My husband and I are in our mid-50s and this was our second Princess Cruise. We made our cruise reservations and booked all our tours through Princess. We handled our air transportation and hotel reservation in Acapulco (for one night) ourselves.

Pre-cruise: Having read horror stories about the Mexico City airport (and hearing many more once we began the cruise), we flew Washington/Dulles to Dallas/FortWorth to Acapulco on American Airlines. Flights were on-time and we were the only plane in Acapulco so we were through immigration and customs within minutes. Even through we weren't using a Princess transfer to the hotel, I asked the Princess rep meeting other passengers how much a taxi should cost. He replied $30 and said to make sure we got an official taxi. We did - and you pay for the ride up front at the airport and then just tip the driver. We stayed at the Acapulco Hyatt for $159 - one of the hotels Princess uses but for a fraction of the cost booking it through Princess. In its prime it must have been something but now it is rather tired (moldy smell in halls and bathrooms common in the tropics), and incredibly crowded when a cruise is ending/beginning. There aren't enough elevators for a hotel that size so leaving/returning to your room was time-consuming. There was one bright spot - the hotel's outdoor restaurant on the beach (I think it is called Pescador), had a very nice buffet and cheap margaritas. We took a taxi to the dock at 1 pm for $13 including tip. In Acapulco and at all our other stops, everyone took dollars.

Embarkation: Even though our paperwork suggested arriving after 2 pm to avoid the crowds, we walked right up to the check in! Apparently, all the Princess transfers from the hotels had already been processed. We were on board within 10 minutes - spending about 5 minutes in line for the embarkation picture and another 5 minutes for the security picture. Read more