In addition to loving cruising on our own sailboat around coastal Floria where we live, we have been regularly "big boat" cruising for the last twenty or so years with family, friends and many of sailboat club members. As a result we have exhausted all ends of the Caribbean, especially the east coast of Mexico and the Yucatan. We have danced in the conga line at Carlos and Charlie's in Cozumel, snorkeled at San Francisco Beach, hiked up the ruins at Tulum, taken the long bus ride to Chitchen Itza, hiked in the rain forests and cave tubed in Belize. This year we intended to do something different and book a cruise in the Mediterranean, but after seeing the cost of airfare to Europe, we opted for a 10 day cruise out San Diego down to Baja California (our Mexican guide explained they owned all of California once and just because we gringos took part of it, they were not changing the name) and up the Sea of Cortez to mainland west coast Mexico. Each port was new and different and reminded us why we love to travel. The real unexpected bonus was the intimate Holland America ship the Veendam. We usually cruise on very large ships that are more like floating cities so at first glance we were a little underwhelmed by the size of the ship but after a few days we really learned to appreciate the benefits of a smaller ship. It was less crowded, easier to embark and disembark, easier to get around but the best part was how nice it was to get to know the staff and to be made to feel like part of the HAL family. Not only would we definitely do it again but we are already booked on that Mediterranean cruise for this spring on another HAL ship. Finally, there is not an option fro reviewing either Loreto or Toppolobampo but we loved both of them and would definitely go back.