Keith's Panamanian Travel Ramble

Today, 16 October, we arrived in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala. On arrival, the weather was cloudy and rainy but it improved throughout the day. Our run from Huatulco was slightly rough, as expected, but nothing too problematic given the warning from the captain. We arrived at 10AM.

Guatemala has been on the “to do” list for some time now and I am looking forward to getting a small snapshot today so I can decide if further investigation is warranted. Guatemala’s main exports are sugar and coffee and there are a number of volcanos in the area, some of which are active.

We entered a small freight port, through a narrow channel as two tugs stood by to aid our huge ship if needed. Several ships were busy loading or unloading cargo. A row of seemingly abandoned heavily corroded ocean-going fishing boats was together in a back corner of the harbor.

From the ship, our dock appeared very small, with a narrow railed walkway to a large palapa structure. Staff from the area all seemed to come out to view the arrival of the Westerdam. As we came ashore and walked the narrow walkway toward our tour bus, there was an elaborate welcome under way in the palapa, with a band playing Guatemalan music. There is a large new market area full of colorful local curios, which everyone must pass through to clear the port.

Guatemala has a growing tourism industry and cruise ships sure can add to it quickly. Today 1,170 people have purchased tours to see various aspects of Guatemala and we are the first ship of the season to arrive here. There will be 78 more cruise ship visits by the end of the season. As the convoy of busses leaves the dock area, people along the way stop whatever they are doing and wave to the busses. They know this is good for their economy!

One of my interests here is an old Spanish colonial city called Antigua, which dates back to the early 16^th century. Built 1,500 m above sea level, in an earthquake-prone region, it was largely destroyed by an earthquake in 1773 but its principal monuments are still preserved as ruins. Today Antigua is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The pattern of straight lines established by the grid of north-south and east-west streets and inspired by the Italian Renaissance, is one of the best examples in Latin American town planning and all that remains of the 16^th-century city. Current construction here requires builders to build in the colonial style to maintain the beauty of the city and new wiring must be put underground.

We drove 90 minutes in a Toyota Coaster bus in a very cramped seat, to get there. As we arrived, the weather improved and the sun appeared. The 1,500 m elevation made for a cool comfortable atmosphere. Today, the population of Antigua is around 20,000.

We arrived at a typical Spanish square, where the church faces west, the city hall faces south, and shops face east. The descendants of Antigua are Mayan so the square was full of Mayan women dressed in historical costumes, trying to sell to tourists. They are quite persistent, but that is the local culture. On the surface, it seems that these people are very poor but if you get talking to them, and they smile, you will see that most have a mouth full of gold. The dentists in Antigua have done a lot of work and it is beautiful work, indeed!

The area around the square has good-looking restaurants and many of them have English on their signs. There are decent looking hotels available as well. I think Antigua will be on the future exploration list.

We arrived back at our ship on time, but several of the tours were late… beyond the sailing time! If you are on a Holland America tour, they will hold the ship for the tour to arrive back. This is a nice benefit of using HAL tours. If you were on your own, you would be looking for the airport to get to the next port to rejoin the ship. Tomorrow we will be in Nicaragua.

Today is 15 October and it was partly sunny in the morning, giving away to thickening cloud later in the day. The temperature was 29C. Sunrise was 7:16am and sunset was 7:03pm. We arrived at Huatulco at 8:00am and departed at 1:30pm, a short day.

I really did not know much about Huatulco (hu-tel-co) but had heard my brother talk about how beautiful he thought it was. It is south of Acapulco on the west coast and has only been around since the mid-1980s. I had always discounted it because it was Mexico. I just thought he had been out in the sun too long but after our visit here today, I must admit I think I agree with him.

As the Mexican pilot nosed our huge ship into place on one side of the single long ribbon of concrete that served as the cruise ship dock, our majestic Westerdam dwarfed everything around it, including the city and everything in the marina. From the dock, we were presented with a beautiful image of a well cared for small scenic Mexican town. What appeared to be the main town site from the ship, turned out to be just a small beach with restaurants and shops for tourists and locals to use. The steep hillside contained elaborately constructed high-end homes you might expect to find on House Hunters International and a modern marina full of beautiful boats. Everywhere else was virtually undeveloped forest. It was stunning!

Due to the short duration of our stay, we took a city tour by bus and found we were in a beautifully sited small-scale community along the Pacific Ocean where it meets the foothills of the Sierra Madre del Sur Mountains. We proceeded to the main town site a short distance away from the dock where the town square is beautifully landscaped, maintained and being used by a number of people, seeking relief in the shade from the blistering sun. The buildings all appear well maintained and everything is clean and painted! I had to remind myself from time to time that I was still in Mexico! All the buildings are low rise, seldom exceeding three floors in height. The low-rise nature of the construction adds to the impression of it being a small town.

The Catholic Church, in the square, sports a freshly painted exterior and has a large painted mural from end to end on the ceiling. A local artist, took 40 weeks to complete the work, including recovery time from a fall from the scaffolding while he was working, painted it.

The coastal terrain here is hilly, rocky and rugged so it provides spectacular scenery into which are woven seaside businesses, beaches and homes. What I was most taken with was the small-scale. This is no tower ridden Cancun or Puerto Vallarta big city and everything is relatively new. Roads are wide, with elaborately landscaped medians down the center. Sidewalks are enough to walk three or four abreast and are without the normal Mexican people loosing holes. The area comes with nine stunning bays for sunning, swimming, snorkeling, and water sports. Fishing is restricted in the area.

Our last stop on the tour provided a spectacular view of the bay containing our waiting Westerdam. It provided some good photography opportunities to shoot the ship from a distance, for the first time. I must admit that this place intrigues me and I would love to return to explore it in more detail before I make my final decision about how much I really like it. It is slow, laid back, and has a quiet way of life,

Just before we sailed, an ambulance drove down the dock and the attendants hauled a stretcher onto the ship, returning shortly with it fully loaded. Looks like another medical emergency! Hope this trend slows down or there will not be anyone left on the ship!

Shortly after departure, the Captain announced a change in course was going to be necessary due to a storm approaching from the west. Our new routing will have us hugging the Mexican coastline and it is predicted to be a little rough until we get south of the disturbance. We went for dinner and noticed a bit of roughness but nothing to be concerned about. I mean, the dishes did not slide off the table!

After dinner, we passed by the Explorers Lounge to find wonderful classical music emanating from it. Two Ukrainian girls, one on the grand piano and the other on a violin were generating beautiful music. We stopped and determined this was where we would digest dinner. By the end of their shift, the bar was full, as people leaving the dining room could not get by the place without stopping to listen and come in.

Tomorrow we are to be in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala at 10:00am, and will be off on tours again.

Today is 14 October, a sea day. Our next port of call is Huatulco, Mexico and will arrive early tomorrow morning. I’m looking forward to this stop, even though it is Mexico, as I have heard good things about it and have not been here. My brother says it is very picturesque.

Today, my brother, Robert, received a very official looking card delivered to his room advising him that he and a guest (that would be me) were invited to join another couple for dinner at the Pinnacle Dining Room. The Pinnacle is one of two premium dining rooms on board, where you pay a $29.95 upcharge for your dinner. This surcharge gets you an extra special atmosphere, higher end appointments, no crowd, more space, better food, and abundant service.

We arrived at the Pinnacle at the designated time to learn that the invite was a mistake of some kind by the administration office. Apparently the people who invited us didn’t know anything about us getting an invitation. (I’m sure they would have invited us if they had only met us!) They were holding a 70^th anniversary, yes 70, and had a number of friends invited to their dinner at the Pinnacle. Seems like the office screwed up a bit. I wonder who didn’t get invited and if they were important or missed. I guess when it is your 70^th anniversary, a few things can slip between the cracks. Anyways, we stayed and tried the place out.

I am searching for a place on board that serves cappuccino (one of my weaknesses). There is a place on deck 10 but is it busy and noisy. They also only serve in paper cups (there should be a law about that). Eventually, we accidentally discovered a little wide spot in the hallway on the way forward to the theatre. It’s called Chocolate Seduction and it sold individual chocolates as well as specialty coffee. I anxiously asked if they could serve a cappuccino in a mug, to which the disappointing answer was no. I sucked it up and ordered one in a paper cup! Ughh! The cup was terrible but the coffee was amazing. This gal really knew how to build a great cappuccino. I told her the coffee was great but I hated paper cappuccino.

The next day we went back to the quiet wide spot in the hallway and this time Maria served us huge heavy full ceramic cups of cappuccino. She said they were Jacuzzi sized and she was right! For us they were the same price as the paper version that was ½ the size! Talk about how to solidify sales! Every day we went for a cappuccino, Maria served us the Jacuzzi sized version. Only us! Nobody else got to use the mugs! Maria gets my vote for the best service and coffee on the ship.

There is a Digital Workshop, of about 20 or so computers that runs a full schedule of 45 minute sessions on various Microsoft apps that are part of or associated with Windows 8.1. Subjects include things like photo processing, how to use the people or the calendar apps, email, and many more. Most classes are crowded and have people lining up to get in 15 or so minutes before the start. In fact, there are 24 different class topics taught. These are free! Some might think that would be what they are worth, given it is Microsoft, but this is a popular activity that has become available on 15 Holland America cruise ships. I am told that Microsoft provides the hardware and, although the TechSperts, as they are called, are paid by Holland America, their choice is a joint effort between Microsoft and Holland America. It is great to see the classes full of older people who are determined to learn how to better use their computers. My question was, if Microsoft has Holland America covered off, what cruise line is Apple working? The answer is Celebrity! So if you are an Apple person, book on Celebrity but be ready to pay as I am told the sessions are $20.00 each.

My room is an outside cabin with a partially obstructed view. I really don’t need a big view as I am out of the cabin most of the time. It does have a floor to ceiling window, which provides lots of light and I do have a view between two tenders that partially obstruct my view. It is just enough to let me know when to grab my camera and head out on deck. The cabin has an amazing amount of storage room!

This ship has four outside glass elevators in the middle of the ship. It helps in navigating your way around because they are in the middle of the ship as well as they provide a great view of the world as you ascend and descend the nine deck levels.

For such a directionally challenged person, it is difficult for me to find my way around. I put lots of miles on just trying to get to where I want to be. There are a couple of basic rules. Even numbered state rooms, like mine, are on the left or port side of the ship but that requires that you know what direction you are travelling, and you cannot determine that if you cannot see outside because the ship travels so smoothly. Determining direction from the movement of the ship is not possible. Next, the 900 seat theatre is located at the sharp end and the dining room is located at the back. So without being able to tell direction of travel from movement it is not uncommon for me to end up at the theatre, looking for food or the dining room looking for the show! I need a Seeing Eye dog! The captain uses the phrase “Fun at the front and Food at the rear”, but that really doesn‘t help me. I did discover that there is a map of the ship in each elevator lobby which can help with direction as the map is oriented to the direction of travel.

I’m starting to become concerned that I won’t be able to find my way off this thing and that as they haul it off to the scrap yard someday, I will still be aimlessly wandering the hallways looking for the way off! Oh well, with all the food they are serving I guess I can just call it exercise. If I only had a GPS!

It is a tough existence here on the “beautiful, elegant” Holland America Westerdam. Weather has been as close to perfect as it can be since we left San Diego. Days are sunny and warm, with temperatures slowly increasing from 23 C to 31 C as we progress further southward. The sea has been clam with movement of the ship hardly even detectable.

Our 2,500 or so shipmates are mostly older folks, many of whom look quite frail, in fact, I’m not sure I have ever seen as large a collection of walkers, oxygen tanks, canes, wheelchairs and power chairs! I believe we are carrying enough inventory onboard to stock a relatively large Red Cross medical equipment store! I had always thought that the older passengers were mostly on the Alaska cruises but one of our lunch companions said that the Panama Canal Cruise was statistically where the older folks were found. He said that on a previous cruise, they had five in the fridge by the time they arrived back at the destination port.

Most folks are quite active with lots of people circling the third level exterior deck. You have to watch out or you can get run over by a power chair. I think it was a race. The gym is also quite busy, as are the two pools. Everybody is busy doing something.

Our stop at Puerto Vallarta Mexico was precisely on schedule. It has been a few years since I have visited here and there are lots of new thing, like the new cruise ship facility, which is spotless, carefully manicured and beautifully landscaped. It looks like it can handle three ships at a time, but we were the only one at this time. Also, the six lane divided roadway into town replaces a narrow two lane thing that I recall. Downtown, the Malecon (beach side walkway) was widened and lengthened and the foot sized cracks were filled.

Not being particularly interested in Puerto Vallarta, we booked a short tour that covered the old downtown, and the bay where the movie Night of the Iguana was filmed. Although I have been to PV several times, this was a first visit to the beautiful old Church of our Lady of Guadalupe. It is a city icon as it dominates Vallarta’s downtown skyline and is one of the favorite symbols and landmarks of the city. The building is a relatively new structure, with the foundations of an early church being placed in 1903, although it looks older. The town of Vallarta is not as old as it looks, either, being established in 1851.

We made a couple of obligatory shopping stops and were back at the ship in time for lunch. After a leisurely afternoon, we departed at five in the evening.

Our next port of call is Huatulco, Mexico and we have a sea day before we arrive there on 15 October.

A few hours after our Puerto Vallarta departure, the captain announced that there was a medical emergency aboard and that they were implementing a medical evacuation that needed to occur at about 2:30 in the morning. The ship would be stopped just off the coast at Manzinillo and the patient would be picked up by a boat and delivered to the hospital at Manzinillo for treatment. The announcement was a warning that there was to be a stop in the middle of the night and they were going to use thrusters to keep the ship in place during the transfer. We were also told that the ship was going to proceed at full speed to our Manzinillo midnight rendezvous.

Something I had never thought about was clarified a few days later. The captain said that there is a whole department in Holland America’s Seattle office that plans and coördinates the handling of medical emergencies, such as we experienced. I guess they must be prepared for just about anything in this environment.

Now I have watched the progress of our trip on monitors around the ship like you see on the seat back of international flights, only larger. They even have it on channel 40 of the ship’s TV system. So far we have travelled at 17 to 18 knots. Full speed apparently means 22 knots. I asked a couple of junior officers how many kilometers per hour that would equate to and they think it is about 41 kilometers per hour. I told them it would be on their captain’s test so they reconsidered and confirmed the equivalency.

I hope the ailing patient had good insurance because I’m sure the fuel costs of this huge ship running at full speed will be billable to someone. Also, there was the hours of full speed operation required to catch up the lost time.

I find this an interesting situation as our ship has a scheduled time to go through the Panama Canal and cannot be late. If they are, they may be delayed up to a few days and lose their reservation fee which is somewhere around $35K. When you project that line of thinking to the extreme, it could throw the calendar for this ship out of whack for the rest of the season! The discussion among passengers on board seemed to question why the patient was delivered to Manzinillo by tender rather than having the ship returning to Puerto Vallarta.  I think the answer is obvious and financial. Other cruises are known to have skipped scheduled ports to catch up lost time to meet the Canal schedule. Seems like pretty basic risk management to me. (Project Management 101)

I have to say that I appreciated the heads up by the Captain about the little midnight operation, but the goings on didn’t even wake me!

Today is Cruise departure day, 10 October. It is also my birthday so I am hoping for an uneventful day in our new digs and for the next 15 days.

Our hotel runs a shuttle to the cruise ship dock which takes around 15 minutes. The departure dock is right in the middle of downtown San Diego. It was a great boarding. With 2,125 passengers booked on this cruise, I was expecting some back up but it was almost as if we were on our own. We turned in our checked luggage and walked right up to the check-in desk which we cleared in around five minutes and walked right up the gangway to the Holland America Westerdam. The crew is Indonesian and Filipino as all the Holland American ship crews are.

We were greeted as we entered the ship and were told that our cabins were not yet ready so to please go up to the Lido deck restaurant for lunch. This restaurant is cafeteria style service. I am traveling with my brother on this cruise and he is a cruiseaholic. He knows more about Holland America and their ships than most people would ever care to know. He told me to wait as he went to check on a couple of things. He returned shortly to announce the full service restaurant was open and our cabins were ready! It is handy to have someone around who knows the ropes.

We had a great lunch and a leisurely afternoon until our departure at five, when a large departure sail away party began on the rear outside of deck nine. Drinks, a band, and a beautiful view of sunny San Diego growing smaller in the distance culminating in a perfectly served dinner in the Vista Dining Room, all provided a great start to what I am expecting to be an overly opulent fifteen day voyage of pampering and over indulgences down the west coast of North America, through the Panama Canal, and eventually ending in Ft Lauderdale. Here are a few shots from around the ship.

We have selected open seating in the dining room, for this cruise. It gives us a great chance to meet other travellers. There are 22 different countries represented on this cruise.

Part way through our first dinner, a cake with lit candles arrived at our table of 16 and the waiters asked for me. They then sang an Indonesian birthday song. Most embarrassing, I must say!! I blamed my brother as he was the only person I could think of who knew it was my birthday, but he swore it wasn’t him! Later I found out that the ship, having all the passport information, mines it for birthdays. Also, when you check in for dinner, they take your room number so they know you are in the dining room and what table you are at. There is no escape! I think this nefarious system must have been developed by the CIA.

 This is my second cruise with Holland America and this ship carries about 800 more passengers than were on my first. I was concerned about volume back-ups but everything seems to be scaled well and the extra people are not really that noticeable. Everything is larger than the first ship. This ship was christened in April 2004 in Venice Italy. Westerdam is equipped with a CODAG power plant and an Azipod propulsion system, which gives it amazing maneuverability and the ability to stop from 20 knots in three ship lengths. (The captain says he would be in big trouble with the engineering officer if he ever did that) The $500 million dollar Westerdam can even spin on the spot, which is very cool for a ship that is 1.6 kilometers around the outside deck.

I did a little checking and found that this is the third Westerdam. The first sailed for Holland America Line from 1946 to 1965. It was a combined cargo/passenger ship with accommodations for 143 first-class passengers. While being constructed during World War II, this ship was sunk three times before making its maiden voyage. It was bombed and sunk by Allied forces on August 27, 1942 in the shipyard in Rotterdam. The Germans raised the ship in September 1944, but it was quickly sunk by the Dutch underground forces. After being raised a second time, the resistance again sank it on January 17, 1945. The ship was finally completed and went on to be a regular on the transatlantic run making two eight-day crossings each month between Rotterdam and New York. She ended her career on February 4, 1965 when she was sold to Spain as scrap.

Clearly the Westerdam name has a fascinating history and lots of experience, much of it quite troublesome. I hope they have the trouble part corrected by now!

The design of our itinerary is great, with two sea days right away, as we sail to our first port of call, Puerto Vallarta Mexico. This provides a couple of days to get familiar with the layout of the ship and where things are. We arrive in Puerto Vallarta on Monday the 13^th at about Seven I the morning.

Today, we took a kitchen tour. This is a pretty impressive operation with 125 kitchen staff and around 150 serving staff delivering 12,000 meals per day to several restaurants around the ship and also room service. I have never seen so much stainless steel in one place. (The pastry spider web is especially for Andrea!)

Of course, there is always the two shows in the ship’s theater, which seats 900, at 8:00 and 10:00 each night. They have a variety of great entertainers that put on quality shows each night. Last night was a great comedian and impressionist who had lots of cruise ship humor. It was nice to see a performance that was not full of four letter words! Here are a few shots from tonight’s show.

We have a half day shore excursion booked for Puerto Vallarta tomorrow, but I still hope to be able to find an Internet café close to the ship, where I can post this. The Internet connection on the ship is just too slow and costly. I did a trial run to send a single small pre written email. It cost $8.50.

Holland America are adapting their ships to take on shore power while they are in port. This will allow them to shut down the engines and meet their quite aggressive green targets. Maybe they could look for a high speed Internet shore feed as well. Most people just don’t understand the costs and speed issues associated with satellite Internet connections.

Today, the captain was asked who was running the ship while he was making a welcome speech at lunch. He responded that the ship was being run by Windows 7. I’m glad he didn’t tell us it was Windows 8.1!