Cruise review - 7-Day Mexican Riviera on Oosterdam 11-18 FEB 06

7-day Mexican Riviera cruise on the M/S Oosterdam

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Had a somewhat late start because I had to drop off the schedule for the next month at the station on the way to beautiful SD and her Padres. Got on the south-bound 405 Freeway at around 12:30 pm and off we went. It was a relatively smooth ride until we hit Oceanside where we got into stop and go traffic but all was well when we arrived in San Diego at about 2:45 pm, turned onto Harbor Drive and got our first glimpse of the Oosterdam at the Cruise Ship Terminal . Right next door to her was the Carnival Spirit. Dropped off the luggage at the terminal and parked the Expedition in the lot across the street. Check-in was a breeze because the “big rush” had already been handled and was on board. Had the customary embarkation picture taken and stepped on to the Oosterdam. We were escorted to our cabin, which was 7085 on Rotterdam deck, where we dropped off our carry on’s. Next stop was the Lido restaurant for a quick lunch. What I really like about the Vista’s is the lay-out of the Lido with the different stations. You’ll find stations such as the Wok (oriental), the Italian for Greek food (just kidding - pizza and pasta), the Bistro (rotisserie and grilled meats), a pretty nice salad bar, the Sweets (‘nough said) and my personal favorite, the Deli. Maria and I both had a nice turkey sandwich with a cup of tomato basil soup and we were good to go!

Because of the later then planned arrival and lunch we had obviously missed any 3 pm “wave at the web-cam from the front deck” shot which made me feel bad. You see, Vic from New Jersey, had e-mailed me prior stating that he would be in front of the ship wearing a parrot shirt waiving frantically. We decided to go to the front anyway at 4 pm in the hopes that he was still there waiting for Oosterdam’s departure and we started waiving at everyone in sight like a bunch of crazed lunatics. No Vic and no one waived back of course and after a while someone from the Bridge asked us politely to cease and desist because our rapid hand and arm movements were interfering with the navigational systems of the Oosterdam . We bowed our heads and did just that. Went straight from there to the 4:15 pm lifeboat drill on Promenade deck and took our places near boat station 11. Our boat commander was an asst. chef from the kitchen brigade who looked like a younger version of Colonel Klink from Hogan’s Heroes and had the same accent “You vill behave or else ve vill shrow you overboard ” What I noticed is that at every boat station, the assistants are now using bull horns which, I’m sure, those that are somewhat hearing impaired will appreciate. It definitely got folks attention also! Spent some time at the sail away afterwards. San Diego is always a nice port to sail out (and in) from/to.

Our luggage had been delivered by our steward, Risbowo ("just call me Bowo") by then. Nothing but great things to say about this gentleman. Awesome service and no requests were too much. He took care of us and our cabin throughout the week and provided outstanding service! “Terima kasih banyak” Risbowo! We missed the welcome aboard showtime because we forgot it was pre-dinner or we were doing other things! Hate it when that happens. At around 7:25 pm, we went to the Neptune for a welcome reception by Captain Olav van der Waard and Hotel Manager James Deering. After shaking hands, the first thing Mr. Deering told us was “I know you and oh btw your friend Vic is onboard”. Apparently Lisa (laffnvegas) on the cruise just prior to ours and Vic both had given him some intel and preemptive warnings about us and our buddy Vic had pulled a fast one! Mr. Deering right away came across as a very outgoing gentleman with a warm and pleasant personality. Many past HAL pax on the boards who have had the pleasure of meeting him, had already stated so. They were 100% correct in their assessment and the week ahead would prove this. Had a very nice conversation with Iskamar Wahono, the purser who had been on our very first HAL cruise on Nieuw Amsterdam in Nov 93. Also met the two concierges, Esther and Marjorie “Marj”, two very professional ladies from the front office staff. At 8 pm we reported to dinner in the lower Vista dining room and to table 139. This was a table for eight and we found two other couples already there from South Dakota and Scottsdale, AZ. (the 3rd couple never showed up). Had a nice conversation with them and an excellent meal served by dining room waiter Dmunja (I know I messed up his name) and his asst. Dan. Found out that both couples were one the wait list to be moved to the first seating. After dinner, made our way up to the Crow’s Nest where we had an after dinner drink and did some dancing to the tunes of “Cruise Control”, a good sounding band. Called it a night around 0030, love those SOE mattresses .

thaks for taking the time to post---looking forward to the rest of your report

will be on the odam next 1/6/07 --will be intersting to meet mr deering and see if knows me by posting name

Once again, thank you and "dank u wel" for the first installment of another great trip review! Een knap stukje werk! Your observations are very lucid; it is obvious that you are used to writing reports:)

Wonderful, John. Thanks for taking time to do this. Will look for more.

Once again, thank you and "dank u wel" for the first installment of another great trip review! Een knap stukje werk! Your observations are very lucid; it is obvious that you are used to writing reports:)

Wow, middle-aged mom, doing great on the Dutch language!:) Ga zo door!

What a great first installment John! Looking forward to reading the rest of your adventures.:D

BTW~~It's about time.;)

John, I love what you wrote so far. Gee, I hope I did not lead too many of the fine folks on about you:D NOT:D :D Did Esther and Marj say anything to you that I warned them about your;) ?

Keep up the good review, I am enjoying it.

Great review! Keep it coming!

John- Great job! Your pithy reviews are giving Chester H some serious competition.:D Will

MORE !! MORE !!! MORE!! hehehehe :)

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Woke up and went to the gym which is nice and pretty good size with lots of machines as well as free weights and was very popular on this day (the gym that is). Today is a sea day on our way to Cabo and we were able to see the Baja coast line at times. After breakfast in the Lido, we took some time to check out and get reacquainted with the lay-out of Oosterdam which is quite a bit different then the “S’ and “R” class ships. Besides the Lido restaurant, the two pools and the salon/spa/gym on deck 9 and the Crow’s Nest and Kid’s Zone on deck 10, the majority of the public area’s are located on Lower Promenade (deck 2) and Promenade deck (deck 3). The Vista show lounge actually covers 3 decks, the stage being on Main deck (deck 1). Because of the various angles, you can’t really see how long she is when walking in the hallways like you can on the “S” and “R” class. At 10:45 H/M Deering held a class in the Crow’s Nest called “Spanish 101”. He handed out sheets with commonly used Spanish phrases and questions (donde esta el bano/where is the bathroom, Dejeme en paz/Leave me alone, Puede este taxi ir mas rapidamente/can this taxi go any faster etc. etc. - good stuff to have ) which he went over with those in the audience. In between the lesson, he showed his sense of humor as well as his story telling ability from over more than 30 years of cruising industry experience. He is originally from California but lives in Tokyo, Japan with his wife Aileen who is a professional harpist there. James speaks several languages fluent including Japanese. He had recently returned to the Oosterdam from home and told us he was giving this Spanish lesson by having to translate Japanese to English to Spanish in his mind before something came out of his mouth. He did pretty good with this as his lesson was well received by those in attendance.

At noon, the temp. was 73 degrees Fahrenheit with a fresh breeze and under partly cloudy skies. Spent the afternoon reading the DaVinci Code which I still haven’t finished. I still also hadn’t hooked up with Vic so left him a message and at around 5 pm he knocked on our door and we talked for about an hour and a half. Vic is a very interesting individual with a great sense of humor . He had gladly exchanged shoveling snow in New Jersey with a week at the Mexican Riviera and, upon getting home on Saturday, would leave four days later again on the brand spanking new Noordam out of New York City. Life is tough! This was formal night as well as the Captain’s champagne reception in the Vista Lounge so at 7 pm or so we took our place in line which snaked through the casino and past the sports and casino bars. Most everyone we saw looked very nice, especially the ladies , with most wearing either a tuxedo, dark suit as well as some sports coat and tie combo’s (the men that is, not the ladies!). I did not see any jeans, cut-offs, thongs, bikini briefs, hairy chests, man boobs, grass skirts, mumu’s, or any other non-formal attire for those who are keeping track of such things ! Capt. van der Waard is a pretty young looking Dutchman from Den Haag (The Hague) who has been employed by HAL for 14 years, working his way up the ranks. We had sailed with him once before when he was still Chief Officer on Nieuw Amsterdam. According to my wife, backed up by several other ladies, he is quite the looker and pretty popular with them! Awwrighty then , moving right along! The fine captain introduced his senior staff and we were off to dinner afterwards.

Upon arrival, we were notified by the Maitre‘d that the two couples from yesterday had in fact been accommodated to the first seating however he had found a great table for us. We said our goodbyes to Dmunja (there’s that name again, sorry for messing it up, dude!) and Dan, and up the stairs we went to table 301. This was another table for eight and we were introduced to our new tablemates Anthony and Tina from San Diego, CA., Lou and J.J. from Surprise, AZ (what a great name for a City!)., and Pam and Stephanie, two sisters from beautiful Vancouver, BC. This turned out to be another great table that was never lacking in conversation! Being by ourselves at a large table, we had been kinda anxious and very interested to find out how HAL’s new dining concept “Leisure Dining Service” would work on Oosterdam. This turned out to be not a problem at all because all our table mates liked the 8pm start time so there really was no change with the dining time we were used to on the other Dam ships. Our new dining room steward was Pandji and his assistant was Andik. These two gentlemen provided us with excellent and outstanding service throughout the week! My hat goes off to both of them because these guys were busy but they came through with flying colors! I did not see any evidence of understaffing in the dining room. The quality of the food was “enak sekali” (delicious) and the selection varied every night. No complaints at all! At 10:30 we went to the Vista Lounge (btw, why did they name the dining room AND the show lounge “Vista”, anybody know?) to see the first production show called “Rockin’ Road”. What is obvious right away is that the cast of singers and dancers have so much more room on the Vista class ships and even have a full elevator in, plus lifts that turn on, the stage. The size of the cast is bigger with 14 performers as opposed to the usual 10 on the “S” and “R” classes. We thought the show was excellent with lots of high energy, great vocals and cool dancing. Also met cruise director Jimmy Lynett for the first time. He comes across as very experienced and therefore very polished. I rate him right up there with Susan Wood, Dottie Kulasa and Bruce Allen Scudder. His wife and two little daughters were onboard, good for him! Finished the night off in both the Northern Lights disco and the Crow’s Nest. The Northern Lights is a fun place with a great sound system but there is not much room to sit when the booths are filled. Great day at sea!

Great review John, nu de rest nog....

Great review.

Enjoying reading your review :)

P.S. How did you add those smilies etc.? Don't see them listed.

I'm really enjoying the review. Keep it coming! Really appreciate the time you are taking to share your cruise with us :).

Marie

Great review John. (Dari mana kamu sudang belejar bahasa Indonesia?) Sounds like a wonderful cruise keep us updated.

Sampai Jumpa

Enjoying reading your review :)

 

P.S. How did you add those smilies etc.? Don't see them listed.

Thanks! Got them from another site and pasted them in/copied them, Herb:)

Great to hear about your cruise! Everything sounds wonderful so far! Looking forward to more!:)

Monday, February 13, 2006

Anchored off Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur where the Gulf of California meets the Pacific Ocean. Always a beautiful anchorage with light blue waters and the famous rocks with “los arcos” to our left. 79 degrees Fahrenheit with a fresh breeze and partly cloudy skies. We figured we’d do something new and had reserved two spots in the “Todos Santos” excursion which left at 8:30 am. Getting from the ship to the tender pier took only about 10 minutes in Oosterdam’s tenders, followed by a short walk to a couple of waiting buses.

Todos Santos is a town about 80 miles north of Cabo San Lucas and the drive took us up the coast highway. Our guide gave us some of the history of the Los Cabos area and we reached Todos Santos after approx. 90 minutes. This turned out to be a great little town. There are no large commercial hotels, condo’s etc. like you’ll find in Cabo San Lucas. This town is definitely still on the “sleepy” side which was great! Long known as a cultural, artistic and agricultural center, the town is a desert oasis, at the foothills of the Sierra de La Laguna mountains. Since the mid 1980's, the area has become a tourist / retirement destination and home to numerous art galleries, artists, fine restaurants, elegant hotels, vacation rentals and localfestivals. One of Todo Santos’ claims to fame comes from a quaint little hotel named Hotel California. This is supposedly the inspiration behind the legendary song “Hotel California” by “the Eagles” (Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walls, etc.) “On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair. Warm smell of colitas rising up through the air. Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light ... Welcome to the HotelCalifornia. Such a lovely place, such a lovely face….”Great song! The hotel itself is painted in bright colors and seemed to be quite busy. We strolled in and out of the various stores and galleries and visited the great Catholic Church on the plaza. We then met up again with the guide and had a very nice lunch at Los Adobes restaurant that consisted of enchiladas, taquitos, frijoles and home made ice cream for desert. (No visits by Montezuma and his revenge afterwards – life was good! ). On the drive back to Cabo, we saw several humpback whales living it up in the Pacific spouting up a storm, a great view! We did a little shopping in the Marina and watched some unlucky marlins being brought on shore. Got back on board around 3 pm and had lunch at the grill at the Lido pool. Met up with Vic at the Margaritaville sail away at 5:45 pm near the aft pool as we sailed south to Mazatlan.

After dinner, we went to watch the Oosterdam Superstar competition, round one, in the Queen’s Lounge. I had heard about this from other posters on this board and, both of us being American Idol fans, were very interested to see it in action. This is a passenger talent competition based loosely on the TV show in which pax can show their vocal talents and are then judged by a panel of three judges. The judges in this case were C/D Jimmy Lynett (Simon Cowell), one of the lead female singers from the cast (with apologies for forgetting her name) (Paula Abdul) and the Vista Lounge technical (lights and sound) guru (same apologies) (Randy Jackson). This turned out to be a very popular event with standing room only. There was some incredible passenger talent on display which was narrowed to five finalists. The comments by the panel were at times very funny! This was a great show. At 10:30 pm we went to the Vista Lounge and were entertained by the always funny Barnaby. This guy is a former English professor turned comedy juggler. Besides being a really good juggler, he interacted with the audience and got some interesting participation, especially from a lady from Portland, Ore and from our tablemate J.J. The last part of his show where he runs up and town the stage catching rings tossed at him with various measures of success (or lack thereof) from the audience while playing a kazoo is hilarious! Another great day!

This is an awseome review. Can't wait for the rest. We are on the "O" 3/25/06, our 1st HAL experience. Several others with RCCL and CCL. We are in 7048 ( I think)

great report --- having been to cabo and totos santos a number of times -- the memories were made fresh in my mind once again--thanks

We are sailing on the Oosterdam on March 25, 2006. This is our first time on HAL. We love to snorkel. Do you have any idea how warm the water is? We are used to the Caribbean and are not sure what to expect.

copper 10-8====== have you gone home for good as in retired

John:

I'm really enjoying your review! We will be on the Oosterdam April 22, and am looking forward to it, and am having fun reading your preview! I've been off the boards here for a while because I've been working so much overtime. But now I'm getting excited about the cruise so I'm trying to start reading again.

Lisa - I will be looking for your card in the Bible! It will be fun if it is still there! We'll leave something for any future 5187 bunkies, too!

Mary

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Happy Valentine’s Day from Mazatlan, Sinaloa on the Mexican mainland under sunny skies and a temp of 82 degrees Fahrenheit. The Oosterdam is docked at the Cruise Ship Pier all by her lonesome (no other cruise ships in port). We selected a shorex tour called “Sierra Madre, Concordia and Copala”which left at 8:30 am from the terminal building. Mazatlan provides trams that transport passengers from the pier, pretty much a commercial area, to the terminal building. This building contains several vendors and an outside patio area with a bar and more stores. Met our guide and bus and off we went (oh yeah, the bus had a driver too ). We soon left the city and traveled the Mazatlan to Durango highway for a first stop at an adobe brickyard. The owner demonstrated his tough physical labor by mixing mud, sand and water and putting this in forms in a framed mold. The mixture of sandy clay is then air dried in the sun and later put in an earthen oven. A simple, hard but honest way to make a living. Next stop in the foothills was at a traditional Mexican furniture-making store, for which this region is well know, situated right next to the highway. We then reached Concordia a quant town founded in 1571 by Spaniards and famous for making ceramic tile, pottery and hand carved wood furniture. We walked through the City Hall, built in French style, and viewed an impressive mural depicting some of Mexico’s history. Our next visit was to the magnificent colonial church of San Sebastian, built in the baroque style with a facade carved out of red stone and a wood carved altar, situated across the plaza. It always amazes me that folks, read men, enter a church without taking their hats off and have to be reminded of that by the guide! This stop was followed by a break and soft drinks at a local restaurant.

We reached the highlight of this trip (for us) after climbing (by bus, not on foot) into the Sierra Madre Mountains (“Badges? I don’t got to show you no stinkin’ badges”) and arrived at the village of Copola. This is an old mining town (founded in 1565) that still has the look of a typical colonial Mexican village. First stop was at restaurant Daniel’s for a great Mexican lunch topped off by a slice of home-made coconut cream pie for which the town is apparently pretty famous. We were seated at a table with other couples and a very interesting lady who was raised in the Spanish-French border region and who had traveled the world, cool stuff! After lunch, (no meeting with Montezuma once again, life is still good! ) we walked the coble stone streets to the plaza (plaza’s are great and every Mexican city has at least one which then becomes the gathering place) to reach the 440-year old church. On one side of the church was a beautiful bougainvillea with purple flowers. The plaza is surrounded by simple shops, one of which belongs to an artist who makes intriquite looking leather masks. Village kids with donkeys offered the visitors a ride up and down the streets but since they didn’t offer helmets and brake parachutes, we declined politely. After the stroll down to the buses, we departed back to Mazatlan (siesta time for many, ain’t nothing wrong with that!) for a stop in the Golden Zone/Zona Dorada which doubles as the primary tourist area of the city. We stopped smack right in front of a jewelry store (coincidence? Of course not!) with a bunch of sales guys standing out in front with fliers “come on in amigo!” We instead walked a couple of blocks to Sea Shell City and bought some ceramic smiling suns and moons for the backyard. We then walked through one of the ocean front hotels to take in the view from the beach on a pretty and sunny day. The 45 minute stop came to an end and we drove back to the ship via the Malecon with offered great views of the ocean and several statues on the waterfront. One thing that is very interesting in Mazatlan is the taxis. They are called pulmonias, and are a kind of tropical style cab, open topped. Most are converted VW Beetles and almost all are painted white with red doors if they have doors at all! Pretty cool sight!

Back on board, took a break and then met Vic at 5:45 pm at our usual spot, you guessed it, the Margarita (this time) Sunset sail away at Lido Pool aft. Had a most excellent Valentine’s dinner (this was informal night and most pax were, well, informally attired, lots of jackets though!) where all the ladies received a single red rose from the dining room supervisors upon entering. At around 9:45 we went to the Queens Lounge for 70’s disco night where we tried to give our best John Travolta and Gloria Gaynor imitations (not sure if those two would be very pleased with the results). At 10:30 in the Vista Lounge, they had two Brits, brothers Alan and Harry Whyte from London, who performed their individual tribute to the Beatles. Let me tell you folks, these guys were good! Although only two, instead of the original Fab Four, these gents sounded and acted just like the Beatles playing a lot of their hits and getting a well deserved standing ovation from much of the audience. Awesome show! We finished the night in the Crow’s Nest where they had the Black & White Valentine’s Ball going with a bunch of the officer’s present. Said hi to Mr. Deering and noticed our captain sitting at the bar with a stunning blonde (‘nough said). Almost forgot, I had a single rose (made out of chocolate) for my wife Maria as well as a small stuffed gorilla who sings “wild thang” – Life is good, good night!