Background Information: This was my 8th cruise; 6th on Holland America. There were four reasons I picked this particular cruise - price, embarkation port, itinerary, and the chance to cruise on a Vista class ship.

Normally I book a cruise a year or more out, but I was seeing some great deals back in January and decided to do something more spur of the moment. Having sailed once before from San Diego, I knew what a great city it is and an easy port to cruise out of. It also helped that I had a free ticket on Southwest and enough points for a free hotel room.

I was getting a little tired of the Caribbean and thought a Mexican itinerary would be a nice change of pace, although I was a little apprehensive that the ports - Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta - might resemble Tijuana. Read more