Itinerary change

[KroozNut]

Anyone have any idea why HAL seems to be reversing the order of port visits on their Mexican Riviera itineraries this season?

 

They are basically reversing the traditional order of port visits for whatever reason (they say for ‘operational reasons’). So now, for our sailing on Oosterdam in March '20, we’re two sea days down, with PV our first port, then Mazatlán and finally Cabo last; prior to returning to SD.

 

No big deal in our view, The times in port are pretty much the same, except that now we arrive in Cabo earlier (7am instead of 10am), and leave earlier (3pm instead of 6pm) – still 8 hours in port.

 

We have a friend that is taking the same cruise on a different date in the Spring of '20, and his itinerary was changed as well, so it's not just our sailing.  As I mentioned, I'm fine with the change, and I actually like it better. I also understand that itinerary changes sometimes happen, so it's not an issue with me.. I was just curious if anyone else has been affected by this, their thoughts, and whether anyone has any knowledge of why the changes are being made.

Edited November 23, 2019 by KroozNut

[jas283a]

We sailed on NCL this past March and it was basically the same itinerary (they didn’t change it, that’s what it was). Idk why though. I figured it had to do with when different ships were in port. What was nice is we were the only ship in 2 of 3 ports. 

[wilmingtech]

I'm guessing because Norwegian Joy and Carnival Panorama are doing the same ports as well and if they all leave on a Sat/Sun from LA there would be a lot of overlap.  HAL is doing the right thing by reversing the order.  You'll have a much better experience, especially in Cabo and Mazatlan without having to contend with 8000 other cruisers.

[KroozNut]

1 hour ago, wilmingtech said:

I'm guessing because Norwegian Joy and Carnival Panorama are doing the same ports as well and if they all leave on a Sat/Sun from LA there would be a lot of overlap.  HAL is doing the right thing by reversing the order.  You'll have a much better experience, especially in Cabo and Mazatlan without having to contend with 8000 other cruisers.

 

I was thinking that might be the case as well. When I looked at the port schedules for our dates, I saw that there were 4 ships (some very large) in two of the three ports, and three ships in the other at the same time.

 

I like the idea that the change might mean less congestion in the ports when we're there. 🙂

[Podie]

My friend is boarding HAL later this week and said they just changed the order of their ports again, bringing them into Mazatlán the same day as the enormous Joy.

[Ine]

The change will be good for your stay in Puerto Vallarta. On the original itinary it would be on Wednesday. A very busy day with 2 other big Carnival and Princess ships in port. Of course the town will be crowded and cabs and touroperators might have had some problems with that many passengers!

Now you dock on Tuesday and most of the time it will be the only ship.

[CWcruisers]

That was the itinerary when we went on the Oosterdam in April 2019.   PV, Mazatlan and short day in Cabo.

[CWcruisers]

Now that I think about it, the Oosterdam tracked me on the Miracle last week.  It was the Oosterdam, the Miracle and the Royal Princess.  Oosterdam and Miracle are the same size, so I think that must be the answer, when the big ones come in, they change the itinerary.  Getting the shuttle back to the ship in Mazatlan was a zoo last week as it was, I can only imagine when the Panorama comes in.

[KroozNut]

5 hours ago, CWcruisers said:

Now that I think about it, the Oosterdam tracked me on the Miracle last week.  It was the Oosterdam, the Miracle and the Royal Princess.  Oosterdam and Miracle are the same size, so I think that must be the answer, when the big ones come in, they change the itinerary.  Getting the shuttle back to the ship in Mazatlan was a zoo last week as it was, I can only imagine when the Panorama comes in.

 

Royal Princess is pretty huge. Were the three ships in all three ports together at the same time? If so, did it seem overly crowded in any of the ports, and did the three ships in Cabo overload the tendering process?

[CWcruisers]

15 hours ago, KroozNut said:

 

Royal Princess is pretty huge. Were the three ships in all three ports together at the same time? If so, did it seem overly crowded in any of the ports, and did the three ships in Cabo overload the tendering process?

No problem at all with tendering, but out ship was also last in.  We got into Cabo around 11 am.   The only place where the crowds were a problem was in Mazatlan trying to get the shuttle back.  The lines were disorganized and some people ended up waiting a long time only to find out they were in the wrong line.   All three ships were with us in all ports.  But now throw in the Panorama, oh boy!