Jump to content

HAL's Copper Canyon tour


tripcrazy

Recommended Posts

We are booked on HAL's Oct. 2nd cruise to the Mexican Riviera. A trip to the Copper Canyon is offered as a land tour out of the port of Topolobampo for $800...for two. Has anyone taken this tour? If so how was it? I've heard mostly cons so far.

 

Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My DH and I took a land tour of the Copper Canyon. We were gone a week, staying at the finest hotels and enjoying fine dining, tours etc., for a little over twice what you will pay HAL for a tiring bus and train ride, with at least half of the tour in the dark, for a long 17 hours.

 

Copper Canyon, in our opinion, is a wonderful destination. I would not do it on a cruise ship tour.

 

Karen

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are booked on HAL's Oct. 2nd cruise to the Mexican Riviera. A trip to the Copper Canyon is offered as a land tour out of the port of Topolobampo for $800...for two. Has anyone taken this tour? If so how was it? I've heard mostly cons so far.

 

Thanks!

We did the Copper Canyon tour on Hal about 1-1/2 years ago. We very much enjoyed it. Keep in mind that it is the "journey" more than the "destination," as you don't spend a lot of time at the canyon. My husband is a big train buff, so we have been on numerous scenic train rides all over the country. When you consider how remote and rugged the Copper Canyon area is, having a train snake through it is quite a feat! We chose to do this excursion because we had always wanted to go on the Copper Canyon train but did not want to devote a week to a land vacation. If you decide to go, be forewarned - the excursion is l-o-n-g! We got up at about 2:00 am, had breakfast by 3:00 am, and were on the bus by about 4:15 am. We did not arrive back to the ship until about 10:30-11:00 pm. Are we glad we did this trip? Absolutely. Would we choose to do this excursion again in the future? Probably not. We met many people on our cruise who loved the Copper Canyon excursion. We also met just as many others who were disappointed in it. They couldn't understand why people would travel 6 hrs. one-way on a train to only spend a couple hours at the canyon. What they were not taking into consideration is that the train is the excursion. Maybe more so than the final destination. Hope this information helps you make up your mind!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with PCruiser, about the train ride being absolutely spectacular. If this might be your only chance to experience the Copper Canyon, I'd say go for it.

 

Take a sweater, though. It may be hot when you leave, but you will need it on the train. The train's A/C is very very good. :D

 

Karen

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is what I wrote up a couple of years ago -- we were not able to do this tour because of DH's heart condition -- it is a long day:

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

We were not able to do this tour due to DH's heart condition -- it is a long day.

But this is what I wrote up about it from a Q & A session that we attended:

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I made the trip while on a Ryndam cruise in March 2007. It was an excellent shore excursion -- keep in mind that it's a journey and adventure, NOT your everyday shore excursion. It's LONG and can be tiring, but I felt that the whole journey was worth it. The trip us is definitely part of the whole experience ... the views are lovely, and the train itself is comfortable.

 

For photos of my trip, check my galleries here:

 

Part 1: http://homepage.mac.com/revneal/ryndam2007/PhotoAlbum209.html

Part 2: http://homepage.mac.com/revneal/ryndam2007/PhotoAlbum210.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My DH and I took a land tour of the Copper Canyon. We were gone a week, staying at the finest hotels and enjoying fine dining, tours etc., for a little over twice what you will pay HAL for a tiring bus and train ride, with at least half of the tour in the dark, for a long 17 hours.

 

Copper Canyon, in our opinion, is a wonderful destination. I would not do it on a cruise ship tour.

 

Karen

 

Karen, who did you use for the land tour (that stayed in the best hotels)? I haven't seen anything offered for under about $1,500.00 (with tax and insurance) for 7 nights. Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I took the Copper Canyon Tour in April while on the Sea of Cortez/Ryndam cruise.

 

I personally would highly recommend it. It is a long day but for those of us that are train buffs, etc. it is a wonderful trip.

 

As we left the ship around 4 in the morning there was the Captain waiting at the bottom of the gangway wishing all of us a wonderful trip.

 

The trip up the canyon to the top and down was worth the trip IMHO.

 

I enjoyed the meal that was served for lunch at Copper Canyon.

 

Upon our return there were the ships officers lined up on each side to welcome us back on board.

 

Have never been on a ships tour where we were so royally sent off and welcomed back.

 

It was a long day for me but I really enjoyed it. My DF said it would be to much for her tho and did not go.

 

Go and enjoy the trip.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We did the Sea of Cortes just after RevNeal in April 09.

 

We did not do this excursion although we did look long and hard at it and did a lot of research before we made our decision. We did a day long cultural and historic excursion to El Fuerte instead and it was frankly the best ship excursion we have ever taken.

 

That aside, we did have the opportunity to talk with some pax in the days after the Ryndam excursion and their responses were interesting to say the least. There were no 'fence sitters' on this one!!! They either thought it was 'great'....or they thought it was the worst thing they had ever done!

 

After talking with these folks we decided that we had made the correct decision in not going.....but that was based entirely on criteria that applied specifically to us....and as is obvious...makes no sense to several hundred people who enjoyed every minute of the adventure.

 

It is not fair to give you just a 'yeah' or 'nay' answer based on individual experience! Do your research....as RevNeal pointed out...it is not your 'average' shore excursion but ranks right up there with a hike to Macho Picho, (sp)...or the trek to the Pyramids or Angor Watt! It IS an adventure for sure.

 

At the end of all the discussions we had, we came to the conclusion that the week long bus and train adventure from Arizona did the Copper Canyon more justice than the HAL 18 hour train ride....but that is just us!

 

No matter what you decide to do it is a wonderful part of the world to get off the ship and spend the day exploring!

 

Good luck and have a great cruise!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Long day . . . but I would definitely recommend doing the Copper Canyon Tour, just know what to expect. Pics at http://richarddetrich.wordpress.com/2008/05/31/mexicos-copper-canyon/

and also some on http://cruisingguide.wordpress.com/?s=copper+canyon

 

It is a long, tiring, but rewarding day.

 

Regards, Richard

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I took the Cooper Canyon trip last March. It is a long day but it is well worth it even if it is just for the scenery. You travel from sea level to 7200 feet with an amazing changes the plant life. I would not recommend the trip to anyone with any physical disabilities.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My DH and I took a land tour of the Copper Canyon. We were gone a week, staying at the finest hotels and enjoying fine dining, tours etc., for a little over twice what you will pay HAL for a tiring bus and train ride, with at least half of the tour in the dark, for a long 17 hours.

 

Copper Canyon, in our opinion, is a wonderful destination. I would not do it on a cruise ship tour.

 

Karen

 

 

I hope to do this at some point. I haven't found anyone offering round trip from Arizona who also offers two section/rides on the Copper Canyon train.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is the review I wrote soon after our experience. I submitted it as a review but it wasn't detailed enough!:rolleyes: Recognize that it was in 2008 so price no longer applies. I hope it is not inappropriate to post it here. I was encourged by the Host to post it, but wasn't advised where. I guess if it shouldn't be here, it'll be moved. Maureen

Copper Canyon, Mexico, Shore Excursion

 

Holland America Line, MS Ryndam, April 2008

 

Maureen Lincoln, 53, Retired

Number of Cruises: 7

My husband and I took this cruise specifically for the train excursion to Copper Canyon, which is on the scale of the Grand Canyon. Copper Canyon is in a remote, mountainous location, southwest of Chihuahua, making it difficult to get to, so a cruise with this option seemed like a winning combination for us. We experienced this shore excursion during the 10-day Sea of Cortez itinerary, roundtrip from San Diego, with all Mexican ports of call: Cabo San Lucas, Loreto, La Paz, Topolobampo (take off point for Copper Canyon), Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. This excursion is variably billed as “Copper Canyon by Train,” “Copper Canyon Tour,” and “Copper Canyon Train Journey,” but in actuality, this is mainly a train ride through beautiful scenery to the edge of the magnificent canyon but it does not tour the canyon.

This is an expensive shore excursion ($439 per adult) but it’s certainly no ordinary day trip. It is an 18-hour journey that begins and ends in the dark, but has beautiful bright scenery all day long. In preparation, I ordered a book about Copper Canyon before we left for the cruise and found it helpful. Although it seems that there is a lot time on the train, it can be difficult to absorb all the history and the scenic views, so for me a little homework was valuable.

Upon arrival in our stateroom on the day of embarkation, we received our pre-paid excursion tickets and a personal invitation to attend the next day’s shore excursion team’s orientation. This presentation gave us all the information we needed on what to expect, what to bring and how they would be taking care of our needs during this unusual day. They explained the schedule and the journey, showed pictures of the train, the canyon and the terrain along the way. We were introduced to the history and culture of the area, especially the Tarahumara natives that we would meet, and their crafts that we would be able to purchase. We were informed that ship’s crew accompanying us would include not only shore excursion staff, but also medical staff and housekeeping staff (for sanitizing along our way); we would be accompanied in each bus and train car while we traveled. The train was chartered exclusively for the HAL group, who numbered about 235 ship’s guests (a sell-out) and 15 crewmembers. During the orientation, they addressed many concerns including food safety and issues for those with mobility challenges. If, after hearing the presentation, you wanted to cancel your reservation, the last chance for a refund was that evening. I think HAL did an excellent job of honestly informing us of all the details so we’d have no surprises.

The day before our excursion, we each received in our cabin, written instructions reminding us of the information in the presentation (which had also been showing on the ship’s television); included with the instructions was a bottle of sanitizing gel for each traveler. All we needed to do was to go to bed early and show up on time! Because my husband and I were in late dinner seating for this cruise, we opted that evening for an early dinner at the Lido buffet, followed by the early show and then an early turn-in.

Our adventurous day began with a full, hot breakfast served in the Lido buffet from 3-4am. At 4am we were to be in the show lounge for assignments for bus number, train car and lunch seating. By 4:10 the ship was docked and the first of our troupe was being escorted to the six buses that would take us to the train. Our housekeeping crew had sanitized the buses before we boarded them. On the buses we met our local tour guides who would be with us the whole day. The bus ride was just under two hours, which we were told, is much less time than the approximately four hours that it would take to ride the train all the way from Topolobampo, due to poor track conditions in that stretch. It was quite dark and the bus ride was a good time to nap.

Once we arrived at the train depot in El Fuerte, it took only a few minutes for our crew to sanitize the train coaches for us. There was barely enough time to for us to assemble our day’s gear and listen to final directions before we were guided to our assigned train cars to choose our seats ourselves. The sun wasn’t up yet but the sky was showing signs of brightening. Coffee and bottled water were served immediately.

The train coaches were very comfortable with upholstered, reclining seats and overhead racks for our gear. The coaches were also equipped with adjustable, in-glass window blinds, climate control and restrooms. There was a lounge car in the train’s consist which sold beverages and snacks, as well as a few souvenirs. We were very glad that we had been informed in the ship’s presentation that there would be an excellent DVD for sale on the train, so we were prepared with the right cash for the purchase.

We were pulling away from the station in very short order, wasting no time at all, leaving well ahead of our 7am scheduled departure. Our coach (one of four) had a public address system and our tour guide used a wireless microphone, so we were able to hear all of his commentary clearly throughout the day, which added to our enjoyment and understanding of the history and culture of the area. The sun was up in just a few minutes and we were gliding through farmland. Farms soon gave way to sparsely vegetated land with unusual shrubs and flowering cactus. But shortly, we began to climb in elevation and as we went higher, the landscape changed continuously, leaving colorful grasslands in favor of scenic slopes and forests. Soon we were served a boxed continental breakfast with pastry, fruit, yogurt and juice.

The portion of the route we traversed begins at an elevation of 670 ft (at El Fuente) and goes up to 7000 ft at Posada Barrancas, our destination. We traveled through four vegetation zones into the Ponderosa Pine forest, seeing many different types of plant life and beautiful flowers along the way. We passed by hamlets and small towns, rivers, deep gorges, lakes and a few waterfalls. Although this area has a generally arid climate, it receives its heaviest rain in the fall season and should be even more spectacular then, with more waterfalls and flowers. Picture taking was aided by having access to the vestibules between the train cars. These vestibules had Dutch-doors on each side of the car, so with the upper doors open, we were able to take unobstructed photos from each side of the train throughout the day. This required standing and working against the sideways lurching of the train but it was worth it for the beauty and refreshing breeze.

The railroad was designed and laid over many decades, being finished in 1961. The engineering is a marvel with over 80 tunnels and more than 30 bridges. The longest tunnel is over a mile and the most complex tunnel spirals up inside the mountain, making a full 180-degree turn. The mountains are volcanic in origin, rugged and picturesque. The dry climate gave us fantastic deep blue skies and the temperature was neither too cool nor too hot. Although we carried jackets, we only used them in the early morning when we were boarding the buses. Our sun hats were useful during the short time we spent at Posada Barrancas on the edge of Copper Canyon.

We arrived at our destination just about noon, where school buses awaited us. Some buses took those who had been assigned first-seating lunch to the convention center for their meal, and those of us in second-seating lunch were driven to El Mirador, the beautiful hotel built into the side of Copper Canyon. There we had three options: to enjoy the view from the hotel veranda; to take the short, climbing hike up to the canyon’s edge rim-walk; or to climb down the 240 steps to a Tarahumara cave dwelling. We had about an hour there, which was not enough time to do all three, so we opted for walking (and photographing) along the canyon rim and a quick stop at the hotel veranda, which had an equally splendid view. The trail was on natural, rocky paths, with uneven footing, so many folks elected to enjoy the view from the hotel. It is the same view from any vantagepoint, but the walk along the rim gave us a little different sense of the canyon and I think, was better for photographs. Tarahumara natives greeted us with their beautiful baskets for sale, and local residents sold a few other souvenirs: scarves, stamped copper plates, copper pans, rock and mineral specimens. The baskets, of all sizes and shapes, were the hot item and were quite inexpensive. Many of the native women were sitting with their children near our paths, working on their creations.

The canyon vista is exquisite here, where three canyons converge. It is such an immense scene that it is impossible to take it all in. Unfortunately this was the only vista of Copper Canyon we got to see, although it was indeed breathtaking.

After an hour or so our group was taken by bus to the convention center for our meal. The ship’s crew greeted us there with hand sanitizer stations and we were served a buffet of sautéed fish and chicken, Spanish rice and vegetables, then seated in a bright and colorfully decorated dining room with tables set with salsa, beans and quesadillas. Each place also had bottled water and a glass of a refreshing juice-like drink made from hibiscus. The meal concluded with flan and was quickly followed with an outdoor presentation of Tarahumara native dancing and a demonstration of their running sports.

Soon we were escorted to our train for the ride back. Although the return is along the same track, it isn’t as redundant as one might think; the light is different, you see things from a different direction and you get to see things you missed on the way up. Because the train doesn’t “turn around,” the seats in the train coach had been “flipped” so that we were again facing forward. On the way up, we were given seat assignments on the opposite side of the coach for the return-trip, which maximized everybody’s viewing potential.

We departed Posada Barrancas about 2:30pm, and in the late afternoon we were served a refreshing boxed lunch. Our arrival in El Fuente for our bus connection was before 8pm, finally reaching the ship just before 10pm.

At the dock, a grand welcoming committee of many of the Ryndam’s officers and steaming wash cloths to freshen us up welcomed us “home”. There was a prime rib dinner ready for us in the Lido buffet and, for those who weren’t up to dinner, there were sandwiches wrapped and ready to take to your stateroom. Of course, there is always the option of 24-hr in-room dining service!

It was a long day but I’m very glad we took the opportunity to experience this unusual adventure. Holland America staff took exceptional care of us; they did everything they could to fully inform us beforehand, to ensure that our time was not wasted for a minute during transfers and that we were safe and comfortable the entire journey.

Would we do it again? We would probably choose a new adventure instead, but we heartily recommend this unusual excursion to those who enjoy adventures and especially enjoy picturesque train rides.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the great review. We are doing this trip in March. My husband refuses to eat anything in Mexico,(the reason we have never done the land tour of the canyon), so I was planning to take a supply of granola bars for him and he will pass on lunch. I was wondering if anyone skipped lunch and stayed at the canyon and returned with the second group?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

mek:

I'm not aware of anybody in our group skipping lunch.

 

It is not immediately obvious to me how easy or difficult that would be, as the lucheon is not served at the same location as the canyon view area. We were shuttled: first one half of the group went to the view area while the other half ate, then the shuttles swapped us. It wasn't far, as I recall, and (I'm speculating) could probably be easily walked if arrangements were made with the tour guides. Posadas Barrancas is a small village.

m--

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The food was great! Lunch on the train was basic box lunch, but the hotel food was very good at the Canyon. The ship's doctor was with us . . . and nobody had any problems, during . . . or after.

 

The altitude is what it is, and unfortunately that rules the trip out for a few folks, but it is a unique and memoral trip . . . long, but worth it. The greatest thing was when we got back to the ship at 11 PM (after leaving at 4 AM) the Captain and his senior officers were all standing by a long red carpet to welcome us home, and the Lido was open just for us!

 

Regards, Richard

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • ANNOUNCEMENT: Save $2,000 & Sail Away to Australia’s Kimberley
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...

If you are already a Cruise Critic member, please log in with your existing account information or your email address and password.