My wife and I took our 3rd cruise ever, but our 1st with Princess on the Sapphire Princess January 16th - January 23rd. We have done the east & west Caribbean and decided to try the Mexican Riviera to see something different. I'll try to break it down by parts & ports and then have a little summary on my thoughts as a whole for this cruise line (both of our other cruises were with Carnival so there will be some comparisons).

Embarkation in San Pedro: This was fairly easy. We flew in the night before and stayed at the Double tree in San Pedro (I used hotwire and got the hotel for $69 a night). We flew in late Friday night and used Super shuttle to get to the hotel. Here is my thread on strategies for coming in late Friday http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=22394397#post22394397. I recommend ordering some wine from Off The Vine (just google it) and having wine delivered for free to your hotel before you arrive. Note the doubletree was too busy the morning of the flight to run us to a local grocery so I had to ask for them to shuttle me to Vonns at 10:30 at night. It worked out well for last minute items as the shuttle runs until 11pm. The Doubletree was nice but the morning breakfast buffet was a little expensive so I'd pack a granola bar and save 30 bucks (for 2) if I had to do it over again. Anyway, we scheduled the shuttle to take us to the pier at 10:30. Arrived and flew through the Princess check in process. You end up waiting in kind of a terminal looking area where they hand you an embarkation number. We were given number one and we waited. The ship apparently came in an hour later than normal so we weren't allowed to board until 12:15 or so. There were several people already boarding but I assume they were loyalty program members that got an early embarkation perk. They had a TV in the terminal so really we just watched some basketball instead of sitting in our rooms.

Room: We were in an outside balcony room on Aloha deck (A618) mid-rear of the ship. I actually really liked the room and the location on the ship. The room itself had a lot of storage and places to put your stuff. I liked the area for hanging your clothes and easy access to the safe. My netbook fit nicely in the safe but a full size laptop probably won't fit. I felt safe and did leave it on the desk a few times but for storage reasons it just made sense to put it, my cash, and our passports in the safe. I'd take these rooms over the ones on Carnival. Nothing overly special, I just thought the layout was a little better. The balcony was plenty big for two of us to have a glass (or 2+) of wine while getting ready for dinner. There was a refrigerator in the room. The fridge had a few cans of soda along with a large water bottle. They charged you if you used them so I asked our steward to remove the items (she was very good and polite when we spoke to her). I also asked for her to fill the little ice bucket in the fridge all week (for room drinks). I tipped her $5 for her trouble and we had plenty of ice every day. The Ship: Honestly, this is one of the best ships we've been on. I know it's not brand new but I really didn't see any wear or tear. Everything was kept very clean. I would describe the ship as more elegant than previous ones I've been on. The carnival ships seemed to be a little gaudy. I just remember all the bright teal and purples on our other ships that seemed to try to be too much like a cheap vegas theme. This ship seems more like an upscale hotel. The layout takes a little getting used to but every ship I've been on is that way. After a few days you know where you are going. Quick useful tip: The room levels have a pink strip on one side and a blue strip on the other. So once you know what side you are on, you can quickly find your room from the elevator. You will get turned around every now and then so this trick really helped me. Read more