How Holland America Cruise Line Is Changing the Mexican Riviera - and Itself Aaron Saunders - Canada.com
go to original December 8, 2016

Holland America's Westerdam, at anchor off Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (Aaron Saunders)

Sometimes, a good cruise is like a visit from an old friend. That’s the case for me this week as I cruise aboard Holland America Line’s gracious 1,916-guest Westerdam to the splendid Mexican Riviera on Mexico’s Pacific Coast.

I’ve been cruising to the Mexican Riviera for over a decade now. I’ve also been sailing with Holland America for the past eleven years, having amassed two-star Mariner status with the line long before I’d ever begun writing about cruising and cruise ships as a career. Both line and destination have changed in the intervening years. Fortunately, that change has been for the better.

A decade ago, the Mexican Riviera was overloaded with cruise ships. It wasn’t uncommon to have three – sometimes four – ships calling on Puerto Vallarta on a single day. Prices were low, the weather was hot, and for many cruisers on the West Coast, a voyage to the Mexican Riviera was one of the most cost-effective cruises they could take.

And then one day, the music stopped. Reports of tourists caught in the crossfire of the drug trade made the news. It was largely overblown and hugely political (check the stats on how many folks are shot each year in Chicago to see what I mean), but the damage was done: the cruise lines pulled out, and by 2012, the Mexican Riviera was a ghost town.

That’s all changing now. Carnival Cruise Line was one of the first to commit to a full season of Mexican Riviera sailings last year, and now its upmarket sister company is doing likewise, deploying the 2004-built Westerdam on a short season that will last until February.

While Holland America has had a handful of sailings here in the past couple years, they’ve been few and far between. This year marks the first season that the line has deployed one of its larger Vista Class ships on voyages out of San Diego for the better part of the winter season. It’s a huge commitment that will no doubt please cruisers who know and love this region, and give those that haven’t had the pleasure the chance to experience it for themselves.

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