RYNDAM- Northbound to Alaska 5/4

DAY 1 -

5/3- Arrived in San Diego and discovered that it really is a nice city or so it appears if one doesn’t venture away from the harbor area. There are all kinds of fun stuff to do within a short walk of each other. We checked in to the Holiday Inn on the Bay and found the room interior about a “7” on a 10 scale. The balcony overlooking the harbor and cruise ships is very nice. From our 11th floor room the Ryndam would eventually dock directly across the street from the hotel. About 70 yards away in all. We met some CC folks for drinks in the hotel bar, swapped life stories, and headed off to bed to board in the morning.

DAY 2..Boarding Day-

5/4- The first major decision one must make while staying at the HI is how to get your stuff 70 yards cross the street to the ship terminal. Your options are to (1) walk, (2) take the hotel shuttle, or (3) a cab. We figured the last option would tick off a cab driver for a 70 yard fare---skip that one. The hotel shuttle didn’t leave until almost an hour after people were allowed to start boarding and I am one of those guys who likes to start his vacation once the starting gun sounds, so we walked with 5 cases across the street. We were on board 35 minutes after leaving the HI. Only 500+ people were getting on in San Diego so the whole process was a fast as anything we’d experienced in the past.

Again because the ship was already more than half filled once we arrived we didn’t have to wait the usual 2 to 3 hours before you can access your cabin. We headed up to the Neptune to check in (we’re in Deluxe Veranda 43 for those of you that have you maps out). It always amazes me how the person in charge of the Neptune greets you by name the minute you walk in the door- regardless if he/she has never laid eyes on you before. They look at their computer screen, see your smiling mug from a picture that was taken minutes before, and utilize the name attached to the photo I guess. Always a nice touch. We grabbed a few edible goodies from under the “glass dome”, washed them down with a little cranberry juice and headed off to the cabin 30 minutes later.

We’ve been in a Deluxe Veranda before (Noordam 10/08) so this interior is very similar in design. The 20’x12’ deck is bigger however. Someone asked in another post somewhere if HAL offered the largest balconies of the major lines. I don’t see how any other veranda could be any bigger. We have a large table for 4 and two loungers out there and still all kinds of room to ramble around. The Ryndam is starting to show her age just a little bit but all things considered the suite has been well cared for over the years. The king bed is wonderful as always with, as I look at them, 8 pillows of various degrees of firmness. The ‘fridge is stocked with “airplane size” bottles of booze, cokes, and beer. We met our cabin stewards Dedi & Husin then took a walk to explore a little bit. There are some real advantages to this size vessel in that everything is very close no matter where you are. I stopped and made dinner reservations for later (open seating—huge fan BTW).

After the muster drill we set sail at 4:30 and headed out past the harbor seals sunning on the buoys. A little turn to starboard and we’ve northbound towards Victoria. We missed the CC M&G party due to some family issues that had to be resolved so I’ll have to leave the review of that gathering to someone else. Cary & I began to unpack (luggage arrived about an hour after we left port) and powered up electronic gear. It will serve you well to bring an electrical power strip from home. I know you’ve heard it before but here is another certified reason- we only have one outlet outside of the bathroom, in the entire suite. I got the internet hooked up and the wi-fi works great in the room. it's $100 for 250 mins for there are lesser packages as well

After a quick change of clothes we headed down to the Rotterdam dining room for dinner. Here is the “Tip of the Day” for those who choose Anytime Dining. Yes you can make a reservation and I suggest you do so. When we arrived for dinner there were about a dozen people in one line marked “no reservation” and nobody in the “reservations” line. With reservation card in hand (it gets sent to your room) we walked to the front of the second empty line thus bypassing a bunch of hostile folks. We were told our table was not ready yet (we were 10 mins early) but were offered another table in its stead. This set uproars through the waiting crowd. Comments of “why do they get to go” and “we didn’t know you can make reservations” rumbled around the hallowed halls. So here is the deal- Anytime Dining works but if you expect to walk down at the height of the dinner hour and get immediate seating without reservations your evening is probably not going to start off as well as you planned. You are going to wait …plan on it. Dinner itself went well and food was quickly brought to the table. Portions were much smaller than the previous Noordam trip 6 months ago (cost cutting?) but very well presented. We finished, less dessert, in little over an hour and headed out for the evening entertainment.

The show for the evening was a comedy act (Michael Ziegfeld) who did the puppet bit, some stand up, and the usual “pick on the audience”. There were a few funny lines but, for the most part, the act was uninspiring. We left and stopped by the casino so Cary could have a few quick pulls on the slots. For the most part the gaming tables were sparsely populated and the slots about the same. A couple of the machines were broken in some form of fashion. We lost $40 before taking ours wounds to bed. A quick word about the slots. These are “cash only” machines and NOT the ones you’ve been reading about where you have to use your on board card to set up an account to play. Bills go in- tokens come out. Finally if you despise cigarette smoke as much as I do you’ll learn to lose your money quickly like me and get out of there (Editors Note: that will be my only rant about that nasty habit as to keep the CC popcorn consumption down). We headed back up to “43” and found the usual bed turn down and 2 chocolates on the pillows along with the towel animal of the day. The wife found the whirlpool tubs was quite functional while I crashed and read over the next day’s events. Nite----

DAY 2- Sea Day (mid 50’s temp-and falling)

Fog. Lots of it.

The fog bank rolled in around 11am and lasted throughout the day. Now if you’ve never been on a ship in the fog I will warn you that the bridge sounds the horn every 5 minutes. I timed it during a period of extended inactivity. That’s 12 toots an hour if you don’t have your calculator handy and continued well into the late night hours. I kinda liked it as it reminded me of my childhood days on Nantucket. The seas were calm but the swells were large enough that they pitched the Ryndam around quite a bit. The 71 degree temp pool water sloshed around like a storm tide. Thus ends the weather report.

We headed off to the Pinnacle for breakfast. For those who don’t already know this is another perk added to the Deluxe Veranda. Food was again very good but painfully slow in arriving. It was kind of surprising as there were only 3 other table occupied when we arrived at 9. A thought about the Pinnacle- I forgot to mention that we tried to make reservations there as soon as we got on board but were advised that the restaurant was completely books sans a few slots while in Victoria. A word to the wise here- if you happen to board any ship where a majority of people will already be on board you better have made your Pinnacle reservations prior to boarding. That holds true especially on a ship the size of this one where that restaurant is substantially smaller then on the newer larger vessels. We were told that once the majority of people on board get off in Vancouver (only 120 of us are staying for the Alaska run) there were plenty of openings. So if you’re planning on joining us in a few days might I suggest hopping on line and booking your Pinnacle times now because rest assured the 120+ of us already here will be taking up the best time slots before you arrive. Just being neighborly here—a friend helping a friend kinda deal. Book now.

Surprisingly enough Dedi & Hasin had not gotten our room tidied up until almost 1:30. Cary made a subtle suggestion to me that I might want to place the “room service” tag in the exterior lock tomorrow. Fresh fruit was waiting on us and the room was spotless when we returned later. These guys are great. A pair of pin on roses (I can’t spell “boo-ton-ear”) were left for us for formal night tonight. A pleasant surprise even if we are not attending. We decided very early in the planning stages not to pack all that formal stuff thus skipping dress up nights. Packing costs and stress of Cary deciding what to wear factored into the decision. Besides everything served in the Lido is exactly the same as in the dining room. On a humorous note there we heard a lady in the elevator say that “the food in the Lido is simply the leftovers from the dining room”….silly silly foolish lady). BTW- if you folks have an interest in reading the daily menu as I go along let me know. I wasn’t going to type it all out if no one wants to read it. Just makes this thing longer than I’ve already made it.

As the day progresses we discovered more and more elevators are beginning to break down. One (aft) on the first day and two more (forward) on day two. That leaves 5 left that are functional. I suspect this issue will be taken care of in Victoria or Vancouver. The majority of the afternoon was spent reading on my Kindle (a traveling “must” for any avid reader) on the veranda while Cary took a nap.

Prior to the aforementioned dinner we went to the early show (times-7pm & 9pm respectively) and watched “Paperback Writer”. Four guys dressed up like the Beatles and doing an analogy of the Fab Four’s greatest hits. If you’re into the whole Elvis impersonator kinda thing you will enjoy this. It was actually sort of good in a simplistic way even if “Paul” kept screwing up the words. Passed through the Casino on the way home and quickly dropped a couple bucks in a machine. She hit $140. That’s a nice way to end the day. We’ve decided we’re going to investigate the world of the professional cut throat bingo player for the first tomorrow so a good sleep will be required if for no other reason that defensive alertness. Nite--

I enjoyed your recap very much! Very informative, and learned a lot.

My ears perked and eyes got wide at the Beatles tribute band on board...I am a HUGE Beatles fan, I have so much Beatles stuff, our home is beginning to look like a shrine to THEM. :-) Wish that the band playing on your ship would move over to the Westerdam in a few weeks! :D

Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

Your report so far makes me have happy thoughts. My first HAL cruise was last year with my husband and parents from San Diego to Vancouver on the Ryndam. I fell in love with the line. We had pretty rough seas, though. 12-15 foot swells. We were rockin 'n rolling enough that the Beatles tribute band wouldn't have had to play. The comedian even had to leave the stage to barf! Unfortunately, we got to Victoria really late and missed our garden visit. I hope the seas are calmer for your adventure. Keep us posted.

I am really enjoying your daily report. How was formal night in the Lido? You said the food would be the same as the dining room, but how were passengers dressed? I am assuming that the weather was somewhat cool so there were no swimsuits and shorts, but how casual?

Looking forward to your next post!!!!!! Cherie

I am really enjoying your daily report. How was formal night in the Lido? You said the food would be the same as the dining room, but how were passengers dressed? I am assuming that the weather was somewhat cool so there were no swimsuits and shorts, but how casual?

 

Looking forward to your next post!!!!!! Cherie

In the Lido you wear what you had on during the day. Jeans & there were even a few shorts as well. No real dress code in there. And yes the temps are falling quickly.

DAY 3- Partly Cloudy & low 50’s

Overslept the Pinnacle breakfast hours so we grabbed some danish and fruit from the Neptune. I promise we’ll slide by the Lido for a report on breakfast opportunities there. After making dinner reservations for tonight we walked around the decks for a while to burn off the cookies we ate the night before. I forgot to mention we went to the Wajang to watch “Valkyrie” before turning in the last night . Grabbed a bag of popcorn and watched the late flick so I’m sure some of the calories we burned off during our walk this morning included the p-corn.

We trudged off to do battle with the cut throat bingo players in the Vermeer. Three cards for $20 with the winner getting free week cruise. It was one of those “you gotta fill up the whole card” deals so in all it took about 30 minutes and maybe 70 people showed up. Cary had two holes to be punched before a truly evil woman beat us to our free cruise. No matter- we were able to leave the room with only minor battle bruises. After the gaming experience it was time to feast on lunch. The wife had salads and chubby George had them make me a sandwich (or hero, po’boy, grinder, sub, or whatever you call it in your neck of the woods). A quick loss of $20 in the surprisingly smoke free casino and we headed off for Cary’s afternoon nap and my Kindle time.

Dinner was set for 5:45 so we stopped by the Ocean Bar (nonsmoking BTW) to partake in the “two for one” drink special. One 7&7 ($5.45) and one Bloody Mary ($6.50) equaled two glasses of each. Four drinks came to: $11.95 plus the added on 15% service charge for a total of $13.74. Off to dinner in the Rotterdam. We were taken to a table for six where folks were already eating. We advised that we had made reservations for a table for two and were quickly seated at such. Dinner was:

Cary—Appetizer: Sweet Tomato & Fresh Mozzarella…Soup: Ketchikan Fisherman Chowder…Entrée: Yukon Style Lasagna (a fish deal) and Key Lime pie for desert.

George—Appetizer: Cesar Salad again…Soup: Grandma’s Chicken Noodle Soup..Entree: Chicken Breast Parmegiano and the same pie as Momma.

Again there were very small portions especially the sliver of pie. The entire meal was finished in by 6:40 so we headed off to the early show. Tonight’s entertainment was a juggler, comic, magician who’s name I’ve forgotten even after only leaving the theater a short while ago. Weak at best and I’m one of those people who doesn’t really expect much from the ship’s entertainers going in. On our way back to 43 I bought the wife a new watch in the jewelry store for a more than a fair price I think

Before I call it a night I know there have been folks asking about the age of the people on board and how many children there might be as well. Answer: really older crowd than I’m used to and we’ve seen about a dozen kids. We have no problem with age (high or low) but at 51 & 49 respectively we fall into the “younger” set on board. If age demographics are of a concern to those in the 20-50 age groups you might want to think seriously about this itinerary before booking. Again a date of birth makes no difference to us but it well might to others seeking similar ages. Another quick observation is the Crows Nest and Exploration Lounge are always packed. Plan accordingly if this is your kinda place to hang out.

Got my cookies & lights off are soon to follow. Victoria tomm afternoon. Nite-----

geshaw30 - I'm loving reading your wonderful and detailed review. You mentioned you could post the menus if anyone was interested in reading them. I'm interested and I bet others are, too. Keep the posts coming and have a fantastic cruise.

I forgot to mention yesterday’s menu so I’ll add it to tonight’s:

Day 3 Appetizers:

Sailors Fruit Cocktail-

Sweet Tomato & Fresh Mozzarella-

Tuna Tartare with Prawn

Halibut Quesadillas

Soups/Salads:

Ketchikan Fisherman Chowder

Grandma’s Chicken Noodle Soup

Chilled Apple Vichyssoise

Northwest Sunset Salad

Entrees:

Yukon Style Lasagna- (filled with halibut, salmon & crab meat)

Chicken Breast Parmegiano- (chicken scallopini dipped in egg, bread crumbs and parmesan, panfrien in butter served with a classical tomato sauce on spaghetti

Yankee Beef Short Ribs- (in rich red wine sauce braised beef short ribs served on garlic mash potato and root veggies)

Austrian Style Stuffed Pork Tenderloin- (glazed pork tenderloin stuffed with sun dried tomato and bread dumpling served with stewed apple slices and Calvados sauce)

Pacific Fish & Seafood Platter-(grilled cobia & saithe fillet accompanied with a crab cake, hot chili mayonnaise & butternut squash rice)

Santa Fe Salad- (lime marinated turkey, fresh corn, black beans, cheese, tortilla strips, tomato & mixed lettuces with a spicy peanut cilantro vinaigrette)

Baked Tofu & Ginger Stir Fry- (Stirfried cumin and coriander seasoned Tofu, served with crisp onion, bean sprouts, pea pods, carrots, green beans, peppers, and corn kernel, Topped with yoghurt sauce)

Day 4 Appetizers-

Summer Fruit salad with Sambuca

Bay Shrimp Cocktail

Mille-Feuille of Red Beets

Golden Baked Brie in Phyllo Dough

Soups/Salads:

Dutch Pea Soup

Barley & Mushroom Soup

Chilled Cucumber Soup with Dill & Sour Cream

Chopped Farmers Salad

Entrees:

Tri-Color with Sauteed Andouille Sausage- (olice oil, garlic, roasted bell peppers, & red onions sautéed together with Andouille sausage then tossed together with ziti, marinara, & hint of cayenne)

Turkey Tenderloin with Prosciutto & Sage- (harvest apple pecan stuffing, vichy carrots, broccoli & candied sweet potato along with a cranberry-peppercorn sauce

New York Sirloin Steak

Nasi Goreng- (Indonesian fried rice with pork satay, spicy chicken drumstick, beef Sumatra, scallions, and julienne of omelet, served with pickled cucumber, crisp prawn crackers, & crisp creamy fried banana)

Almond-Crusted Salmon- (baked with a crunchy crown of sliced almonds, served with leek-cream sauce, sautéed baby carrots, zucchini ribbons and red bell pepper

Barbecue Chicken Salad- (Avocado, tomato, grilled corn, black beans, cucumber & romaine all tossed with BBQ ranch dressing, topped with sliced BBQ chicken breast & lots of crispy onion strings)

Couscous Florentine- (couscous & spinach, served with a grilled vegetable kebab accompanied by a dill-flavored non-fat sour cream sauce)

Thanks for posting the menus - the food sounds delicious.

Prior to the aforementioned dinner we went to the early show (times-7pm & 9pm respectively) and watched “Paperback Writer”. Four guys dressed up like the Beatles and doing an analogy of the Fab Four’s greatest hits. If you’re into the whole Elvis impersonator kinda thing you will enjoy this. It was actually sort of good in a simplistic way even if “Paul” kept screwing up the words.

These guys, known as Fun Fun Fun, were recently on the Amsterdam sailing back from South America. I think they boarded in San Diego. They performed twice: 1) Paperback Writer, a tribute to the Beatles and 2) Beach Toys, a tribute to the Beach Boys. They were super hi energy & the late show crowd (10:00 pm on the Amsterdam) were dancing in the aisles of the Queens Lounge. Lotsa fun fun fun! :D:D

Thanks for the sneak peak of how things are going aboard the Ryndam.

We'll be joining you tomorrow here in Vancouver!

George and Cary - we're only a couple of hours away from boarding the Maasdam. Much smaller M&G last night at the Renaissance but Bravo still came through with some fine food.

Noted that you're getting your cookies every night. No wonder Cary needs a nap each afternoon.;)

We've been told that we'll have snow in Gaspe along with some fierce winds. The whole town will be waving us in at Sept-Iles - they've even closed the schools for our arrival (I hope its because of the ship and not H1N1!) The Maasdam is the first cruise ship to visit there.

We're enjoying your blog on the Ryndam - I waved at her last week when I was in San Diego - Bruce even got a picture from the web cam..

Bruce and Susan

Hi George, I am enjoying your posts very much. Technical question? What are you using to connect to cruise critic to post? We will be travelling vancouver to Seward in August and I would love to be able to connect. I have a new Dell mini that is a great travel laptop. Do you have an AirCard? My husband may also need to get a little work done from the ship as well. Does the Raydam offer wireless access? At what cost? Thanks!

Hi George, I am enjoying your posts very much. Technical question? What are you using to connect to cruise critic to post? We will be travelling vancouver to Seward in August and I would love to be able to connect. I have a new Dell mini that is a great travel laptop. Do you have an AirCard? My husband may also need to get a little work done from the ship as well. Does the Raydam offer wireless access? At what cost? Thanks!

Internet service has been touch & go here for the last few days. The ship's log in site has been down (as it is now in Vancouver). I'm, right now, using my AT&T air card but at $15 a MB. My room has WiFi so you can, for the most part I think, be able to type in your cabin. It believe it all hinges on where the transponders are located in your respective hallway. The max deal here is $100 for 240 minutes though there are lesser packages (you can even pay "by the minute' I think. What I do is type my stuff out on the Word program then cut & paste it here to save my minutes.

DAY 4- Victoria (really nice outside..low 50’s)

We arrived into Victoria late morning hours and rousted out of bed to go grab a bite of breakfast. Pinnacle eats again so I won’t dwell on old news. We found a survey waiting in our mailbox (formal name for the plastic sleeve outside your door-you know what I’m talking about) to ask our thoughts and opinions on the cruise. This of course is based for the folks getting off tomorrow but we were asked to do one anyway. So I recapped the 3 days, made the appropriate choices, and dropped the card off later in the evening. We were also advised that we’re going to have to get off in Vancouver and pass through U.S. Customs sometime before 3pm. Anyway, let’s press on about Victoria.

I’ll start by saying it is a really pretty city. It’s well cared for and people actually seem to enjoy living there (a strange mode of behavior if you hail from Houston). After feeding our morning faces we bundled up and headed out to the city with little plan of action. We you get off the ship you are about a mile out of the city proper. You’ll be faced with 4 choices of transportation in which to get there: (1) walking, (2) taxi, (3) big dudes willing to peddle you there in the back of one of those rickshaw bicycle dealies, or (4) ‘da Big Bus. We chose the last option. The fare for the bus is $7 per for an all day pass. Ride as often as you like. The bus drops you off right in the middle of town and makes a circuit every 20 minutes.

Once we got off ‘da Big Bus we walked town a little bit. The Parliament Building is really impressive and more so at night when the thing is lit up with tons of white Christmas lights. Additionally a walk into the 100 year Empress Hotel is well worth it. I don’t think the $40 per head for “high tea” is though (for those of you who may have been already or planning on booking the experience- sorry, I just don’t see it). Instead we found something a little more my speed and stopped in the Slippery Wicket Pub for an afternoon brew and a burger. Inside of the place has great ambiance but the food was a little funky tasting. No matter, we finished our fare and poked into a few other shops. Before leaving town we went into a 7/11 store and grabbed an 8 pack (yup- 8 pack) of Coke to bring back on board. We just cut our soda consumption bill in half by bringing our own. While I’m on the thought of spending I forgot to mention something earlier- double check your essentials while packing. We forgot to bring Tylenol and I had a touch of a headache on Day 2 so I headed down to “the General Store” on board. I got spanked with a $10 charge for a 24 pill bottle of the stuff. The moral of the story here is unless you are dying wait until your first port of call to replace the goodies you left sitting on the counter back home .

We returned to the Ryndam around 2ish and just sort of hung out around the ship for a while and snapped a few interior pictures. Ports are always the best time for inside photo opportunities-nobody home. I then meandered around and discovered how to get up to the bow area now that it’s open. One has to go one deck below it, find the interior stairs up to it (hint- it’s inside a glassed area) and up you go. Mind your head as you pass through the bulkhead- it almost cost me dearly. Took in the view and headed down to the Ocean Bar to meet up with “June the Good Guy” waiter during the “two fer” Happy Hour (4:30-5:30).

We decided that the dinner plan would be to walk across the parking lot to a little restaurant above a dive shop. In all about 400 yards from the Customs building and it’s the only eatery outside of the city that I saw. The food was ok..view was nice..and I pocketed some bread for seagull feeding later. After dinner we took a walk over to the breakwater (about 50 yards away) and tossed the bread to the waiting fowl of the area. Then Cary & I took a nice simple walk throughout the adjoining neighborhoods around the pier area to look at houses. I highly recommend this if you enjoy taking walks with your spouse as much as I do. A pastime forgotten by a lot of folks I think. Hold hands too--you'll feel better about life in general I promise

We met some friends in the bar in the closed casino. Thanks Peter for the round of drinks. We then decided to check out the only show of the evening. The same guys (the earlier post is correct. They are called Fun Fun Fun) who did the Beatles impersonation deal the other night now changed their attire and transformed into “The Beach Boys” (or Beach Toys as they called themselves). Now I know what you’re thinking and I wasn’t expecting much either but they actually pulled it off. The room was packed (even with its 10pm startup time) and folks seemed to forget for a while that they were going to get off the ship in the morning. Despite the troubles “Brian Wilson” had in hitting the high notes they received a standing “O” once they completed the hour set.

Walked back to 43 and watched the ship pull away from port at midnight over a full moon. Nice added touch there to mark a day well spent. No cookies (forgot ‘em) so called we just turned off the lights. Nite------

It sounds like HAL has been tweaking (improving) its menus to feature more regional cuisine. We'll be on a 14 day back to back on the Ryndam, starting July 31st in Vancouver, and are really looking forward to the trip. We were on the Volendam last year, and the mainstage shows were disappointing, but the piano bar wasn't bad. Is there a piano bar on the Ryndam? If so, how is it?

Thanks for posting.

It sounds like HAL has been tweaking (improving) its menus to feature more regional cuisine. We'll be on a 14 day back to back on the Ryndam, starting July 31st in Vancouver, and are really looking forward to the trip. We were on the Volendam last year, and the mainstage shows were disappointing, but the piano bar wasn't bad. Is there a piano bar on the Ryndam? If so, how is it?

 

Thanks for posting.

Yes there is. Always seems to be a good crowd in there

DAY 5- Vancouver (Low 50’s & partly cloudy/sunny-depends on your outlook on things)

A nightmare. I’m not talking about the kind where you wake up from a good sleep but the kind where you get out of bed an go looking for the Grim Reaper because you’re sure he’s hiding in the closet somewhere. More on that later.

We arrived in Vancouver and it is a beautiful city. I’m beginning to believe Canada has the market cornered on this. We got ready for breakfast by 9 and made an important discovery and one that I’m willing to pass along. The Lido closes early on departure days. I forgot to look at the daily program this morning to notice the time changes of the restaurants. We trudged to the Neptune for fruit and various “finger stuff”. Basically a hold over until lunch.

Strange sensation when you’re staying on board and everyone else is getting off. We were told that 127 souls were all that were remaining onboard until the masses arrived in a few hours. So we grabbed the camera and blasted some more pictures around the ship. We then took a position on level six and got ready to “people watch” as the newcomers entered the gangway. We gave up after 11:30 when no one was entering. Strange. So we grabbed out passports, little green “in-transit” cards provided the day before, and our ship card to head off the Ryndam. Here’s the deal- when you arrived in the Vancouver port on your way to Alaska you have to clear US Customs again. We were told this procedure had to be completed by 3pm. So at the minimum one has to get off the ship, clear customs, and get back on with the little green aforementioned paper and ship card. Here is where the horror show began. In addition to us there were two other ships at the terminal, a RCCL & NCL vessel. It seems that these two lines screwed up and, for whatever reason, did not get their people off at the allotted time. So now at around noon there were two ships unloading (Ryndam passengers had already left without a hitch) at the same time that 3 ships were trying to load their new passengers. A Perfect Storm. Imagine the complement of essentially 5 ships all merging into one area. Buses stilling waiting to take away old passengers while new filled buses are arriving as well. Thousands of people, going in opposite directions, meeting head on. We entered the maelstrom and decided immediately on giving up trying to go anywhere into town. Instead it was decided to attack the problem of Customs and get back on. We met a terminal employee, who was very helpful, and told us she had worked here for 9 years and never has there been a massive sea of humanity on this scale. She was not pleased with RCCL or NCL. Enough on this, we cleared Customs again and climbed back on board.

We decided to let the new people settle in as they walked about with carryon luggage, heads down, looking for their rooms. We stayed out of their way and hid in 43 waiting for our repeat performance of the lifeboat drill at 4:15. After standing on deck again dressed in fashionable orange floatation material we stored the vests and noted it was the usual Happy Hour time. We went up to meet up with “June” in the Ocean Bar. He was not on duty and to add insult to injury had I looked at the program for today I would have seen that “2 fer 1” time had been bumped to 7pm. Finished the “Drink of the Day” (a savings of about a buck a drink) and headed back to the room. BTW- the repairs to the 3 broken elevators were unsuccessful so we still only have 5 of 8 working.

We had dinner reservations for 5:30 but canceled them as Cary wanted to watch us pass under the bridge as we left port. We’ll attack food in the Lido later. I bundled momma up in blankets on the veranda as we headed out with binoculars in hand.

We ate dinner in the Lido where, as mentioned before, the fare is exactly the same as in the dining room. While on the subject of the Lido I’ll fill you in on how it works now. First, yes you still have trays. Second, you serve yourself on everything but the main entrée. How it works at dinner time is you grab what you want until you get to the entrée section. Here you place your order and they give you a number. You go fight for a window seat and the main course gets delivered to you shortly. It works and it stops people from taking mounds of food that they may not eat. If you want to load up on stuff it will only be salad, appetizers, breads, and deserts. Speaking of loading up, we watched a new arrival grab a dozen cookies and place them on a plate then cover it with a napkin. We assume the cloth covering was an attempt at avoiding embarrassment. Too late lady, we all saw you.

There was only one show tonight at 9:30 so we walked around marveling at how all the Mexican Riviera decorations and items for sale had been removed in a 24 hr span. All the Alaska stuff was now displayed in all its glory. We returned to 43 and got one of “Cokes from the 8 Pack” and headed off to tonight’s entertainment. We made it to the Vermeer by 9:00 and the place had already started to fill up. Strange in that the last group of people usually didn’t arrive for the shows much before starting time. These new people are tricky. The act was the comedy of Jim Labriola and he was Vegas quality, I mean he was great. You may remember him as Benny on the show Home Improvement (the donut eater in Harry’s Hardware Store). Check him out on the internet or catch his show “Night of 1000 Guidos”.

Surprisingly the new group of folks is noticeably younger that those that just left the ship. We have a huge contingent from Australia along with many Canadians. A diverse group to say the least and it should be fun.

The only thing on my agenda for tomorrow, a sea day, is to figure out why I haven’t received our shore excursion tickets yet. I’ll be front desk bound in the morning. Until then I was able to find a cookie that the “Lido Cookie Collector” had not yet discovered (I don’t think she can get into the Neptune so I’m good) so it’s lights out time. Nite------

Thanks for taking the time to post.

Thank you for your posting and I'm looking forward to your upcoming messages. Your writing is very informative and I really appreciate the time you take to do this so we can follow a cruise on another of those "dam" ships that we just love.

Keep them coming!!!!

Thanks so much for all the daily posts! We'll be onboard the Ryndam in August, so I'm reading everything!!:)

What wonderful posts, George. It's such fun sailing along with you and Cary. Thanks for all the great writing.

I very much enjoy your writing style :)

This is a very fun Live report. Thanks for reporting in. I for one do totally understand the time and money i takes to do this;)

We were on the Volendam last year, and the mainstage shows were disappointing, but the piano bar wasn't bad. Is there a piano bar on the Ryndam?

The Volendam has a Piano Lounge; the Ryndam is a Piano Bar. The atmospheres are very different between the two.

At least for now the Ryndam's Piano Bar is a small, intimate room in a three-leaf clover shape. Two of the leaves are tables and chairs, and the third leaf is the piano. There are several barstools around the piano, making for a convivial group.

DAY 6- It’s Cold Outside (45 degrees) & No Rain. Sea Day

OK. It’s cold out there. Battle plan for hanging out on 43’s veranda must now include increased layers of clothing. Between the air temp and the wind caused by the ship’s movement it can get a little intense out there. We had a change of pace this morning and ordered room service. All was wonderful except the steward making the delivery informed me that there was “no white toast”. No white toast? Anyway my first order of business this morning was trying to figure out why we had yet to receive excursion tickets for any of our planned trips. The first one (Whale Watching & Wilderness Adventure) is in Juneau tomorrow. The answer is to the problem somewhat complex and too long to type out with all facets included. The simplistic answer is this cruise actually contains parts of 4 separate cruises, the previous 1 ½ week Mexican Riviera, the 4 day San Diego trip to Vancouver, the 11 day repositioning cruise to Vancouver, and the 7 day Alaska run. There are combinations of people on board who have been in one of all of these four trips. HAL got confused with the 127 of us that got on in San Diego and programmed us into the Riviera group. As I mentioned this could get real confusing, and bore you, but the fact is that some of us folks who boarded in San Diego “disappeared” from HAL’s on board roster. The excursions followed suit to some extent. Additionally the folks in Skagway had canceled our 3pm helicopter flight and no one knew. To sum it up, Marcus in the Neptune and the folks at the excursion desk got all of those affected (there were more than us) back on track and we have tickets in hand.

At noon Cary & I were invited to a lunch with the Captain, along with all the other suite guests, in the Pinnacle. Other than greeting him at the door we had no other contact with the Captain. He left before the meal was finished and never did speak to the gathering. Kinda strange. Lunch was Indonesian fare and a first for this “meat & potatoes” boy. Later that afternoon an expert on local wildlife gave a seminar in the Vermeer on what we might see in the next few days. It was really interesting and during the talk the first pod of whales was sighted.

I noticed that the interior of the ship has been extremely crowded and it just occurred to me this afternoon why that is. As the exterior temps began to fall the entire complement of passengers relegates themselves back inside (although there were some brave souls inside the covered pool). This does make for a tight squeeze in most of the public places on board on a ship of this size.

We stopped by 43 for a few minutes and I pointed out another pod of whales seen from our veranda. With Zen Rays in hand Cary watched one surface then disappear and followed it up with the unique “Whale Happy Dance”.

I was not entirely correct about meals in the Lido. I had early posted that the fares are the same as what was being served in the dining room. Wrong George. On one night the crusted scallops offered down a few flights of stairs was not on the Lido buffet line. Additionally tonight, formal night #2, the King Crab legs and the steak dish were nowhere to be found on the Lido. Price to pay I guess for not dressing up. It was a choice.

If I can make a recommendation for a minute I offer you this to consider. If you can find the book “The Alaska Cruise Handbook- a Mile by Mile Guide” by Joe Upton on Amazon or B&N then do yourselves a favor and buy it. Trust me on this one—I haven’t lied to you yet. It costs $19.95 on board so if you can’t find it at home cheaper then wait until you get onboard your respective vessel and buy it tax free there. Here’s the deal. The book is just what the title claims it is. A mile by mile description of where you are including a huge detachable map. The Captain utilizes this book during his daily addresses to the passengers. He advises of the current “mile marker” and it’s admittedly sorta fun to scramble for your map and chart out where you are. Then you end up reading the little cliff notes along the chart (and in the book) with your current position.

We went to the 7pm show (they run 7 & 9 when there are 2 of them) to watch the usual fare of ship dancers and the accompanying show tunes that drive them circling around the stage. Nothing really new or exciting to report on this one. You’ve seen one you’ve….you know. Prior to the show however the Captain came in to address and toast the crowd after introducing his senior staff. Champagne glasses were filled for everyone and the toast was made.

We walked back towards 43 and ducked around dozens of flashbulbs going off aimed at the formal attire floating about then stopped to grab a cookie. Tradition must be preserved or worlds crumble. When we got back we discovered that we had been given a new blue HAL plastic bag all wrapped up and a new issue of the book “Compass”. You remember the latter, it’s the hardback book inside your stateroom (usually dated) containing a few destination stories and a lot of ads. Additionally there were the nightly 2 gold wrapped chocolates waiting on the pillows on the turned down bed. We will turn the clocks back an hour tonight and in doing so I got tired and required a cookie break. Nite------