Cruising to the Sun Part III: The Port Call That Wasn't

To clarify that weird headline right up front, here's what I mean: our ship had a port call today in the island of Cozumel, Mexico. And I didn't bother going ashore. Why not?

First of all, because I have been to Cozumel twice before. I felt no real need to spend more time here.

Second, because there were four other ships in Cozumel besides ours, and most of them were bigger than our 2,000-plus passengers. That's too people-y for me!

 

And finally because, as a result of the total of five ships, Cozumel needs three cruise ship piers. On my first two visits, we docked at the pier right by the centre of the town, San Miguel de Cozumel. This time, we were relegated to the outskirts. See the cruise pier way off in the distance with two ships moored either side of it? That's the one in town.

Now, even I have to admit that Cozumel looks rather pretty by the dawn's early light.

The one other thing that might have tempted me would have been some good Mexican eatery on the pier. But what did we get? The normal cruise port assortment of American chain stores and American "Tex-Mex" restaurants. All of which added up to a nice quiet day on board. A good brisk walk around the Promenade Deck in the morning (about 1.5 miles or 2.4 kilometres), ...

 

 

... a couple of relaxing swims in the pool, interspersed with a made-to-order pizza and a favourite warm-weather liquid refreshment, ...

 

 

... and a nice relaxing nap in the afternoon.

But I don't want to sell my loyal readers short. What did I do on my previous visits to Cozumel that I feel is worth doing if you go there? It all has to do with the Mayans. Many people mistakenly believe that the Mayans are one of the lost civilizations of the past. Well, not exactly. The great Mayan city-states all collapsed and were abandoned very suddenly and mysteriously. But the Mayan people are still here, very much alive and kicking, and are more numerous in Cozumel than most places around Yucatan.

So, on my first visit, I took the cruise company's Chichen Itza Express tour. That was a mistake. Chichen Itza is an incredible place, no question, but it takes time. Trying to do it on a one-day tour from a cruise ship in Cozumel was definitely not the right way. Read about that misadventure at this link:

Epic Bus Ride to the Distant Past

The second visit gave me a chance to encounter some Mayan culture along with a broader Mexico-wide folkloric show -- definitely kitschy for tourists, but also informative and revealing on many different levels. Read about that visit in this post, after the material about the stingrays in Grand Cayman:

The Western Caribbean Circuit

And with that, since I've basically covered the subject, peace out, Cozumel. The next port call will take rather more work to cover.

Cruising to the Sun Part II: A Day in Key West

The cruise ship docks in Key West are right at and close by to Mallory Square, smack in the middle of the old town district. It's hard to find a better cruise port to just come off the ship and start walking. Just as well, too, since our day in Key West was cool and breezy -- a good brisk north wind all day, and while the sun was shining the temperature never got above about 15 C (59 F). 

So, in lieu of pictures of poolside lounging and beachfront tanning, here are a few pictures from my walking tour of Key West. I never got far from the ship, and didn't really feel the need to, having come to Key West just two years ago.  To begin, some views from the open decks early in the morning.

Next, some views of Eurodam taken from the dock level. 

 

The last view was taken from farther north, towards Mallory Square. Right in front of the square proper was moored this vessel, looking much more like a river cruiser than an ocean-going ship.

And indeed, American Cruises has its roots in the river cruising business on major American rivers, and has now branched out into coastal cruises on sheltered waterways such as the Inside Passage to Alaska or the Intracoastal Waterway down the east coast and along the Gulf of Mexico.

Mallory Square is famed as the site of the nightly Sunset Gathering, which happens all year round.

Not far away is the old Customs House, now a museum of Key West.

Also close at hand is the former U.S. Coast Guard storehouse, now redesigned and revived as an indoor shopping mall. These are among the very few buildings in Key West constructed of brick or stone, which makes sense once you realize that such materials had to be imported great distances to be used here.

 

Another of Key West's historic sites lies not far off. President Harry Truman's "Little White House" served as the seat of the President's work during his vacation months. Since communications were still very much on the lines of operator-assisted long-distance phone calls, Truman actually received permission from the Congress to carry on the nation's business from this remote location in the late 1940s. The house is a classic old Key West house, with slotted shutters to admit the wind but keep out the sun on hot days.

On the grounds you will see an interesting historic artifact: Truman's presidential limousine.

 

Another and much more common Key West sight came by while I was admiring the car. You can see this in any of dozens (hundreds?) of locations all over the island. Even when they aren't visible, they are most certainly audible -- all day long!

This is all the more formal side of Key West. But much of the island is more affected by a laid-back, casual attitude, reflected by the colourful buildings, whether old stores...

 

 

...or modern condos and hotels.

The survival of the old original street signs is another good pointer.

 For sheer quirkiness it's had to beat a rusted cannon resting on a bed of coral limestone rocks...

...or, even odder, a sea monster made entirely out of wild sponges.

And then there's this advertising sign, which appeared in a shop window. The more I looked at this, the more I scratched my head. I mean, what would a "Key Lime Pie Cigar" look like? 

 

Taste like?  

 

Smell like?

Perhaps it's best to just leave you with that little mystery.

Cruising to the Sun Part 1: What's New in the Caribbean?

Life on the Caribbean cruises seems to be slowly settling back towards normal after the disruption of the pandemic and the ensuing craziness of the first year or two back in the cruise trade.

 

Once again, we've arrived into a world where you can get some fantastic deals on cruises by travelling either before or just after the Christmas/New Year's holiday periods. Even more to the point, the deals are again available on fairly short notice, as on the cruise I've now embarked on -- a 10-day Western Caribbean circuit on Holland America's 2008-built MS Eurodam.

 

Holland America photo

I'd been marooned at or close to home for about the last 6 months with medical issues. In the process, I'd had to cancel a much more ambitious winter travel plan. Finally, towards the end of November, I got the medical all-clear to travel some more, and the very same week the "Black Friday" deals began landing in my inbox. I was a bit startled to see that this ship had a good number of unoccupied cabins, and quickly picked one and reserved it. Given the short time frame until departure, I had to pay the full fare when booking.

 

It's the fare that was startling. The entire cruise, with all taxes and fees included, came out to CAD$220 per day, and that's for me taking single occupancy of a cabin for 2 adults! Anyone who's tried travelling to a landside resort recently can judge of the value here. Last winter, I stayed for 4 nights in a Florida mid-level chain hotel, not a lavish resort, for US$320 (CAD$460) per night -- just for the room, no meals included. Here on a cruise ship, of course, you get room, all meals, taxes, and transportation at a rate which is a real bargain by comparison. It's not hard to see why I jumped at the offer and booked the cruise right then and there.

Nor was the ship full even then. On three occasions since the beginning of December, I got upsell offers to move to a better cabin for an extra charge. The extra charges were reasonable, but I felt no great need to take up those offers -- I was content with what I had reserved.

 

Note, though, that the voyage is now sold out, or as good as. The sales begin at the 90-day mark when all reserved bookings must be paid in full. For obvious reasons, the best choices of remaining cabins will be available at Days 89 and 88 and the selection will diminish from then on down to sailing day! One thing I would not change from all my previous advice: I would still urge that nobody should ever book a cruise, no matter how tempting the offer, if you can't get a confirmation of the number of the exact cabin you will occupy, right at the moment of booking. Remember that passengers on more than a few lines have been booted when the cruise company miscalculated and oversold the ship -- and the ones to get left behind are the ones who had a guaranteed fare but not a guaranteed cabin.

The next little trend is the 10-night length of the cruise. My two favourite lines, Holland America and Princess, are both offering more and more 9-night, 10-night, and 11-night sailings in this region. Eight years ago, when I took my first Caribbean cruise, most of the cruises on offer were one week long, with Saturday to Saturday the preferred timing. 

Today, the main cruise ports at Miami and Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale) are both bursting at the seams with the growing numbers and sizes of the newer ships. Longer trips such as this one have a built-in advantage in spreading the cruise dates around the various days of the week over the course of the season. They're also attractive to people who find 7 days not-quite-enough but don't want to go for two full weeks. Indeed, Holland America's Caribbean list for 2025 has only 30% of the dates being traditional 7-night cruises!

 

Another result of the crowding sees some companies spreading out their operations. Holland America with its relatively small fleet isn't one of them, but Princess Cruises certainly is. By the end of 2025, Princess will have Caribbean ships homeporting in Port Canaveral FL (east of Orlando), Galveston TX (near Houston), and San Juan, Puerto Rico, as well as some shoulder season voyages to and from New York NY, no less -- and all of this is in addition to their standard offerings out of Port Everglades!

Then there's the itinerary. There are a number of newer cruise ports springing up in various parts of the Caribbean region to meet the demand, and this cruise includes one of the more recent arrivals at Belize City. For this trip, Belize is the one new country which I haven't visited before. The unusual snake bend in the route between Montego Bay and Grand Cayman is likely due to the availability of port times at those two popular destinations.

 Source Map attribution:  https://freevectormaps.com/

 

I've already planned to simply skip going ashore at several of the ports. That's due to the high number of ships in one case, and my lack of interest in the others after multiple visits. Here's a very useful tool if you are taking a cruise: a website which allows you to find out how many other ships will be in port at each one of your ports of call. You can make a fair estimate on how crowded the onshore facilities will be for each of your stops. The first time I used this website, I planned on skipping the shore experience at a port where we were calling after seeing that we would be in town with the guests from four other ships!

 

Cruise Timetables

I first found out about Cruise Timetables from the YouTube channel called Tips For Travellers. Gary Bembridge, who runs this channel, filming and producing his own high-quality videos, is one of the most knowledgeable and experienced cruise experts I've found on the internet. The range of topics and the number of ships and companies he's reviewed give you a very comprehensive portrait of the cruise business as it grows and changes.

 

YouTube -- Tips For Travellers

One trend Gary has noted is the tendency for more and more experienced travellers to simply stay on board on port days. This can be from familiarity, or from the realization that the differences between one port and another in the Caribbean become less and less noticeable as time goes by. Certainly this is a feeling that I share. After a while, it's all so predictable: the mandatory EFFY and Tanzanite jewellery stores, the Ron Jon Surf Shop, the inevitable Señor Frogs restaurant. If you're lucky, you may hit a port where these get pushed farther away from the dock by old-established local merchants (Nassau, for instance). Even rarer are the ports where these names don't appear at all (such as Bermuda). 

 

Of all of these corporate invaders, the one whose business model baffles me the most is EFFY. It's not just the assumption that so many cruisers want to spend every day of their holiday in the sun shopping for bling. It's the fact that every cruise ship I've been on in the last decade has an EFFY store right on the ship -- and they still expect people to make a beeline for the nearest EFFY as soon as they get ashore! 

 

One more helpful hint. When buying a cruise nowadays, you have to decide whether to take advantage of the various "all-inclusive" bonus packages which the various cruise lines now offer. I've sailed both with and without them, and come to the following conclusion. Most of these comprehensive package offers are not going to save you much money (if any) unless you are truly a raging alcoholic. 

 

Many people's dreams of going crazy on cheap booze get overturned as soon as they realize that if one person in a cabin gets the drink plan, all the people in the cabin get billed for the same plan as well. Another dodge gets closed off when the servers are allowed to serve only one drink per card at a time. The bonus packages are billed as offering huge savings ("60% Off!") but you only save that much if you consume, for example, the allowed maximum number of alcoholic drinks each day. You really need to keep your head as you assess these plans for value.

 

As the various bonus plans stand right now, I would only be convinced to invest in the package from Holland America if I were booking far enough ahead (1.5-2 years in advance) to get their biggest premium package offer which includes $100/week of shore excursion credit and an upgrade to premium WiFi -- but I would only buy it for a cruise of 3 weeks or more. Princess' package plan is even less tempting as it proudly offers premium desserts (which I don't eat) and exercise classes (which I don't take, they just take time away from walking out on deck). No incentive for me there!

 

Now, what about the MS Eurodam herself? This is an intriguing ship, being the exact same hull size as the MS Zuiderdam which I sailed on to Europe last spring -- but Eurodam can carry about 140 more passengers. This was made possible by enlarging and repurposing the top two decks above the navigation bridge to fit in some 70 more cabins. The similar upper deck area amidships provides space for the Asian-fusion specialty restaurant Tamarind, which the older Holland America ships do not have. These areas are shown by the outlines on the picture.

The modifications increase the net tonnage of the ship by about 4,000 tons over the older ships such as the MS Zuiderdam.

 

With that, here's a photo tour of the MS Eurodam to introduce this ship to you, once we get the pesky guy with the big grin out of the way (can you tell I'm happy to be cruising again???).

 

Start with the three-storey Atrium in the middle of the ship. Eurodam has been "blessed" (?) with a particularly ugly and pointless sculpture here.

On Deck Three, the top of the Atrium is surrounded by the Ocean Bar, a favourite hangout of mine. Music is provided nightly by a jazz-blues trio, and it's a great place to sit and nurse a drink and enjoy the music to the full. Many couples like to get up and dance, and more power to them. I love to watch, it brings back memories of how much my parents loved to dance together.

 

 

Other music venues nearby are the Rolling Stone Lounge...

... and Billboard on Board, where everything from old favourites to duelling pianos can be on the program.

As always, some facilities are closed while the ship is in port: the shops...

...and the casino, neither of which is of any interest to me, either closed or open.

If you take the forward elevators all the way to the top at Deck 11, you will find there the Crow's Nest Cafe and Bar, a games room, and the headquarters of the Shore Excursions team. Perhaps I should keep quiet about this, as so many passengers don't seem to know it exists, but the Crow's Nest gives splendid views forward and to either side, through its panoramic windows, views which go very well with a cappuccino and cookies.

Deck 9 is where the outdoor deck spaces, pools, and hot tubs are found, as well as the buffet. Another of my favourite spots is here: the huge open deck and Seaview Pool at the stern. Appearances, though, can be deceiving. It looks like a perfect sunny day for the pool, but the 15 Celsius temperature and brisk north winds put that out of many people's minds. 

 

This has to be counted as a typical winter day in Key West, our first port of call. The probing fingers of the Arctic cold snap and winter storms can and do reach south even beyond the bottom of Florida. Getting so much sun was bonus, but it was hardly beach weather. The next blog post will look at my day in Key West, a day featuring far better weather than the last time I came here.