Mike and Sandy are favoring "close to home" trips these days, and when their "it's so cheap we practically pay you" travel agency announced a 10-day cruise from Los Angeles (easy 1 hour flight!) to various ports in Baja California and back, they signed up. (This brochure map is dated, as our ship substituted Mazatlan (just a bit north of Puerto Vallarta) for La Pax on its way back to LA.)
Their ship was the fairly new Majestic Princess (built in 2017), carrying 3500+ passengers. It's bigger than the Holland America ships Sandy and Mike are used to, but nothing like the huge Royal Caribbean ones.
There are four distinctive things we discovered about the ship. It's the "most automated" ship we've been on (for example, when you get within 2 feet of your cabin door, it recognizes your RFID "medallion," unlocks the door, and greets you by name on a little display screen by the door). Second, the buffet is huge, much bigger than most ships. Third, the ship has a smaller version of the Bellagio Casino water fountain show. Last, the ship was originally based in Shanghai for Asia itineraries so all the ship's signage is in both English and Chinese.
Evening entertainment on the ship was quite good, with lavish "singers-and-dancers" production shows, several singers (including a man from 'The Voice' TV show), a magician, a comedian, etc.
After a day at sea (when we were reminded this isn't Holland America -- no lectures, no tech workshops, no library aboard, etc.), we reached our first port of call, Cabo San Lucas. The area is mainly about tourism and famous for deep sea fishing and Spring Break crowds, but it's also home to a contingent of retired Americans and Canadians -- evidence the Gringo Gazette, an English language newspaper. We skipped the shore excursions, and just went ashore to wander about. ("All who wander are not lost," some famous person once said.)
The second port of call was Loreto, a first for Mike and Sandy. Loreto was the site of the first Spanish mission on the West Coast, with construction begun in 1697, many years before any California missions were built. Tourism and fishing, plus "snow birds" from Canada and the U.S., are the main stays of the economy. Loreto is much quieter than Cabo, so appeals to a different crowd.
A day at sea brought us to our southern-most port, Puerto Vallarta. This tourist town was made famous when Elizabeth Taylor and her then boy friend Richard Burton bought a hide-a-way house here in 1963. It too has US and Canadian ex-patriots, some taking up residence and others ("snow birds") just coming when the weather is cold up north. One section of Puerto Vallarta is now the largest gay beach and resort scene in Mexico.
Unfortunately, some rain damped our enthusiasm for exploring the town, so we contented ourselves with some "retail therapy" just across the street from where we were docked. You can see our ship was about the tallest structure in town.
Our last port was Mazatlan, the largest city on the trip. The guidebooks tell of a lighthouse not on the shore, but on top of a 500 foot tall mountain outside of harbor. Sandy thought it was a crazy idea, but Mike joined a group hiking to the top for the great views. Here's what the switch-back trail to the top looks like from a drone, Mike at the summit, just in front of the lighthouse, and the view of the harbor from the top.
That was it for Mexico, and the Majestic Princess headed straight for Los Angeles. There were two days-at-sea, giving us time to pack everything up for our flight home.
All in all, the ship was quite nice (if BIG) and the price was right, and we saw a couple of new ports, but the effort and hassles of the trip were considerable, too -- we're running out of energy!
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