SOUTHERN COASTAL STOPS OFFER THE WAY TO WARMTH
Fall is almost here — and Holland America Line (hollandamerica. com) wants to take your mind off of the change in the weather that’s coming for both autumn and winter.
On the West Coast, Holland America is sending its 1,916-guest Westerdam on a series of 13 week-long cruises to the Mexican Riviera from San Diego. The first of these starts in Vancouver on Oct. 18: a special 11-day cruise that stops in Santa Barbara, Calif. and San Diego before heading to Mexico for a week. Departing between October and February 2017, Westerdam’s regular week-long cruises depart on Saturdays from San Diego. The airport (which has direct flights to Vancouver and Toronto Pearson with Air Canada, and Calgary and Vancouver via WestJet) is literally five minutes away from the cruise piers, and the city’s historic Gaslamp District is also a stone’s throw away.
Westerdam is doing what I call the “classic” Mexican Riviera run, with a total of three days at sea (one southbound, two northbound) and calls on Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta. The latter is particularly impressive, with its tree-covered mountains and rolling hills, and its expansive seafront promenade known as The Malecón.
Mazatlán and Cabo San Lucas can hold their own, too. Cabo offers up the quintessential “day at the beach,” while you can zip along Mazatlán in an open-air pulmonia (a sort of souped-up golf cart unique to the city) and indulge in shopping and history in the city’s old town and newer, more tourist-oriented Golden Zone, or Zona Dorada.
One of Holland America’s Vista Class ships, Westerdam is a real winner in my books. Like her sisters Zuiderdam, Oosterdam and Noordam, she’s got glass elevators running up the outside of the ship; a number of colourful bars and lounges; a three-storey atrium topped with a Waterford crystal sculpture; and one of the most soothing spas at sea, complete with a hydrotherapy pool and heated ceramic thermal loungers that face floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the ocean.
It’s the first time in years that Holland America has put one of its Vista class ships in the region. For West Coasters, this is the ultimate affordable fall cruise getaway. While much of Holland America’s fleet can be found on the East Coast in the Caribbean this winter, it’s the line’s brandnew, 2,650-guest Koningsdam that’s grabbing all the headlines. Launched this past spring, she’ll kick off her first Caribbean season on Nov. 9 with a quickie four-day cruise from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to the Bahamas and back. There’s still some spots left on this one as I write this, but not many: only interior and oceanview staterooms aren’t sold out.
You probably don’t want to fly all the way to Fort Lauderdale just for four days. Don’t worry: Holland America has Koningsdam doing some really great longer itineraries in the Caribbean, like the 10-day Southern Caribbean Seafarer cruise that departs Fort Lauderdale on Nov. 13 and Dec. 14, 2016. This one swings all the way down into the Southern Caribbean, stopping in Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire before sailing north, to Grand Turk, Amber Cove, and Holland America’s private island, Half Moon Cay.
Koningsdam is also going to ring in the holidays in the Caribbean, with a seven-day Christmas sailing that leaves on Dec. 23 and calls on San Juan, St. Thomas, Grand Turk and Half Moon Cay. There’s also a New Year’s Cruise that departs on Dec. 30 from Fort Lauderdale. This one’s a little longer: at nine days in length, it visits Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk, and Falmouth, Jamaica, before heading into the Western Caribbean to call on Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and one of my favourite ports, Key West, Fla.
Holland America’s first new ship in six years, Koningsdam is significantly larger than the line’s past ships.
All that extra space allowed her designers to run wild. Onboard, you’ll find private deckside cabanas, a vastly expanded Greenhouse Spa, and the line’s latest innovations like the World Stage and the new Music Walk — an interior promenade of venues featuring live nightly music.
Happy cruising. Visit portsandbows.com, sponsored by Expedia CruiseShipCenters, 1-800-707-7327, www.cruiseshipcenters.com, for daily updates on the latest cruise news, best deals and behind-the-scenes stories from the industry. You can also sign up for an email newsletter on the site for even more cruise information. Aaron Saunders may be contacted directly at portsandbowsaaron@gmail.com