Cruise Critic Colleagues,

We have just returned from a 10 day cruise on the HAL Ryndam to the Sea of Cortez and Mexican Riviera on March 13th 2007-April 2nd 2007 out of San Diego, my first HAL cruise and my fourth cruise overall. In context, my previous three cruises were with "Princess" on the brand new Diamond Princess (twice, in 2004 and 2006) and her sister ship Sapphire Princess (once in 2005), both ships being built in 2004 with about 2300 passengers, all to the Mexican Riviera out of Los Angeles. We really enjoyed those three previous cruises and thought the ships sparkled and that they were a great value for the money. In contrast, the Ryndam has a more intimate scale and has about 1,200 passengers and was built in 1993 and refurbished in 2002.

I have traveled all over Mexico for years, am fluent in Spanish, and know Mexico very well in detail. Thus, I chose this cruise because it went to two ports I had never been to before and I wanted to take my elderly mother on a cruise and she always has enjoyed her trips to Mexico. My mother can't walk very far and uses a wheelchair onboard. The ports I had never seen before included Loreto, BC and La Paz BC, and the colonial and 19th century architecture of the small towns of Concordia, Sin. and Copala, Sin. while in the port of Mazatlan, and also visit the older town of San Jose del Cabo, BC while the ship was docked in Cabo San Lucas, BC. Read more