FlaPapa

I also find their advertising deceptive. Our first time on RCL. They are going to have to improve the impression we have gotten so far or we’ll go elsewhere. There is no shortage of companies willing to take our cruise dollars.

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Thank you for reviewing your Ryndam cruise.

 

Baked Alaska is an easy dessert to make at home:D

I looked up the recipe. Making it for the grand kids this weekend.:D

I am also sad that it is being sold. Really enjoyed the personalized feel of the service. I understand the budget constraints of a smaller ship. Just think there is enough talent out there looking for a break, there should be no problem keeping passengers happy.

We love it. Just got back from Ryndam. Now we are in MD for Easter with family. Them back to Florida to plan our next trip or cruise. Life is tough.

We did truly enjoy our cruise. I am sure we will be doing many more now that we are retired. We are so lucky to live where we do in Florida which gives us access to so many ports of departure within a 4-5 hour drive.

What a great review - I don't agree with you about the bacon, however. I don't like crispy! And normally, they hide the "English" bacon, and you have to know that and ask for it!

 

Thanks for letting us know all about it. (I love that Baked Alaska in the Pinnacle, too, it's so much better than the one in the MDR, and it's really the lightest dessert on the menu!)

I don't think we disagree on the bacon. We just have different tastes.

As for the Baked Alaska. The MDR was the first time I had ever had it and I loved it. The Pinnacle was just that much better. Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia included!:D

Just back from our cruise on the Ryndam. It is our second cruise overall but our first in 10 years so we consider ourselves noobs.

We joined some friends to celebrate their 50th anniversary. There were 10 of us in our group. The couple celebrating their 50th selected the cruise. We live in the Tampa Bay area so we had friends drop us off and pick us up at the port.

Embarkation: We arrived at the terminal at approx. 11:15 am. Boarding was fast and efficient with us being in the Lido having lunch by 12:30. We were in our room by 1:00 pm. Where we met our steward Santos.

The Ship: A bit dated but well maintained. We loved the smaller ship and found it easy to get around and find quiet seclusion when we wanted it. Our ocean view cabin (809) was large comfortable and had plenty of storage. We stored our empty suitcases under the bed (14” clearance) which added to the uncrowded feeling. Only issue was out toilet not flushing for a few hours on Friday. Not good when you are having over active bowel issues. We adapted and used a public one on another floor. Did have to contact the front desk twice before being told ours was not an isolated issue.

Dining: We ate breakfast except for one morning on the Lido. We found plenty of variety but almost impossible to get crispy bacon. The one breakfast in the MDR was great and to order.

Lunch was on the Lido and again we found plenty of variety but we were disappointed in the quality of some of the dishes. Sushi is grocery store quality at best. My secret for lunch was getting two scoops of brown rice from the normal line and going to the nacho counter at The Dive. I would make me a burrito bowl ala Capolte. Pasta station and sandwich station were both quite good when you customized the offerings.

Dinner was in the MDR with the exception of our last night which was at the Pinnacle Grill. We had early traditional seating. We had no problem finding something tasty to eat every night. Our waiter Budi was at the top of his game dealing with our party of ten. We would order multiple deserts to pass around the table to everyone got a chance to try something new.

Formal nights: Sorry folks you’ve lost me. Definition of formal was either a tie or dinner jacket. It’s time to pull this terminal tradition off life support. I dropped over a grand to have suits for the MDR and frankly it was wasted money. I have a closet full of ties that would have sufficed.

Pinnacle Grill. Wow! Two and a half hours of amazing food and outstanding service. Well worth the surcharge. Don’t miss the Baked Alaska.

Entertainment: (Lifted from tidygirl’s review and edited)

1st night- Hold’em tournament casino. First place. $100.00

2nd night-Rich Purpura "He knows what you’re thinking sometimes"- Parts of it were funny. Our group enjoyed it. Could have been the alcohol.

3rd night- Passed. Feeling under the weather.

4th night- Ditto

5th night- Paul Pappas Fast Flying fingers and fun- Was okay but got tired of watching him launch himself from his piano bench after each song to take a bow. The best part of the show was saying “Ta Da!” to myself every time he did his piano bench launch.

6th night- Crows Nest

7th night – Crows Nest

Pool entertainment: Brittiney and the Halcats. Was basically a high school caliber band where the singer for the group would be the bandleader’s girlfriend. She was the weakest part of the group and the only reason she was singing was the rest of the band didn’t.

Conclusion: Great cruise overall. We would sail HAL again. Loved the smaller ship. HAL needs to do something about entertainment. It’s the weakest part of their venue.

We have not used Space A for cruising at this point. I have been doing some research on Space A because we do plan on doing some in the coming year or two. The biggest part of traveling Space A is being flexible. Traveling with school age children if going to be tough. Unless you take the kids out of school you will be traveling with the rest of the families with school age children. In other words, Families on summer vacation, spring break, moving back and forth for college breaks. All of these people are going to have higher priority than you being Cat 6.

For the wife and I, we plan on traveling during the school year with a very loose agenda.

There are some good sites that deal in Space A travel information. Suggest you google it. Good luck.

Being an old Navy salt, who is married to a retired chief and has two sons on active duty, I loved the JFK voice over. Very moving.

I can't think of a reason you couldn't.;)

Things got crazy at my work the last 5 years or so. I started counting at 1000 days left. After I had made the decision to go, time flew. I retired this last May 31st. My wife followed me two months later the end of July.

We are really enjoying ourselves and done a few road trips. Now we are looking forward to getting back into cruising.

We now have a wall clock that tells us which day it is cause sometimes they just run together. :D

Life is good:cool:

I spoke to a Carnival travel planner today. Asked him this question. He tells me all databases are separate so we indeed have to apply to each line. Sounds like a government operation. :rolleyes:

My wife and I are both Navy veterans. I did 6 years. She retired with 22.5 years. I know that discounts vary by cruise line. What I am wondering is, if we register and get verified with say Carnival will our military status across other Carnival owned companies or do we need to register with each one?

Thanks in advance:)

As I understand it (and I really don't), things are still in flux. The items are there but cannot be seen by us since this is a group booking. It will be on our final paperwork. This is being done through AAA.

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$3,200 per week is inexpensive for a luxury line (like Crystal is) cruise.

But I am on a domestic beer budget. :D

Spoke to our TA and since we are part of a group booking we won't see everything until we get our final docs. 2-3 weeks before departure.

At over $3200.00 per week, I couldn't hang. I would not mind doing it for a years though.

Thanks everyone. I am waiting to hear back from my TA. Will let you know what we find out.

Thank you very much. I will contact the TA to check everything and get more documentation.

Hi folks,

Quick question. We are booked on the Ryndam this March. We are suppose to be getting Signature Drink Packages and Pinnacle Grill Dinner for two. I do not see either of these wen I look at the booking online. Should they be there in my booking information? Also we are part of a party of 10 and I see no information about the party.

Appreciate any help you can provide.:)

Roy,

Thank you so much for the quick reply. I was aware that they are moving. We are on going to be in F809. A Deck. This is our second cruise. Fiftieth Anniversary for some friends. Looking forward to it but feeling like a first timers seeing as it's been so long.

One again, thanks for the information.

:)

Hi Folks,

Been a while since we have cruised. Try 2004? We have booked a 7 day cruise on the Ryndam and are wondering if anyone has been on her recently that can give me an idea of what to expect.

Just looking for condition of the ship and quality of service.

Also, on what deck do you board the ship?

Thanks in advance

FlaPapa:)