A wonderful 10 Cruise to the Sea of Cortez seeing whales, dolphins, a Jet Ski and ATV Adventure and a Sunset Dinner Cruise in Cabo
Grand Princess Cruise Review to Mexico
Contributor Level:
Third Mate
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 30
10 Night Baja Peninsula & Sea Of Cortez (Los Angeles Roundtrip)
Sail date: March 25, 2022
Ship: Grand Princess
Cabin type: Balcony
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 2 years ago
Review summary
A Beautiful 10 Day Cruise to The Sea of Cortez and to The Mexican Riviera upon The Grand Princess concludes (March 25th to April 4th 2022). Here's my humble log and pictures. I will add to the log and to the picture gallery as I have time. Be prepared to see whales breaching from our ship, a Jet Ski adventure in Cabo and an ATV Adventure in Puerto Vallarta along with many beautiful sunsets from the Sunset Dinner Cruise in Cabo. 10 Day Mexico Cruise Log - Summary This is going to be a very long post. So enjoy if you like reading lots of details. Day 1 We arrived at The Port Of Los Angeles around 10:30 AM. We live within 35 miles of this port so we had a friend drop off us off at the port. Everything was completed on our Medallion App for preboarding requirements. We went straight through the check-in process (GREEN) with no hiccups at all. We were supposed to board at 11 AM. We were directed to a sitting area to wait for about an hour before we could get onto the ship. As soon as we boarded the Grand Princess, we went directly to our Balcony Room to drop off our carry-on bags and camera gear. We then decided to take advantage of a nice lunch in the Main Dining Room, had lunch and walked around the ship a little bit. Day one was a day of unpacking, getting settled in, deciding where we were going to eat, and exploring the ship. I tried to capture in pictures, most of the ship before it was filled with people. In my pictures you'll be able to see the pools on the Lido Deck (Deck 14) and the pool at the very stern of the ship overlooking the back wake. A very peaceful and tranquil area of the ship. The evening entertainment that I attended in the beautiful and very large, Main Princess Theater was Comedian Daran Howard. He was perfectly funny without the use of profanity nor was he insulting or inappropriate as many comedians are these days. Day 2 Dy 2 continued as a Sea Day on our way to Cabo San Lucas arriving tomorrow on the 3rd day. So as we sailed the Pacific, I continued exploring the ship with photographs of various areas on the Grand Princess. On day 2, as I looked for activities to do as we sailed, I figured I would try my luck at Bingo. There were many price configurations to purchase Bingo Cards and many of the purchase options were very much overpriced. But I closed my eyes and spent about $50 US Dollars to try my luck anyways (don't forget to bring your own dabber or you will regrettably, have to buy that also like I did). No, I didn't win a thing if you were wondering. Evening entertainment was enjoyed in Crooners Bar and featured the incredible and talented Tommy McPhee. Oh my goodness, if you like Elton John and Billie Joel and don't want to pay for a front row seat to either of these stars, Tommy McPhee is “SPOT ON” with his renditions on the Grand Piano and Vocalizing perfectly the classic hits of these stars. I can promise you, if you close your eyes while listening to Tommy McPhee as he performs, you will think you are at an Elton John or Billie Joel concert. Don't believe me? Sit back, have your favorite cocktail at Crooners Bar and come back to this post to let me know if I am correct. I captured a few pictures of Tommy for you to know who he is when you spot him on board with his very artistic hair style. Tommy is from Scotland. The suggested dress attire for Day 2 was formal. Don't worry if you didn't bring a suit or sport coat guys, just look nice with slacks and a button up shirt as most of the patrons were dressed and you will be accepted to have that wonderful dining experience that you paid for in the Main Dining Room. I chose a fish dinner in the main dining room (Da Vinci) for our first formal night and it was exceptionally delicious and the wait staff did a perfect job of making us feel very special. Day 2 also offered Formal Photography in front of all of the elevator exits. So get your pictures taken for free and view them the next day on Deck 7 near Vista Lounge. You can then decide if you would like to purchase that stunning photograph to hang on your living room wall. Day 3 Oh my gosh, as we arrived into Cabo San Lucas Mexico, we were greeted to the port with sites of 2 other beautiful cruise ships. The Disney Wonder and the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas... The captain of the Grand Princess had advised us that 2 other cruise ships would be in port in Cabo at the same time and that we would have to anchor out further than usual due to the crowded port of 3 cruise ships. This would also mean that the Tender Boats available to take us to the pier from the ship, were limited by use of the other two ships, so we were going to have to use the Life Boats of the Grand Princess to tender into port and to the Cabo Pier. The life boats were actually a nice treat as we all wonder in curiosity, what the insides of these boats entail. Well finally the mystery was revealed and we got to tender in with our very own life boats. I captured a few pictures of the orange life boats of the Grand Princess for you to see in a different light other than just hanging off of the side of the ship. All of this delayed our arrival into Cabo a bit, but that was perfectly OK once we got to shore. Now that we got the logistics of getting to shore out of the way, as we sat outside of the bay, waiting for the Cabo Pilot to board our ship and navigate us closer to shore, we all gazed in disbelief that giant whales were jumping and playing right in front of our ship to welcome us to Cabo. What a magnificent site and experience to watch the whales play without having to pay for an expensive Whale Watching Excursion. If you look very closely at many of my pictures, you will see that a baby whale was traveling around Cabo with Momma. Yes, you can actually see in many of my pictures, a small hump and a large hump coming up for air. I caught on camera, a few whales coming all of the way out of the water (called breaching) and many “Tail-Waves” also as the whales waved hello to us and welcomed us to Cabo. Now can you think of a better way to arrive to Cabo San Lucas? I think not. We finally anchored in Cabo around 1 or 2:00 PM. We made it to shore by 3:00 or so and started looking for an activity to do. Of course as all of you experienced cruisers know, as soon as you step foot off of the ship, you are bombarded by solicitors vying for a chance at your money by offering you goods and tours (and also illicit drugs so be aware of your surroundings). Well we decided to test their system of sidewalk solicitation and felt comfortable with one man offering us a Sunset Cruise on a party boat with free onboard made tacos and other tasty local recipe side dishes and free drinks also. We were able to bargain the price down to $50 each (US Dollars) and 4 of us from the ship spent our first evening in Cabo on this large, 2-story party boat with dinner and drinks served. We were really impressed with our choice of giving the sidewalk vendor a chance at our time and money. He even escorted us all of the way to check-in to make sure we were comfortable in getting to our sunset dinner cruise excursion. Well as we toured the waters of Cabo as the sun set during our 2 hour sunset dinner cruise, I had a nice friendly chat with the captain of the vessel and asked him about whales. He said that it is possible that we might spot them tonight and that he would let me know if he sees any whales. Well within about 45 minutes, as I was seated at a comfortable table eating a nicely prepared taco dinner onboard, he ran to my table and told me to quickly come to the front of his vessel because he saw whales. I frantically grabbed my rather large camera and ran to an opening allowing one person to step out to the outside of the boats bow. I stood there for a few minutes before spotting the infamous Momma and Baby whales hanging out again for us to see. I got more pictures for you to see as the sun set. What a beautiful dinner experience in Cabo for only $50 (US Dollars). It was very dark when we got back to the dock where the party vessel called home and we still needed to hire a taxi cab/van to transport us back to the pier where our ships tender boat would be waiting for us to take us back to the ship. A VERY NICE first day in Cabo concluded and we were back on the ship after driving through the town in a taxi van. It was an interesting ride back in the taxi as we got to see the night life of Cabo within the safety of our hired, private taxi van. From the van, we saw Sammy Hagar's club called Cabo Wabo, and we also saw that Cabo had the infamous Hard Rock Club also. Many other Cabo Night-Life venues lit up the night sky of Cabo and was interesting to see as we ventured back to the pier for our tender boat waiting to take us back to the ship. To my surprise, after retiring to bed the first night in Cabo, I was awoken to large boom sounds from the outside of my balcony. I got up and looked out towards the beach of Cabo and enjoyed a beautiful Fireworks show in the Cabo Sky. See a few pics I was able to capture unexpectedly. Day 4 (Second Day in Cabo - Departing Cabo at 5 PM) After a nice first day in Cabo yesterday on our sunset dinner party vessel and seeing all of the whales as we entered Cabo and also on our dinner cruise, we have until 4 PM in Cabo today until we have to be back on the ship for departure. Today we hire a Rickshaw Driver (A Pedal Bike Taxi Ride). He insisted that he could pedal all 4 of us overweight adults several miles away. As heavy as we all are, he did such a great job and it was so much more fun than just jumping into a boring, hot cab. He took us to Medano Beach several miles away from the pier. Here, we will be using a beach-sand vendor to do Jet Skiing (or Yamaha Wave Runner Riding) in the waters of the Sea of Cortez. The vendor does not have a brick-and-mortar type of business establishment. He merely has a table, an easy-up for shade, and a box to hold your credit card in (in case you damage his jet ski's) along with a clip-board so you can sign a waver and a multitude of Yamaha Wave Runners tied to a rope out on the beach. We had a blast, speeding around for about 35 to 40 minutes (which was actually plenty of time to get the full effect of fun on these high Speed water machines). We were warned to not go anywhere near our ship and to not go past certain land markers. This was plenty of room to go as fast as you want and to do jumping, speeding, donuts, zig-zags or whatever you dared to challenge your skill and balance at. Well one rogue young lady in our party of 3, chose to go so far away that we lost site of her. No she didn't get in trouble but we sure made fun of her calling her a criminal for not abiding by the rules when we finally met up. I was actually a little worried when she disappeared and we lost site of her. But her husband didn't seem to care....lol :-) After our jet ski adventure, we walked over to a beach side deck on the sand that served delicious fruity cocktails. Well being hot and tired from our water vessel thrill ride, we took advantage of this refreshment before hiring a cab to take us back to the pier to our waiting tender boat to take us to the ship. Day 5 Day 5 was spent in La Paz Mexico. I had no excursions scheduled for this port so we just walked around the beach front street. There really was nothing that caught my eye so we ventured back to the ship early to have lunch and relax on the ship. Day 6 Day 6 was spent in the sleepy Mexican Town of only 20,000 called Loreto. In Loreto we hired a cab driver for an hour to show us around at only $30 per hour. What I found most interesting about this ride is that he asked us early on in the ride, if we would like a Cerveza. I figured he was going to drive us over to his favorite pub and show us around. But to my surprise, he pulled over on the road, walked to the back of his vehicle, grabbed 2 Ice Cold Cerveza's from an Ice Box, popped the lids and gave us 2 beers to enjoy on our tour. Are you kidding me I asked myself !!! So I asked him, what would happen if the police saw me with an open container of beer. He said “No Worries” and insisted that nothing would happen because the police do not care....lol. Day 7 Day 7 was a relaxing Sea Day with nothing planned for the day. So of course, I ate too much again! Day 8 Day 8 was spent in Puerto Vallarta. I was looking forward to Puerto Vallarta all week as I had a Princess Excursion booked to ride ATV's with 2 great friends from the ship (an ATV is a 4 wheeled All Terrain Vehicle usually used for recreational fun in the dirt or sand). We traveled through the hills of Puerto Vallarta, saw farmers, and other local life in the hills. I have attached a few pics of the ATV's we rode. It was a blast and I truly recommend this Princess Excursion. Day 9 Day 9 and Day 10 were Sea Days. On Day 9, it was Formal Night again and the much awaited lobster was offered in the Main Dining Room. I waited all week for my lobster dinner so I humbly asked for 2 delicious Lobster Tails. Our wonderful waiter didn't hesitate to say “yes sir' but also said “I'll bring you 3”..... LOL.... all for free. I was in heaven :-) Day 10 was a Sea Day. A very sad sea day as we all knew that it was the very last day of our wonderful 10 Day Princess Cruise to the Sea of Cortez and we knew that we had to get packed to have our luggage outside of our cabin door by 8 PM..... We ended the cruise being entertained by Tommy McPhee in Crooners Lounge/Bar and a wonderful Production Show. I have attached various pictures of some of the productions shows that I enjoyed. So instead of explaining all of my pics, hopefully you can put the pieces together with all of the Princess Platters that I photographed each day for this post. The production shows in the Princess Theater were usually at 7:30 PM and 9:30 PM. Feel free to ask questions and I love positive comments too. GaryEmbarkation
We arrived at the Port of Los Angeles at approx. 10:30 AM and were scheduled to board at 11 AM. We had to wait over an hour to board
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
The food was nothing special.
Onboard Activities
The Grand Princess had very few onboard activities unless you wanted to waste a bunch of money at Bingo and in the Casino.
Entertainment
I enjoyed "most - not all" of the entertainment in the Princess Theater and Tommy McPhee in Crooners was great also.
Service and Staff
Excellent service all over the ship
Ship Quality
The Grand Princess is a smaller ship so the layout isn't as important as some of the more massive ships are.
Cabin / Stateroom
Our cabin steward Jocelyn was INCREDIBLE ! We loved her friendliness and her thoroughness.
Ship tip
I didn't hear ANYTHING about onboard covid cases until I got home on social media. Once I was home, I started reading that Deck 12 of the Grand Princess was the quarantine deck. I had a balcony cabin on Deck 11 and constantly heard directly above me, an old man coughing grossly. I should have been advised that the balcony directly above me was a quarantine balcony/deck.
Thumbs up
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Ports of call
San Pedro (Los Angeles), California
I live only 35 miles from the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro. So I did not do an excursion in this port. We simply had a friend drop us off at the port on the day of departure. It is a very industrial area and not very pretty at all.
Loved this port. We saw whales as we entered Cabo. We did a Jet Ski adventure in The Sea of Cortez and another day we did a Sunset Dinner Cruise and saw whales during our 2 hour dinner cruise at sunset.
Boring - only 20,000 residents in this sleepy Mexican town. We hired a taxi driver for an hour to show us around the town for $30 per hour. Not much to see really so we went back to the ship early.
I love Puerto Vallarta. I had an ATV Adventure booked from Princess to explore the mountains and dusty hills of Puerto Vallarta on ATV's (All Terrain Vehicles)
Disembarkation
Disembarkation was fine. Got up early at 6 AM - Had breakfast in the Buffet, went back to the room and grabbed a few things, said good bye to friends and we were off of the ship a little after 8 AM.
Traveler Photos
4 Comments
traci16 2 years ago
I must disagree that La Paz and Loreto were boring. In my opinion, far from it. They have GORGEOUS turquoise water. We took a free shuttle from the cruise ship to Tecolote beach and enjoyed Pacificos on the beach and dipped in the most beautiful and clear water since Grand Turks. In Loreto, the town is immaculate and picturesque- like a storybook. We also took a water taxi to Coronado Islands (30 min ride) where there are beautiful fish and sea life such as the largest starfish you have ever seen. On the way there, we saw dolphins jumping high in the sky- more than 50. The water, still a bit chilly in March/beginning of April, was pristine. The scenery was breathtaking. Cannot wait to do the trip again, perhaps when water is a bit warmer.