CruiserBruce

There is a new, Mexican oriented cruise line operating one ship in the Mexican Rivera. When we were in PV, twice in March, that ship was doing an overnight at PV on a promo cruise. I think it was a smaller, all white ship.

Normal would be any day now, but HAL has not been "normal" in their scheduling recently. They just released their Winter/Spring 23-24 schedule in the last month, so I would speculate later in Spring for the Europe schedules.

With that many sea days? Going to be hard to clearly predict.

Just 6 or 8 threads down the board:

Lunch is not served in the MDR. Breakfast only on sea days and the last day of the cruise. What do you have requested on your reservation? That will usually be honored in fixed seating. Not always, but usually. Fixed seating can vary by ship a little. Early will start somewhere between 5 and 5:30. Late is usually 8.

When there are more ships than dock space, someone gets to tender. It happens occasionally every season at PV. Not the end of the world.

The round trip West Coast- Hawaii cruises stop at Ensenada, which is a foreign port. My understanding is a fine would be applied to Princess. Maybe Princess ate the cost of the fine.

And...last I looked, a very small fleet. No room for maintenance issues.

Ironic that here is a thread complaining about technology, and there is also an active thread concerning the ineffectiveness of "walkie talkies" and one of the recommended solutions is chat features on cruise line apps. Change is tough sometimes.

To second what @Ine said, it is illegal to deliberately interact with the humpbacks and grays in the popular locations like Cabo, Puerto Vallarta and the Hawaiian islands. If the whales come to you and check you and the boat out (which they can do), that is one thing, but deliberately getting closer than a specified distance (I believe it is 100 feet), is against the law. There is the option to snorkel in the area of a different breed of whale in the Gulf of California, but that is a different situation.

Assuming you are sailing round trip from a US port? That is also part of the "no passport required" rule.

Book a private tour, with a company like the wonderful Rome in Limo. Big thread just down the board on them.

What cruise line? Almost all provide airport transport.

I would use the cruise line transfers.

Yes, port times are important, as well as other ports on the itinerary. Its possible the ship and it's amenities might be important as well. Those considerations are discussed here daily. If you know NCL or Princess and are happy with their product, that should influence your decision, because we don't know you.

But is it a lounge, with food or drinks? Don't recall such.

HAL doesn't usually do hospitality rooms for suite pax or high ranking elites at ports. I have seen it once in 17 HAL cruises...but can't remember where it was, but it was not a common HAL port, and it was at least 15 years ago...maybe Lima, Peru. It was a small room, and all they had was cookies and a couple drinks like water and iced tea.

Depends on your interests, but I would take the cruise depicted on the left, sailing on Aug 21. JMHO.

No.

You never go through Customs when you book in a port for a single day visit. You may have Immigration clearances in some countries, but Panama is not one of them.

Early check in is always a function of availability. Most any hotel will check you in if they have rooms available. But they aren't going to leave a room unbooked the previous day so you can check in early...at least not without you paying for it. Also, never have met a hotel that won't hold your bags until you can actually get into your room. So, I wouldn't book a particular hotel based on early check in. Docking at 5am doesn't mean getting off at 5:05. Typically you will be able to stay on board until around 9 or 9:30, if getting to your hotel early is a concern.

The answer to your question is in the posts above. No, you won't need to carry off your luggage, but you should get off the ship as soon as possible.

Yes. Second night, and second to last night.

No. On sea days you will be too far from land. Plus, as you sail down the coast to/from Cabo, much of the land there is uninhabited, or very sparsely inhabited.

Discussed here dozens of times. Might be mild, but also might be cold, wet and stormy. We had slush on Labor Day one year. There have been major storms in September, severe enough to stop port visits and damage cruise ships. Days will be shorter.