Live From Discovery New Year's Cruise 12/28 - 1/7/22 10 day Sea of Cortez and Mexican Riviera

[iamaqt2]

I love following everyone's live trip reports, and I've never been on a Holiday Cruise before, so thought I'd go ahead and do one for everyone else who also loves following live trip reports. If the internet sucks as much as I've been hearing, it's not an issue, as we have enough port days that I can compensate with my mobile data.  Thank you T-Mobile for including Mexico and Canada in your plan (not a sponsor).  Why the whole world isn't included yet is beyond me.

 

A little background. This cruise is DH and I. I'm Platinum on Princess, very barely 50's, married 20+ years.  DH is early 60's.  We've also cruised HAL, NCL, Celebrity and MSC.  Cruising we've done in the past year includes Sky last December for my 50th,  Ruby in February through the Panama Canal, and Celebrity Solstice to Alaska in September.

This is a 10 day cruise doing the standard Mexican Riviera ports with an overnight in Cabo and a new port to me Loreto, Mexico.  
(Spoiler alert:  We have no intention of leaving the ship while at Cabo.  Been there, done that. But have special onboard plans.)
 

I work in hospital healthcare and vacation is VERY hard to come by.  I've worked the last 13 days in a row, and will work a 17 hour shift tomorrow into Monday.  The reason for that is I had originally booked a direct flight on United from SEA to LAX the day of the cruise because work scheduling is so tight. But then United changed our flight to a layover in SFO and I was not risking that on the day of the cruise.  So I had to change my flights to the day before and call in favors from my coworkers to trade shifts around to make this schedule change work. Bless them, we made it work, but it sure is costing me.  Trust me when I say I NEED this vacation.
 

Having cruised out of San Pedro before, we decided to once again book the Crowne Plaza for our pre-cruise hotel.  It's not fancy, but it's close to good places to eat, and the pricing isn't outrageous like some cruise port hotels.  They have a shuttle to the port for a very reasonable price as well, but I choose to just Uber as it isn't much more, and I hate waiting around in the lobby.

When I originally booked this cruise DH was recovering from some significant medical issues, so I had nothing more in mind other than relaxing somewhere warm.  But he's doing much better, so we may rally and throw a few surprises your way.  Looking forward to sharing our journey with anyone who cares to come along.  
I'll answer any questions you have if I'm able,  and hope you all have a very Merry Christmas tomorrow!

 

Edited December 25, 2022 by iamaqt2

[arctickitty]

Looking forward to following along!

[nini]

Thanks for sharing. We are your neighbors on the coast.

[dianef]

Going on the Discovery Jan 21 so will be looking forward to following your journey.Hope it is a good one.

[iamaqt2]

One of my favorite locations to book a cabin is forward on the Lido deck. Ship motion doesn't affect me, so being up high and far forward is no issue.  There's just something so great about rolling out of your cabin and being right in the heart of the pool deck.  Easy access to the pools, bars and food.  The only time I don't enjoy this is when I'm trying to get from my cabin to the buffet during inclement weather.
This cruise we booked an inside cabin  L215.  But I rolled the dice for a possible upgrade on the new bidding system.  I placed minimum bids to upgrade on 3 different categories.  Oceanview, Obstructed Balcony, and Deluxe Obstructed Balcony. The minimum bids to place for a regular balcony were high, and I wasn't willing to spend that much for unobstructed.  I didn't have high hopes any of my bids would be accepted, but figured if any of the bids were accepted I'd end up with a better cabin at a fraction of the price.  I was apprehensive that I wouldn't be thrilled with the location, but all those cabin categories were in locations I wouldn't hate.  
22 days before our cruise I received notification that 2 of my upgrade bids had been declined.  2 hours later I received notification that my upgrade bid for Deluxe Obstructed Balcony had been accepted.  95.00 per person for a 10 night night cruise to go from an inside to a balcony!  And even better was it was still on the Lido deck in one of the large forward facing balconies!  That was an amazing early Christmas gift!  

[Coral]

11 minutes ago, iamaqt2 said:

22 days before our cruise I received notification that 2 of my upgrade bids had been declined.  2 hours later I received notification that my upgrade bid for Deluxe Obstructed Balcony had been accepted.  95.00 per person for a 10 night night cruise to go from an inside to a balcony!  And even better was it was still on the Lido deck in one of the large forward facing balconies!  That was an amazing early Christmas gift!  

Congrats!!!

[LACruiser88]

You beat me to the punch, I was going to start a "Live" thread tomorrow.

 

We will be with our 8 yr granddaughter and her parents 😄.  This will be our first cruise on the Discovery.  We have been to all of the Mexican ports many times in the past, so this will be a total R&R trip for us.

 

We live about an hour north of San Pedro, we are having someone drop us off and pick us up.

 

See you onboard!

[iamaqt2]

1 minute ago, LACruiser88 said:

You beat me to the punch, I was going to start a "Live" thread tomorrow.

 

We will be with our 8 yr granddaughter and her parents 😄.  This will be our first cruise on the Discovery.  We have been to all of the Mexican ports many times in the past, so this will be a total R&R trip for us.

 

We live about an hour north of San Pedro, we are having someone drop us off and pick us up.

 

See you onboard!

I'm very happy to share this thread with you!  Or feel free to do one of your own.  I'd love to hear a family perspective.  There's more than enough room for both of us!

[LACruiser88]

1 minute ago, iamaqt2 said:

I'm very happy to share this thread with you!  Or feel free to do one of your own.  I'd love to hear a family perspective.  There's more than enough room for both of us!

¡Gracias!  Sharing your thread makes more sense, it will be easier for others to follow along.  Have a safe trip to LAX!

[iamaqt2]

8 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

¡Gracias!  Sharing your thread makes more sense, it will be easier for others to follow along.  Have a safe trip to LAX!

Looking forward to seeing you onboard!  Always nice to hear multiple live perspectives on the same cruise.

[spongerjoe]

Looking forward to your posts as we are doing the seven day out of San Pedro on 01/28. We hope you have fun and save some tequila for us. Happy Holidays!

[Drea2Go]

20 hours ago, iamaqt2 said:

One of my favorite locations to book a cabin is forward on the Lido deck. Ship motion doesn't affect me, so being up high and far forward is no issue.  There's just something so great about rolling out of your cabin and being right in the heart of the pool deck.  Easy access to the pools, bars and food.  The only time I don't enjoy this is when I'm trying to get from my cabin to the buffet during inclement weather.
 

We are on the Lido deck for this cruise and I am excited about the location!

 

We didn't bid.for an upgrade as we have 4 people in our cabin and didn't want to end up with a sofabed instead of 2 separate beds for our kids.

 

Hoping to meet you onboard!

[ChutChut]

Thank you so much for allowing us to follow your journey!!!!

[julie3fan]

DH and I will be on this cruise, and it'll be fun to follow along to see how everybody else's experiences align with ours.  

 

Our upgrade bid ($110 total) took us from a standard obstructed balcony on deck 8 to a deluxe obstructed balcony, still on deck 8.  A little more room will be nice, particularly having a couch to relax on.  Congrats on your forward balcony!

[AngryDog77]

Greetings from Palos Verdes, just west of the port.  Today it's clear with high clouds and a relatively chilly 72 deg (sorry rest of the country).  Rain predicted for tomorrow.

 

The ship has departed from Cabo.  You can track it on the cruisemapper app. Celebrity Solstice is in port right now, some Carnival ship is over in Long Beach.

 

We are on the Riviera deck in one of the aft cabins.  This will be a new experience for us. Use 

 

See you on board!

[nini]

18 minutes ago, AngryDog77 said:

Greetings from Palos Verdes, just west of the port.  Today it's clear with high clouds and a relatively chilly 72 deg (sorry rest of the country).  Rain predicted for tomorrow.

 

The ship has departed from Cabo.  You can track it on the cruisemapper app. Celebrity Solstice is in port right now, some Carnival ship is over in Long Beach.

 

We are on the Riviera deck in one of the aft cabins.  This will be a new experience for us. Use 

 

See you on board!

LOL! I am very familiar with your neck of the woods. I was born in S. Cal and grew up there. We left 28 years later and now live on the N. WA coast; if it gets to 72 degrees, we turn on our A/C.

[Auntiejo]

See you on board Wednesday.....getting excited...it's finally here!

Edited December 26, 2022 by Auntiejo

[iamaqt2]

Oooohh.. so many fellow cruisers joining a Live From is very exciting. It's usually just me in my echo chamber. Please everyone feel free to post your experiences.  I love to see all the different perspectives.   The great thing about cruise vacations is how differently we all see things.  And I want all your pics!  

[XBGuy]

I am looking forward to following this conversation.

 

We were booked on this cruise.  December 28 is Mrs. XBGuy's birthday, and, so, we thought this cruise would make it special.  However, a domestic situation arose, and we had to cancel shortly before final payment.  That may have worked out for somebody, because it opened up a nice aft-facing suite for somebody.  😁

 

We took a similar itinerary in 2018 and were, especially, looking forward to returning to Loreto.  Happily, I will be able to revisit vicariously, thanks to you fine people.

[LACruiser88]

We were on the Majestic last New Year's for the identical itinerary.  It was a great cruise and we had great weather after leaving LA. 

 

We embarked last year in a rainy downpour, a rarity for So Cal.  We are hoping not to have a repeat on Wednesday.

[iamaqt2]

Well my vacation is off to a rocky start.  Today was the only day I had to do laundry and get packed before our 5 am flight tomorrow.  But the Universe has other plans as we had a huge windstorm this am that has knocked out the power.  Thankfully we have a generator and are putting the interlock we had installed this past summer to good use today. Not the way I envisioned its inaugural run.

This crazy winter weather is impacting so many trying to travel right now.  Apparently Southwest has canceled 64% of their flights today.

I worry about all our East Coast fellow travelers trying to make this cruise. I've never traveled during the holidays, and now I see why so many people say it's so stressful.

[californiagirl]

I’m following along as we will be on Discovery for her regular Mexico itinerary in Feb.  I was on her in cabin L101 in early September to Alaska.  We were in L102 a year ago on Regal.  The cabins are identical.  You hit the cabin lottery!  We LOVE the forward facing deluxe balcony cabins on Royal class ships.  I agree with your assessment of forward cabins on Lido deck.  It’s a great location.  Discovery is a beautiful ship, the blues and light wood are soothing.  
 

I hope your travel to San Pedro is uneventful.  Anyone in currently working in healthcare deserves a long vacation.  If you or anyone else has the opportunity I’m interested in the new menus. 

[nini]

37 minutes ago, iamaqt2 said:

Well my vacation is off to a rocky start.  Today was the only day I had to do laundry and get packed before our 5 am flight tomorrow.  But the Universe has other plans as we had a huge windstorm this am that has knocked out the power.  Thankfully we have a generator and are putting the interlock we had installed this past summer to good use today. Not the way I envisioned its inaugural run.

This crazy winter weather is impacting so many trying to travel right now.  Apparently Southwest has canceled 64% of their flights today.

I worry about all our East Coast fellow travelers trying to make this cruise. I've never traveled during the holidays, and now I see why so many people say it's so stressful.

 

Hi Neighbor!

We are on the coast and lost power for 5 hours and now have it back. The strong winds howled all night and now it is calm.

True, we do not want to entertain holiday travel due to potential travel complications with crazy weather.

 

Safe travels!

[gvre]

Hopefully the internet will be better and you can post.  In November it was horrible.

Edited December 26, 2022 by gvre

[spingal]

I am on this cruise too with my sister, BIL, niece and nephew.  We are in one of the Sky Suites!!  We lost both our parents over the last two years and we are celebrating their lives and all they did for us.  So I decided to book the Sky Suite.  We are also celebrating my niece’s college graduation.