We drove from Utah and stayed at a hilton near Ontario, then spent the day crossing LA and seeing some sights. We then stayed at Hilton Long Beach, using the stay, park and sail. The hotel was great, but they didn't provide a free shuttle to Princess Pier 93! I didn't know that when I booked, and didn't see that point in any of the literature. We did talk them into a trip over, but had to take a taxi on our return trip.
Overall, we loved the ship. It seemed more classy, with wood trim in several of the bars, etc. It didn't have that cheap vegas feel like other ships have.
We loved the ports, with the caveat of Cabo. It took 2 hours to get off the boat, leaving us with about 3 hours to wander. If we were to go again, we would stay on the boat at cabo.
The cabin was great, we had D219 mini suite. It was wonderful. We had 3 in this cabin, and it didn't feel crowded at all to us. We loved the balcony.
This is a tendered port. It took 2 hours to get off the boat, leaving us 3 or so hours to walk around. If we had to do it over again, we would have stayed on the ship. It was too much hassle for too little things to see.