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I had all of those exact same rebuttals but they were adamant that it was their worst vacation ever. Honestly, it was the last time we recommended anything to them. They got back into their Disney World cycle and were much happier. As for the kid's clubs - my kids never enjoyed them either. They much preferred hanging out with my wife and I or just finding a comfy place to sit and read that was within short range of ice cream and pizza.

I think it's fair to share the experience my neighbors had. They are avid Disney fans - every school break involved a trip to Disney World. Summers were spent visiting relatives in Florida to maximize time at the parks. Their house was Disney-fied for the holidays. Shoot, they lived in Texas but had annual passes to Disney World when the kids were little. They LOVE Disney - but absolutely abhorred their Disney cruise experience. We had been sharing how much we enjoyed our experiences on our Disney cruises and thought it would be a natural fit for them. They had cruised before and enjoyed it - seemed like they were the ideal family to enjoy a Disney cruise. Instead, they found the cruise to be too boring and felt like they were stuck on the ship. They felt trapped by the dinner experience, dining rooms were "meh," and they wanted more food options like in the parks. The kids hated the clubs and refused to go. They said it was their worst family vacation. I'm definitely not trying to turn you off of doing a Disney cruise, I just want to share my neighbor's experience. I thought it would be their best family vacation & I still think anyone who likes Disney should try a cruise. They were the last people I told, "If you love Disney, you'll love going on a Disney cruise!" Go on the Disney cruise, hopefully you love it (I'm guessing you will), but it's okay if you don't.

Like @valleyvillage, we prefer to be picked up right outside of the terminal and not have to trek to the LAX-it lot. So, on our most recent cruise this past August, we hired Lansky Enterprises to take us from the airport to the hotel. Our cruise left out of Long Beach, not San Pedro, but it should be pretty similar. The cost for 3 adults was $168 for a private car, it was a large SUV. You can read my post about it HERE. As for Ensenada, I shared some info about the bus to town in THIS post, read through the thread for more info about the port. Best of luck, hope you have a wonderful time!

@SDPadreFan - that is precisely the type of insightful and helpful content I visit this site for. I cannot thank you enough for all of the fantastic information you provided. My wife and I can make an educated decision using your reply. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Also, great tip about the port conditions. I'd hate to book the excursion and then have to fight to get a reimbursement should the weather conditions prevent us from going. Hadn't thought about that - we usually go with cruise-line affiliated excursions to avoid that type of thing. Awesome, thank you again. We'll be reaching out to both!

We're heading to Cabo in February and are also looking for a whale watching cruise that has a bathroom. My wife has a medical issue that necessitates a potty break every 75 to 90 minutes. As such, we're looking for recommendations for a whale watching boat that has a clean bathroom. @SDPadreFan - you mentioned EcoCat and SeaRiders. Is it better to book those in advance? Or, can we find them once we're in port? Also, I greatly appreciate what @RCCL Fan is asking. As someone who might be situated on a small boat with some bored & fidgety kids, I'd prefer that they take a larger boat where the kids can move around a bit if they get antsy. A bigger boat means I can move away from the kids if they're preventing me from enjoying the majesty of all the sights. Kids having access to bathrooms, snacks, and movement tends to make the experience more enjoyable for all involved.

We had a fantastic stay at the Maya Doubletree in August. It's the closest hotel (barring the Queen Mary) to the cruise port & it has a shuttle the morning of embarkation. You can walk from the hotel to the port, but it's going to be a bit long and probably not fun with luggage. Let me know if you have specific questions about the hotel. It was clean, the staff was friendly, and the beds were comfortable.

@oskidunker - It's been a few months since we were there, but I honestly don't recall any restaurants "near the port." I also don't really recall seeing any restaurants I'd want to stop at on the shopping street. However, my caveat is that we weren't looking for food, so I'm sure I totally walked right by a few restaurants. I do remember seeing chain fast food restaurants in the area off of the shopping boulevard, but we didn't stop at any.

@chubbypiggy - Yeah, the shuttle bus picks up at the same place it drops off at downtown. The air conditioned bus runs back and forth all day. The $4 is round trip - they'll give you a ticket to show so you can reboard the bus downtown. The pickup point at the cruise terminal is like 50 yards away from where you disembark from the ship. Walk off the ship, follow the signs that say "Bus to town" and there will be a guy asking if you want the bus to downtown and that it costs $4/person. Totally easy to find - the port area in Ensenada is tiny, so it's hard to miss. The downtown drop off point is on the main shopping street, so you end up right in the heart of the tourist area. When you return to the ship, you'll have to show your room key to gain access to the port. It took all of 30 seconds for the port authority officer to check our cards. The bus drops off at the same place it picked you up at. Seriously easy to do and well worth the $4.

@chubbypiggy I don't know about walking it, but the shuttle bus from the port to downtown was $4 per person and picked up every 10 minutes. Super easy.

Galveston Park N Cruise is right across the street from the terminal. Reserve in advance, it has indoor parking, and you just walk across the street at a traffic light. Easy as can be!

@scottca075 - We'll definitely take a look at those options. Our next cruise will be out of San Diego, which is closer to my daughter. So, we'll see how that goes!

The driver's GPS was taking him to the Queen Mary, but apparently there was a side street that he needed to turn onto. We found it, but it wasn't abundantly clear. Whatever system the limo used was showing us going straight ahead - straight into the Queen Mary lot - while Google was showing us veering to the right (maybe turning slightly right, it's been a week & a cruise since that day). Yeah, I totally get it about the price - location, location, location. The hotel was nice, but we could have easily stayed across the harbor, with harbor views at a Hilton for $100 less. I'm totally happy with our stay and will definitely consider it for any future cruises out of that port (doubtful since Carnival Radiance got thumbs down from my wife & son), I was mainly trying to share my thoughts and let people know that if you're expecting a $400/night experience you might be a little disappointed. On the flip side, you can't beat the location and it is a very nice hotel, so...

Recently, my wife, son, and I stayed at the Hotel Maya in Long Beach the night before hopping on the Carnival Radiance for a quick 4 day cruise. Several people have asked about the hotel, so I thought it would be worthwhile to share a review. Getting to the hotel was "interesting" to say the least. We booked a limo through Lansky Enterprises to take us from LAX to Hotel Maya ($168 including gratuity for 3 adults with luggage and curbside pickup right outside baggage claim). Two HUGE thumbs up to Lansky, their service was awesome. However, the Hotel Maya is tucked away behind a few confusing turns and is not totally easy to get to. There were several times where I was looking at the GPS on my phone, while Calvin, our driver, was consulting the GPS on the dash, and they were providing conflicting directions. However, we did eventually get to the hotel after several laughs and a little guesswork. Check in took 1 minute, maybe less. Very easy and straightforward. The woman who assisted us was super friendly and helpful. She even gave us cookies upon check-in. However, I do have to dock them a few points because they were oatmeal cookies that had nuts in them. I can't eat cookies that have nut chunks. The hotel is configured in multiple buildings. Our room was in building 3, which is a short walk from the main building's entrance. The buildings had great signage, it was easy to find our building and get to our room. The wife and I explored the rest of the hotel grounds a little bit and found a huge pool, a beach area, and lots of open spaces. It almost looked like they were kind of in the middle of adding a second restaurant or patio area, and just kind of stopped. Not a bad thing, there were just a few areas that seemed incomplete or were originally intended to be used as a different type of space. The hotel looks to be in good shape overall, lots of family friendly spaces! Overall, our room was nice. Nothing super special. Plenty of room for 2 queen beds and 3 adults (our son is 19). Beds were VERY comfortable, probably the most comfortable on our entire trip. Lots of tile in the room with a fun, chic design style. Our balcony was huge and had a nice view of the harbor. The bathroom had a sliding door with an unusual lock setup, almost like someone was doing a little redneck engineering to figure out how to add a lock to a strange setup. The shower was interesting, it wasn't until after all of us had showered & mentioned the poor footing in the tub that we found a rolled up tub/shower mat tucked away at the bottom of some shelves hidden behind the sink pedestal. Overall, a decent room. We left the property for dinner, but did grab a happy-hour beverage and snack at the on-site restaurant, Fuego. It could be that we were very hungry, it was 5pm California time & we'd last eaten around 7am at DFW airport, but the crab cake appetizer (2 good sized crab cakes for $20) were outstanding. The bartenders were attentive, but not overwhelmingly so, and the other patrons, except for 1 guy aggressively trying to buy shots for everyone at the bar, were pleasant and friendly. Fuego opens up to the harbor, so sitting back, looking out at the boats passing by while enjoying a cold beverage was a great way to kick into vacation mode. The next morning, prior to heading to the port to board the cruise, we also ate breakfast at Fuego. It was pretty good, nothing too unusual about the offerings - standard hotel breakfast fare with a southwest flair. I'm sure the menu is online if you're curious. The hotel offers a complimentary shuttle to the cruise terminal. Super easy to get from hotel to terminal, took like 5 minutes tops. Easy as can be! They dropped us off at the luggage check in area and pointed out who we needed to talk to and where we needed to go. Having never been to that terminal before, that was super helpful! BTW - LOVE that terminal. Probably my favorite cruise terminal of all. Overall, we really liked Hotel Maya. However, there were 4 things that we wish we had known before staying there: There was a wedding & reception taking place at the hotel the night we stayed. It was absolutely lovely to see everyone dressed up. The problem was that the reception was right outside our balcony and the guests partied late into the evening. Not a major problem, just an annoyance. Thank goodness for ear plugs! We could not get cell service anywhere on the hotel grounds. We had to practically climb down the rocks separating the hotel from the harbor and get our feet wet to get a measly 1 or 2 bars of cell service. We were never able to get the hotel WIFI to work reliably either. This was a concern as we were trying to coordinate having dinner with our daughter who was driving up from San Diego. Again, not a major problem, just an annoyance. We asked at the front desk about getting better cellular service and they suggested walking off property. They don't have a complimentary continental breakfast offering. So many hotels offer that now, I've pretty much come to expect it. Totally my fault for not seeing that on the list of hotel amenities & I completely own that. Breakfast at Fuego was very nice and certainly tasty, I just wish I had paid closer attention beforehand and noticed that was not one of their offerings. Totally on me, but thought others should be aware. I think the price was pretty high for the quality of the room. For $370 a night, I expect a little more than the room we had. As I said, the room was nice, but nothing special. From what I've been reading, hotel rates in Long Beach are through the roof, so maybe I should be thankful it wasn't even more expensive. I was just a little underwhelmed. Would I stay at the Hotel Maya again? Most definitely. The 4 issues outlined above were not major at all, just little inconveniences/annoyances. The hotel was clean, the staff was friendly, the shuttle to the cruise terminal was great, and our room had a great bed. What more could you ask for? Please feel free to post any follow-up questions. I'll do my best to answer them. Hopefully this helps as others try to decide if they should book a stay at Hotel Maya in Long Beach.

Three people split across 2 cabins were all registered in my VeriFLY app. Check in at Long Beach was a breeze this past Monday morning! Carnival agent looked at my phone for a few quick seconds and after confirmation we had all green check marks we were through to the next phase of the boarding process. VeriFly had us through security in seconds. Would definitely recommend!

New procedure went into effect a couple of days ago, any word on how it's going so far on the short itineraries? Is embarkation total chaos? Any reports of port agents still asking for proof of negative Covid tests on the 5-days or less cruises that don't visit places like the Bahamas? Just wondering what the scuttlebutt has been.

Can confirm! Upon opening the app, it was still showing the yellow warning notice that the process wasn't complete. However, once I tapped on "View Pass," it thought for a moment and then showed a green "Ready to Sail" message for everyone in my party. Hopefully everyone else is seeing similar. Just note, I had to go to the individual passes before the Ready to Sail message appeared.

@cableguynoe - thanks for asking this question, I was going to post the same thing. We're on an upcoming 4 day cruise on the Radiance and I was curious about VeriFly as well. Mine's showing the exact same thing as yours. Green checks for everything but the test. I'll keep watching to see if VeriFly updates. If it doesn't, I'll probably just rely on printed documents as per usual.

We're staying at the Hotel Maya prior to our cruise this month. I'll try to remember to post about it afterward. 😁

Wife and I did the "morning of" drive once. Driving from North Texas, we left home around 5am planning to get lunch in Galveston before boarding. Due to traffic and other issues, we were running through the cruise terminal to get on the ship before the cutoff time. This was pre-Covid, so I'm sure there's no way we would have made it if we had to go through the full rigamarole now. We decided one night of a hotel room was a minor cost compared to the stress of that day. On the flip side, we have family that drive down the morning of every time, they sail an average of 5 times per year, and have only missed their cruise a couple of times. It totally depends on your tolerance for risk. Personally, I like @soundman10f's recommendation of driving down at least part of the way and making your "morning of" drive a lot shorter.

Interesting review OP. Wife and I will be sailing on the Radiance next month and are eager to see if our experience matches yours. However, we typically avoid crowds (especially in the hot tub) and prefer sitting in a comfy chair reading a book in a quiet corner somewhere. So, it should be a fun comparison! Also, regarding the plebes wearing jammies and, {{shudder}}, FLIP FLOPS to the MDR. <-- Please note the sarcasm in that line. Who cares? I refuse to let anyone else's sartorial choices dictate my enjoyment of a meal on a cruise. I prefer to focus on the people I'm with and enjoy their company & the food I order. For comparison, last weekend we ate dinner at Fogo de Chão, an upscale Brazilian Churrascaria, and there were people wearing shorts, flip flops, hats, etc. Even nice restaurants on land have guests who don't follow the dress code. Should the manager have sent them back home to change their wardrobe?

There was a little girl, maybe 7 or 8, who was having the best time exploring the ship looking for ducks on our most recent cruise. We were relaxing in one of the lounges during the afternoon on RC's Liberty of the Seas just enjoying the quiet and reading while she was looking behind every curtain, under every chair, everywhere. Wife and I were the only people in the lounge other than her, so she wasn't disturbing anyone. She was super polite when she asked if she could check our couch cushions. She got the biggest smile when she found one hidden behind a curtain near our seats. I was so happy for her and really enjoyed watching her explore and have fun. Isn't that what cruising is about - having fun? I saw her several times during the cruise, she was always keeping an eye out for ducks. I never saw her get in the way of anyone or doing it in a crowded area, it was always when a room/area was empty or off-hours. She was having all the fun!

That's a great question & I do not know the answer to it. We do not use the hotel for cruise parking, just the stay. They always ask if we're leaving our vehicle and we choose not to. Call the hotel, they're super friendly and will give you the best information directly. We stay at the hotel, then the morning of the cruise we head over to the Sunflower Bakery & Café for breakfast. After stuffing our faces, we drive to Galveston Park N Cruise, drop off the car & walk to the port.

We've stayed at a bunch of hotels in Galveston but keep returning to the Best Western Plus Seawall Inn & Suites by the Beach for our pre-cruise stay. They do offer free cruise parking as long as you spend the night before boarding - or at least they did as recently as December 2021. If you're looking for the Ritz, this ain't it. But, for $160/night, it's not too bad for a pre-cruise overnight. The staff is super friendly and helpful.

For comparison, a limo from LAX to the Carnival dock in Long Beach runs $170 for 4 adults, including luggage. The limo driver greets you at baggage claim at LAX.

Welp, that sealed the deal. My wi... I mean the person in our party who doesn't like long car rides said that there's no way the lobster is worth 90 minutes in a bus. Thanks for the response, looks like we're exploring whatever is near the pier in Ensenada.