Panama Canal Westerdam Oct. 1-16 review

[Hoyaheel]

I posted our photos elsewhere, here's a quickish review, if you have questions, let me know!

Panama Canal cruise, A Pirate Looks at Forty

Holland America Line, Westerdam

October 1-16

Quickie overview:

Tu 9/30 Fly out afternoon on Southwest through Phoenix

0 W: 10/1 San Diego, California embarkation

1 Th: 10/2 At Sea

2 F: 10/3 Cabo San Lucas, Mexico Didn’t leave the ship—tender issues due to waves, long lines—we hit the aft pool instead

3 S: 10/4 At Sea

4 Su: 10/5 Acapulco, Mexico: walked around on own, much of the harbor, saw the cliff divers, fort & museum

5 M 10/6 Huatulco, Mexico: chartered a boat, captain & tour guide from Xpert Travel

Jorge Cabrera" <jcabrera@huatulcobays.com

http://www.huatulcobays.com/english/index.htm

6 T 10/7 Puerto Chiapas, Mexico Visited the dock, had a couple beers in the bar

7 W: 10/8 Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala Antigua on your own tour

8 Th: 10/9 At Sea

9 F:10/10 Puntarenas, Costa Rica Boat tour in mangrove swamp

10 S 10/11 At Sea (scenic cruising, Golfo Dulce in the morning)

11 S 10/12 Panama Canal, Panama 12 M 10/13 Cartagena, Colombia Cartagena City tour A (fort, monastery, Old Town, Shopping)

13 Tu 10/14 At Sea

14 W 10/15 At Sea

15 Th 10/16 Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fly home on Southwest

On September 30 we flew to San Diego on Southwest through Phoenix. We arrived in time to see the Veendam and Mariner of the Seas leaving port. We stayed in the Holiday Inn on the Bay, 12th floor facing the harbor (rm 1259, $179/night), with a balcony. Great view, nice room, very friendly and helpful staff. Great balcony, facing the harbor, right across the street from the cruise ship terminal. Bought our soda at Rite Aid (2 blocks away) and had a couple of ice cold beers (also from Rite Aid) on our balcony as we watched the gorgeous sunset and properly began our vacation. We had dinner at the Fish Market just south of the Midway—a couple of blocks walking.

October 1: We were up early to watch the Westerdam sail into the harbor. Actually—we were up too early so we ended up having breakfast at a little deli outside our hotel (facing the harbor, just in case) but still made it back to the room before Westerdam approached (about 8am it docked). We made another trip to Rite Aid (after we took lots of photos of the ship) to buy a bottle of “sail away” wine (our wine was already wrapped & packed in boxes we intended to drop off at the pier with the rest of our luggage—I just wanted one bottle to drink on our balcony) but that Rite Aid doesn’t sell alcohol until after 9:30 or 10am (sorry, cannot remember the exact time—but it’s specific to that location because of the neighborhood, or so the store manager told us). We walked all our luggage across the street around 11am and checked in. We were on board by 11:30 and our stateroom was ready (slightly more than half the ship had embarked in Seattle and the rest in San Diego—so they didn’t really have a passenger turnover that morning to clean the cabins for). We walked around and had lunch. The main dining room was not open (I guess since this was an abnormal embarkation—for half the ship, it was just a “port day”. So we grabbed something in the Lido. We unpacked our bags, drank some champagne (thanks to the in-laws!) on our balcony, then I took a bath and we went down for our 8pm “main upper” dining (traditional). We had Table 9 for 6 people but we were the only ones who showed up. For three nights, but then we switched to Table 7 because they only had 3 people (at a table for 8) and the night we switched—one of the women had been dining alone and that’s a shame! The first night I had 3 appetizers/soups but no entrée. HAL is very flexible—choose what you want to eat and they will bring it to you. We bought the wine card (20 punches) from our dining room wine steward Michael. We had a glass of house wine (usually pinot grigio or cabernet) every night in the dining room. (yes, we had to buy a 2nd card) After a day of travelling and a time change from the east coast, we went to bed after dinner.

October 2: We were cruising down Baja, ate in the dining room around 8:30. We saw a whale from the dining room, but didn’t have our cameras :( Saw dolphins everywhere (or porpoises? Anyone who can tell me which we saw?) On our door, we had a mylar balloon (flat) taped with Pirates of the Caribbean on it—it had been a gift for my husband’s 40th birthday in April and the theme for our cruise—a Pirate Looks at Forty. Another passenger called us and said she wanted the balloon for her grandson at the end of the cruise if we weren’t going to keep it. So we told her we would give it to her at the end of the cruise. She got confused at one point about when exactly the end of the cruise was, because she stole the balloon from our door. But we retrieved it (she had a roommate—not a friend she was travelling with, just an assigned roommate—who got it back for us) We gave it to her on the last day of the cruise and she said her grandson will be very happy. We know it helped us find our door after a few drinks in the Piano bar! During the day we had a Cruise Critic meet & Greet in the Piano Bar—thanks Carol for organizing it! HAL had cookies, tea & coffee for us, and the chance to not only meet each other (from the Roll Call) but to meet Ron Bontenbal the Hotel Manager and…dang, Marion, another Guest Relations manager from Holland who is a very lovely lady and I just can’t remember her name right now.

This was a formal night (escargot—yum yum yum!) We had the first of many drinks in the Piano bar (with Dave Guidice—very good performer). Some fellow Cruise Critics were in the audience (um, most nights I think, George & Judie? Also Granville & Barbara)

October 3, Cabo San Lucas. Very rough in the bay so the ship kept moving (harbor authority asked them to move, but the waves were still high and we couldn’t tender, so we moved back—took a couple of hours to get situated) and the tenders can’t operate when the boat is moving, so there was a real backup getting to shore. Since we didn’t have an excursion, after an hour or so, we just went to the aft pool instead. We did walk around the ship and take lots of pictures (Carnival Pride and HAL Ryndam were in port with us). We drank a bucket of beer and had lunch from the Lido. Went to the Piano Bar again after dinner.

October 4: Sea day, another formal night. The civil engineer gave his 1st lecture on the history of the Panama Canal—audience was packed!

October 5: Acapulco, cloudy, humid, rain in the morning. We went to the fort and museum first (free on Sundays!!) We missed most of the heavy rain by staying in the museum. Very cool artifacts. Then we walked around the harbor and over the mountain to the Pacific side, up another hill where they have a viaduct with park areas, overlooks & benches—headed to the hotel where the cliff divers are. By the time we hot to the hotel, I was soaking wet—but it was a very pretty walk! After we had a couple of beer and watched the divers, we walked back to the ship. Had lunch, then had a pool afternoon, then a nap.

October 6: Huatulco. We chartered a 25 ft motor boat with a captain (Leno) and an English-speaking guide (Eduardo) through Jorge Cabreras at Xpert travel. We saw 5 or 6 of the bays of Huatulco (there are 9), saw sea turtles and lots of fish. Hubby did some snorkeling on the coral reefs in one of the bays (renting snorkel equipment 75 pesos or 8 dollars) and since I don’t snorkel I just swam for a while. Hubby said the fish were almost friendly—no fear of the swimmers at all, and lots of fish. If you want specifics of what he saw—I can ask him. We had the boat all to ourselves but we could have brought another couple—our charter was $180 and included up to 4 people, beers, and about 4 ½-5 hours. Back on Westerdam for a late lunch, I had the thai fish soup (advertised as spicy but not at all—still good) coconut curry (also good but I would prepare with more spice at home) and paté (seafood and pork). I had fish again at dinner—I love seafood in general and thought that most was prepared very well—never dry (occasionally sort of bland, but that happens on ships).

October 7: Puerto Chiapas. Well—the tour I wanted to do here (archeology) wasn’t online ahead of time and was sold out when we boarded the ship, and we never got off the waitlist. So we disembarked, walked through the shopping hut and next door to the bar. The bar had a pool, we drank Victoria beers ($2 each) for a little while, then went to the internet café (back in the shopping hut) before we got back on board—we have a new nephew!! (we knew he was scheduled to be born October 3 so we had been checking for emailed photos and details—so much cheaper & faster to use internet cafes at ports than to bother on board.) In the afternoon, we had spa treatments—“Ladies & Gents at the spa” port special, $99 for a facial, collagen eye treatment, scalp & neck massage and foot & ankle massage. Then access to the thermal suite & hydropool. Definitely worth the $99 (because I wouldn’t have used the hydropool/thermal suite otherwise) We watched the sail away from the ceramic heated loungers—that was nice (though the view was the same as from our balcony…) In our quest to have a drink in all the bars, we had a drink in the Atrium bar, from Theresa. Margarita was the drink of the day so that’s what we had (rocks, one salted, one not). There was a big thunderstorm during/after dinner that night so our walk along the promenade was foiled. We tried to walk around the aft of the ship and were blown away—so much so that people walking out of the dining room as we were walking back in from the promenade deck who had seen us were laughing.

October 8: Puerto Quetzal Guatemala We did Antigua on Your Own--$39 on your own and they bus you to Antigua and bring you back after ~2 hours. We had a tour guide telling us about the country for the 90 minute drive up into the mountains (Antigua is the old Spanish colonial capital, originally built in the 16th century, because the lowlands were disease ridden they went 3000 feet up into the mountains.) Many Guatemalans and other Central Americans also visit Antigua, so there are lots of tourists around. It was raining on the drive (and in town) so we didn’t get good shots of the volcanoes. We were dropped off at the Jade “Museum” which we promptly exited and walked around on our own (the guide gave us a map) We found a textile heritage center that had some amazing stuff and got a lot of presents & souvenirs there. Lots of Spanish architecture—bright colors, wonderful metalwork, and the doors—wow!! We definitely need more time to explore the lovely cobbled streets. Around the most touristy couple of blocks, there were people on the street selling things who would approach you, but unlike Acapulco, if you said “No, Gracias” they left you alone. We stopped in a beautiful courtyard café for a quick snack (xochitl soup and bread with white bean and garlic spread with pistou and local beers—Galla and Moza) before getting back on the bus and heading to the ship.

October 9: Sea day. Attended a cooking demonstration with Sean Brock, the guest chef. He is the chef at McCradys in Charleston SC. He made a sous vide grouper with brown butter and “scrambled” corn. Really interesting! The audience got samples (made earlier in the Pinnacle grill). The civil engineer, Allan Wrenn, was lecturing on the Canal again (construction) and we got there 10 minutes before it started and ended up standing in the back of the 2nd floor. Ah well. We watched his 3rd lecture on the television! After lunch in the dining room and a quick nap, we did the Pub Crawl with the event staff and some like-minded cruises. $25 gets you 5 drinks—a special drink in each of the 5 bars we visited. And there were trivia questions and other contests where you could win Dam dollars. This event REALLY helped us achieve our goal of trying a drink in every bar on board! This was a formal night again, so yes, after drinking 5 drinks (the last one came back to the cabin with me) I had to dress up and figure out how to do my hair ;-) We were hosted by the First Officer, also the Safety Officer, so my husband had a blast asking all sorts of technical questions and finding out about the ins & outs of what goes on behind the scenes. After dinner—drinks in the cabin, then bedtime.

October 10: Puntarenas Costa Rice: Tropical Mangrove Boat tour $59. About a 90 minute drive to the mangrove swamp, then we loaded onto a large boat for 2 hours. We saw LOTS of wildlife—scarlet macaws, crocodiles, snowy egret, osprey, ibis, little blue heron, black hawk, mangrove swallow, some sort of iguana and a lizard, and a raccoon. After the boat, we had fresh fruit and a drink (we had the local beer) then drove back to the ship. We had intended to shop along the beach where stores/stalls are set up, but it was pouring rain as we returned so we opted not to shop. Instead, we brought some Lido food to our cabin and had some drinks with lunch on the balcony and watched the pelicans in the rainy harbor.

October 11: Scenic cruising in Golfo Dulce Costa Rica in the morning. I slept through most of it but I have my husband’s photos, so all is not lost ;-) I caught the end of it, during breakfast up in the Lido. Hubby wants to go back to Costa Rica and stay in a land resort—I’ve told him I won’t be getting in a canoe in a mangrove swamp (I saw those crocodiles!!) but otherwise think it would be a lovely trip! Went to another of Chef Sean’s cooking demonstrations today—sous vide Ribeye with twice cooked potatoes, Brussels and truffle syrup. In the afternoon, we did the hands on cooking class with Sean (cost $39 when you do it with the guest chef). We made handmade tagliatelle with crab, peas & mint. We chatted about heirloom seeds and biodynamic gardening—things he’s very serious about!

October 12: THE BIG DAY, Panama Canal. Hubby was up way before dawn, running around the ship taking photos. He woke me up just before the Bridge of the Americas because he knew I wanted to see it. I ran up to the Lido for some breakfast (including Panama rolls) and brought a plate back to the cabin for us so we could sit on the balcony & eat & take pictures. Hubby took over 3000 photos on this cruise, and I would venture to say he took at least 700 of those photos on Canal Day alone. Maybe even 1000. He enjoyed himself so much! I thought it was interesting, but not nearly like he did. There was a big rainstorm as we did the “Panama Canal” swim in the aft pool in the afternoon—we got cold—so we went into the Lido hot tubs to warm up a little—so now we’ve been in all the pools and hot tubs on the Westerdam. (Another of our pre-cruise goals).

October 13: Cartagena, City Tour A—tour the fort, monastery, Old Town, some shopping. $59? We didn’t dock until 10am. Again—beautiful old town! Lovely bright colors, cobbled streets, flower covered balconies—I wanted more time to walk around Old Town, maybe sit in a café and have a beer. I finished buying Christmas presents for our nieces and nephews, we bought ourselves more coffee, we tried the local beer….This evening was dinner at Pinnacle (again, thanks to the in-laws) We had a nice bottle of red wine (Meritage from the Columbia Valley) Too much food, of course, but very good! We had a drink in the Ocean bar after dinner, then called it an early night.

October 14: Sea Day. We had breakfast in the Lido—I’m loving the Eggs Benedict Stanley—crab, poached egg, curried hollandaise. One of those, with some smoked salmon and fresh fruit on the side—what a breakfast! Then I went back to the spa! After our first visit, we received a letter with a 40% discount for any future spa treatments, so I had the lime & ginger exfoliation and full body massage—I’ve had this before on HAL ships and at an Elemis spa in Las Vegas—I just love it! With the discount, I paid $117 instead of $196. We spent a little time at the aft pool, then went to the Nuts & Bolts Q&A with the captain, chief engineer, hotel manager, and cruise director.

October 15: Sea day, the last sea day, so sad! Took all my paperbacks and magazines I finished up to the library to leave for future passengers. Hubby turned in his Dam dollars for a water bottle. We went to the store for his Christmas ornament—a model of the ship—and my new apron (Dam Good Cook, thank you very much ;-)

October 16: Fly home on Southwest, boo hoo!

Summation:

Food—pretty good. Seafood always moist, lots of variety in the menus. Some foods more bland than I would prefer. We ate mainly in the dining room, with an occasional breakfast or lunch in the Lido, and one dinner at Pinnacle.

Entertainment: We didn’t attend any of the evening entertainments in the Vista lounge—the timing doesn’t work out for us. Shows are at 7 and 9 pm, so with 8:00 traditional dining (which is our preference) we would have to see the 7pm show. BUT—we request the 8pm dining so we can relax after port days or sea day naps, have a glass of wine on the balcony, and take our time getting ready—in other words, I am not ready to leave the cabin at 7pm.

We did visit the Piano bar on many evenings and thoroughly enjoyed it! We also attended many of the lectures by the Civil Engineer (Allen Wrenn) on board (fantastic) and the anthropologist (I think that’s his background—Daniel Mugan—I fell asleep—and so did half the audience—so we skipped future lectures by him)

I attended two cooking demonstrations and we did one cooking class. We attended a few of the events scheduled by the Cruise Director (Kerry Watkins) and staff (Nicki the party planner and DJ Dave, etc) We did the Pub Crawl, participated in the Wedding Game (we lost) and watched a couple other game shows that were held in the Queen’s Lounge. Mainly—I did a lot of reading and wine drinking on my balcony, which is what makes a cruise vacation wonderful for me.

Ship/Cabin: This was our largest cabin and our largest ship to date. We’re now spoiled by the cabin size (we were in an SY, 6111—having room to move around the base of the bed to move around, two sinks in the bathroom, a shower AND a tub (we could get ready for dinner at the same time) and especially a balcony with two tables—one large one for the binoculars and camera lenses, and a small one for drinks next to the chairs with the ottomans.

As for the ship—the size wasn’t a problem for us except getting on and off and occasionally finding a table in the Lido. We’re not used to lines! I think we still prefer the smaller ships (R-class like Pacific Princess or S&R on HAL) but at the right price and itinerary, we would sail a Vista class again. I am NOT going any larger though!!! [unless my entire family decides to take a cruise and we are outvoted--I'd go under duress just to see my nieces & nephews:o ]

[JimVrhovac]

Enjoyed the review.

 

Nice easy read

 

Ruth & Jim

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome home.

 

Glad you had a wonderful cruise.

 

Too bad about Cabo.

[cruiseapril]

Enjoyed your review. Like the quick overview intro.

 

Wondering about the quality of boat for your tour in Costa Rica? What is the boat like?

[Hoyaheel]

Wondering about the quality of boat for your tour in Costa Rica? What is the boat like?

 

It's sort of like a bus but it floats:p I don't have a photo but I'll get hubby to give me one tonight. It's flat, covered, with two seats on each side and an aisle, maybe 25 rows? With outboard engines on the back.

[Hoyaheel]

April--here's what our boat looked like