Today’s port was Corinto, Nicaragua. It’s an industrial port, and we moored between a container ship and US Coast Guard ship.

There was nothing to do in or near the port, so we took a tour bus to a city called Leon. In Leon, we went to the central square, and visited the La Asuncion Cathedral near the square. After looking through the inside of the cathedral, we climbed up to its roof for a interesting view of the city.

After the cathedral, we had some time to look through the small markets in the square, then back to the ship. It was a short trip, but it was very enjoyable.

Tonight was another gala night, so we dressed up and went to dinner. The Captain was making a round in the dining room tonight, stopping at every table and chatting with the passengers. We got to talk to him briefly too. (Told him how much we are enjoying our cruise.) I thought it was a very nice touch.

After dinner, we got our pictures taken. Tonight’s entertainment is a juggler. Didn’t sound all that interesting, so we went back to our room to relax. Tomorrow is another port day, and we have to get up early too.

 

Today’s port was Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala. The port had a nice market, but we had no time to browse, as we had to hurry to get to our tour bus.

We took the bus to a city called Antigua. It’s an UNESCO World Heritage Site and used to be the capital city of Guatemala until they moved it else where, when Antigua was destroyed by earthquakes. Many of the ruins still remain, and they were interesting to see.

It was a long drive to and back from Antigua, and we were late coming back. We were supposed to be on board by 5:30 pm, but we got to the port at about 5:40, so we probably didn’t get on board until about 5:50 pm. But that’s OK. We were on a ship-sponsored tour, so they would wait for us. And we weren’t the only ones returning late either. (There were more buses behind us.)

For dinner, we went to Canaletto, an Italian specialty restaurant. We had very good potato gnocchi and veal.

Tomorrow is another port day. We’ll be in Corinto, Nicaragua.

Huatulco, Mexico was our second port of call.

We were supposed to be taking a shore excursion called Huatulco Land and Sea, but they canceled it yesterday evening, due to high wind, so we had to quickly book a substitute, and it was basically the Huatulco Land and Sea without the sea part.

Huatulco is a resort town, and not much there besides hotels and marinas. We drove up the hills and stopped at several view points for nice view of our ship and the bays.

Then we went to a small town of La Crucesita. We didn’t stop there too long, and I ended up spending most of the time there waiting in line for the bathroom. LOL.

It was too hot to walk around anyway.

Before we departed Huatulco, there was an announcement from the captain. We’re expecting 40 mph wind today, and he told us to hold on to railing and not to go out on balcony tonight. Great… Hope I don’t get sea sick again…

After we left Huatulco, the ocean did get a bit rough, so we decided to stay in our room after the dinner. It’s 8 pm now, and it’s not as bad as the first night out of San Diego, but it’s rocking a little. I better finish writing this blog before it gets really bad.

It was another sea day, but after this, there will be four port days in a row, so it was the last chance to relax for a while 🙂

Not much went on in the morning. Husband attended a military meet up and I attended a presentation on available shore excursions for all the ports we’ll be visiting.

In the afternoon we watched a game show about wild animals in the main stage, followed by another presentation on upcoming ports.

After dinner, I listened to classical music performance in Lincoln Center Stage (best entertainment on this ship!), then lastly a musical in the main theater. (Not my cup of tea, but it was all right.)

It’s getting pretty hot and EXTREMELY humid. It’s not so pleasant to go out to the balcony anymore 😦

(But we can still go out to snap a nice picture like this and run back to the comfort of our air-conditioned room.)

After 2 full days at sea, we arrived in our first port of call, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

We didn’t book any shore excursions for this port, so we just took a taxi to town and walked along Malecon and Old Town area. It was a nice enough stroll, but they sure try to rip off tourists. We tried to use pesos for cab fares, but they would only accept US dollars…

We went back to the ship early and had great hamburgers and fries at the ship’s hamburger joint called Dive-In.

Today was our 30th wedding anniversary. Our Neptune Lounge concierges surprised us by decorating our door.

 

We also got some flowers, but those we purchased.

Then we had dinner at Pinnacle Grill, the specialty restaurant on the ship. We had great steak there.

After the dinner, we went to a show that featured a hilarious magician/comedian.

When we returned to our room, we found a pair of swans with rose petals. Another surprise from our Neptune Lounge concierges.

We kinda woke up grumpy this morning, but it ended great. We had a wonderful anniversary.

Tomorrow is another sea day.

Another mellow day.

We both woke up at around 5 am, but fell back to sleep and didn’t wake up again until about 8:30.

We went to Pinnacle Grill for breakfast again. I ordered Pan Asian Breakfast, just to see what it’s like. It’s called Pan Asian, but it’s really Japanese breakfast. It comes with miso soup, rice, tamagoyaki (the rectangular piece of egg that you find on sushi) and grilled salmon. The presentation was definitely not Japanese, but it was Japanese food alright. It was pretty good in any case.

After that, we browsed through the shops, saw the pictures we had taken yesterday (didn’t buy any) and just relaxed in our room.

Because we had a big breakfast late, we weren’t very hungry for lunch, so I skipped lunch, and my husband just had salad.

After that we just relaxed, taking a nap, sitting on the balcony and watching the ocean, then went to a presentation on the ports we’ll be visiting in a few days.

After the dinner in the main dining room (I had an Asian noodle dish that looked and tasted like soupless Top Ramen, which wasn’t as bad as it sounds,) we listened some classical music (strings and piano) in Lincoln Center Stage, then after that, we saw an impressionist/musician in the main stage, who was quite entertaining.

Tomorrow will be our first port of call, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Day 2 – At Sea

The sea was much calmer today and I felt better.

I woke up around 6:30 am (but we had to move our clock forward by an hour, so it was actually 5:30 am) and went to breakfast in Pinnacle Grill at 8. Pinnacle Grill is one of the specialty restaurants on Westerdam, and it’s an extra charge restaurant at night, but in the morning, it’s open for breakfast for the suite passengers only. It was great. Quiet and more private than the main dining room. However, I still wasn’t feeling the greatest, so I only had a light breakfast.

After breakfast, I attended the get together with the Cruise Critic roll call members. It was nice to see the people that we chatted on the online forum in person.

After lunch in the main dining room, we watched the team trivia for a bit (we didn’t participate) and attended a presentation for new Holland America passengers, but other than that, we pretty much chilled.

In the evening, it was a Gala Night (formal night) so we dressed up and got our portraits taken. After the dinner, we attended the captain’s welcome toast, then a song and dance show in the main theater.

It was a nice, mellow day. We enjoyed it.

Tomorrow is another sea day, and I expect it to be another mellow day.

Day 1 – San Diego

Westerdam arrived in San Diego at around 5:30 am. I was hoping to see it come in, but when I woke up, it was just docking.

Because there was going to be a women’s march right on the street between our hotel and the ship, I was expecting a nightmare embarkation, but it actually went very smoothly.

A kind person on Cruise Critic forum (I believe he works for city of San Diego or something) informed us that the pier will open early at 9 am, but we saw people being let in at around 8:30 am (though later we found that those were crew members,) we started heading over there. In the elevator, we met another couple, also going on Westerdam. They also saw that the people were being let in and decided to go.

The street had some traffic cones lined up, but no restrictions yet, and there were no crowds yet either. When we arrived at the pier, we were let right in. Inside the pier, we were told to be seated and wait while the crew members were checkking in, and. We probably waited there for about an hour, then we went through the security and check-in (no lines) then to the waiting area. After that, we had to wait a while for 11:30 am boarding. Since Holland America sent us an email, informing us not to come to the port until after 2 pm, I expected we’d be the only ones there, but the waiting area was fairly packed.

At about 11:30 am, they started boarding us, and because we are in a suite, we were in the first group to go on board.

They said our rooms were not yet ready, so we went to Neptune Lounge, the suite lounge. They had snacks there, so we had some sandwiches and sushi. Those filled us up, so we didn’t bother going to the buffet for lunch. Once our room was ready, we went to our Neptune Suite 7151. It’s one of the aft-corner suites that has a huge wrap-around balcony (that wraps around the side and stern). It’s a GREAT room and we love it!

We left our carry-on luggage in our room and went out to explore the ship. This is the first time we were able to see the outside since going into the port building, and we saw the women’s march on the street in front of the port. We were so glad that we were already on board and didn’t get caught up in that!

Many people seemed to have listened to HAL’s warning to arrive late, so it took some time for everyone to board. We did the life boat drill at about 4, and we finally sailed away at 5 pm, about an hour later than the original schedule. But really, it wasn’t bad at all. I thought we’d depart much later than that.

So embarkation was MUCH smoother than we anticipated, but the trouble began after we were underway. The water was calm while we were in the bay, but as soon as we exited the bay, the ship started rocking and rolling, and I got really seasick. I could only eat a roll for dinner and went straight to bed.

And that’s why I’m writing this blog entry on the next day 😛

In San Diego now!

We’re staying at Springhill Suites across the street from the cruise port. Very nice new hotel. We booked a corner suite. When I made the reservation, I requested the “good view of our cruise ship,” and they honored it. Our ship is not there now, but we have a good view of the cruise terminal 🙂

 

We’ll board the Westerdam tomorrow, but the embarkation is going to be a mess, with the women’s march going on right on the street between the hotel and the cruise terminal.

We heard that the cruise terminal will be open early tomorrow at 9, so we plan on walking over there before the march gets here.

But the other passengers driving to the port won’t be able to get here until the street reopens at 1 or 2 pm (we actually received email from Holland America, advising us not to arrive before 2 pm), so I expect we’ll be departing late tomorrow.

On January 20, 2018, my husband and I will be going on 15-day Panama Canal cruise aboard Holland America’s ms Westerdam. This will be our second cruise (our first was an Alaska cruise on NCL Pearl, 10 years ago) and we’ll be celebrating our 30th anniversary on board!

I’ll officially start this blog on Jan. 19, 2018, when we fly to San Diego, where we’ll board the ship.