Ryndam May 13-20, 2007. Part 1 - general

[x lindsay x]

So the review is a little late, I haven’t seen any reviews coming from the Ryndam lately so I figured I’d pitch in and do a little write up on my trip. Obviously if you have any questions, or if I don’t touch on something you are curious about feel free to ask.

 

Background- Lindsay, 24 years old with 17 days on HAL under my belt. I planned this trip as a solo trip. I booked a G guarantee, got upgraded to a D which for a single person was a lot of space. My parents followed my lead and also booked a G guarantee, they were upgraded as well to a D. Our cabins were right next to each other. Nice job HAL.

 

Embarkation- Things in Vancouver went smoothly, we arrived around noon and got on the ship within 45 minutes or so. The woman checking me in was brand new and was stumbling through the check-in process but everyone has to start somewhere I guess. They also gave out roses to the women coming aboard as it was Mother’s Day.

 

Cabin- D 586 on the Main Deck. There was a notable difference in size from our cabin on the Volendam that was a C on the lower promenade, despite being a higher category the room was smaller. I saw my room steward Batki twice during the entire trip. He was probably the best steward I’ve ever had so I had no reason to seek him out as he was constantly anticipating my needs.

 

Food-

The Lido - consistently good, if you want soy milk just ask at the juice bar and they should be able to pour you a glass since they don’t carry individual size cartons.

 

Dining Room - The food in the DR was the weakest of the three HAL cruise I’ve been on. It seemed like the vegetables were overcooked a good deal of the time and things just weren’t as good as usual. The menu has been changed around so there aren’t 5 different courses, there are only three categories on the menu each night. The same changes have been made to the Vegetarian Menu (which I have a photo of in my webshots album listed below). We did have a Master’s Chef dinner. I really enjoy this as the crew members always seem to have so much fun and love hamming it up.

 

Service in the DR was decent, it seemed our server Diybo was stretched a little thin with 4 tables while the server on the other side of us had only 2 tables, one 10 seater and a table for 4. The table for 10 usually had one couple or no one at all. So each night he would be cleaning up the silverware and glasses while the servers around him were scrambling trying to get food out.

 

Disembarkation- Took the domed train to Anchorage. We were some of the first people off the ship in the morning. The bus is quicker but not nearly as scenic, so the train is the way to go if you have the time. On the train we got to see some moose which we didn’t experience at any other point of the trip. We didn’t have to fuss with luggage until we had to pick it up at the airport in the secure holding area. Such a breeze.

 

Evening Entertainment- Steve Califf, a funny singer/songwriter was my favorite. The other two solo performers were terrible, to the point that I was tempted to walk out, which many people did. They were Doug Anderson and Darren Williams. Granted Mr. Williams was a gifted singer but his stage show was downright awful. The production shows from the cast were the typical HAL production shows, not Broadway but you have to give the cast credit any ways.

 

Mariner Reception- 11:45am on the last day. Captain spoke about where the line is going, saying that they were trying to keep their ships half the size of industry standard. So if others are building ships for 4,000 people they are going to build them for 2,000 people. He got a lot of groans when asked if they were eventually going to phase out the smaller ships and he said that in time (10 years or so) that they would have to in order to stay competitive.

 

On Deck for a Cure- Held at 7:45 on the last day. I didn’t see too many people wearing their shirts around the ship so they might have had a terrible turnout, I can’t speak for it as I was soundly asleep one deck below.

 

Overall- It was a fantastic trip. I’d go back to Alaska in a heartbeat, despite the 9 hours of plane travel back to NYC from Anchorage. After being on a 10 day trip in November the 7 days really seemed too short. We did see plenty of wildlife including everyone's favorites, whales, bears, moose, mountain goats, more bald eagles than I could count, and so many more.

 

a small sampling of photos can be found here:

http://travel.webshots.com/album/559204624IrzyBn

[RustaRoo]

A small sampling of photos can be found here:

http://travel.webshots.com/album/559204624IrzyBn

Thank you so much for sharing your great photos; I'm counting the days to go to Alaska in September on the Ryndam.

[x lindsay x]

I am in desperate need of something to countdown to. I think another trip is in order!

[Copper10-8]

Lindsay, thanks a bunch for your review and pics! Is Mike Connachan still the cruise director on Ryndam and would you mind telling us who the captain and hotel manager were on your cruise?

[x lindsay x]

Mike was not the CD for our trip, he left as we boarded. His finacee, Leah, was still on for a few more weeks as the future cruise consultant.

 

Bobby Broughton was the new CD onboard. Or as the captain liked to call him "Mr Bobby". There was no write up for him in the daily programs, so I won't be able to contribute to your great Senior Staff thread.

 

The Captain was Peter J van Maurik and the hotel manager was Kees Streuding.

[Copper10-8]

Thanks Lindsay! Enjoyed watching your Alaska pics!

[midgecruiser]

Lindsay,

Thanks for taking the time to write up a review. I loved your pictures. I have sailed Alaska twice but both times in September. I will have to take a cruise in May. The snow capped mountains are soooo beautiful. And I would love to experience the light at midnight. I live in Seattle and this time of year it stays light past ten but I really want to experience the midnight light. September cruises are great for the ability to get REALLY CLOSE to the glaciers but since I have done that I would love to see Alaska at a different time of year. Thanks again for sharing your experiences :) . Wendy

[Krazy Kruizers]

So glad you had a wonderful Alaskan cruise on one our favorite ships - Ryndam. A couple of years ago we did back-to-back cruises on the Ryndam for Alaska.

 

Be thankful you had only a 9 hour flight trip. Ours is much longer from PIT as there are no direct flights to the west coast any more.

[SDHALFAN]

Thanks Lindsay: that was a great review and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I can't believe that you, as a solo cruiser, got such a good upgrade. I wonder if I will be as lucky on the Amsterdam in late July? Probably not but one can always hope.

 

I'm going to be on the Amsterdam in late September of 2008 and if HAL can only give me one upgrade then I would rather that they save it for that cruise since it's a long one:D .

 

Thanks again for your review it was full of good information .

 

Valerie:)

 

By the way, for those who don't know: Lindsay is correct in that the C category cabins on Lower Prom are indeed smaller than the D category cabins on Main Deck. I can only assume that some footage is given up to accommodate the Promenade. My friends "sprung" for the extra dollars to get a higher category © while I opted for the lower category (D) and my cabin was noticeably larger than theirs was. (of course, I am talking about S and R ships here as I know nothing about the Vista class;) .)

[Tinknock50]

Enjoyed your review!

 

We got on the Noordam the same day you got on the Ryndam. We also had a new woman check us in. She had an instruction sheet and she was learning as she went. She also had to ask her supervisor a lot of questions. Slowed things down a lot, but we we first in line, so we were on quickly. Must be training a whole batch of people at the start of Alaska season.

 

No roses for my Mom. :(

[hammybee]

Thanks for taking the time to share your cruise with us. You certainly know how to write a well balanced review. We too heard the same thing about future ship sizes and HAL's plans to fill the niche is has created for itself.

[RuthC]

By the way, for those who don't know: Lindsay is correct in that the C category cabins on Lower Prom are indeed smaller than the D category cabins on Main Deck. I can only assume that some footage is given up to accommodate the Promenade. (of course, I am talking about S and R ships here as I know nothing about the Vista class;) .)

You are absolutely right, Valerie.

Not only that, the outside C-category cabins on Lower Promenade are smaller than the insides across the passageway, too!

[x lindsay x]

Thanks Lindsay: that was a great review and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I can't believe that you, as a solo cruiser, got such a good upgrade. I wonder if I will be as lucky on the Amsterdam in late July? Probably not but one can always hope.

 

I was quite surprised as well. I half expected my parents to get upgraded but never imagined that I would get the exact same upgrade. I've got my fingers crossed for you for your July sailing.

[luvcruisn']

Thanks for the great pictures Lindsay. My mom and I got off the Ryndam in Vancouver on May 6, after 4 days travelling from San Diego. The travel agent for our Vegas/Coastal cruise package had originally assigned us a C cabin on the lower promenade deck, but as I prefer Main deck, I had her ask Holland America to release another cabin to her. We had cabin D512 and loved it, we had tons of space.