Mexican Riviera on Sapphire Princess

Author: brneyes
Date of Trip: April 2011

We flew into LA Airport, and Princess had someone “waiting” for us to direct us to the motorcoach which we had got to transfer us to the ship.

I had gone in on line and filled out all the information that Princess needed before we “boarded ship.” That way when we arrive, it didn’t take long for us to go to our room, which made it nice that we didn’t have to go to the Lido deck to “wait” until our room was ready.

The Sapphire is a very clean well kept ship. We had deck 12 balcony, and it was very nice. Close to the Lido deck which is the buffet area, the next floor up. To me, I think the beds/bedding need to be “upgraded” like Carnival was done. The dining room was very nice and the staff also. They have afternoon tea, and it is very nice and plush. I had never attended this before, and if you like HOT tea, that is a place to check out. Very elaborate. I will say the pictures are nice to purchase, but very EXPENSIVE!

We were to have 3 stops, but Mazatlan was out because of the violence.

We stopped first at Puerta Vallarta, which was nice, the weather very good. The boardwalk, is amazing. There are all kinds of sculptures along the way, as well as people making large sand sculptures, like the Lords Supper, Alligator, Pyramid, etc. They are awesome. Also, another thing to do is get a water taxi, and have them take you by The Arch and Lands End. It is something to see, and the water is BEAUTIFUL in that area. Also, if you want to try out some Good Mexican pastry, there is a large store, similar to Walmart’s that starts with the letter S, that has the largest row of pasteries that I have ever seen in the world, and very “reasonable” in price, compared to the USA. Also,in some areas, the streets are made out of rocks, and very “different.”

We then went on to Cabo San Lucas, very BEAUTIFUL area. We went to Mandeno Beach, and a very nice one at that. If you like to “bargain” like I do, Cabo San Lucas is the place to do it. On the beach there will be a lot of people that want you to buy their wares, but if you are not interested, just say politely, “No thank you,” and they will walk on. My friend and I got some nice silver jewelry on the beach.

We then sailed back to Los Angeles. I will say the LA Airport is something that I really don’t care for. I am used to having a kiosk “outside” to take my luggage, etc. You HAVE to go inside drag all your luggage in and have someone else take care of it for you.

All in all, it was a nice cruise.