What did and didn't you like about your 10 day Mexican Cruise out of San Francisco?

[Vic The Parrot]

On 9/21/2020 at 5:51 PM, Thrak said:

I would always take 10 days over 7 days. Of course I'd take 12, 14, 17, 20, etc. over 7 days. 7 days is just so dang short!

 

If you go to Loreto don't pay for the walking tour. As far as we could tell that tour just went everywhere we went on our own. Part of the time we moved away from that group because we didn't want to hear the guide. When we visited it was still almost a new cruise stop. I think they had stopped there the year before. Everybody was very friendly and, while I've never been a fan of Mariachi bands, I have to say the one in the village square was really very good. I was surprised and impressed. When we were there the beach right by town was clean there wasn't a big crowd.

 

Loreto:

 

Thanks for that photo! It looks nice there.

Loreto is on my list, hopefully by 2022 ... or even next Dec. 

[skynight]

4 hours ago, Vic The Parrot said:

Thanks for that photo! It looks nice there.

Loreto is on my list, hopefully by 2022 ... or even next Dec. 

You can't go wrong. Very nice port and town. 

[CrabbyPatti]

     We enjoyed sailing from San Fransisco to Mexico on a 10 day itinerary back in 2018.  We went in February and planned 2 days pre cruise in San Fransisco, we had the best time touring San Fransisco prior to the cruise.  Surprising that we had no rain or fog, it was so warm I had to find a light weight sweatshirt to buy as my coat from home was to much!  Even the locals were commenting that this weather was "strange"

    We enjoyed just "chilling" on the cruise, we went with minimal plans for excursions and found plenty of things to do on and off the ship.  We enjoy the 10 day cruise length as it gives us more time to unwind!  You will enjoy it.

[oskidunker]

On 9/21/2020 at 11:05 AM, Thrak said:

We had an enjoyable day in Puerto Vallarta. We took an excursion to Las Caletas.  It was a catamaran ride over to the private beach and then a nice day at the beach. They provided drinks on the boat and an open bar was included at the beach. There was also lunch. The excursion was 6.5 hours in total.

I did not enjoy that excursion. Very small beach, somewhat rocky and high waves. Line up after getting off boat took forever and took time away from beach. The drinks on the boat were very watery as were those at the beach. The food was good. I may have just hit a bad day. 

[oskidunker]

Loreto is a lovely town. They also have sport fishing which you might be able to set up in advance. 

 

[Lorabelle]

Nothing negative to say vs. the 7 day. 

 

Positives are extra sea days, which are always welcomed in my book.  

 

Sailing under the Golden Gate bridge is a wonderful memory!

[CineGraphic]

Update: We ended up deciding to sail out of SF, but chose two 7 day b2b sailings. Classic California Coast, and Pacific Northwest Coast. We'll now have 4 chances to get a nice view of the Bay Bridge.

[Thrak]

2 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

Update: We ended up deciding to sail out of SF, but chose two 7 day b2b sailings. Classic California Coast, and Pacific Northwest Coast. We'll now have 4 chances to get a nice view of the Bay Bridge.

 

Hopefully they are on the same ship in the same cabin. (I'm guessing they are.) 14 days is vastly preferable to 7 days. 7 days just seems soooooooooooo short.

[CineGraphic]

20 minutes ago, Thrak said:

Hopefully they are on the same ship in the same cabin.

 

Absolutely!  Just steps away from the aft pool, Horizon Terrace and Outrigger Bar.

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, CineGraphic said:

 

Absolutely!  Just steps away from the aft pool, Horizon Terrace and Outrigger Bar.

 

Some of the worst things about our booked TA next year. It's on Island Princess... No aft pool. No Outrigger. My wife's favorite pool and a favorite bar for me. Of course there is also no Vines, no IC, no Universe Lounge, etc. My wife really wants the itinerary or I wouldn't ever sail that ship again.

[CineGraphic]

7 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Some of the worst things about our booked TA next year. It's on Island Princess... No aft pool. No Outrigger. My wife's favorite pool and a favorite bar for me. Of course there is also no Vines, no IC, no Universe Lounge, etc. My wife really wants the itinerary or I wouldn't ever sail that ship again.

 

We ended up cancelling a TA we had booked with HAL next Spring.

The price was great, (casino offer) but we realized how many things we'd miss by not sailing a Princess Grand Class ship.

We love the easy access these ships give us to the Horizon Terrace. It's our favorite place to hang out. We don't know what we'll do once they eventually phase these ships out, but you'll never catch us on the Island Princess. I don't care where it sails!

[Cruise Raider]

14 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

Update: We ended up deciding to sail out of SF, but chose two 7 day b2b sailings. Classic California Coast, and Pacific Northwest Coast. We'll now have 4 chances to get a nice view of the Bay Bridge.

 

I think you will really love that!  We've done both separately before and absolutely love those itineraries.  If I had to fly any distance, I'd have done the B2B as well.  And, you will be right there in the center of the Embarcadero on turn around day so, you can go explore the city.  And yes, sailing under the Golden Gate 4 times will be a real treat.  And that view of the Bay Bridge if you can catch it at night (I think they are still doing it) is quite the show.  They are two different bridges and you will get views of both from the ship while docked in SF.  The famed GG bridge connects SF with Marin County to the north.  The Bay Bridge connect SF to Oakland to the east.  You probably knew that already ... 

I believe one of the beer companies actually stepped up and paid to make sure the light show continued on the Bay Bridge when they threatened to stop it after funding ran out ... it's such a beautiful backdrop while enjoying dinner on the ship.  If you aren't staying in town the night before, you may not get a chance to see it 😪.  We sometimes sail from LA on a Pacific Coastal that has an overnight in San Francisco just for that reason.  Oh ... and we live nearby but, that never gets old to me.  

Anyway ... enjoy your B2B ... it sounds like a wonderful trip!!  I wish I could get my DH to sail that long.  This lockdown here in the SF Bay Area has been rather strict (thankfully, they are loosening many of our restrictions now) but, it has turned my DH into a total homebody.  We have a 15 night cruise planned for next year and he is now doubting that he would enjoy being away from home for that long.  He was all in when I booked it before the pandemic.  Maybe I will need to change it to one of those 7 night coastals instead.  

[Hlitner]

On 9/21/2020 at 1:36 PM, CineGraphic said:

We enjoyed a 7 day Mexican sailing out of San Pedro a few years ago, and are now considering a 10 day on the Ruby out of San Fran.

Yes, there are 10 day sailings from San Pedro that go to different ports, but it's the Star Princess, which is leaving the fleet shortly, and the reviews have not been great.

Any and all insight is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

What's not to like?  Assuming you enjoy having some tourist time in San Francisco the port is in a great location.  As to the cruise it is like many cruises in that good weather is helpful.   We took a similar cruise over 25 years ago and it led to us now living in Puerto Vallarta for part of the year.  My only warning is to avoid cruising down to Mexico during Sept/October since this is the rainy season in Puerto Vallarta.  

 

As to the Ruby vs Star (we have been on both) I do not think any previous comments/reviews are relevant since there will certainly be numerous changes because of COVID.  When it comes to reviewing any ship it is the crew that can make or break any cruise.  Once cruising resumes there will likely be completely different crews on all of the ships so we will all have to wait and see.

 

Hank

[jondfk]

We've done the 10 day out of San Francisco 4 times (on Dawn (long ago), Star and Grand).  We've been mostly fortunate with the weather, little rain.  It does tend to be cool for the first full and last full day at sea so outdoor activities aren't so appealing though we're not deterred.  One cruise made a stop in San Diego which was a lovely port for walking around - recent sailings haven't made this stop - a pity.

 

We've also done the 10 day out of San Pedro twice, on Ruby (I think) and most recently on Royal.  We love the stop in Loreto but honestly Royal was too large for the tender ports of Cabo and Loreto.  Tendering in Loreto went on forever, the ship didn't call "open tender" until nearly 3:00 in the afternoon, sail away being 5:00PM.  Hundreds of people never managed to get ashore.  Cabo was an overnight stay, the secret to getting ashore there was to skip day one and instead go ashore early the second day.  Tenders ran all night (albeit only once an hour or so during the wee hours).

 

Both sailings can be rough northbound as the famously rough pacific swell batters the port side.  This doesn't deter us but does have us packing appropriate meds - and not delaying taking them as we turn for home.  

 

As some have noted, San Francisco is probably the better choice for an extended vacation, I however so enjoyed Loreto that our next 10 day Mexico sailing will be aboard Grand from San Pedro in February of '22.

[jondfk]

On 10/7/2020 at 9:05 AM, CarelessAndConfused said:

 

Just to be clear, are you saying that the number of people on Royal made the tendering process slow or something else? 

 

Yes, let me clarify a bit further.  

 

In Cabo, Royal was assisted by something like 10 shore side tenders in addition to a number of ships boats.  There were at peak times, 4 tenders loading from the ship, 4 en route to the tender pier, 4 en route back to the ship and a further 4 empty boats waiting nearby for any opportunity to grab a boatload (one has the impression the shoreside tenders may be paid by Princess per head - they are VERY eager to get passengers aboard).

 

In Loreto, there are no shoreside tenders.  Only the ships boats were used, and only about 6.  The tender pier in Loreto can handle 2 boats at a time, but that's the max.  2 boats loading from the ship, 2 inbound, 2 outbound - about 8 in total or well less than half the capacity deployed in Cabo.  It's a lovely little town and I'd like to visit it again anytime - just not on a Royal class ship.