Just off the Oosterdam

[scapilot]

Arrival into Vancouver: A Long flight from SAN to YVR with one stop. Vancouver is a big city with an large population of well to do people. The cab driver told us that the main source of income for the city is condo sales. When you look at the skyline you can see why, a curtain of tall high rise condos for sale starting at $1.5 million and up, and thats for about 900 Sq/Ft... We stayed at the Sutton Place Hotel, A nice place to stay, it was quiet and just a few blocks from the cruise terminal. The hotel has one car that will take you to the terminal, It's a nice Audi A8, it makes you feel real special.:D We ate dinner at a Thai place across the street from the hotel called Sai Thai. The food was great and the service was great.

 

The next day we got on the ship and set sail for Victoria. What a beautiful day, Clear and cool with fall colors everywhere. The next morning we arrived in Victoria and boarded a Deluxe Motorcoach and headed for the Buchart Gardens. The gardens were spectacular, lots of flowers and colors abound everywhere we looked. As we made our way back to town we got off the bus and had lunch at the Ocean Garden resturant. Tasty! good food at a fair price. After a bitof shopping we were off the the ship.

 

We set sail for San Diego on time and everything was just perfect.... UNTIL !..... As the sun set we started to rock a bit.. MODRATE SEAS 4-7 Ft.... Next few hours.... ROUGH SEAS 7-10 ft... Couple Hours Later.... VERY ROUGH SEAS 12-18 Ft... All night long we were all having a tough time standing up. Doors were opening and closing all by themselves, things falling on the floor.... Well you get the picture. The next morning the seat when down to Rough Seas, then down to Moderate seas. Great sailing from there.... UNTIL !... Someone on the ship had to be airlifted from the ship by the Coast Guard. As we came abeam Vandenburg AF Base, the Coast Guard chopper arrived and plucked the poor sole from the bow of the ship and then we were off again. Next stop San Diego. As we arrived in port, we stopped to reflect a moment on our cruise, then it was back to reality. San Diego is our home, so we disembarked the Oosterdam and took a cab home to unpack and get ready for another week ahead.

[SonomaDriver]

We did the same cruise last year, with the same rough seas to start. We had a blast though and the ship/crew were fantastic.

 

Glad you had a good time.

[larsenbiz]

We did the repo cruise on Ryndam from San Diego to Vancouver. The seas were very rough on that trip as well. Crew members reported that the seas are always that rough on that particular sail. I did fall in love with Vancouver, though.

 

Anything else to say about the ship? We'll be sailing her in December.

[gordons4]

Does anyone know if the repositioning cruises going from the South to the North in the Spring are less or more rough? I have this warped impression that going from North to South would be smoother...going WITH the current, and South to North would be rougher...going AGAINST the current. :rolleyes:

 

I don't know why it seems that the current would flow from the top of the globe to the bottom. :D

 

Sheri

[poolwife]

Wondering how the Ryndam is doing. We are sailing on her next year in Alaska. She is getting older and wondering if they are keeping her up well.

 

Did you hear when she is scheduled to go into drydock next year?

 

What type of room did you have? Wondering whether the storage space is ample in an oceanview room.

 

Thank you.

[luvcruisn']

Well, we're not all well to do people in Vancouver! Most of us just work for a living, 5 days a week. Save our money and cruise when we can afford it.

 

Re: South to North. Did a 4 night repo cruise from San Diego to Vancouver last May on the Ryndam. We had one rough day the second day out of San Diego, and then the seas were much calmer the rest of the way.

[kayden]

I did the repo cruise on the Statendam 10 days prior and after Victoria we had a bit of rough seas, but I think the most it was was "moderate". Since the Oosterdam is a larger ship, for it to rock that much would have meant you had quite the voyage...wow!

 

Just curious though, did they announce that there had to be a medevac from the ship? I have wondered about that....about how people know if it is as seemless as some people make it out to be....like how the ship just slows down in order to get the passenger off, and then continues on it's way?

[Krazy Kruizers]

Does anyone know if the repositioning cruises going from the South to the North in the Spring are less or more rough? I have this warped impression that going from North to South would be smoother...going WITH the current, and South to North would be rougher...going AGAINST the current. :rolleyes:

 

I don't know why it seems that the current would flow from the top of the globe to the bottom. :D

 

Sheri

 

We did the repo in April/May on the Westerdam -- after we left San Diego -- winds -- rain -- and rough seas.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome Home

Glad you enjoyed your short cruise.

[larsenbiz]

I posted this a few months ago...

I was on the repositioning cruise from San Diego to Vancouver earlier this month. We had very rough seas for 2 of the days, 12-15 foot swells. We were about 6 hours late getting into Victoria, and all of the shore excursions were cancelled. I was able to take Bonine and did fine, but it was a very rocky trip. The weather was lousy all around, cold, windy, and we didn't spend time on deck because of this. We did have a lovely cruise leaving the San Diego harbor. Even with the el-crap-o weather, I loved my trip on HAL!

 

As far as Ryndam's condition...This was our first HAL cruise, so I didn't have another HAL ship to compare her to. I thought the ship was in good condition. There was plenty of storage for us in our cabin. We had an oceanview cabin on the promenade deck.

[scapilot]

The ship itself is in great shape, but some of the crew has been on the to long and it showed. I spoke to 5 different crew members each had been on the ship from 9 to 11 months, and so they all had a bit of home sickness and not much of a smile to greet you with. Our cabin steward had been on for 9 months and his job just got a bit harder... He was told he needed to clean 30 rooms twice a day, instead of the normal 13 rooms... poor guy, had not just finished all of those rooms and then had to turn around and do turn down service in a couple of hours. Other than that everything was just fine.

[DrivesLikeMario]

I guess we were really lucky. We just got back from the Vancouver to Los Angeles repo. on the Coral and the seas were absolutely wonderful! At their highest, the waves were 2' for only a few hours, then it was back down to nothing again. We did have about 18 hours of fog during the night & into the next morning, but on the last day at sea, it was beautiful & hot.

 

I expected 12-15 feet, as that is about the norm for the coast. Guess we just lucked out. :)

[scapilot]

Most of the time when you cross to different bodies of water (southern Pacific Ocean Warm Water and Northern Pacific Ocean Cold) Water it can get quite rough as the two bodies of water meet. So you can expect some rough seas for just a sort time anytime of the year.

[Boytjie]

Wondering how the Ryndam is doing. We are sailing on her next year in Alaska. She is getting older and wondering if they are keeping her up well.

 

Did you hear when she is scheduled to go into drydock next year?.

 

Ryndam shows drydock for Jan/Feb 2010: http://www.hollandamerica.com/images/calendar_ph.gif

[Himself]

I was on a repositioning cruise ten years ago last spring on the old Westerdam. As I recall it was Cold between LA and Vancouver but I do not remember the seas being rough. I went from Ft. Lauderdale to Vancouver.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Wondering how the Ryndam is doing. We are sailing on her next year in Alaska. She is getting older and wondering if they are keeping her up well. Thank you.

 

I had a large group of people on the Ryndam in July. They're newbies to cruising, but each & every one of them couldn't have been happier with the ship. They're pretty picky people, but not a single one had a complaint about the ship or service. Most of them were inside or outside cabins and one family was in a balcony cabin. :)