 were $20.00 each and you had to buy the first one if you wanted copies or smaller sizes. In all we spent about $100.00 total in pictures but they really came out great. The last port was Cabo and we just spent the day at Medano Beach since it was such a small time you have in port there. It was more expensive there but it was a nice beach. We had room service every morning and it was nice. Let me say that our room steward Rennatus was great. He always made sure we had anything we needed and he always had our cute little towel animals for us at night along with our chocolates. We could not of asked for nicer people to take care of us while on board. If anyone is planning to go on this particular cruise I really think you will enjoy it and have a great time. My daughter will have many great memories of the time we spent together and everything she got to do.