Live from Ruby Princess 12/9-12/16 Mexican Riviera

Welcome aboard fellow cruising fans! It’s almost that time for another wonderful Princess cruise for DW and I. Originally we had only intended on taking one cruise this year, a DCL cruise in January, but happily this will be #3! In January, as we got ready to board our Disney Cruise, we decided we were going to need a break later in the year, so having never done the Mexican Riviera before we decided we would give it a try. Well it just wasn’t meant to be our first. We had some family members call us for a last minute cruise in July down to Mexico so this will actually be our second time there! And while we have been on her sister ships, this is our first venture on the Ruby.

Airfare into LAX was cheapest for us flying in late on Thursday. With so much to do in LA this was no big deal for us, so we booked our airfare and picked up rooms at the Embassy Suites by the airport. I know, there are a lot better places to stay in LA, but originally we had planned on taking transfers to the ship, but happily we are catching a ride with a friend who is going to be around and was willing to play chauffeur.

This trip we are going to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. Mazatlan will be new for us so we decided to do a city tour excursion to see some of the sites around. Our plan for PV is to head to the Malecon. On our last cruise we only had a little bit of time to walk around here, so we are excited to spend some more time here. Cabo is unfortunately a short day, and while my favorite taco restaurant of all time is here, I’m not sure we will get off the ship. DW isn’t a fan of small tender boats and this may be a great day for a nice massage!

Thanks to AT&T our cell phones in Mexico will act just like we were in the US. So this will allow for easy posting here between our onboard minutes and the 3 port days in a row.

The LA area is being ravaged by wildfires and it dominates the news. They have reporters scattered over the area with burned structures in the background of their reports. While none of them are near the airport, or the port, the air is thick with smoke. My prayers go out to those affected and those in the path of these fires.

Really sad about the LA wildfires. Will be following your live updates

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Good start, will be following.

The Ruby is lovely, and I'm sure you will have a great time. The Malecon is a fun outing and it's quite easy and cheap, to take the public bus from the port. Or a cab is also an easy option.

Looking forward to reading your review -- and keeping out of the smoke here in Los Angeles. Far too many families are having a desperate time of it right now :-(

Welcome aboard fellow cruising fans! It’s almost that time for another wonderful Princess cruise for DW and I. Originally we had only intended on taking one cruise this year, a DCL cruise in January, but happily this will be #3! In January, as we got ready to board our Disney Cruise, we decided we were going to need a break later in the year, so having never done the Mexican Riviera before we decided we would give it a try. Well it just wasn’t meant to be our first. We had some family members call us for a last minute cruise in July down to Mexico so this will actually be our second time there! And while we have been on her sister ships, this is our first venture on the Ruby.

 

Airfare into LAX was cheapest for us flying in late on Thursday. With so much to do in LA this was no big deal for us, so we booked our airfare and picked up rooms at the Embassy Suites by the airport. I know, there are a lot better places to stay in LA, but originally we had planned on taking transfers to the ship, but happily we are catching a ride with a friend who is going to be around and was willing to play chauffeur.

 

This trip we are going to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. Mazatlan will be new for us so we decided to do a city tour excursion to see some of the sites around. Our plan for PV is to head to the Malecon. On our last cruise we only had a little bit of time to walk around here, so we are excited to spend some more time here. Cabo is unfortunately a short day, and while my favorite taco restaurant of all time is here, I’m not sure we will get off the ship. DW isn’t a fan of small tender boats and this may be a great day for a nice massage!

 

Thanks to AT&T our cell phones in Mexico will act just like we were in the US. So this will allow for easy posting here between our onboard minutes and the 3 port days in a row.

 

The LA area is being ravaged by wildfires and it dominates the news. They have reporters scattered over the area with burned structures in the background of their reports. While none of them are near the airport, or the port, the air is thick with smoke. My prayers go out to those affected and those in the path of these fires.

So, what’s your all time favorite taco shop in Cabo?

Looking forward to your review always wanted to do Mexican Riviera cruise. Go Steelers!

So, what’s your all time favorite taco shop in Cabo?

Tacos Guss (pronounced goose) it’s not too far of a drive from the port.

These are from when we were there in July; you’ll have to excuse the bite from the taco. It looked delicious and I was starving. BTW the el pastor tacos were hands down the best.

We are flying in tomorrow to SNA! I'm devastated about the fires, I live in Seattle but SoCal is like a second home to me. How was traffic getting around? Worse than usual?

We are flying in tomorrow to SNA! I'm devastated about the fires, I live in Seattle but SoCal is like a second home to me. How was traffic getting around? Worse than usual?

Traffic is typical LA, always bad but we are staying clear of the affected areas.

Will you post your menus?

And the patterns as well?

I love researching the cruise. We will be on the Ruby in January

Thanks for sharing. Enjoy

Will you post your menus?

 

And the patterns as well?

 

I love researching the cruise. We will be on the Ruby in January

That’s the plan. Don’t hold me to it but I’ll do my best [emoji41]

I would post a photo but they don’t do it justice. Over the course of the day the smoke around LAX has gotten significantly worse. I don’t think it will impact flights, but if you couldn’t smell it and know it’s smoke you would think fog is rolling in.

Following your thread. Have a great time.

Keith

That’s the plan. Don’t hold me to it but I’ll do my best [emoji41]

Thanks. That is all we can ask, is our best!

Have a great time!

That’s the plan. Don’t hold me to it but I’ll do my best [emoji41]

If it is easier to post them after you get home that is more than great.

I love the Live From ships that I will be on next. Makes the vacation last a little longer for me

If it is easier to post them after you get home that is more than great.

 

I love the Live From ships that I will be on next. Makes the vacation last a little longer for me

Couldn’t agree more. Lot of people ask why you do this on vacation, they see it as detrimental to their enjoyment, I on the other hand really enjoy doing these and get a kick out of reading my older ones and jogging the old memory!

We didn’t sleep in much today. A mix between construction work next door and the busy airport saw to that. The best part of the Embassy Suites is the breakfast with made to order omelets. So we had a leisurely breakfast and waited for our ride to show up to take us to the port.

It’s going to be another warm day in LA, right around 80 degrees and thankfully for those brave firefighters they are finally getting a break from the wind.

There was another thread circling around recently on when you like to get to the port. I am always like a kid on Christmas on a cruise. I can’t sleep the night before and I have to get to the port as soon as is practical. I’ll wait in a long line, wait for boarding to start, no problem. But just knowing that I can see the ship somehow makes it all better

So at 10am we headed out for our 30 minute drive to the port.

Following along. Interested in different lines. Enjoy your cruise.

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Current view....

It took us a whopping 20 minutes to get to the port from the hotel. We arrived and saw the awesome USS Iowa as we circled around to an empty drop off area.

And there she is!

We headed up towards the check in area and it was about 10:35. We were told checkin hadn’t started and were directed by deck to wait in a particular area. They split the check in in half and half the decks go right. The other half go left.

We stood for 2 minutes and they started with PES checkin. It took us all of about 5 minutes of waiting in line before we checked in. Our lady must have been new because she didn’t give us a boarding card that everyone else got so we had to go back and get one. They said we probably won’t need it but better to have it than not.

So we headed into the herding area and sat all lined up waiting for boarding to start. I saw they were handing out cards saying staterooms won’t be ready until 1pm. I’ll report back when we board and let you know what we find out.

So we are here! And hopefully they won’t have us waiting too long. But all is well with the world!

Current view....

What a great picture!

And elite boarding has just started. Here comes the rush!

Edited: Haha. False alarm. I guess maybe the small group (20 or so) were either BVE or maybe in transit? Sure got the elites moving in a hurry though.

Current view....

What am I suppose to look at?

11:40 and they are officially, yes for sure this time, boarding.