Review - Western Caribbean Holiday - Ryndam

[davidnsteph]

We are veteran cruisers from South Carolina, with 18 cruises on Princess and 1 cruise on NCL. This was our 1st cruise on Holland America. This holiday itinerary was roundtrip from Tampa with 4 ports: Key West, Roatan, Santo Tomas de Castilla (Guatemala) and Costa Maya.

 

Pre-Cruise

 

We drove to the port, and spent the day before the cruise in Tampa. We spent the afternoon in historic Ybor City a few blocks north of the port. There were hand-rolled cigar shops, pubs and restaurants. We ate at James Joyce Irish Pub. The food was very good, with generous portions. There were many beers on tap to choose from. We stayed at the Quality Inn near Ybor City. It was very clean and well-maintained, and a secure hotel.

 

Embarkation

 

Tampa was a wonderful embarkation port. We drove up to the curb, dropped off the luggage with the porter, and parked in the surface lot right in front of the ship. Embarkation went very quickly, starting at 11:30 AM. We were on the ship at 11:45 and our cabin was ready. We sailed under the Skyway bridge, which was lit up after dark.

 

Cabin

 

We had cabin 334, a window cabin on the lower promenade deck. We had a good view from our cabin. With the reflective glass, no one could see into our cabin, except after dark with the light on. The cabin was spacious, with lots of closet and drawer space. There was also a wide love seat. The bathroom had a tub-type shower, and was the biggest bathroom we have had on a cruiseship. There was a CD/DVD player, and American and European electrical outlets. Our room stewards, Bowo and Yanto, took good care of us.

 

Dining

 

We have read many negative reviews about the Rotterdam Restaurant (main dining room). We found these reviews to be accurate regarding the slow service, especially at dinner. The food was always excellent, so no complaints there. We had 1st seating, with a table for 4. For the first 2 nights of the cruise, dinner took 1 hour 45 minutes. Also, the waiters were inattentive. They walked by the table without looking to see if we needed anything. We couldn't even make eye-contact with them. Even speaking with the head waiter didn't help. He was very defensive, and didn't seem to understand that the service was unacceptable. This situation suddenly changed for the better after we left a comment card at the front desk describing the long dinners and poor service. The dining room captain, Martin, visited our table and assured us that our comments had been heard, and that service would be much better. Service was instantly better, much more attentive, and dinner took about 1 hour 15 minutes, which was fine for us. While service improved dramatically for us, we continued to see dissatisfaction and slow service for several other tables in the dining room. Because we spoke up, things improved for us. But we feel that service should have been better from the start, not requiring us to go to the trouble of writing a letter.

 

Breakfast in the dining room was excellent, with lots of choices. Afternoon tea was also a wonderful experience. We especially enjoyed the Indonesian Tea toward the end of the cruise. The Royal Dutch Tea and everyday tea time were also very good. The Lido had a great selection for breakfast and lunch. We were served by the staff behind the counter. Especially noteworthy were the Filipino lunch selections one day, as well as the Eggs Benedict station at breakfast, and the fresh-squeezed orange juice. We had a friendly wine steward, Roy, at dinner.

 

Art Auctions

 

We attended one art auction. We were astounded at the prices of the art. Most of the items auctioned were original pieces with opening bids in the mid-$1000's. If other cruisers like this, that's fine with us. We just can't see spending so much on art. Princess has also moved in this direction. Gone are the days of limited-edition prints for a few hundred dollars, including framing. We have several such pieces that we still enjoy after more than 10 years.

 

Wijang Culinary Arts Theater

 

This was an excellent feature of the cruise. Included were lobster salad, creme brulee, haute chocolate, among other dishes. The towel-animal demonstration was especially memorable.

 

Entertainment

 

The production shows were professionally done. The singers sang very well, and the dancers were excellent. We didn't see any lip-syncing to recordings. We also enjoyed the violinist in the Explorer's lounge, the piano man Ric in the Mix bar and the Neptune band in the Ocean bar.

 

Bar Drinks

 

The bar staff was very attentive. We especially liked the Boddington's on tap, the Manhattans and White Russian. However, the bar staff didn't know how to make a Grasshopper, Whiskey Sour or Blue Hawaiian.

 

Public Areas

 

The ship was in excellent condition overall. Areas that looked out-of-date were the atrium, main dining room and pools. There was lots of room on this ship, with only 1250 passengers. It was nice to be on a smaller ship again. We really like this about Holland America. While other cruise lines are building ever-bigger ships, HAL has ships with 2000 passengers or less. The wide, wrap-around lower promenade deck is great for walking. Also accessible from the lower promenade are stairways to 3 forward observation decks, including a very large deck on the bow of the ship. These were great for sailaways.

 

Christmas Activities

 

There were several Christmas activities on this holiday itinerary. The cruise left port on Sunday, Dec. 23. On Christmas Eve, there was a Christmas display unveiling in the evening in the atrium. Hot chocolate and cookies were served while we sang carols. On Christmas morning at 9:00, we sang carols in the main showroom, and Santa made an appearance. Presents were given to the younger kids. There were quite a few families on board.

 

Ports

 

- Key West on Christmas Eve was lots of fun. The bars were crowded.

 

- Roatan had great beach facilites with lots of shade. Smooth sand in the water with no coral.

 

- In Santo Tomas de Castilla, Guatemala we took the "Tale of Two Towns" excursion, which took us by coach through the areas near the port. There was noticeable poverty everywhere. We stopped at the waterfront in Puerto Barrios, then went to Amitique Bay Resort. The resort had excellent pool and beach facilities, and a restaurant.

 

- In Costa Maya, we took the Mayan Cultural Experience tour. This was a nice tour that showed how a contemporary Mayan family lives. We toured the grounds and gardens at a local homestead, and ate home-made tortillas topped with pit-roasted chicken.

 

Summary

 

All in all a great getaway for the holiday. The Ryndam is a beautiful ship with many amenities and activities. For veteran Princess cruisers, we were very pleased, and plan to take another cruise on Holland America in the Caribbean or Europe.

 

If you have any questions about this ship or the itinerary, please post.

 

David

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

Glad you had a wonderful Christmas cruise.

[mamaofami]

Thank you for your review and comments about the MDR. I'll be sure to remember to leave a comment card at the front desk in a few weeks if my service in the MDR is not up to par. Good idea.:)

[Kathyh1313]

Thanks for your review. Sounds like you had an amazing holiday cruise. Thanks for taking the time to share it with us. Happy New Year to you and your family.:)

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review, yes it does appear slower service has become the norm. Good for you for turning in a comment card, if more do that maybe something will change.

[innlady1]

Thank you for your review. As a previous poster mentioned, with all the staff cutbacks, slow service seems to be the norm these days.

[hal lover]

Thanks for your review. I hope to one day sail on the ms Ryndam out of Tampa. Happy New Year!

[smokesmom]

Glad to hear the positive comments on the Ryndam. Will be sailing the same itinerary in March and have not experienced the Ryndam before. Looking forward to it.

[PathfinderEss]

Welcome back. Thanks for taking the time to post a review of your Ryndam Christmas cruise. Sounds like you had a very good time.

[Himself]

Thanks for the review. I was surprised that the bartenders could not make a whiskey sour. I have been on most of the fleet and I am a whiskey sour drinker and have always gotten them.

[davidnsteph]

Thanks for the review. I was surprised that the bartenders could not make a whiskey sour. I have been on most of the fleet and I am a whiskey sour drinker and have always gotten them.

 

This was in the Mix bar. The whiskey sour was made with lemon juice and was not drinkable. We had to send back instructions to the bartender about how to make it.

 

David

[luv2travel06]

Entertainment

 

The production shows were professionally done. The singers sang very well, and the dancers were excellent. We didn't see any lip-syncing to recordings. We also enjoyed the violinist in the Explorer's lounge, the piano man Ric in the Mix bar and the Neptune band in the Ocean bar.

David

 

We have wondered in the past about lip-syncing as well. But on our Ryndam cruise, the sound system briefly failed in the middle of a song during one of the shows. The person on stage was actually singing, and continued to do so.

 

Overall, we have enjoyed the production shows on our cruises. Most of them include popular music from a variety of decades to appeal to more people.

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[JamesEM]

Thanks for sharing, when DW and I were on the Noordam evening meal service was slow, so we starting eating dinner in the Lido which we very happy with the food and service.

[geoherb]

Thanks for posting your review. We did a different western Caribbean itinerary on the Westerdam the week before Christmas. Your review makes me want to try a cruise from Tampa. We've been to all of the ports you went to except for Guatamala.

 

As far as lip syncing goes, the featured singers always sing their numbers. The dancers don't really sing because they're not miked. You'll see them singing along, but the sound is coming from the recorded music.

[davidnsteph]

Thanks for posting your review. We did a different western Caribbean itinerary on the Westerdam the week before Christmas. Your review makes me want to try a cruise from Tampa. We've been to all of the ports you went to except for Guatamala.

 

As far as lip syncing goes, the featured singers always sing their numbers. The dancers don't really sing because they're not miked. You'll see them singing along, but the sound is coming from the recorded music.

 

We've cruised from Fort Lauderdale many times, and will do so again. Tampa is 2 hours drive closer to us than Fort Lauderdale. Parking is in front of the ship.

 

We cruised once from Charleston on the NCL Majesty. It was very convenient, and a nice 7-day cruise. If the port of Charleston grows and attracts HAL or Princess, we would cruise from there again.

 

David