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XBGuy, by chance on your visit to Loreto did you try the Chocolate Clams? It's on my bucket list, and I'm on the hunt for a great restaurant between the Malecon and the Mission.

Hi Nini, we're definitely more inland, and it still hit us pretty hard. Can only imagine what the coast was getting. Power now back on here as well. Stay safe! Spingal, would love to hear your experience and perspective from the "suite" side. Please feel free to post anything or any time you'd like! What a wonderful way to celebrate lives well loved. So I've heard. Fingers crossed.

Well my vacation is off to a rocky start. Today was the only day I had to do laundry and get packed before our 5 am flight tomorrow. But the Universe has other plans as we had a huge windstorm this am that has knocked out the power. Thankfully we have a generator and are putting the interlock we had installed this past summer to good use today. Not the way I envisioned its inaugural run. This crazy winter weather is impacting so many trying to travel right now. Apparently Southwest has canceled 64% of their flights today. I worry about all our East Coast fellow travelers trying to make this cruise. I've never traveled during the holidays, and now I see why so many people say it's so stressful.

Oooohh.. so many fellow cruisers joining a Live From is very exciting. It's usually just me in my echo chamber. Please everyone feel free to post your experiences. I love to see all the different perspectives. The great thing about cruise vacations is how differently we all see things. And I want all your pics!

Looking forward to seeing you onboard! Always nice to hear multiple live perspectives on the same cruise.

I'm very happy to share this thread with you! Or feel free to do one of your own. I'd love to hear a family perspective. There's more than enough room for both of us!

One of my favorite locations to book a cabin is forward on the Lido deck. Ship motion doesn't affect me, so being up high and far forward is no issue. There's just something so great about rolling out of your cabin and being right in the heart of the pool deck. Easy access to the pools, bars and food. The only time I don't enjoy this is when I'm trying to get from my cabin to the buffet during inclement weather. This cruise we booked an inside cabin L215. But I rolled the dice for a possible upgrade on the new bidding system. I placed minimum bids to upgrade on 3 different categories. Oceanview, Obstructed Balcony, and Deluxe Obstructed Balcony. The minimum bids to place for a regular balcony were high, and I wasn't willing to spend that much for unobstructed. I didn't have high hopes any of my bids would be accepted, but figured if any of the bids were accepted I'd end up with a better cabin at a fraction of the price. I was apprehensive that I wouldn't be thrilled with the location, but all those cabin categories were in locations I wouldn't hate. 22 days before our cruise I received notification that 2 of my upgrade bids had been declined. 2 hours later I received notification that my upgrade bid for Deluxe Obstructed Balcony had been accepted. 95.00 per person for a 10 night night cruise to go from an inside to a balcony! And even better was it was still on the Lido deck in one of the large forward facing balconies! That was an amazing early Christmas gift!

I love following everyone's live trip reports, and I've never been on a Holiday Cruise before, so thought I'd go ahead and do one for everyone else who also loves following live trip reports. If the internet sucks as much as I've been hearing, it's not an issue, as we have enough port days that I can compensate with my mobile data. Thank you T-Mobile for including Mexico and Canada in your plan (not a sponsor). Why the whole world isn't included yet is beyond me. A little background. This cruise is DH and I. I'm Platinum on Princess, very barely 50's, married 20+ years. DH is early 60's. We've also cruised HAL, NCL, Celebrity and MSC. Cruising we've done in the past year includes Sky last December for my 50th, Ruby in February through the Panama Canal, and Celebrity Solstice to Alaska in September. This is a 10 day cruise doing the standard Mexican Riviera ports with an overnight in Cabo and a new port to me Loreto, Mexico. (Spoiler alert: We have no intention of leaving the ship while at Cabo. Been there, done that. But have special onboard plans.) I work in hospital healthcare and vacation is VERY hard to come by. I've worked the last 13 days in a row, and will work a 17 hour shift tomorrow into Monday. The reason for that is I had originally booked a direct flight on United from SEA to LAX the day of the cruise because work scheduling is so tight. But then United changed our flight to a layover in SFO and I was not risking that on the day of the cruise. So I had to change my flights to the day before and call in favors from my coworkers to trade shifts around to make this schedule change work. Bless them, we made it work, but it sure is costing me. Trust me when I say I NEED this vacation. Having cruised out of San Pedro before, we decided to once again book the Crowne Plaza for our pre-cruise hotel. It's not fancy, but it's close to good places to eat, and the pricing isn't outrageous like some cruise port hotels. They have a shuttle to the port for a very reasonable price as well, but I choose to just Uber as it isn't much more, and I hate waiting around in the lobby. When I originally booked this cruise DH was recovering from some significant medical issues, so I had nothing more in mind other than relaxing somewhere warm. But he's doing much better, so we may rally and throw a few surprises your way. Looking forward to sharing our journey with anyone who cares to come along. I'll answer any questions you have if I'm able, and hope you all have a very Merry Christmas tomorrow!

Why even bother with EZ Air? Book direct and control your booking if something goes wrong. Recent reports are EZ Air is NOT backing their guarantee.

I was in my 40s at the time. See? I was counting you in among us young folks. 😉

I've found that the more informal sailaway meetups are more to my liking. Very little to arrange other than a meeting location and I get to put faces to names. Much more enjoyable to me than the CC hosted one.

I tried it a couple of times. Rather than an opportunity to meet fellow cruisers, it felt more like a geriatric meeting to me. I had nothing in common being at least 30 years younger than most of the other attendees. It's a waste of time to do on a 7 day cruise IMO. Way better ways to spend an hour of valuable vacation time.

Heck, sometimes the buffet has better dessert than the MDR. You're correct that the biggest issue is consistency.

Been back on Princess 3 times post Covid. And will definitely agree that food quality in the MDR has declined. Also Ruby Panama Canal in February buffet was awful and every time I ordered something from room service half the items weren't available. I see that Princess is trying to revamp their menus, so hopefully some nice new changes come out of it. Will be on Discovery over New Year's and looking forward to seeing what they'll do for Gala Dinner.

I guess they forgot about this part of their advertising.

Doubt anyone else will ever see the e-mail. So disappointing. I had a cruise I was going to book. But now I'll take a pass because trying to get work to approve vacay isn't worth the hassle. Princess offered Healthcare workers a discount that never panned out. They should be ashamed.

But recent reports on the improvement are now terrible. The chocolate pistachio dome and the Love Boat dream are abominations.

Thanks for clarifying.. yes, I meant the app. Fingers got ahead of my brain on that one.

Sounds like it's going to be the Ultimate Balcony Dinner. Thanks everyone!

Yep, we're right above you!! I've heard BSLM doesn't do the Al Fresco while sailing because of the wind, but maybe they do it while anchored? I can see this being the only time they would. And yes, it's super close!! Soooo excited!

It's gonna be an older crowd, but not completely old. The food is decent, not amazing. Specialty dining always gives better food. Entertainment ends at 10 pm.. otherwise it's the Disco or Casino. The Medallion is great for ordering food and drinks.

HI all, Gonna be boarding Discovery on the 28th for a Mexican Riviera 10 night cruise. We have a 2 day Overnight in Cabo, and are choosing to stay onboard as we've been and nothing appeals. Gonna do the Sanctuary by day, but are torn on how to do dinner. I'd like to try the Al Fresco dining option Bistro Sur la Mer offers, but we also have one of the amazing forward obstructed balcony cabins with the huge balcony on Lido deck and are also considering the Ultimate Balcony Dinner. How would you choose to dine Al Fresco?

I get off because I'm able bodied and capable of taking the stairs if necessary. I use the elevator because it's easy, not out of necessity. If others can do the same and choose not to, to let the disabled person on, I have no control over that. But my good karma bank will still be filling up.

It would just be a waste of time. You'll get great photographs of the Seattle skyline as you sail away. Also, the weather in Seattle in June can tend to be pretty damp/drizzly to down right rainy. You may want to factor this into any touring you plan to do. If you want to get a great view out on the water on the cheap you could always hop a ferry to one of the islands. Bainbridge Island is a short ride and a fun town to walk around.

It was a customizable digital avatar/buddy/companion that accompanies you around the ship. You had your choice of a fish, sea turtle, or seahorse. Then you could do different fins/scales/tails and color combinations and designs. It was just something fun to design and enjoy on the ship. https://www.princess.com/cruise-tips-vacation-ideas/video/onboard-experience/oceantagalong.html I noticed that Ocean Play and the Poker Run are also gone.