Cruising From San Diego: April, 2008

Rather than embarking on the beautiful Golden Princess from San Pedro, a few miles from our home, we decided to take Dawn Princess from San Diego to the Mexican Riviera. I hadn't stepped foot on this class of ship since 2000, and I wanted to see how she was holding up. The fact that because of starting further south her itinerary called for longer port days didn't hurt, either.

After lunch at Applebee's with my in-laws in Rancho San Diego, we drove to Mission Brewery #1 Parking Lot, which I had pre-reserved at a rate of $7 per day (with coupon). On this particular Sunday, Carnival had two ships in port to join the Dawn Princess, so we would have needed to wait another hour or so for a free shuttle to the cruise terminal. We caught a taxi instead, and that ended up being an $8.80 fare. As requested, the driver dropped us at Anthony's Seafood rather than at the pier itself, which saved us money on the meter, so I gave him a good tip.

Because of the cruise terminal being over-booked, we were re-routed to the San Diego Convention Center for check-in. While we were none too pleased to learn this after arriving at the pier, it really wasn't much of a hassle, as the roads to and from the convention center were very clear on this bright, sunny San Diego day. The check-in itself was almost instantaneous.

The city seems to keep getting prettier. It's not a bad idea to come in a day or two early to enjoy San Diego before embarking. Another great opportunity is Amtrak. The old train station is right by the cruise terminal, so you could catch the train in Irvine, Los Angeles or San Luis Obispo, for example, rather than driving down the I-5.

After the lifeboat drill, the sail-away party started in earnest with a great salsa band rocking by the pool as we cruised through scenic San Diego harbor.