Loreto, La Paz, topolobampo

[melika091900]

Loreto, La Paz, topolobampo

anyone been to these ports ? what are they like ? scenic? snorkeling ? any ideas...

are they good for kids ?

im just trying to plan out our next cruise and We would love to visit these places since weve never been to them,,

any suggestions would be great

we might be sailing on Ryndam april of 09

thanks in advance

melissa

[Ine]

We did that sailing leaving Nov. 1 and loved the ship and the itinary.

Topolobampo however is the least interesting place. Just a small port and the next city Los Mochis has a nice botanical garden. Our table-mates went to the beach which wasnot that great. Just a few weeks before a hurricane passed that region and they told us the beach wasnot that clean. Maybe the situation is better when you arrive there. There is a free shuttle to the beach every hour from the ship. Also free shuttles to Los Mochis, we took a cab for sightseeing.

In the afternoon there was a nice show by kids on board and later also by adults on the quay.

 

Loreto is very nice, small -laid back - village with a nice old centre. Church, Zocalo, small shopping area. Walking distance from the tenderdock. People we talked too had taken a small boat (Panga) and had sailed to the island you can see from the ship. They arranged it locally. They swam and snorkeled there. It was very nice, but in the afternoon there was a lot of wind and the sail back was rather rough. So watch the weather. Next to the dock there also is a nice beach in Loreto itself.

 

Pichilinque (La Paz) is just a port, but also here shuttles were offered to the beach near La Paz, about 20-30 minutes away. We saw some nice beaches from the bus , that were soft descending (sp.?), so very safe for kids. They can play and walk before it gets deeper.

We made a shiptour to Todos Santos with lunch in Hotel California (eagles song). Interesting tour, great lunch.

Our favorite tour this time was in Mazatlan to Concordia and Coppala, nice old small mining town, interesting stops enroute and in Coppalla again a very nice lunch.

 

We are still busy sorting out the hundreds of photos, but hopefully over the weekend I might have some photos on-line.

[debr]

We did that sailing leaving Nov. 1 and loved the ship and the itinary.

Topolobampo however is the least interesting place. Just a small port and the next city Los Mochis has a nice botanical garden. Our table-mates went to the beach which wasnot that great. Just a few weeks before a hurricane passed that region and they told us the beach wasnot that clean. Maybe the situation is better when you arrive there. There is a free shuttle to the beach every hour from the ship. Also free shuttles to Los Mochis, we took a cab for sightseeing.

In the afternoon there was a nice show by kids on board and later also by adults on the quay.

 

Loreto is very nice, small -laid back - village with a nice old centre. Church, Zocalo, small shopping area. Walking distance from the tenderdock. People we talked too had taken a small boat (Panga) and had sailed to the island you can see from the ship. They arranged it locally. They swam and snorkeled there. It was very nice, but in the afternoon there was a lot of wind and the sail back was rather rough. So watch the weather. Next to the dock there also is a nice beach in Loreto itself.

 

Pichilinque (La Paz) is just a port, but also here shuttles were offered to the beach near La Paz, about 20-30 minutes away. We saw some nice beaches from the bus , that were soft descending (sp.?), so very safe for kids. They can play and walk before it gets deeper.

We made a shiptour to Todos Santos with lunch in Hotel California (eagles song). Interesting tour, great lunch.

Our favorite tour this time was in Mazatlan to Concordia and Coppala, nice old small mining town, interesting stops enroute and in Coppalla again a very nice lunch.

 

We are still busy sorting out the hundreds of photos, but hopefully over the weekend I might have some photos on-line.

 

Ine,

 

I'm considering this cruise for April 09 and wondering if you could answer some questions about the itinerary and the ship (first time on Holland).

 

Are there 4 tender ports? (Cabo, LaPaz, Loreto, Topolobampo)

Ship - Is there a cover pool? (for those cold, windy first days)

- Does the ship have a dining room dedicated to "anytime dining"?

- Is there a buffet at night (Celebrity Mercury did not)

- Is there complimentary ice cream available during the day?

- What complimentary drinks are offered in buffet

 

Thank you for any info on the ship and itinerary.

 

Debr

[KSCnCA]

I can answer some of your questions:

• The tender ports are Cabo and Loreto - La Paz & Topo were docks.
  
• Yes, there is a covered pool. When we sailed out of Cabo they had the "roof" open. We made a pretty strong turn and caught the wind and everything went sliding off the tables. They closed the roof shortly thereafter. :rolleyes:
  
• There's just one dining room (on 2 decks) - I am not sure where the people with open seating were put - we were on the upper level at 8pm.
  
• Night buffet - Dinner is offered in the Lido each evening 5:30 to 8:00pm - same food that is served in the dining room. Then there's another specialty buffet in the Lido from 11 to midnight. Each night it had a different theme: French, Greek, Mexican, Indian Curry, Italian, Southwest, German, and Spanish. (I got out our programs from last March and checked)
  
• Yes, there is complimentary ice cream available during the day in the Lido.
  
• Sorry, I can't remember the complimentary drinks offered in buffet beyond ice tea, which is all I drank.
  

I hope this helps.

[debr]

Karen,

 

Thank you so much for the info.

 

Debr

[Ine]

Ine,

 

I'm considering this cruise for April 09 and wondering if you could answer some questions about the itinerary and the ship (first time on Holland).

 

Are there 4 tender ports? (Cabo, LaPaz, Loreto, Topolobampo)

Ship - Is there a cover pool? (for those cold, windy first days)

- Does the ship have a dining room dedicated to "anytime dining"?

- Is there a buffet at night (Celebrity Mercury did not)

- Is there complimentary ice cream available during the day?

- What complimentary drinks are offered in buffet

 

Thank you for any info on the ship and itinerary.

 

Debr

 

I see most questions are answered already.

Re dining: upper floor of diningroom is fixed dining, lower floor is as you wish. If you have AYW -to avoid possible waiting make reservations during the day, but of course you can enter without resrvations (maybe with some waitingtime.)

Apart from tea, coffee, water, icetea I think you have to pay for other drinks.

Icecream is available most of the day, not the whole day.

Ryndam has 2 pools, one midships that can be covered, the aft pool is open and adults only. (but I have seen som kinds in it.)

Indeed on the way back from Cabo expect some rougher seas due to the pacific stream.

[debr]

Ine,

 

Thank you for the info.

 

Debr

[Ine]

On this link I have now some photos online of the Ryndamcruise

http://picasaweb.google.nl/InesQandA/CruiseMSRyndamMexicoSeaOfCortezNov2008#

 

As you can see there is a nice beach not too far from Pichilinque port, on the way to oa Paz. Also in La Paz we have seen some beaches.

Also the beach near the tenderdock in Loreto looks nice.

 

Enjoy,

[melika091900]

On this link I have now some photos online of the Ryndamcruise

http://picasaweb.google.nl/InesQandA/CruiseMSRyndamMexicoSeaOfCortezNov2008#

 

As you can see there is a nice beach not too far from Pichilinque port, on the way to oa Paz. Also in La Paz we have seen some beaches.

Also the beach near the tenderdock in Loreto looks nice.

 

Enjoy,

 

 

great photos !! thank yo uso much for all the info...

that beach in la paz that you have a pic of, how far was it from the port itself,? the water looked so pretty !!!

 

 

thank you so much again

 

Melissa

[Ine]

great photos !! thank yo uso much for all the info...

that beach in la paz that you have a pic of, how far was it from the port itself,? the water looked so pretty !!!

 

 

thank you so much again

 

Melissa

 

The distance between the port and La Paz was about 30 minutes. As far as I remember this was about halfway or even less. It takes a long time before the water gets deep, but it looked great. I think you will need a cab to get there (and back).

In La Paz there was a beach with restaurants along the boulevard (Malecon).

[Ine]

I found the leaflet we got on baord. That beach on the photo was Playa del Tesoro, and is the closest to the port. There is another beach playa Palmyra, closer to La Paz.

According to this leaflet swimming on the beaches IN the city of La paz isnot recommanded. More beaches afre found on the other side of town, more north.

There was a shuttle to La paz but I donot know if it makes a stop at one of the 2 beaches.

[KSCnCA]

I remember La Paz had 2 different buses: one to town and the other to the beach. We chose town and wished we had chosen beach. Next time for sure!

[CowPrincess]

We're just back from this itin. Topolobampo itself is a small village (that we didn't have time to visit, but it looks charming). There were some licensed vendors selling jewelry and crafts at the pier, which is a VERY industrial-type pier. I believe there was also a Mexican band, and some local children performed on board the ship. (We also missed that.)

 

The shuttle to Los Mochis is complimentary, as is the shuttle to the beach. I think (will check our docs later) that the shuttle to town ran every hour, and the shuttle to the beach ran every 2 hours. The last shuttle back from each is pretty early -- I suspect they want to know where the pax are before nightfall :)

 

We found Los Mochis to be authentic, a real working city where the inhabitants were going about their daily business, not too concerned that there were tourists around. Most people we met spoke at least some English, and were more than happy to help us out. We truly enjoyed Los Mochis, though we didn't venture far. Though be prepared -- I actually did hear some of the people from the ship say "Oh no, look at all the Mexicans" as we drove to the town square. So if visiting another culture isn't your thing, you may not enjoy wandering around downtown Los Mochis.

 

We also took the free shuttle to Maviri Beach, where there are some restaurants. The water was VERY shallow; we watched some people walk for HUNDREDS of yards offshore and still not be in waist-high water. That may change with the next big wind though. We only tried one restaurant (Rosita's??? -- will check on that name) where again the people were very friendly, happy to see us, willing to do whatever (even carrying chairs out to the beach for people to sit on). The food was not great, we had very fresh but overcooked shrimp. Apparently the beer was okay :) Lovely friendly people who made us feel like honored guests, as though they were genuinely pleased to see us. Menu was US $ priced. The sand was coarse and beige, with some debris from the ocean. Also some trash from the people. The six of us spent some time picking up litter, and if everyone who visited did that, the whole place would be much cleaner in no time.

 

Loreto is heaven on earth. Some of us did "Kayak the Baja" through the ship and had a great time. Really pleasant, not very hard work, and a chance to see some lovely landscapes and BIRDS. Then we went to the Giggling Dolphin for lunch, which was FANTASTIC. Menu prices are in pesos and we thought it was great value. Food was great, service friendly and good. Everyone we met in Loreto was friendly, and happy to help if needed.

 

La Paz too was a lovely place. Mexican musicians at the pier, and many licensed vendors at the pier. We took the shuttle to town (every 1/2 hour, free) and walked around the main "downtown" sort-of square, then ventured onto some of the side streets. The main square was featuring a fair with people from Oaxaca, selling their crafts (though some of it appeared "made in China"). We had a great guide on the bus, very informative, excellent English, and entertaining. Got another shuttle back to the ship, grabbed a bite to eat, then off to the beach (free shuttle, more or less every hour), which was white sand and some rocky parts. The water was beautiful, and some of us swam. Not one of our party, but a fellow did get stung by a ray in the bottom of his foot. OUCH!

 

We were absolutely charmed by this part of Mexico, and the people are truly delightful, eager to encourage tourism, and adept at making one feel like a valued guest. Seriously. I'd move there tomorrow if I could. We will go back to see these 3 ports, and in the back of my mind I'm trying to figure out how to buy a retirement home down there.

[Mrs. Mac]

Ine,

 

Thanks for posting the pic's. You were right that camera takes great pictures. It was fun going through them. Terry and I wish we were going again!

 

Kim

[Ine]

Ine,

 

Thanks for posting the pic's. You were right that camera takes great pictures. It was fun going through them. Terry and I wish we were going again!

 

Kim

 

Thanks Kim, those were just a few of the over 1500 we made. It was nice meeting you, Terry and Christian.

It really was a nice cruise, we loved the itinary.

In one of the postings here above I referred to you as "the people that sailed to the island near Loreto etc.

[jandjboo]

Ine,

We are doing the same cruise March 5, 2009 and enjoyed seeing your wonderful photos.

 

Thank you for sharing them.

[Ine]

Ine,

We are doing the same cruise March 5, 2009 and enjoyed seeing your wonderful photos.

 

Thank you for sharing them.

 

Thank you. I am sure you will have a great time. Again we loved te ship, food and service were great. You will see some nice places.

[marial]

Hello

 

We just returned from this cruise on Dec 1st..we have a 12 year old daugther..this was our 5th or 6th cruise to the Mexican Riveria, so we selected it based on the 6 stops..Here was my take: Tompo : this stop was really for those going on the Copper Canyon tour, and for those not on that tour, there was very little to see or do (in my opinion). We took the free shuttle to town, which was a waste of time..we did not do the free shuttle to the beach..Lorreto was a clean small town, with cobblestone walkways, there was a small rocky beach right off the docks, and many people took a Taxi to Lorretto Bay and went swimming and hung out there..La Paz, we did the Snorkleing tour..beautiful water, warm, clear..but jellyfish everywhere and practically everyone got stung..the pain and irritation seemed to fade within 30 mins or so with vinegar, so nothing major, but such a shame..

[melika091900]

thank you all for the info, i hope santa brings me this cruise !!! hee heeee

 

 

happy holidays

melissa

[DougH]

I did this on the Ryndam in March 2008. Choose it mainly for these three ports as I'd done the Mexican Riveria a bunch of times previously. I did do the Copper Canyon train ride and while interesting it was way overpriced IMHO. Very long day, with kids it would have been tough to hold their attention for that period of time. I'm glad I did it but would not repeat.

 

Loreto was a charming little town, I really jusrt wandered around town. Same in La Paz but it is considerably larger. Overall this was a great itineary with the 3 main Mexican ports plus these three additional less visited ones.

[melika091900]

thank you all for the info, im really leaning towards this cruise in april, since it does go to all these stops weve never been too,

 

 

what does everyone think about holland america in general in comparsion to princess or celebrity?

[melissy123]

I really would love to kayak on my own in both La Paz AND Loreto for my family of 4 (DH, two teenage daughters and self), and figure out that renting a kayak instead of signing up for one of the ship's excursions will be the most cost-effective and give us freedom for our own schedule.

As someone else put in one of the other posts, we don't want to do an intensive amount of kayaking, just kayak a little, stop to picnic or frolic, maybe snorkel a little, then kayak again. Do NOT want to travel on a "motorized skiff" for one hour to get to Coronados in Loreto or Los Islotes from La Paz. I tried contacting some organizations for kayaking in La Paz, but they don't seem to offer 1/2 day "guided" trips the day we are in La Paz (April 8, 2009)

 

For La Paz, I looked at some maps and figured out that Balandra Beach is about 4 km north from Pichilinque, and about 3 km south of Tecolate Beach. Balandra Beach looks like an ideal place to head for kayaking, but I've read somewhere that kayaks are not rented there, although most kayak tours start out there. Anyone have information if there are kayak rentals at Balandra Beach. If we go to Tecolate Beach and rent kayaks there, would it be easy enough to get to Balandra Beach?

 

As for Loreto, is Loreto Bay a good starting point for a kayak excursion? Are rentals available there?

[liketraveling]

 

what does everyone think about holland america in general in comparsion to princess or celebrity?

 

I haven't sailed on Princess and have only done one cruise on Holland America and One Cruise on Celebrity.

 

There are pros and Cons on both!

 

Last September I took the inside passage NB on the Celebrity Millenium

and the inside SB on the Holland America Veendam.

 

I thought the Activities, Entertainment and Food were better on Celebrity.

 

The food wasn't bad on the Veendam, Entertainment was so! So! I loved the open Seating on HOlland America.

 

When we were on Celebrity our table mates were always 15 to 20 minutes lates wo we always had to wait for them to look at the menu before we could order. With the open seating on HOlland America we would show up and be seated with different people every night and usually your order would be taken within 10 minutes.

 

I liked the Casino on the Veendam better! You could play and be entertained longer on your money.

 

I went in September so I don't know about the kids program.

 

Royal Carribean was my favaorite until Celebrity. Holland America is not bad. The Cabins are larger than Celebrity or Royal Carribean or at least the ones I have been in. I know everything is relative

 

Gail