Not another Big O MexRiv review!

[tomculb]

At the risk of irritating those who think this board doesn’t need yet another review of the Mexican Riviera aboard the Oosterdam, I’m going to share my thoughts, observations and personal opinions on our recently completed first-time cruise and the trip to and from San Diego. I learned so much from these boards prior to our trip that I thought I’d try to return the favor; besides, it's been fun to write. We did the April 17 cruise with stops in Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, and Cabo San Lucas. I have written enough (most on the ship, some after returning) that I’ll upload it in a few installments.

 

ABOUT US. To put what follows into perspective, we’re 61 and 54, with two teenagers who do their best to keep us young and active. We have some overseas travel experience, but we’ve never cruised together, and our 25th anniversary seemed like a good excuse to give cruising a try. The only other “group” travel we’ve done is last summer’s white-water raft trip on the Salmon River.

 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. It was a fabulous trip! We’ll be back for more, hopefully at least once with the kids before they become too distracted with their own lives to be able to join us. We’ve been introduced to a truly great way to spend a vacation.

 

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES. If you don’t fly Southwest, this won’t make a lot of sense. I checked in online right at the 24 hour mark and got B-1 and A-32 for the two legs of our trip to San Diego. For the trip back we purchased Early Bird Check-in (we had a very short layover in Las Vegas and I wanted to be near the front of the plane on the first leg) and got A-23 on both legs. A-1 through A-15 are reserved for those paying the business select fare, of which there were almost none on the trip home.

 

HOLIDAY INN ON THE BAY. This hotel has received some mixed reviews on this and other boards, but for a cruise departure its location is impossible to beat. The hotel has clearly been around a while, but there is nothing really wrong with it, and the staff was very friendly (they even let us check out an hour late). Think Ritz Carleton and you’ll likely be disappointed; think Holiday Inn and you might be pleasantly surprised.

 

ANTHONY’S FISH GROTTO. We got to our room about 9PM, dropped our bags, and walked across the street to Anthony/s. Unfortunately this is not the same Anthony’s we know and love in the Pacific Northwest. It was fine for a quick late dinner, and the convenient location – on the water between the Maritime Museum and the Cruise Terminal – is nice, but for a special fine dining experience . . . well like I said, it’s not the same restaurant.

 

BREAKFAST & WINE IN SAN DIEGO. The next morning we walked the dozen (and delightful) blocks to Richard Walker’s Pancakes. Getting there around 8, we were able to walk right in, but within a few minutes later, a line was beginning to form. The food was delicious, with servings certainly bigger than we needed. We then walked another couple of blocks to Ralphs to buy a few bottles of wine, then to Horton Plaza for a currency exchange place which unfortunately didn’t open until 10. We never did exchange currency, and never needed to. We then hoofed it back to the hotel. San Diego is a wonderfully accessible city on foot.

 

SAN DIEGO MARITIME MUSEUM. It seems that everything is across the street from the Holiday Inn. We spent about 2 1/2 hours exploring the museum, even though the ship I most wanted to see, the HMS Surprise, was in dry dock. I’m a big fan of the Patrick O’Brian series of novels, and I was disappointed to miss Jack Aubrey’s famous ship of the line and the “star” of the movie Master & Commander. Nevertheless, the clipper Star of India, the ferry Berkeley (which I remember as a kid tied up in Sausalito), and all the other boats, ships and exhibits kept me absolutely enthralled. I highly recommend the museum to anyone with an interest in anything nautical.

 

EMBARKATION. We left the hotel shortly before 1PM (again, they let us checkout late), rolled our bags across the street to the Cruise Terminal, and were on the ship within half an hour of leaving our hotel room. It was all quite painless (and I hate waiting in line). We were then herded up to the feed lot on the Lido deck, which was a bit of a zoo. “Rooms are ready” was announced within another half hour, although it took another hour or two before our luggage arrived. At 5 o’clock sharp, with a blast of the ship’s horn that could probably be heard in Las Vegas, we eased away from the dock and headed south. I felt like a kid in a candy shop!

 

OOSTERDAM & HAL GENERALLY. Even with no other cruise line to compare it to, I have to say that the HAL service was amazing. The cabin stewards and food servers were universally friendly, cheerful and anxious to please, with the uncanny ability to recognize when something was needed and when the desire was to be left alone. For that reason above all others, our first choice for future cruises is likely to be HAL.

 

Obviously mainstream cruising is moving to larger and larger ships, a trend that doesn’t have much appeal for me. We thoroughly enjoyed the Oosterdam, and I don’t think I’d hesitate to cruise on a ship of her class again, but I would really like to try something smaller as well. Except at meals, it’s amazing how the ship absorbs almost 2,000 passengers, without feeling crowded. Nevertheless, you’re not likely to find me on Tenement of the Seas or Draconian Epic anytime soon.

More to follow shortly . . .

[tomculb]

BAHIA MAGDALENA. I thought I had researched everything there was to learn about this voyage, but I missed the fact that our second morning at sea we’d take a slight detour to cruise into this bay looking for wildlife. Pauline, our travel director, gave a wonderful (I’m sure) narration from the bridge of what we were seeing and what to look for, only to find out later that the mike wasn’t working and she spent the whole time talking to herself! Without narration we saw many fishing boats, a couple of small villages, and quite a few dolphin. . . . and several hours later a breaching humpback whale!

 

STATEROOM. We paid a few extra dollars (remarkably few, actually) for a Superior Veranda Suite (category SY) located on the Upper Veranda deck, and it was worth every penny. With its more square than bowling ally shape, it had a huge veranda, perfect for room service breakfast and a glass of wine before dinner. The room itself was comfortably large, with plenty of storage, two desk/dressing tables, and two sinks and a separate shower and tub in the bath. When I booked the cruise, there was a considerably larger price break between this cabin and the next larger one than between this one and the next smaller, which didn’t make a lot of sense but certainly accrued to our advantage.

 

PASSANGER DEMOGRAPHICS & BEHAVIOR. HAL has a reputation for attracting an older crowd, and I would guess the median age on our trip was somewhere in the mid to late 50s. Given the time of year it came as no surprise that there were virtually no children. There was the occasional scooter and walker (I hope I'm still cruising when I need that assistance), but far more people jogging around the Promenade Deck and/or working out in the gym. For the most part it was an active, well-traveled, enjoyable bunch.

 

Smoking, baseball caps, and sex on formal night in the MDR – never happened!

 

While we occasionally saw people smoking on board, the only place I felt smoke was noticeable was in the vicinity of the casino and sports bar, which we quickly passed by on the way to the Vista Lounge. People really wanting to avoid that smoke could get to the VL by walking forward on another deck and using the forward set of stairs or elevators.

 

MAZATLAN. With helpful bargaining from some friends we met on the ship, we hired a pulmonia for 4 hours for $50 for the 4 of us, and got a great tour of Mazatlan. We told the driver we wanted to see the highlights, no shopping, and shrimp for lunch, and that is exactly the tour we got. Lunch was in the Golden Zone at La Costa Marinera, and it was delicious, and the margaritas . . . well I’m glad we had a driver.

 

DINING. The food on the Oosterdam ranged from very good to excellent. We particularly liked the Caneletto and the Pinnacle Grill.

We opted for open dining rather than a fixed time. Both nights in the Canaletto we were able to reserve a table for two next to the window. Even though it is a partitioned-off portion of the Lido restaurant, it has an intimate feel to it that is lacking in the enormous MDR.

 

Despite what you might glean from these boards, formal night in the MDR is very popular, and the atmosphere (at 7:45PM after our first sea day) was borderline frenetic.

 

We made reservations our first night in the MDR; otherwise we didn’t bother and simply walked in when we wanted to eat. Asking for a table for two, one night we got one end of a six-top, with another couple at the other end (which was just fine with us), and another night they put us at a separate table for two upstairs where the fixed diners eat. As You Wish Dining, with all its options, worked very well for us.

 

Our final night we splurged on dinner in the Pinnacle Grill, and it was superb!

 

We generally had room service breakfast on our veranda – what a delight.

Neither of us cared much for the Lido – too crowded and not very relaxing. We had one breakfast and a couple of lunches there, but that was it.

 

More to follow soon . . .

[tomculb]

PUERTO VALLARTA. We shared a van with several other O’damers into downtown, and walked the length of the Malecon (boardwalk), then the beach after that, until rocks forced us to turn around. The Malecon has numerous interesting sculptures and of course a great view of the bay. Along the way we saw the Papalanta Flyers (they’re supposed to be a must-see in Mazatlan, but PV has them too). Then lunch of many appetizers and a margarita (or two) under the shade at La Palapa, a great restaurant at the south end of the Malecon. We walked back to the north end of the Malecon (lightening my wallet slightly at a jewelry store on the way), and caught a cab for the short ride back to the ship. The standard fare between the cruise terminal and downtown seemed to be $3 a person – hardly worth any bargaining.

 

GYM. The gym, nestled between the bridge (below) and the Crow’s Nest (above) has a spectacular view and a good array of treadmills, elliptical steppers and stationary bikes (upright and recumbent), including quite a few spinning bikes (available only during the $10 spinning class). Mid-morning on sea days, machines of most type were generally available. My only complaint was that the room temperature was quite a bit warmer than the gym I am used to. In addition to the gym, we got exercise by almost never using the elevators – being on deck 6 we were seldom more than four flights away from anything we wanted.

 

ENTERTAINMENT. What were referred to as the “singers and dancers of the Oosterdam” did three production shows. The first was a review of Broadway songs, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Their second was a review of pop songs that somehow lacked something (the band which pretended to be playing the pre-recorded music pretty much did me in). We didn’t go to the third show. There was also a duo who sang Irish tunes (accompanied by electric violin and guitar), and they were quite good. However, with all of these shows, I wished they would turn down the amplification some so at least those up close could hear at least something directly from the stage. We were in the fourth of fifth row for a couple of shows and never heard a live voice; everything came through a speaker. I recognize the need to have some pre-recorded music and maybe even voices with shows like this, but when everything is so amplified it begins to feel like none of the music is really live.

We also saw the magician (Leo Ward), and he was amazing! And quite funny. Hands down the best show we saw. He did a second, more personal, show the last afternoon, focusing only on sleight of hand tricks, in which he talked about how he got into magic and showed us how to do a trick or two.

We also heard good things about the comedian, but we missed that show.

What has been said about some poor sightlines in the Vista Lounge is true, but if we got to a show 10 or 15 minutes ahead of time, we had no difficulty getting a good seat.

I really enjoyed the chamber music group we walked by (in the Explorations lounge) on the way to dinner in the MDR, but somehow we never made it back to sit down and really listen to them. No amplification there (boy I’m really showing my age now!).

CABO SAN LUCAS. Tendered in, and the process went remarkably well. We were among the first off and the last on, and waited no more than 5 minutes either time. We walked the length of the perimeter of the marina, then out along Medano Beach some distance. There we hired a water taxi out to the famous arch and back ($15 for the two of us). We had lunch (still more shrimp and margaritas) at a place along the beach the name of which I don’t recall but which was pretty much indistinguishable from its neighbors. There is not much in the way of real Mexico visible in Cabo, mostly tourists, yachts, condos and hotels. However, on the long walk back my wife found a small jeweler who made her a pendant for a silver necklace she has – it took 15 minutes and cost us all of $15!

WEATHER. The first and last sea days were a little on the cool side, and I was glad I brought a wind breaker. I didn’t bring anything heavier, and didn’t miss it (but my wife tells me I’m more than warm blooded). The port days were warm but not uncomfortably hot and humid; just what I was hoping for with an April cruise. We were in Puerto Vallarta a couple of years ago in October, and for me it was oppressively hot and humid—people told us that was typical for that time of year.

DEBARKATION. Much as I hoped that technical difficulties (they couldn’t get the door open??) would keep us on the ship an additional day or two, disembarking was flawless and smooth. We opted to keep our bags with us (giving us a little more time to pack) rather than leave them out the night before, and we chose a later departure time. The ship was a little late getting in, meaning we didn’t have “silent” debarkation, but I’m not sure what difference that made. We disembarked (sadly) at about 10:30. We got a cab (less than a 5 minute wait in line) to a rent-a-car lot to pick up the four wheeled storage container for our luggage. I had learned from this board that there is no place to keep luggage in San Diego (the Holiday Inn apparently gets overwhelmed with requests it can’t handle), you can’t check your luggage more than four hours before your flight leaves, and Southwest doesn’t participate in the shipboard luggage check-in many of the major carriers do. So we used the car to drive up to La Jolla, and saw among other things the children’s beach that has been taken over by seals, and the Torre Pines Gliderport, which has been taken over by paragliders. A great day sightseeing helped ease the pain of leaving the ship. And taking off around 5:30 that evening sitting on the left side of the plane we got a great view of the Oosterdam leaving San Diego for another cruise to Mexico. I wish we were on it!

[Old As Dirt Mom]

Hi, Tom:

 

This wasn't just another Oosterdam Mexican Riviera review. This was an excellent, well-written, succinct, informative, helpful, entertaining, and easy-to-read review! Thanks very much! When I first started reading, I thought your teens had come along with you and you had somehow managed to ditch them along the way, but now I see it was just the two of you.;)

[Copper10-8]

Great review Tom! Thanks for taking the time! How 'bout that "motorcycle disappearance" illusion by Leo? Pretty cool

[bulgargirl]

Salmon river as in White Salmon? I'm from the gorge. God I love it there!

 

Great review!

[awhcruiser]

Thanks so much for the review. I am considering a cruise on the O in 2012 to the Mexican Riviera. Just waiting to see if it will happen and when.

[fatcat04]

Very nice review.. well written and entertaining. And yes Leo Ward is amazing and quite funny. Wouldn't miss a show by him ever. Glad you had a lovely time :D

[IRL_Joanie]

Thank you for the wonderfully entertaining review of my first HAL ship!!

 

I am so happy you had a wonderful time and enjoyed the Oosterdam!

 

Joanie

[SwissMyst]

OOSTERDAM & HAL GENERALLY. Even with no other cruise line to compare it to, I have to say that the HAL service was amazing. The cabin stewards and food servers were universally friendly, cheerful and anxious to please, with the uncanny ability to recognize when something was needed and when the desire was to be left alone. For that reason above all others, our first choice for future cruises is likely to be HAL.

 

 

More to follow shortly . . .

[/font

 

Drats, you discovered our secret weapon. The fantastic HAL crew. Fabulous review and looking forward to all the other installments. Welcome.

[tomculb]

Salmon river as in White Salmon? I'm from the gorge. God I love it there!

 

Great review!

 

You're referring to White Salmon across from Hood River, a truly beautiful place. I'm referring to the Salmon River which crosses the middle of Idaho, more or less between Salmon and Riggins. Also beautiful.

[bulgargirl]

You're referring to White Salmon across from Hood River, a truly beautiful place. I'm referring to the Salmon River which crosses the middle of Idaho, more or less between Salmon and Riggins. Also beautiful.

 

 

Oh, okay. That makes more sense. I was wondering how someone could raft down the river in White Salmon. But I agree, all of this Northwest area is beautiful!

 

Lol - sorry for the highjack folks!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome Home.

 

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

 

Years ago we went to Anthoy's -- thought the food was very greasy -- not up to the standards we like.

 

[scopewest]

Great review, I love that Holiday Inn, and I love the Vista ships. I sailed the Veendam and didn't like the ship size (felt it was too small) but others do. It's great that we all have a choice!

[pearliemae]

for a really great review!

[luvcruisn']

Thanks for the review. One of the times I've been in Cabo San Lucas, I took the city bus up to San Jose de Cabo. It was more "Mexican" than Cabo, and it was fun to watch the school kids, and local people get on and off the bus, speaking a rapid Spanish.

[Northshorecruisers]

Thanks for the review Tom. You mentioned many, many things that are the reason we love this trip so much! Looking forward to trying Caneletto on the next trip, and we always eat in the Pinnacle at least once if not twice. Next trip we will be in an SY. I too enjoy the wider rooms. Last trip we were in a deluxe suite thanks to a nice upgrade, but the price is a little too much for this trip since we're bringing the kids and need to get 3 cabins. But, next time we sail just the two of us, we'll do a deluxe suite. Really enjoyed the ammenities such as breakfast in the Pinnacle, service in the Neptune, and the free laundry - don't think we'd have time to really make use of those ammenities travelling with the kids. Glad to hear the verandah is good sized because I'm not fond of the Lido and prefer to have breakfast (and sometimes lunch) on our verandah.

Glad you had a great time and hope to hear more from you on other cruises you take with HAL. Happy Anniversary to you and your wife!

[tomculb]

Great review Tom! Thanks for taking the time! How 'bout that "motorcycle disappearance" illusion by Leo? Pretty cool

Pretty cool is right. Part of it must be (I think) a very light weight motorcycle shell that disappears from the stage and the real thing appears . . . well, wouldn't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen it. At his second show he talked about how much of illusion is showmanship, being able to draw the undivided attention of the crowd to what he wants us to see, while we are oblivious to what he doesn't want us to see. He is truly a master at that. Even when he showed us how he does a couple of simple tricks, I remain in awe of his ability to pull it off!

[tomculb]

Hi, Tom:

 

This wasn't just another Oosterdam Mexican Riviera review. This was an excellent, well-written, succinct, informative, helpful, entertaining, and easy-to-read review! Thanks very much! When I first started reading, I thought your teens had come along with you and you had somehow managed to ditch them along the way, but now I see it was just the two of you.;)

Thanks for the kind comments. I wish you'd been my high school English teacher, but no way you're old enough. :)

[off2ctheworld]

Thanks for the review. We agree-took this same cruise a few years ago and it made us loyal HAL fans. Happy to hear nothing has changed:)