Koningsdam: Mazatlan

It’s Wednesday so that means Mazatlán day.

Mazatlán Morning

We had pre-ordered room service last night for this morning and it arrived about 15 minutes early. This was the tray for continental breakfast!

It’s so nice to have coffee delivered to you plus we enjoyed a pastry and fruit plate.

As we got close to Mazatlán something was in the captains way as the horn blasted several times.  My brother did see a whale spout while we were enjoying our coffee. We watched us approach Mazatlán and it’s a beautiful day although chilly.

We had breakfast in the main dining room as the ship was pulling into port.

I had the ham and egg skillet which came with two perfectly poached eggs.

I also ordered the banana french toast which was so good.

My brother had eggs benedict and Texas french toast along with pineapple juice. I don’t know of any other cruise line that offer pineapple juice.

We had mail when we got back to the cabin about our tiles.

I guess there’s no mariner lunch where we would normally get them.  Then we got off at 9:30 for our 10 am tour.

Stone Island Excursion

I had bought our tour from a online tour agency a couple of months ago. It included transportation from the cruise port, harbor tour, all inclusive beach on Stone Island.

This is a shipping port so everyone takes a tram to the cruise terminal. We went through the shops and found tour operators and our contact. Apparently we were supposed to meet there at 9:30 but my instructions didn’t say that. The boat leaves at 10 am. He put us on a little vehicle that had benches but really just seats 8 people with a few others and off we went to the boat.

Four people with us were going horseback riding so they were taken straight to the island in a small motor boat. A few minutes later we boarded the bigger boat with about 20 other passengers who were all Mexican except for one couple from the Princess ship. We had a one hour harbor tour. It’s pretty chilly with the breeze and the temperature is only 70 degrees today.

It was also choppy; thank goodness I took my sea sickness medication. Even then my stomach still wasn’t happy.  We saw the three islands (wolf, deer and bird).

We got really close to Wolf Island to see the caves in it.

The highlight f the harbor tour was this big fat sea lion napping on a rock.

Then the boat headed to Stone Island.  We got this shot of our ship on the way.

On Stone Island

Then it was off to Stone Island where we docked and got in trailers with benches pulled by a tractor.

We were taken past much nicer looking beach bars and dropped at one with no name that I saw. We were shown the bar and bathrooms and told we could sit anywhere. The princess passengers, John and Mary, sat with us. As the only Americans we bonded.

The bar had limited choices. They did have food you could order in addition to the included lunch. We had the combination lunch which came with cheese quesadilla, fried fish and a chicken leg along with rice and beans.

The salad looked good but there wasn’t any dressing; just a very hot salsa!

It was too cold to even think about going in the water and we never did see anyone swimming. About an hour before we left a big group of Mexicans came in along with a vanda band and they set up right in front of us and played a couple of really loud songs. Then went around to the tables where they were paid to play specific songs and the requestor could even sing it. Very strange and loud and I couldn’t wait to get out of there.

Finally it was time to leave and we reverse our path with the tractor only this time the boat went right back to the dock and a vehicle was waiting to take us to the cruise ship pier.

We looked in the shops a bit and got on the ship around 3:30; an hour before all aboard time. I would go to Stone Island again the future BUT when it’s warmer and go independently and pick a nice beach bar.

Mazatlán Evening

After getting ready for dinner, we headed to the main dining room. Didn’t even have time for a pre dinner cocktail tonight which was okay because I still didn’t feel great.

We pulled out of Mazatlan as we were dining. It’s culinary council menu tonight and I really like this one compared to the first one a few years ago.

My first starter was the crab cake.

I could have filled up on these!  I followed this with the coconut crusted shrimp salad — also delicious.

For entree we both had the prime rib.

I didn’t like the sauce it came with but otherwise enjoyed it. I should have ordered the sauce on the side.

For dessert I tried the hazelnut mousse cake but I found the rum flavoring overpowering.

ThenI saw the wonderful dessert my brother ordered, the chocolate puff pastry craquelin, and had to have it too.

It was filled with a delicious chocolate custard and was the best dessert I had so far this trip. He also had the ricotta pie and enjoyed it.

I went to the casino for a bit and lost about $20. Before going to the cabin I enjoyed the sunset.

In our cabin I found a delivery for my brother which looks delicious!

We also had a card reminding us clocks move forward one hour tonight and the where and when for tomorrow.  There also was a wild turkey in here!

Click the image below for the full Where and When PDF.