Ryndam Sea of Cortez Review (April 14 to 24, 2009) (LONG)

[lilyhammer]

I enjoy reading cruise reviews, so I thought I'd do a summary of our cruise, which we really enjoyed. It was just DH and I and we are in our 30s.

 

DH and I arrived one day early and stayed at the Hampton Inn downtown. We ate dinner at Anthony’s with some friends. The more expensive entrees were better received than the more affordable ones. We took the hotel shuttle to the ship the next day, which was very easy and the shuttle driver drove us right to the luggage dropoff.

 

We arrived around 11:30, and embarkation started around 12pm. We were surprised at the small crowd, since our Oosterdam cruise last year was packed at 12pm. Everybody was directed to go to the Lido deck, as rooms were not available yet. The Lido lines were packed, so we opted for the “Terrace grill” for hamburgers and hot dogs. After lunch, we went exploring around the parts of the ship that were not closed off. We ended up relaxing in the Crows nest while announcements said rooms would be available around 2pm.

 

After rooms were finally released, we dragged our carry on luggage and went to check it out. Our room was an inside cabin on the main deck. Normally we would plan for a cabin in the middle of the deck, but we had booked a guarantee and were assigned a cabin very far forward. I was worried about the motion a forward cabin would have, but there were no problems here. However, an unanticipated problem was later discovered as either the engines or anchor was directly beneath us and was quite loud on the non-sea days. This was especially bad on Topolobampo day as the noise started very early and went on for what felt like hours. I’m sure it was much louder on the decks below us.

 

The room itself felt really roomy. The couch was long enough to lie down on, the shower was huge. The bathroom had a small ledge above the sink where you could lay out all your toiletries in a line so you could have them all conveniently presented to you. The beds were very comfortable. There was a nice flat screen TV and DVD player, but the TV was put on a ledge previously made for standard TVs. Thus the remote was really hard to use since the ledge blocked the sight line of the remote. We had to lift it high in the air at just the right trajectory to get it to work.

 

The mandatory life boat drill was a 4:15pm. The day had gotten more gloomy and cold and everybody was freezing during the drill, which seemed to last forever. The crew members called out room numbers using a megaphone, but were really hard to hear. The sections blended together a little well and though we seemed to be standing in the right section, the crew member of the adjacent section was much louder than ours were and we missed our number being called. Eventually they went through the list until they found us. Phew! We would hate to have to sit through that again.

 

We had early fixed dining at 5:45 every night. We had a nice table for two with a great view by the window. Our dining room attendants were awesome. I don’t know if they were paying somebody off, but our food was always the first out, perfectly cooked, and artfully presented. They were so efficient that we would seriously be done with all our courses and still see other waiters bringing their diners entrees. We never sat around waiting for the next course, as they would quickly whisk away our dirty dishes and bring us the next course. This was great for DH, as he eats very fast and can’t stand the usual 2 hour dinner. Most nights we were done around 6:45 and had plenty of time to run to the 7 pm show and get a good seat.

 

We chose to skip the opening show as it was at 9:30 pm and instead went to see the movie in the Wajang Theater. This is the same room as the culinary arts center. Unfortunately, the stadium seating in this room is not steep enough and it was hard to get a good seat. And whenever we found an adequate seat, inevitably a couple with big heads would come in late and sit right in front of us. The movie that night was “Valkyrie”, the Tom Cruise WW2 thriller, which was quite suspenseful and well acted. After the movie, we went to bed early as we were quite tired.

[lilyhammer]

Sea Days are generally slow and boring for us. We went to some of the culinary shows, but they were just not very good. I feel that HAL forces the crew members (Who are experts at their cooking, but not in the presentation /demonstration skills) to perform what they just aren’t good at. The Filipino/Indonesian crew members were hard to understand and hard to hear. I guess that’s what the Party Planner position is for. I felt really bad for Melissa, since it felt like she was pulling teeth trying to get the chefs to explain things.

They had a Mexican Riviera lecturer, but she was a little on the dry side. The material she presented was quite interesting, but needed a little more showmanship or something to liven it up. She gave a couple of different lectures and these were often rerun on the in-room ship channels.

 

We went on the kitchen tour, which showed you the behind the scenes tour of the dining room and kitchens. Everything was stainless steel and gleaming. The head chef explained how the dining room waiters worked make everything run efficiently.

It was formal night on Day 2. Dinner was great as usual. The shrimp cocktail has the plumpest tastiest shrimp and our waiter brought us another one as we were so delighted with it.

 

We skipped the singers and dancers again (DH hates sitting through those shows) and hit the movie theater again. This night they played Quantum of Solace (The new James Bond movie). We love the popcorn they give you in the theater, but they give you these tiny bags (like a small at the movie theater, but only filling the bottom third). The show on Day 3 was comedian Jeff Burghart. We were surprised to see this was the only show he did. This is the first cruise we’ve been on where there wasn’t a late night comedy show for adults.

[lilyhammer]

We took the ship excursion to Las Caletas. The Ryndam was the only ship at all our ports of call, so I didn’t expect a big crowd. Unfortunately, our ship to Las Caletas was already extremely full before the ship passengers were allowed on it and it was very difficult to find some place to sit. We had taken this excursion last year, but I had gotten very seasick on the ride over and made sure to take some Bonine this time. It was still a very bumpy nauseating ride, about 1 hour to get there. One of the passengers sitting near me got very seasick and threw up all over the boat captain!

 

The island was as nice as last time, the weather was beautiful and lunch was a very tasty buffet. We didn’t do any of the activities offered on the excursion, but they seemed well received by those who did.

 

After the excursion, we went to Walmart across from the Pier to pick up some things we forgot and some sodas. Although it looks close, it was actually quite a far walk, with narrow sidewalks (if there were any) that were dangerously close to the traffic. On the way back to the pier, it appeared there were closer entrances we could have used, but these were for the locals and we were instructed to walk all the way around .

 

The show that night was a duo called “Livewire”. The married couple consisted of a lady violinist/singer and a male guitar player/singer. They were quite good, with the violinist obviously being the star of the show. I don’t know how she managed to play so many extremely fast/complicated songs and not screw up once. She did an especially good job with “the Devil came down to Georgia”. Very impressive.

[lilyhammer]

We took a non ship excursion and went with Randy’s Happy Horses, which was had also done last year. Amazingly, the two of us were the only ones that signed up that day. Last year we had a really great time, so DH really wanted to do this excursion again. Instead of being met up at the Pier by Randy, we were met by Tony, one of her assistants.

 

Unfortunately for us, everybody seemed to be sleeping that day. The taxi driver to take us to the water taxis was late so we had to sit in the pier for awhile. The water taxis took us promply to Stone Island, but then the horses were not ready for us. Tony was very apologetic about the horses not being ready as it was his dad’s job to get them ready but his dad has dropped the ball. We sat at Victors for a little over an hour, nursing some free drinks by Tony until our horses were ready. I’m not sure what took so long to get them ready, we only needed 3 horses for the three of us, but we were glad to get moving. The beach was beautiful and empty and we had a great ride along the beach. Tony let us trot and gallop, though I was not really comfortable with going faster than the gallop. On the way back we saw other people horseback riding in larger groups. Randy’s horses were much bigger and fatter than the sadder skinnier horses we saw later.

 

After a delicious lunch at Victors, we opted to go back to the boat. After a nice nap, we headed to another fantastic dinner. This was formal night #2. The movie tonight was “Cadillac Records” which we had already seen, so we opted for the show, which was the Ryndam Singers and Dancers. The show was quite good, with the lead Singers being especially talented.

[lilyhammer]

We were awaked early by the horrible grinding noises of docking. It felt like it was taking forever to dock…not something you want to hear at 4am. We eventually fell back asleep and slept in around 9 am. We didn’t book any excursions and opted to take the free shuttle to Maviri Beach. The ship also had a free shuttle to Los Mochis, but we had heard there was nothing to see there either.

 

The town was very dry and not picturesque, which was expected. We got to the beach ~ 10:30am. There were a few people there, but none of the many restaurants appeared to be open yet. We just laid down on our towels and did some reading. The sun was very hot and the water was pretty cold. We opted to return on the 11:30am shuttle back to the pier and I was surprised to see pretty much everybody else was there too. My fellow passengers had plenty to say about the dirtiness (there were quite a few Mexican ladies carrying trash bags and cleaning up the beach, but there was also a lot of garbage) and general uneasiness of being in the area. I think we were just there too early and if we had waited for the restaurants to bring out tables and chairs and cheap food/drinks, everybody would have been a lot happier. Oh well. Everybody was saying they should have taken the shuttle to Los Mochis, but I heard people complaining they should have done the opposite. I fear nobody is happy in this port.

 

In lieu of a show, the Ryndam opted to show a movie in the theater (Yes Man, with Jim Carrey) and have a Lido Pool Party with desserts, music and dancing. The Wajang theater had the usual movie also, and was showing Revolutionary Road.

[lilyhammer]

The next day we didn’t book an excursion either due to the small number of offerings. We opted to sleep in a little to avoid the rush for tender tickets. We got off around 10-11am and there were already people coming back telling us there was nothing to see, nothing to buy and nothing to do on shore. We chose to just walk along the pier towards the center of town. Again, I think these people were just too early as we say plenty of stores just opening and setting out wares for sale. The town itself was quite small and charming, very picturesque.

 

The show tonight was Jeff Taveggia, a juggler/comedian. He was pretty good, but not great.

[lilyhammer]

We opted for a ship excursion for La Paz. DH loves lizards, so we took the Serpentarium tour. There were only 14 of us on the tour and our guide was very good. He drove us along the Malecon to get there and pointed out all the interesting statues. The Serpentarium is a non-profit rescue mission for a variety of animals, including owls and turtles. He did a very good job explaining all the exhibits.

 

The show tonight was a piano man, Stephen Kane. He was very entertaining. We got to the show about 5 minutes before show time and sat in the back, but people were streaming in over and over again until it was standing room only. I’ve never seen the audience to entranced by an act. He got a standing ovation from our section. He was very good and I wished we had had better seats so I could see his fingers flying.

[lilyhammer]

We opted to do the “Coastal Highlights” tour along with about half the ship. There were at least 3 full buses that I could see. This tour has been reviewed before, so I won’t say much more about it. It was pretty picturesque and we got a lot of pictures from this tour.

 

This was formal night #3. They brought out the big guns for this dinner. I think everybody got the surf and turf. The Daily Program mistakenly listed this as the “Master Chef’s Dinner and” early dinner for 5:30pm, so there was a large crowd clammering to get in when the doors actually opened at the usual 5:45pm.

 

The show was another from the Ryndam Singers and Dancers. They were excellent as usual except for one of the female singers (My ears!). Tonight was also the Not-so-newlywed game, which had been renamed the “Marriage game”. It seemed exactly the same though. Hilarious as usual!

[lilyhammer]

We slept in again today as there wasn’t much on the daily program today. They held the Mariner’s brunch on this day. Since there were so many Mariner’s, it was split into two different brunches (one at 11 am, the other at 1pm). We noticed the invitations were given out ~ 9 am the day before and were due at noon that day, so we wonder how many people missed the deadline since they were out on excursions. It seemed like every room got an invitation.

 

We took the Behind the scenes Backstage tour with the production cast. They answered a variety of questions from the audience and then we were allowed to go backstage and see their costumes and dressing rooms. Interestingly, a lot of the singers/dancers were on their first contracts and many of them were much younger than they looked (most were 18-20). The lead male singer declined to give his age (we noticed) and DH had him pegged as mid 30s. Two of the lead dancers were on their second to last voyage before a break, with the lead female dancer planning her wedding to one of the band members during this break. Then they are moving on to another ship.

 

There was also a presentation of the cruise DVD on the Wajang theater. This is the first time I’ve ever seen them show the cruise DVD entirely. Normally they show snippets of it on the TV in the cabin. You could totally tell what was stock footage and what was not. I noticed the San Diego pictures were all on a gorgeous clear sunny day, while our embarkation/debarkation days were both horribly gloomy and cold. Plus a lot of the ports showed other ships in the background, while we were the only ship in port on all our days.

 

There was also a towel animal folding presentation in the Culinary arts center. The room stewards were so fast and quick at this. I always thought these were a waste of their time, but they could make one in less than a minute it seemed. There were a bunch of new ones this cruise that I hadn’t seen before (such as a koala, lizard, and turtle)

 

The Master Chef dinner was tonight. We showed up at 5:25pm (doors were supposed to open at 5:30pm) and found the dining room almost completely full. For a second I thought we were on the wrong floor as I didn’t recognize a lot of the people that normally show up late. We were one of the last to be seated in our section, so I figured we didn’t stand a chance of making the 7pm show. But our waiters turned into supermen again and we managed to get out at 6:45pm. I hate how they make the waiters sing and dance…it seems to be a waste of their valuable time and horribly embarrassing.

 

The farewell show was Stephen Kane (the pianist) and Livewire (the violinist) again. They were excellent as usual.

[lilyhammer]

The ship was supposed to be clear to disembark around 8:30am and was to have a silent disembarkation. We had tags where we were supposed to get off ~ 9:30-10am. We noticed many people had already vacated their room and were waiting near the doors at 8am. You are allowed to stay in your room until your number is called, so we wondered why people wanted to stand around and wait. There were lots of names called, so we presumed some foreign travelers did not check in for customs. As a result, the ship was cleared late and silent disembarkation was scrapped. We sat in our rooms and watched “Mamma Mia” on the room TV until our number was called.

[lilyhammer]

We had an excellent cruise. No it wasn’t perfect, but nothing ever is. As other posters have noted, we went Code Red about halfway through the cruise. This meant that the stewards had to do all the food serving, which slowed down the Lido considerable. Also the hot tubs and thermal suite were closed. The library stopped letting you check out stuff after Code Red. We used so much purell this cruise, it was ridiculous, but we didn’t come down with any sickness.

 

The Ryndam is a nice ship, but is showing its age. If you look closely, you’ll see all sorts of things that need work (such as some tiles falling on the bathroom, some re-caulking needed, etc.), but we chose not to focus on these.

 

The crew members we encountered were fabulous. Most were friendly and helpful, but I can see how exhausted many of them were. DH thought our room steward was the best ever since he would clean our room while we were on excursions/at lunch and while we were at dinner/shows. I figured he just knew our schedule and it fit in with his schedule so the rooms were always done. On our last cruise, our room steward was always kicking us out of our room to do cleanings at an odd time (like 2pm and 9pm) and he never learned our schedule.

 

I thought our dining room stewards were fabulous, and I do wonder if people’s bad dining experiences come from luck of the draw. For example, maybe their dining room stewards are very far from the kitchen so that they food gets cold or takes too long to get to them. Most nights there were plenty of tasty choices, though there were ~ 2 nights that would have been good nights to go to the Pinnacle Grill.

 

The shows were pretty good, but we wish HAL would have magicians like on other lines. We get tired of musical acts. We didn’t go, but there were a lot of nightly music venues (dancing in the Ocean bar, string quartet in the Explorer’s Lounge, piano playing in the piano bar, etc.)

 

We noticed the drinks in the casino bar were very strong, while the drinks from the Ocean Bar were weaker and the bartenders surlier. I wonder if they want the drinks to be strong to encourage you to gamble all your money away. =)

 

The gym was small but well equipped. We were sad one night when they closed early just as we arrived to do some Code Red cleaning. It would have been nice if they changed their schedule so we would have known and arrived earlier.

 

We bought an internet package and our own laptop. The internet speeds were actually quite fast at times. We found the best time to use the computer was between 6-9 pm when most people were at dinner or the shows.

[Copper10-8]

Thanks for taking the time and effort to write a review! Enjoyed reading it!:)

[Chelly]

Lilyhammer, Thanks for your excellent and fair review. I was particularly interested in reading about your experiences in Loreto and Topolobampo. It seems both ports aren't as "cool" as their names.

C.

[Sleepladypalmdesert]

Thankyou so much for your review! It is always amazing to me the differences between reviews of people on the same cruise. Some find so many things to hate and others (like you) tend to see the silver lining. I tend to be the same way...even with some issues, I can still, usually, find something fun to do with my DH.

 

I have wonderful memories of Loreto though. I have been there many times with my family of fishermen. I love to hang around, read a book and relax while they go fishing.

 

Again, thanks for your review.

[JimVrhovac]

Thank you for taking the time to put together a well written, and lengthly, review of the cruise. It was informative and not nit picking like a lot of them are.

 

Glad you had a good cruise and hope you have great ones in the future.

 

Ruth & Jim

[Debbie&Chaz]

Thanks so much for taking the time to write the review. We will be on the Ryndam in just over a month in Alaska!

Chaz

[CowPrincess]

Sorry to hear you didn't like Loreto & Topo. They were our two favorite ports, and we'd go back in a heartbeat.

[happy cruzer]

Good review. You might want to post it to the review section too. There are a couple of really negative ones about the Ryndam, maybe one from your sailing over on the review boards. Since you took the time to write it, it would be great to have it there for a long period of time. You probably could help people next year with your info.

[Copper10-8]

................

I have wonderful memories of Loreto though. I have been there many times with my family of fishermen. I love to hang around, read a book and relax while they go fishing.

 

Again, thanks for your review.

 

 

We really like Loreto also; totally different than Cabo, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta of course (if you are expecting the tourist activity of those three towns, you'll be disappointed) but a really nice place to walk around, look at what the locals are selling, visiting the Mission and then taking a break outside at one of the local little restaurants with a cold one and some chips and salsa.

[garydm]

I am not much of a beer drinker, but that little sidewalk restaurant (turn left at the plaza and down about 100 feet on the left) has the coldest beer in Loreto and great salsa and guacamole. People are wonderful there and many locals. Before I knew if I had downed three. We have stopped there each of our four cruises into Loreto.

 

Gary

[Copper10-8]

I am not much of a beer drinker, but that little sidewalk restaurant (turn left at the plaza and down about 100 feet on the left) has the coldest beer in Loreto and great salsa and guacamole. People are wonderful there and many locals. Before I knew if I had downed three. We have stopped there each of our four cruises into Loreto.

 

Gary

 

Yup, that's the one I was talking about - did that in Feb;)

[brucory]

Thanks for sharing your experience on the beautiful Ryndam.

 

Your review was so clearly written that it brought back wonderful memories and I saw myself doing many of the things you described, even to the point of stretching with that remote control...

 

:D:D:D

[JessWright]

Lilyhammer, I read and enjoyed your revew of the Ryndam since I was also on that cruise last week. Actually, I am still unpacking. That trip was my 3rd time on the Ryndam, and 4th time for that route, except for the 3 new ports in the Sea of Cortez. I would go back again next year, if the price was right, although I was told the Ryndam may be in drydock for major rennovations next year. However, I have signed up to go on the Ryndam once more in November to the Caribbean which includes Belize and Guatemala. I am looking forward to the cruise. I just completed 72 days of travel with HAL, and am looking for deals for next year. I did enjoy the Mexican cruise in spite of the inconveniences as a result of the norovirus.

[SDHALFAN]

Thanks so much for taking the time to write a thoroughly enjoyable and well written review.

 

I am one of those who really like Loreto but have to agree that there is not much to Topolobampo.

 

Valerie:)

[lilyhammer]

Thanks for the compliments. We feel very lucky that we made it back before the swine flu hit. I feel bad for all the people who have planned trips to Mexico and now have to cancel or change plans. And bad for the sick too (of course).

 

DH and I have joked that we are cursed since bad things always seem to happen after we visit a place. For example, we both visited NYC the summer before 9/11 (before we met). We visited New Orleans a few months before Katrina hit. After our honeymoon in Hawaii, there was a big earthquake. And now the swine flu. Of course there's been lots of place where nothing has happened too. =)

 

I suppose HAL can appreciate that the April 24th trip is the last trip for the Ryndam before they move to Alaska.