Holland America Mexican cruise wonderful - Excursions thorugh Jet Blue Cruises stressful

Westerdam Cruise Review to South Pacific - Australia

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 12

Overall rating:

5 out of 5
Verified Review
Westerdam

Mexican Riviera

Sail date: October 18, 2016

Ship: Westerdam

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 4050

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

The Holland American cruise to the Mexican Riviera was wonderful, from the genuinely helpful crew to the delicious food and wonderful ambiance.  The addition of the B.B.King Jazz group always gave us great entertainment in the evenings.  The other entertainment was spotty.  Took 4 excursions.  The two from the cruise line were excellent.  The two from Jet Blue Cruises were bad, one being extremely stressful.  The Exclusive Puerto Vallarta City Tour, in itself was good.  However the tour director got us back to the ship 15 minutes before it set sail.  This was after numerous requests by the passengers to get us back sooner.  From the beginning, I asked him if we could cover all the events and get back to the ship by 4:30.  He said no problem, it was only a 4 hour trip.  Two other times during the excursion, I asked him about timing and he said we could make it.  I was extremely stressed by the time we reached port.  I know these tours are guaranteed, but the next port was 3 days away and it was the port where we disembarked.  All of our clothes, credit cards, passports were all in our cabins.  In addition, I was having trouble using my i-phone in Mexico, a problem I have never encountered in any other country.  By the time we reached the ship, one of the boarding ramps had already been removed and by 4:45, the ship was already untied from the dock.  There were plenty of ways, the tour could have been shortened by 30 minutes, but the tour director refused to do them, stressing out the Holland America passengers.  The Mazatian City Tour introduced me some of the most aggressive vendors, I have ever met in my travels.  In one of the markets the guide took us (6 long lanes of merchandise and food), 4 to 5 women, walked down the aisle and confronted me.  After I said "no thanks", 2 continued to follow me for at least 6-8 feet as I walked down the aisle.  At the site of the cliff divers, we were bombarded with vendors wanting to sell various goods. It was frustrating and tiring saying "no thanks" and then having to do it all over again with the next vendor.  I would book a cruise again through Jet Blue Cruises, but never an excursion.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Excellent. Only disappointment was that there wasn't a lounge chair on the balcony. There were 3 chairs and a small table, but nothing to lounge on. The ship claimed that there wasn't room. They did however, give me a lounge chair pad which I used to lay on the floor.

Ship tip

Go see the BB Kings Jazz group. They were fantastic.

Ports of call

Vancouver (Canada Place), British Columbia

5 out of 5

Santa Barbara, California

5 out of 5

San Diego, California

5 out of 5
Was this review helpful? 12

5 Comments

Gwbigdog    2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise.

GerryBCruisin    2 years ago

Thanks for taking the time to share your review of the Westerdam.

BonitaCruisers    8 years ago

Thank you for your review. We are taking the cruise in January: which HAL excursions did you take that you said were excellent? Also we live in San Diego so not in a hurry to disembark; is breakfast served the last morning or just room service? What is the last group time to leave?

noname111    8 years ago

Thank you for posting your review. 

On the point of excursions, I wanted to leave a comment. You wrote "I know these tours are guaranteed, but the next port was 3 days away and it was the port where we disembarked."

If you book through the cruise line, it is guaranteed that the ship will not leave without you. However, if you make your excursion reservations through anyone else (Jet Blue included), there is no guarantee that the ship will not leave without you. If you are not back on board by the deadline time, you will be waving from the dock as the ship departs.

The other benefit of booking an excursion through the ship is that the shopping opportunities are approved by the cruise line. It is unlikely that the line would put its passengers in a situation with overly aggressive vendors. Please give that some thought before you cruise again. It sounds like a really unfortunate and stressful situation that might have been avoided.

kahtay    8 years ago

What cell phone carrier do you use?