ATSEAMYLIFE

We have ATT and live in MX. ATT cellular is free on land in those places you are going. It might show up as something other than ATT. We also cruise a lot. We purchase the ships WIFI package and use it while on the ship. Before you sail turn on WIFI calling and make sure it works. Once on the ship just go to airplane mode and turn on ships WIFI. You can use your phone as normal (text, call, Facetime, surf www, etc) on the ship. There should be plenty of warnings before you connect to "Cellular at Sea" on the ship. But as long as you stay in Airplane mode while sailing you will be fine. As soon as you dock or are close to shore the ship will turn off Cellular at Sea and you can turn off Airplane mode.

Zoo and Midway are totally worth it. The zoo can be an all day experience and Midway can easily take several hours. Gaslamp is a bunch of cool places to eat and drink. There's not much worth seeing there. That cost for ship's excursion, like most, is on the expensive side. If it were me I would walk a couple of blocks away from the ship and call an Uber(s). Getting away from the ship avoids the huge traffic jam right at the terminal. Even just walking across the street makes a big difference.

They are no longer in your cabin. You check them out when you leave and turn them in when you come back onboard.

It was the large vans without the proper markings. I didn’t see it but it was all over the locals FB pages.

I think you will find the carts/roads on Catalina a little more back friendly. Keep in mind they are considered vehicles by the CA DMV and you will need your license and proof of insurance, unless you want to put down a large cash deposit in lieu of insurance. They will give you a map with the allowed roads so your not just free to roam. Some of the ships offer excursions to the back country to see the buffalo and some of the former Wrigley estate. Glass bottom boat or the "submarine" are cool.

Plus, much cheaper going south from TIJ vs USA. Friends flew to Cabo in June RT from TIJ for $85. Neighbors fly to Mexico City all the time RT for less than $150. Downside is most destinations from TIJ have a connection, except for Cabo. But I understand that's about to change with direct flights from TIJ to the US.

I used limos.com a few times and it worked out fine. I think if you RSVP an Uber Black in advance it might be cheaper than day of.

Not anywhere in the US. I looked a couple of times and it's expensive.

Do that it's the best option.

Sadly, 17.4 pesos to the USD few days ago. Please, bring back those 22 to the $ days.

El Cielo, Las Nubes, Decanto, St Tomas, way to many to single out.

We were there for a long weekend in January a few years ago with no ship in port. You won't have any trouble finding what you are looking for.

How many days pre-cruise are you staying in the City? As pointed out the City is very compact and there's no worry about how close/far from the cruise port you stay as it's all a matter of minutes. We are Hilton brand loyal and usually go for the Hilton Union Square. That being said the walking around Union Square isn't what it use to be. We don't visit for the touristy stuff any longer, just go for a nice dinner and couple days away. If you're only there one night then any clean decent place will work. We have walked past the Orchard and it does look nice. Any longer than that you will want a nice area where you can walk and see stuff. That would be near the cruise port area. Sadly a lot of our fav places to eat around Union Square have closed or have limited there hours. There's not much foot traffic during the week so many have shift to late in the week and weekend with shorter hours. I have seen some really great rates at the St. Francis lately.

They are one of the better known ones in the area. There was a problem last year with a bunch of unlicensed tour operators taking people and the transit police cracked down hard. They were pulling over vehicles, kicking everybody out, and towing the vehicles.

Same in Fort Lauderdale and San Pedro. Plus at LAX, SFO, and SAN. Seems everybody is moving to facial recognition.

That sounds like the best plan to me. Drop everyone and luggage at the pier and go park.

How many vehicles are you planning to bring for all those people and stuff? Since two don't fly there aren't many options for you. I would just on line shop for park and stay hotels by the airport since it's usually the cheapest area.

Then don't use BART.

Supposedly the roughest seas are northbound along the Pacific coast to SF. If you are going North from SF to Seattle it should be fine.

Our go to wine we buy at the grocery store. Nothing fancy but good solid wines.

Stop you're making my mouth water and we won't be back for another three weeks.

There is nothing on the west coast that can compare to the color of the water in the Caribbean. Even Hawaii water isn't as pretty. The big advantage to Caribbean cruises is the huge number of port choices. Mexican Rivera is about the same port stops. Sometimes you can find a Loreto stop, which is a change.

Embassy Suites Waterfront just south of SFO has a stay & park rate. We have used it. You won't find any hotels out by the airport with a shuttle to the port. The hotels in downtown will be crazy expensive to park at. Depending on how long you are gone it might be cost effective to do a one way rental car. We did that once to/from SFO when we were gone for two weeks.

Do NOLA and take a few days to sightsee and spend a day at the WWII museum, well worth it.

Excellent time you should see a lot. It's always to bad that Guerrero Negro is so far from every where. That's the cove where the mothers birth and they will bring the babies up to the boats to be petted. We had friends do it and they said it's "life changing." There's a bunch of Youtube videos on it.