This was a sixth cruise over the past three years and our second with Carnival. I am retired but my wife still works and goes to school. We choose our cruises mostly for itinerary followed by cost and cruise line. This is our third run through Mexico; the first was stops on our way to the Panama Canal and the Amazon, the second was a Sea of Cortez cruise. In spite of the three trips we had only visited one of the three ports we stopped at on this cruise.

We travelled to San Diego the day before embarkation and stayed at the Hampton Downtown not far from the pier. We stay at Hamptons whenever we travel in the US. These hotels are always clean, efficient, and have friendly helpful staff. The addition of the do-it-yourself waffle maker at the include breakfast is a great add on! The hotel also provides a free shuttle from the hotel to the pier, even though it is not that far away.

San Diego needs to develop a much more efficient baggage handling system from kerb-side drop off rather than making passengers drag their own bags onto the pier. Read more