Mexican Riviera Cruise

At the end of February we took a week long cruise on the Diamond Princess to the "Mexican Riviera." The cruise left from Los Angeles and made stops in Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas. Getting onboard the ship proved to be an exercise in logistics for us. We decided to get a hotel room near the port of Los Angeles the night before the cruise left since it's about 400 miles from Mesa to LA. After factoring in gas mileage on our truck and parking costs we decided it would be easier to get 2 one-way rental cars, so that's what we did. It worked out well! We spent the night before the cruise at the Crowne Plaza at the Port of Los Angeles. The next morning we took a taxi to the terminal. Turns out we could have walked since it's less than a mile. No problem checking in but Princess doesn't let anyone board until all the cabins are ready. Most cruise lines let you get onboard before the rooms are ready and feed you lunch. Our cabin had the largest balcony we've ever seen! The cabin itself was very nice too. This was one of the few cabins we've had that had a refrigerator. That came in handy as we would buy soft drinks in port and have cold drinks in our cabin.

As on most ships we played trivia whenever we got the chance. We ended up on a team of really good players! We kept winning and winning. In all we won something like 7 of 9 or 10 games that we played. Go team! We think our team cleaned out the gift shop of all their luggage straps, luggage tags, etc. If only they gave free cruises as prizes!

We found the ports quite similar to each other and have to admit that we didn't find them very exciting. In Puerto Vallarta we just walked from the ship towards downtown. Because of the distance (something like 4 miles) and the heat we didn't make it all the way to downtown. Along the way all we saw were hotels, restaurants and shops. We passed a new mall that featured Starbucks, Chili's, Subway, Baskin Robbins, etc. In Mazatlan we took a cab into the Golden Zone - the shopping district. At least in Mazatlan we saw a little of the real city. In Cabo San Lucas we walked and walked and never got out of the tourist area. The best scenery was in Cabo San Lucas - Land's End and Lover's Beach were beautiful.

As frequent readers of our blog know we do like to play a little video poker now and then. On our last trip to the casino Karen got a royal flush on a 25 cent video poker machine! Her 25 cents returned $62.50! So we probably broke even in the casino for the whole cruise.

	Our balcony on the Diamond Princess. They even varnished the wood just for us!
	View of Puerto Vallarta from our balcony. Notice anything familiar? ;)
	Artsy picture of the Diamond Princess in Puerto Vallarta.
	Want prescription drugs but don't have a prescription? No problem! This was one of MANY such signs we saw in Mazatlan and the other ports we visited.
	Land's End at Cabo San Lucas taken from our balcony. The near side is the Sea of Cortez, the far side is the Pacific Ocean.
	Our winning trivia team was (left to right) Dave, Steve, Karen, Jim, Pat and Bev. Oh, and Ross who took the picture. Can't forget him :)
	Karen's royal flush - way to go!!!