HA's Sea of Cortez Cruise & Copper Canyon Excursion

[Bucky3]

We're thinking of this Sea of Cortez cruise and the Copper Canyon excursion offered. Can anyone tell me about it? I know it's a l-o-n-g bus/train ride, but did you think it was worth the time and expense? Is it that much better than our Grand Canyon? Would like to have anyone's thoughts on this trip. I believe the Ryndam is the ship next spring. Thanks for your input.

[Krazy Kruizers]

This what I posted about it when we did the Sea of Cortez Nov 2005:

This tour was offered on our first segment (Nov 7th cruise). I tried to get as much information from those who did take it since we were unable to take this tour.

The tour can handle 330 people. Breakfast was served from 3 - 4 AM in the Lido for those who went on the tour. Then everyone gathered in the Veermer Lounge at 4:30 and waited until 5:30 when they boarded their buses. Each person was given a card that indicated their bus number, train seat assignment, and what time they were to eat at the summit. It is about a 2 hour bus ride to the train station - the buses were given a police escort through Los Mochis so as to avoid lights and traffic. Once on the train everyone got a box breakfast. There were 2 shifts for lunch at the summit. And everyone was given a box snack on the train on the way back to the buses. Some said the food was definitely not HAL's - the overall rating - typical Mexican food. Everyone was back on the ship by 11 PM. So in order to eat between 3 and 4 AM you had to be up by at least 2:30. For those passengers - a long day - 20 and 1/2 hours!!!

We were able to attend a small meeting with a few TA's and the captain after this tour. All the TA's had small groups on this cruise (20 - 30 passengers in each group). One man claimed that he had brochures that said the train was supposed to be the Southern Orient Express (I have never heard of this) and the some of the cars were supposed to be dome cars - none were. He had shown his clients this brochure and felt that he had been mis-represented by HAL. The train nothing more than a regular Mexican train. All complained about the dirty windows - it appeared that the windows had not been cleaned in weeks. The bathrooms wer terrible - especially on the return trip down - no one had bothered to clean them or restock the toilet paper or paper towels. As I mentioned before, everyone was assigned seats. Some people had great views on the way up to the summit. Others didn't. On each car there are 4 windows that are quite small making viewing the scenery difficult for 8 passengers. On the return trip passengers trade assigned seats so that those who had the bad windows now have the larger windows. But as one woman said - it was great for about 2 hours but for the last 4 hours you travel in all darkness. In the talk session that we attended, another woman was asked if she would take this tour again and she said no and she said that she wasn't really certain if she would recommend this tour to anyone or not.

[Bucky3]

Thanks so much for your reply, KK. This doesn't sound like something I would like to do! But, DH is the one who wants to do this, so we'll see what he thinks after reading your reply. Did you generally enjoy this cruise or do you think other 10-day Mexican Riviera itineraries are better? We live in CA so Mexico is an easy cruise for us to take. Thanks again.

[mrskmirolla]

Bucky 3

We took the Sea of Cortez a few years ago and we are going February 21, 2007 and very much look forward to it. I have also asked questions and went up on several sites regarding Copper Canyon as we thought we would like to go. After my research we have decided not to take this excursion but we still are going on the cruise some of the ports we have seen already but we love HAL and we also live in California and the drive to San Diego is an easy one. We live in the San Fernando Valley and we love HAL so with that said, please join us we will have a great time.

Kathy

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have done the Sea of Cortez cruise a couple of times.

If HAL would have the 10 day Sea of Cortez backed with the 10 day Mesxican Riviera cruise like we did in Nov 2005, we would definitely go on both again.

But we notice that HAL no longer has them back to back and it not worth all the trouble we go to to fly across the country for just a 10 day cruise.

[Lvteks]

We
(DD, DSIL, DH and I) are on the Ryndam March 13th....and my one reason was to do the Copper Canyon excursion. I found tours just to go there were nearly as expensive as the cruise. Check out CC Ports of Call....Mexican Riveira to get more info on CC. One post mentioned that it was sold out when they went....only 300 res from what was stated. I plan to ck on what's available soon. Yes, it's a long trip, but being part Scout I intend to be prepared with provisions including t.p. et al.

Think about the 13th....and join us!

Blessings,
Gail

[hammybee]

We did the cruise on the Statendam a few years back. This tour was not offered at that time, else we would have jumped at the chance. I am with Lvkeks- have an adventure.

[KAYEF]

I had NO idea Copper Canyon was offered as a Shore Excursion from a cruise!
We are going on a C.Canyon Tour next spring through www.caravantours.com (http://www.caravantours.com) .............I've checked out several companies and this one offers top of the line everything. We've wanted to "do" this canyon for years; it's four times larger than Grand Canyon..........I'm wondering if they run a couple of different trains..............cars...........?:confused:

[Bucky3]

Thanks for posting the Caravan Tours website! Great information. Maybe we'll put this on our "to do" list rather than trying to cram it into a one day ship excursion. Just started looking into this, so the information you have provided is very timely! Thanks again. Have you researched the best time of year to make this trip - not too cold, not too hot????

[SDHALFAN]

I had NO idea Copper Canyon was offered as a Shore Excursion from a cruise!
We are going on a C.Canyon Tour next spring through www.caravantours.com (http://www.caravantours.com) .............I've checked out several companies and this one offers top of the line everything. We've wanted to "do" this canyon for years; it's four times larger than Grand Canyon..........I'm wondering if they run a couple of different trains..............cars...........?:confused:


I agree with Bucky3: Thanks so much for posting the Caravan Tours site. I would love to see the Copper Canyon but not on a looooong 20+ hours shore excursion.

Valerie:)

[KAYEF]

I checked many companies and this one really stood out............and I believe they have their own train car...........just for those on the tour....
sounds clean and with many windows as well
AND
you spend the night at the canyon, etc. (It's an American tour as well; one we checked was not.) This one also includes all meals and the motel the night before the tour begins. Now, please don't take OUR seats!!
For us, a one day, cram it all in, most of the time on the bus, just doesn't sound like something we'd relax on and enjoy.
There's a place on that site to click on and it gives temperatures for all the months.
I think fall sounds best, but we're not down in AZ yet then, so we're going in the Spring................ we can drive to ElPaso.
Their 2007 calendar isn't out yet.;)

[Bucky3]

Well, this Cruise Critic site has once again taken me away from my household chores - that's a good thing in my book! Now I'm really into researching this Copper Canyon adventure! Haven't yet determined just how many hours this Caravan Tour trip spends on a bus. Guess I'll keep reading before I give them a call with my LIST of questions! When are you going? Do tell, and I promise we won't take your seats!

[Bucky3]

Oops - guess I didn't read your last post carefully enough! I see you say they don't have their 2007 schedule yet! Well, keep in touch! I'm thinking about March, May, or October.

[obriendan]

We would not think of trying to do Copper Canyon from a Sea of Cortez cruise. Much too long a day for only a brief visit at the canyon.

We have done a land tour of Copper Canyon through Grand Circle Travel. It was a wonderful trip: Fourteen days roundtrip from Tucson. Not only did we spend two nights at Copper Canyon, but also three nights at San Carlos, a beautiful resort on the Sea of Cortez, two nights at El Fuerte and Chihuahua City, and two nights at Casa Grandes. The highlight of the trip for us was actually at Casa Grandes where we were able to visit Mata Ortiz and watch the daughter of Juan Quesada make pottery!

And if the tour from the cruise was almost as expensive as the cruise, the land tour will be much less expensive. It was the least expensive of all the sevenh GCT tours we've taken

[Bucky3]

Guess I have a lot of research to do. A friend just told me that Tauck Tours also offers this trip. I'll keep researching.