I have recently sailed on the Discovery Princess in the Mexican Riviera. The ship sailed from San Pedro and we flew nonstop to LA on Delta. The Princess transfer was organized and we did not have a long wait.
The ship was elegant, very modern in technology and beautifully decorated for the holidays.
We received our medallions in the mail about 10 days prior to sailing. We ordered the watch bands for the medallions and they were comfortable and they were easy to use. This ship has some amazing technology. The medallions get you into your cabin, your picture shows on the screen outside your door and is unlocked when you walk up. When you order a drink or go for dining your medallion will show your face on the screen in front of the waiter, they know who you are. Getting on and off the ship with the medallions is a breeze. The Princess app on your phones with the medallions you can find your shipmates, sign up for the spa, dining, fitness classes, see the ships schedule. Very easy to use.
We purchased the PLUS package. We looked into the Premier package and felt the PLUS was best fit for us. On your app it will even show you how many drinks you have had such as 2/15. I learned and did not realize that bottled water counts as one of your 15 drinks. At the end of each day, I would stock up on bottled water for the cabin using my 15 drinks included in the PLUS.
We only did one of the specialty restaurants which was the Crown Grille. Excellent food and service. The steaks were from 6666 ranch which is featured on Yellowstone. The ship had lots of various wines from around the world and on each menu, it would show you which is included in the PLUS and which is included in the Premier. Very organized.
Our suite was on the Baja deck B407 and was very spacious. 2 televisions with lots of movies, a table and sitting area. Felt the balcony was rather small for this room category. Our room steward was ok. Years past on Princess they were very attentive and friendly. He was just ok.
Our stops:
Cabo - We did not do a tour here. You have to tender in and get a tender ticket before getting off the ship. This stop I felt just did not go as smoothly as the others. The ship was delayed in getting into port. The tenders seemed to take forever and the lines were long. Later in the day we did get off the ship and walked to Solomon Landing. This is a restaurant bar that Kevin suggested which was fun to talk to other people and people watch. I did see a sea lion which was neat.
Mazatlán – What a fun surprise! I loved it here. We did a tour which was very organized that took us my bus to the El Cid Marina. Our guide gave us a history lesson on the way to the hotel and I took notes. Mazatlán is known for tourism and shrimp and the also have the largest Mardi Gras parade in all of Mexico. People come from all over the world to celebrate. We saw lots of expensive homes on the way. Once to the El Cid we were on a mini ski boat tour which was a blast!! Flying fish and pelicans were everywhere. Once our tour was done, they had a very clean spacious nice Mexican Buffet and drinks and we were able to use the hotel facilities and play on the beach until 230pm when our shuttle was back to the bus.
Puerto Vallarta – Thank goodness for warmer weather. We started out in LA in the low 70’s and now down in PVR it is 82. A perfect day for sailing. This was great we walked off the ship and our sailboat was right there. Very organized tour, no bus. I liked this. We spent the day sailing and the boat; the food and drink and staff were outstanding. Very 1st class. I believe this tour was $179 each.
The 2 days at sea on the way back to San Pedro was chilly. We watched movies under the stars. Who doesn’t like watching ELF with thousands of people laughing. It was fun. We watched football on the big screen. We played bingo, went to the very high tech and spacious gym. I won $500 in the casino, I got a massage, we shopped I had to buy another sweater for I was freezing and was wearing my winter coat. The shows were ok and the comedian was hilarious. It was a great week and I learned a lot. It had been 10 years since I sailed on Princess. It was fun to experience.
