This was the Mexican Riviera--Cabo, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta...January 4 out of Los Angeles (San Pedro).
Overall, a very nice cruise...
First, even though we live only an hour to an hour and a half from port (depending on traffic), we decided to drive down a day early and stay in San Pedro overnight...Parking at the pier has gone up to $19/day (if my info is correct) and we were able to book the Doubletree using Hilton Points...and they were nioce enough to throw in free parking for the duration of the cruise and shuttles back and forth...
There is no real obstruction. What they consider an obstruction is that below the railing, it is solid rather than plexiglass. Didn't bother us in the least...
And the cabin, unlike standard cabins on Princess, has a sitting area with a small sofa and a coffee table...and the balcony is way bigger than standard and has footstools along with the deck chairs and a much larger table...
We decided to skip all of the shorexes and just wander on our own. The ship arrived ahead of schedule at 10:00, so, after taking a long time at breakfast, we just headed down to the location they were supposed to hand out tender tickets--but they said there was no line or wait for a tender...so we headed right down to Deck 4 and right onto a tender. Walked around town a bit, then stopped for lunch at "Eco Bar"--a nice spot along the waterfront--and got 2 seats at the counter facing the walking promenade...We shared a 3 Fish Taco combo plate ($9.95 US) and a bucket of beers (6 beers of any of Corona, Dos Equis, Pacifico, Modelo, and a couple of "lights"--for $10 US), ate, drank and watched the crowd pass by...then returned to the ship...