LIVE from Discovery Princess Mexican Riviera from LA 2/3-2/10 2024

[sonomaphil]

Happy Groundhog Day everyone and welcome to the LIVE aboard the Discovery Princess Mexican Riviera cruise, round trip out of Los Angeles February 3-10, 2024!  This first post comes to you right before we head out for our drive to Southern California.  

 

This is Princess cruise 21 for us, first on Discovery and first cruise since we did the full transit Panama Canal cruise on Emerald in January 2023.   We had two other Princess cruises scheduled for 2023 but, you know, life happens.  I did a live thread on the Emerald cruise and looking back it’s lots of pics of the ship, food and drinks!  So if that interests you follow along! We’ve sailed this route twice before but have not done it since 2007 on the dearly departed Golden Princess. 

 

We ended up opting to drive to LA rather than fly because the return flights were outrageously expensive on 2/10.  We live in Las Vegas and as you may know there is some small gathering scheduled here in Vegas on 2/11, I believe it is called the Super Bowl.  Flights between LA and Vegas on a Saturday are usually $50 or so but on 2/10 they are crazy priced unless we wait until late night or have stops.  Flying to Oakland to go to Vegas from LA is just silly.    

 

We’ll leave Vegas about 3:30 today and split the 5 hour or so trip into two, spending the night at the Hilton Garden Inn Victorville CA.  Sure we could have gone all the way to the port but have you ever driven in LA about 7 PM on a Friday night? We can’t leave earlier as my wife is at work! It’s about 3 hours to Victorville leaving about 1:30 to 2 hour drive this morning.   Victorville is pleasant enough and is chain restaurant heaven so we'll have dinner somewhere.  

 

My wife and I are very casual cruisers, we don’t make big plans for any day and just do what we want.  No excursions scheduled, we might not even get off the ship in Cabo.  Have you ever stayed onboard when everyone else leaves the ship?  It’s glorious!  We have a Deluxe Balcony and the Premier package.  We plan on eating at Catch twice as the menu sounds so good.  Nothing against Crown Grill. We've eaten there many times and do like it a lot. We’re not fans of Sabatini's.  

 

More to come! 
 

Edited February 2 by sonomaphil

[sternfanla]

Cant wait to read the rest.

[desertdwellingsailor]

6 minutes ago, sonomaphil said:

We ended up opting to drive to LA rather than fly because the return flights were outrageously expensive on 2/10.  We live in Las Vegas and as you may know there is some small gathering scheduled here in Vegas on 2/11, I believe it is called the Super Bowl....

Maybe you could hop on Taylor Swift's private jet. I'm guessing it might fly into LA on the 10th before heading on to Vegas for the SB. 🙂 Seriously, will be fun to hear about your trip. We are doing the same on March 2nd and driving from Phoenix.

[KarmaCruisers]

I’ll be on the ship too

i I tried to start a trip report…but it went off the rails and was deleted lol

[hobo1937]

Do you know about the SigAlert App for LA traffic. We also live in Las Vegas and drove to San Pedro last year for a Discovery Cruise. It really helped navigating the LA traffic as it shows how the current speeds, traffic flow etc so you can change your routing to avoid problems. 

[LACruiser88]

Enjoy!

[desertdwellingsailor]

38 minutes ago, hobo1937 said:

Do you know about the SigAlert App for LA traffic. We also live in Las Vegas and drove to San Pedro last year for a Discovery Cruise. It really helped navigating the LA traffic as it shows how the current speeds, traffic flow etc so you can change your routing to avoid problems. 

Waze is good also. I've used it a lot in SoCal.

[sonomaphil]

21 minutes ago, desertdwellingsailor said:

Waze is good also. I've used it a lot in SoCal.

That's what we use, much better than Google Maps in my opinion.  

[sonomaphil]

1 hour ago, KarmaCruisers said:

I’ll be on the ship too

i I tried to start a trip report…but it went off the rails and was deleted lol

Will you be at the Meet and Greet?  

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, sonomaphil said:

Happy Groundhog Day everyone and welcome to the LIVE aboard the Discovery Princess Mexican Riviera cruise, round trip out of Los Angeles February 3-10, 2024!

 

Happy Groundhog Day back at you! I was up before my wife this morning so I started her day by saying: Alexa, play I've Got You Babe on the bedroom echo dot. I didn't really hear it start playing but I did hear my wife laugh in the bedroom.  Hopefully, things won't turn out like the movie...

 

Thanks so much for starting this thread. We've never sailed on Discovery Princess but will be doing the 10 day total eclipse cruise on her in April. Looking forward to your thoughts on, not only Discovery Princess, but also your Mexico experience.

[Torquato]

1 hour ago, KarmaCruisers said:

I’ll be on the ship too

i I tried to start a trip report…but it went off the rails and was deleted lol

Looking forward to seeing you all on board…

we’ve sailed from San Pedro multiple times. Have driven the day prior and stayed overnight at the doubletree. This time we decided to fly down from San Jose To LAX tomorrow morning since we are doing a B2B2B.. We arrive at 11:30AM and will take an Uber. Seeing that tomorrow is Saturday, we are hoping that traffic won’t be as bad as a weekday…. We have 3 hours to make to the ship. 🤞

[Nina On The Sea]

We are doing this exact itinerary and ship but not until October...excited to read your experience. 

Will you be checking out the Sanctuary? Interested in whether that is worth it.

[New2cruise2022]

2 hours ago, hobo1937 said:

Do you know about the SigAlert App for LA traffic. We also live in Las Vegas and drove to San Pedro last year for a Discovery Cruise. It really helped navigating the LA traffic as it shows how the current speeds, traffic flow etc so you can change your routing to avoid problems. 

Saturday embarkation doesn’t get to bad in San Pedro. 

[purpledew]

I'll be doing the same on March 2nd and driving from Vegas.  Booked guarrentee cabin last minute 1/9/24  cruise list sold out the next day.  Still no cabin # assigned.

[Astro Flyer]

41 minutes ago, New2cruise2022 said:

Saturday embarkation doesn’t get to bad in San Pedro. 

It’s generally much better but need to be aware of any Caltrans closures that can make open highways into traffic jams.

[startedwithamouse]

Good thing you're making it outta here before LA gets crazy on Sunday!

[Astro Flyer]

3 hours ago, sonomaphil said:

Happy Groundhog Day everyone and welcome to the LIVE aboard the Discovery Princess Mexican Riviera cruise, round trip out of Los Angeles February 3-10, 2024!

Thanks for taking us go along to vicariously cruise with you on Discovery Princess. 🙂

 

We sailed Discovery’s first 2 cruises in Spring 2022 and it is our favorite Royal-class ship & we’re returning on the total solar eclipse cruise in April.

 

If you notice whether the Silverado Winemakers Dinner ($45) is available or only the Caymus version ($140) is available would appreciate the info.

 

[whataboutport]

4 hours ago, sonomaphil said:

Happy Groundhog Day everyone and welcome to the LIVE aboard the Discovery Princess Mexican Riviera cruise, round trip out of Los Angeles February 3-10, 2024!  This first post comes to you right before we head out for our drive to Southern California.  

 

This is Princess cruise 21 for us, first on Discovery and first cruise since we did the full transit Panama Canal cruise on Emerald in January 2023.   We had two other Princess cruises scheduled for 2023 but, you know, life happens.  I did a live thread on the Emerald cruise and looking back it’s lots of pics of the ship, food and drinks!  So if that interests you follow along! We’ve sailed this route twice before but have not done it since 2007 on the dearly departed Golden Princess. 

 

We ended up opting to drive to LA rather than fly because the return flights were outrageously expensive on 2/10.  We live in Las Vegas and as you may know there is some small gathering scheduled here in Vegas on 2/11, I believe it is called the Super Bowl.  Flights between LA and Vegas on a Saturday are usually $50 or so but on 2/10 they are crazy priced unless we wait until late night or have stops.  Flying to Oakland to go to Vegas from LA is just silly.    

 

We’ll leave Vegas about 3:30 today and split the 5 hour or so trip into two, spending the night at the Hilton Garden Inn Victorville CA.  Sure we could have gone all the way to the port but have you ever driven in LA about 7 PM on a Friday night? We can’t leave earlier as my wife is at work! It’s about 3 hours to Victorville leaving about 1:30 to 2 hour drive this morning.   Victorville is pleasant enough and is chain restaurant heaven so we'll have dinner somewhere.  

 

My wife and I are very casual cruisers, we don’t make big plans for any day and just do what we want.  No excursions scheduled, we might not even get off the ship in Cabo.  Have you ever stayed onboard when everyone else leaves the ship?  It’s glorious!  We have a Deluxe Balcony and the Premier package.  We plan on eating at Catch twice as the menu sounds so good.  Nothing against Crown Grill. We've eaten there many times and do like it a lot. We’re not fans of Sabatini's.  

 

More to come! 
 

We just did this sailing last week. It was amazing! The ship is beautiful. Hope you enjoy. I noticed your itinerary gives you an extra 30-60 mins more than what we got on each of the ports! We didn't get into Cabo until 2pm. They said scheduled maintenance so they have us an extra hour at the backend until 9pm. Strangely tho, I saw the darling after mine also used that same reason to push back the time in Cabo. 

[sonomaphil]

The death star all decked out for the Super Bowl!

[EDDY0827]

I thought that the "Death Star" was the Sphere behind the Venetian?

[sonomaphil]

11 minutes ago, EDDY0827 said:

I thought that the "Death Star" was the Sphere behind the Venetian?

Nope, Google it. The Sphere is just a marketing gimmick of you ask me. 

[EDDY0827]

Ok, I believe you, you are the local.

[sonomaphil]

5 hours ago, Nina On The Sea said:

We are doing this exact itinerary and ship but not until October...excited to read your experience. 

Will you be checking out the Sanctuary? Interested in whether that is worth it.

We think we will go on Thursday...maybe.  We've been there before and it's very worth and enjoy it every time! 

[sonomaphil]

4 hours ago, purpledew said:

I'll be doing the same on March 2nd and driving from Vegas.  Booked guarrentee cabin last minute 1/9/24  cruise list sold out the next day.  Still no cabin # assigned.

The pit stop here in Victorville is not bad.  I did not want to leave at 5 AM tomorrow for the 5 hour drive! 

[HBCcruiser]

Cool! Thanks for the LIVE! We are on a four day starting the 15th so I’m interested in following along to see what’s changed in 1.5 years. Enjoy your cruise! Safe travels tomorrow.