We've booked HAL in December '06, leaving out of San Diego, visiting Puerto Vallarta; Mazatlan & Cabo.

Also check HAL. 7 day on Oosterdam or 10 days in Rijndam, both to and from San Diego.
Princess also has 7 days to and from LA.

I prefer San Diego to LA as an embarkation port because the cruise ships are docked very near the airport. If you do use San Diego, don't buy the transfers to the ship from the cruise line. Take a taxi. It is much cheaper.
Most Mexican Riviera cruises use the same ports. Going to Acapulco would be a plus, but for most cruises it is too far south. In most cases, you can save money by taking private excursions, especially in Cabo and Puerto Vallarta.
Holland-America would be an excellent cruise line to choose.
Enjoy!

Normally, crime and reputation wouldn't bother me at all and I'd go off on my own...but
Acapulco is getting a bad reputation for crime lately and they are worried about the affect it will have on the tourists...Double check to make sure your cruise will stop there... Then again...I would still go off with a driver to see divers (incredible),flea market and an overall view.. Just be careful!!

We took Royal Caribbean last April out of Long Beach and it was very simple. We arrived around 11:30am and they let us on without too much hassle. The boat stopped in Cabo, Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan. Cabo was beautiful-we ended up taking a snorkling cruise-my kids loved it (3 teenagers, because the deck hands were very friendly and were having a great time-and they gave us lots of tortillas to feed the fish!) In Puerto Vallarta we went on the zipline tour which was awesome-There are 8-10 zip lines as much as 300-400 ft above ground(maybe even more)-you are harnessed in and zip along for quite some distance-my husband is not an amusement park kind of guy, but he loved it!! Mazatlan was my least favorite-but we found a nice little hotel where we hung out by the beach and the kids did water sports. It was a lot of fun!

Thank you for your replies. You've shared good tips and ideas that we will for sure take into consideration. Also, thanks for the heads-up on Acapulco.

I went on the X Mercury in Feb. from San Diego. It has the most ports of call which include Acap., Cabo, Manzanillo, Mazatlan, PV, & Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo (11 nights). I would say Celebrity is almost as good as HAL.

Sailed over New Year's out of San Diego. 5 min from airport. HAL Ryndam - 10 days. Loved every minute of it. Having a balcony is a fantastic plus. Great ports, perfect weather everyday. Great way to start off 2006.

Visited Manzanillo (could have done without), PV, Acapulco, Mazatlan (my fav) Cabo. Visited Ixtapa/Zhi on another cruise years ago, loved the 2 towns.

We are leaving in three weeks on NCL and if you email me I will send you a trip report.

We are doing Mexican Riviera the past week of March. Ended up going with Princess out of LA. Our younger son just moved there, so the plus was being able to see him before and after the cruise. Also got a great deal on a balcony due to being past passengers. We paid an extra $50 per person and were able to select our room rather than take the "balcony guarantee" We like being in the middle of the ship above the life boats. Glad to read advice to do our own shore excursions in Cabo and PV. Now we just need to do a little research on what is in each port so we know what we want to do. Any suggestions would be appreciated.