Mexican Riviera On Oosterdam??

[willowoodf]

DH and I are busy trying to plan our next cruise (after the Westerdam in December) and are thinking of the Mexican Riviera on the Oosterdam in spring. Any thoughts, anyone? Who has been to the Mexican Riviera and liked it or didn't like it? Thoughts on the Oosterdam??

 

Mary

[dakrewser]

DH and I are busy trying to plan our next cruise (after the Westerdam in December) and are thinking of the Mexican Riviera on the Oosterdam in spring. Any thoughts, anyone? Who has been to the Mexican Riviera and liked it or didn't like it? Thoughts on the Oosterdam??

 

Mary

 

A lovely ship and a relaxing itinerary - go for it!

 

See the slide show of our Oosterdam cruise last winter at

 

http://vquill.com/gallery/Mexico05/Mexico05.wmv

[Iggipolka]

I was so hoping that someone would ask this question. :) I'm booked on the Oosterdam to Mexico in November and am so looking forward to the cruise! Since the O is in Alaska now, there hasn't been much discussion about Mexico. I'm guessing that once fall comes around, more people will be talking about their cruises to Mexico.

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

I was so hoping that someone would ask this question. :) I'm booked on the Oosterdam to Mexico in November and am so looking forward to the cruise! Since the O is in Alaska now, there hasn't been much discussion about Mexico. I'm guessing that once fall comes around, more people will be talking about their cruises to Mexico.

 

We are sailing on the "O" in October. We have a group of 10 of us, all in S suites so we are looking forward to being pampered. If you are looking for more information on the Mexican Riviera, check our Ports of Call, Mexican Riviera. I have really learn a great deal of useful information, especially regarding tours and things to do when we are in port. Have a great time in November. :cool:

[cruznon]

Go for it--the OOsterdam is a beautiful ship and the Mexican Riviera is a great cruise.

We've done the Mexican Riviera in November and in Feb. I really prefer the Nov over Feb. I think April would also be a good month. In Feb it was in the 80's and 90's in Mexico.

 

You'll really enjoy this cruise!:)

[cruisecrasy]

Appreciate the info but wld u plse answer one more small question? What are the temps like in the Mex Riv in late Nov? Thanks so much in advance & happy cruisin'!!

[jimmymo13]

We are sailing on the "O" in October. We have a group of 10 of us' date=' all in S suites so we are looking forward to being pampered. If you are looking for more information on the Mexican Riviera, check our Ports of Call, Mexican Riviera. I have really learn a great deal of useful information, especially regarding tours and things to do when we are in port. Have a great time in November. :cool:[/quote']

 

Wandering Wino's - great name! We'll (My wife and I) be right there with you on the Oct. 22nd sailing on the Oosterdam. We also are booked in an 'S' suite and are looking forward to the pampering. It's nice to meet some of our neighbors. :) Looking forward to it!!

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

Wandering Wino's - great name! We'll (My wife and I) be right there with you on the Oct. 22nd sailing on the Oosterdam. We also are booked in an 'S' suite and are looking forward to the pampering. It's nice to meet some of our neighbors. :) Looking forward to it!!

 

Hello, thanks for checking in. Have you visited our roll call? It's Ms Oosterdam 10/22/05. We are on the Rotterdam Deck, pretty close to the Neptune Lounge, I'm sure we will see you and your wife there. Since my picture is my avator you will probably beable to pick me out. Hopefully not because I'm living up to my name!;) Shirley

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

Wandering Wino's - great name! We'll (My wife and I) be right there with you on the Oct. 22nd sailing on the Oosterdam. We also are booked in an 'S' suite and are looking forward to the pampering. It's nice to meet some of our neighbors. :) Looking forward to it!!

 

Oops, I just looked at where you guys are from, Long Beach is my home town, born and raised there, my husband works near the Long Beach airport. Long Beach, Seal Beach, Irvine, Corona del Mar and finally Huntington Beach. Haven't gone far but sure have had a lot of fun getting there! :D

[Iggipolka]

From what I've read, the weather in Mexico in November is usually between 75 and 85 degrees. So, perfect! :) The water tends to be on the chilly side though. I've been debating about snorkling or scuba diving and I think I may wait until my next Carribean cruise for water activities.

[cruznon]

OOps... I meant 80's/90's in NOVEMBER. It was 90 in Puerto Vallerta the day before Thanksgiving.

 

In Feb of this year it was very overcast and temps were in the mid 70's-low 80's. But keep in mind we were having unusual storms during this time on the West Coast.

The sea days in Feb were rather cool.

In November, it was cool the first day. The second morning awoke to very warm and tropical temps! We've done this twice in Nov and loved the weather then.

[shipcafe]

Where's RevNeal? He has a really good perspective on it, for sure.

Ohhh Reevvv??

[mechcc]

We did this cruise in April and enjoyed it alot. The weather was great everywhere except for the last sea day. Other then slow service in the dining room the service was great all over the ship. We were in a suite accross from the Neptune Lounge which we considered a perfect location. We did experience a broken pipe in the bathroom the first day and were compensated with some extras for our inconvience. If you are going to the shows, don't sit in the back. Sometimes you can see only the bottom half of the performers and since they were family friendly shows, it wasn't at all interesting. ;) Shore excursions are such a personal matter that I hesitate to comment except to say we were dissappointed big time in Liz Taylor and Richard Burton's home in Puerto Vallarta. You certaintly should be able to go snorkling in April and October and maybe even earlier and later in the year. Mikey at the Martini Bar is the absolute best. We had lots of children on our cruise since the West Coast does not do the spring break all at one time. The children seemed to enjoy Club Hal because we rarely saw them. All in all it was a great cruise on a great ship with a wonderful crew. Enjoy it!!!!

[RevNeal]

Yes, Steeeeeevie! :D

 

It's a GREAT cruise. I loved both the ship and the itinerary, and would do it again in a heart beat if the time were right (i.e., if I had the time at the right time of the year).

 

I went in Feb of this year. For photos, see here:

 

http://homepage.mac.com/revneal/oosterdam05/Menu43.html

 

For a review, read here:

 

http://www.revneal.org/oostreview.html

 

Oh ... and my review of the Oosterdam has just recently been published by SeaLetter! :) Cool.

[willowoodf]

Thank you to everybody that has replied to this thread! Rev Neal - I really loved the photos and the review! The ship and location sound wonderful. I have a call in to my TA and may just book this cruise tomorrow!! I just wrote HAL for my mariner number (not on website yet) and that saves a LITTLE bit!

 

Dakrewser - I just get a blank page when I click on your link. Can you resend?

 

Mary

[Sopwith]

My wife and I sailed the Mex Riviera last October on the O'dam, leaving Vancouver to Ft Lauderdale. Had a great time. The O'dam is not our favourite ship...too big. But we are booked on the sistership W'dam for Jan '06, so I can say we would do it again.

 

We enjoyed the P Canal and Caribbean more than Mexico, but still had a good time. Stops in Mexico included Cabo, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta and Zihuatanejo. All good ports, but had a less than satisfactory tour in PV. Missed one stop in Nicaragua due to large swells, which swamped the tender boarding platform. The harbour was too small for the O'dam, so it had to anchor in the open water, unsheltered from the ocean swell. Disappointing, because otherwise the weather that day was great...sunny, gentle breeze.

 

Got caught in a short but VERY intense thunder squal in Zihuatanejo. Missed the tender to the ship by one person, and got left standing on the dock when the squall hit. Then they shut down the tenders until the squall passed, about 30 minutes. Rain was so hard we couldn't see the ship less than half a mile out. Had about 100 pax huddled on the dock under a small tent, and we all got soaked to the ass. The crew was great trying to make the best of it. Wasn't too bad until we hit the air conditioned air back on the ship. It all adds to the adventure.

 

Snorkeling was good in Cabo, better in Zihuatanejo, best in Tortola. Didn't enjoy Mazatlan that much. Just a busy city, nothing special except the catherdral.

 

Again, we had a good time, but probably would cruise elsewhere before going back to the Mex Riviera.

[cruznon]

In Mazatlan we took a neat HAL excursion up into the Sierra Madres. We visited the small Mexican Colonial town of Concordia and then the small village (900 inhabitants) of Capala--complete with cobblestone streets and small town plaza.

 

Tour took about 7 hours and all on our tour really seemed to enjoy it.

 

In Ziuhuatanejo we took cab to Ixtapa and spent a few hours on the beach on one of the beautiful hotels. (Make sure you walk away from the dock area to get a taxi at a resonable rate, otherwise thye try to overcharge bigtime!)

[Vic The Parrot]

I was on Oosterdam the same week as Greg, and loved every minute. Great ports ... great company ... great food.

A perfect 1 - week getaway!

 

:)

[dakrewser]

Thank you to everybody that has replied to this thread! Rev Neal - I really loved the photos and the review! The ship and location sound wonderful. I have a call in to my TA and may just book this cruise tomorrow!! I just wrote HAL for my mariner number (not on website yet) and that saves a LITTLE bit!

 

Dakrewser - I just get a blank page when I click on your link. Can you resend?

 

Mary

 

http://vquill.com/gallery/Mexico05/Mexico05.wmv is a slideshow, so it might take a couple of minutes to load. You can also try http://vquill.com/gallery/Mexico05/Mexico05.mpg - the same slideshow, but lower resolution so it loads faster.

 

You can also read my "O'dam diary" here.

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

http://vquill.com/gallery/Mexico05/Mexico05.wmv is a slideshow, so it might take a couple of minutes to load. You can also try http://vquill.com/gallery/Mexico05/Mexico05.mpg - the same slideshow, but lower resolution so it loads faster.

 

You can also read my "O'dam diary" here.

 

Thanks for your review of the Ooserdam. We are sailing in October to the Mexican Riviera on the "O", for a seven day cruise. :confused: Can you give us a heads up on the formal, informal and casual nights for this cruise. Thanks, Shirley

[willowoodf]

Dave -

 

I still couldn't get that first link to work. Now I get a message saying "source filter for this file could not be loaded".

 

But I did look at the second link - thank you! Looks beautiful! I liked the pirate ship!

 

Mary

[dakrewser]

Dave -

 

I still couldn't get that first link to work. Now I get a message saying "source filter for this file could not be loaded".

 

But I did look at the second link - thank you! Looks beautiful! I liked the pirate ship!

 

Mary

 

Ah, that's a message either from your browser or the Windows Media Player. We loved the pirate ship, and saw more whales in one morning then we'd seen on dozens of other whale-watching tours.

 

Wandering Wino's: There were 2 formal, 1 informal and 4 casual nights. The formal nights were Sunday and Thursday...

[dam1050]

Thanks Dave for providing the links to your excellent review of the Oosterdam Mexican Riviera -- most enjoyable! :)

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

Ah, that's a message either from your browser or the Windows Media Player. We loved the pirate ship, and saw more whales in one morning then we'd seen on dozens of other whale-watching tours.

 

Wandering Wino's: There were 2 formal, 1 informal and 4 casual nights. The formal nights were Sunday and Thursday...

 

Dave, thanks, that was so helpful. Now we know what to expect and what to pack and most of all what to shop for ;)

[willowoodf]

Dave - Maybe I need to update my media player!! I tried it at home and got the blank page, at work I got the funny message. Of course, I don't know when either media players have been updated!!

 

WE DID IT! We booked the Mexican Riviera in April. We are pretty excited! I'm either going to have to win the lottery or get a second (oops, make that third!) job to pay for all these cruises! But it sure is nice to save money for something so fun!

 

Mary