Desdemona01

Thanks for the Review. We board the Ryndam for ou third cruise aboard her on April 6th.

 

Dan

Many of the crew and staff that we spent time with will still be aboard when you sail, so I think you'll be pleased :)

We just returned from our 3rd cruise on the Ryndam. To begin with, this cruise reaffirmed that the Ryndam is our favorite ship. She may have been heading to drydock after we disembarked but we never would have known from the way the crew was taking care of her or any of the services provided. The ship size, the elegance and ambiance of the Ryndam are among the things that make her our favorite. We were in a Neptune suite and the size of the verandah alone is worth it, to us.

This may have been the friendliest crew we've had in several cruises. From the time we boarded until we drove away we kept commenting to each other about the smiles and enthusiasm that we witnessed among any and all of the crew members we interacted with.

The food--I will say that this was my only disappointment. When we were on the Nieuw Amsterdam in December I was thrilled with the vegetarian offerings on the MDR menu, and that they were indicated with a "V" on the menu, taking the guesswork out of soups, entrees, etc. Not so on the Ryndam. No "V"'s anywhere on the menu so I passed over most of the soups, since I had no way of knowing if chicken or beef broth was used. It was not unusual to find that all of the appetizers and/or salads/soups were not vegetarian-friendly. There was only one entree each night that was vegetarian, which sent us to the Lido on the evening when the veg option was stuffed chilies (at least in the Lido I could get a plain pasta with red sauce). Before anyone suggests I should have used the vegetarian menu I will say that, with open seating, we've found this almost impossible. I've tried it on previous cruises and it's just not practical. No, I didn't starve, but it was a disappointment.

Entertainment--we are big piano bar fans, when the entertainment is good (Jimmy Maddox!!). David Anthony is very talented but it was not our type of piano bar. We prefer an entertainer who is flexible, takes requests, doesn't insist on sticking to *theme* nights, and is clearly having fun. After the first night we spent more time in the Ocean Bar, and discovered, much to our delight, that the piano player/vocalist for the Neptunes, a Scotsman named Andy, was one of the most talented performers we've enjoyed onboard since our cruise with Jimmy Maddox. While the Neptunes are expected to play the tranditional standards for people to dance to, he interspersed amazing renditons of music from Elton John, Van Morrison, Marc Cohen, Paul Simon, etc with Gershwin, Porter and Bacharach. He was so kind--we requested Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" and he came back early from his break to perform it, before the dance music began again. We did notice that the Ocean Bar seemed to be drawing as many people as the Piano Bar. We found out on the last night that, after his break, he will be taking over the piano bar on one of the ships (didn't find out which one). I hope we have the opportunity to enjoy his music again on a HAL ship.

We no longer attend the shows with the singers/dancers--too redundant. We did go to see Tricia Kelly, who has a great voice and did songs from Janis Joplin to Julie Andrews. The guitarist performing in the Mix, Terry, is very talented but had little interaction with the crowd.

We were on board for St. Patrick's Day and partcipated in a bar hop. We started in the Ocean Bar, continued to the Piano Bar, then to the Lido Bar, and finished in the Crow's Nest. Each stop included a green, Irish-themed drink. In the Ocean Bar the Neptunes performed a very good rendition of "The Wild Rover" to start us off. In the Piano Bar, David was asked to perform an Irish tune but declined. By the time we got to the Crow's Nest, Andy (from the Neptunes) joined the HALcats and did a reprise of "The Wild Rover" for the crowd. It was a fun night and had a good turnout--I would guess 30 or so participants.

Ports--we booked this cruise for the ship, with Key West being the bonus. We did go ashore in Roatan, Guatamala and Costa Maya but did not do any excursions. We spent as much time as possible on our verandah, enjoying the sun and scenery (and not missing the snow banks back at home).

We received our 100-day medallions wihile on board, which was fun. This cruise ranks in the top 5 of our all-time favorites and we cannot wait to sail aboard the Ryndam again in the future. The added bonus is sailing from Tampa--what a delight after dealing with the chaos at Port Everglades.

Please feel free to ask any questions, and I will try my best to answer.

Des

We just found out this past weekend that our adult son called HAL to gift us with future OBC, and HAL gave him info on upcoming cruises we have booked. He didn't even ask! He just said he wanted to give us OBC and they volunteered that we have two cruises booked, gave him the dates and the ships! Yes, his gesture was sweet and thoughtful but the people at HAL should have just awarded us OBC without divulging our future plans. We had not shared our future bookings with our adult children as of yet so I did not appreciate them giving out our information. How did they know he was our son? It could have been anyone who knows we cruise with HAL and had less than honest motives (robbery comes to mind, knowing when we're gone).

I will be contacting HAL.

Des

You didn't want the cappuccino bomb? :eek: Then couldja order one for me??? Please?

Ruth, I completely agree! That may be the best dessert we've ever had on a HAL ship, or almost anywhere. We've been disappointed that it hasn't been on the menu (at least for us) for a few years.

Thanks for this info! We will be on the Ryndam in March and the piano bar is our favorite venue, if the entertainment is good. After reading your review I googled David Anthony and am very pleased with the comments people have made about him. Since we can't be on the Westerdam with Jimmy Maddox, this information about the piano bar was *music to my ears* :) (sorry, bad pun). We also enjoy going to the Crow's Nest to hear the guitarist, so we were also heartened by the good review. We rarely go to the main show lounge anymore (unless it's to see Julie Barr), so this information was very welcome!

Thanks for all of the feedback. *waving to HALrunner!*

 

I am LOVING that menu, Krazy Kruizers!

 

So, it sounds like we need to order a night in advance, so for the first night I guess we will be limited to the regular menu.

 

My challenge with ordering the night before is...what if we make a last-minute decision to skip the MDR and visit the buffet instead? Will the food we pre-ordered for that evening go to waste? Also, what if I pre-order a certain item the night before, but when it comes down to dinner time that evening, I'm craving something else? We have open seating, so I'm wondering how that will work -- does it mean we'll be limited to sitting in the same section each night because of our pre-ordered menu items?

 

It sounds like a phone call to Ship Services might be in order, as I don't expect anyone here will have those answers, but the process doesn't feel practical at all. I'm thankful the menu even exists, and HAL has marketed it as the most extensive vegetarian/vegan menu at sea with 52 menu items <insert applause :) >. I just didn't expect these rules of ordering.

 

We'll figure it out though. Thanks so much for the info!

For many cruises, when we had fixed seating, I would order from the veg menu each evening for the following night. During those days HAL usually offered only one veg option each night on the regular menu in the MDR and not always to my liking. Once we switched to open seating (which we LOVE!) it was more difficult to pre-order from the veg menu. At around the same time HAL started offering more veg options, and not just the entree. There is always 1 and often 2 choices for each course that are indicated as Vegetarian. For the last 4 or 5 cruises I have not even asked for the vegetarian menu. Like you, I like the freedom to decide on the spot what I want to have and when I choose to have dinner. We do not dine in the Pinnacle--our experience there was not veg-friendly (I was offered fish). We find the menu in the MDR to be more than interesting and have always enjoyed our meals there. I only wish land-based restaurants offered similar choices. Have fun!

We have several pieces of Travelpro, from roll-aboard totes to 30". We've had them for years and they are holding up great. DH chose this brand because the important parts (wheels, pull-up handles, etc) can be replaced easily. One of our pull-up handles became bent and would not retract--a call to Travelpro resulted in the part being shipped to us, with instructions, and DH replaced it in a matter of minutes.

Thanks! Hope you guys are well :)

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I agree--Jimmy's the best! We were sorry to be just missing him on this cruise but hope to catch up with him on the Westerdam in the coming months :)

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Excellent--thanks! We board on Sunday:)

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Hi Roz, did you happen to check out the new guy in the piano bar? I know that Jimmy Maddox left after the previous cruise.

Thanks

Des

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Absolutely get your point. On the other hand it is about time people moaning about us smokers get a bit of their own medicine in respects to enjoying alcohol how and when they want to enjoy it. Maybe and just maybe it shuts them up for a bit when it comes to a whiff of smoke on a balconcy because they are worrying about their intake of alcohol ;)

apples and oranges. When they limit smokers to bringing on board 1 pack of cigarettes per passenger, regardless of length of cruise, and any additional must be purchased on board with limited brands available at hugely inflated prices, and cannot be brought aboard in ports, then there will be a comparison.

I'm with Ruth and Oceanwench on this. I go to hear the paid entertainer, and participate in a GROUP sing along. On one cruise a self-important alleged lounge lizard got up in the face of the gal performing in the piano bar because she told him HAL did not want passengers taking over the mic. He and his *entourage* made several offensive comments and stormed out when she refused to be impressed with his so-called credentials. The patrons in the bar applauded as he left.

If one has a desire to perform in a piano bar on a cruise ship I'm sure there are ways to apply and be hired. Otherwise, I prefer that it be group participation. There will always be someone who thinks they should riff or do a solo but, in my experience, the rest of the group manages to drown them out. If they try to take over too much I've also seen it clear out the place. As OW pointed out, there is a venue for karaoke if one desires their time in the spotlight :)

Jimmy is an entertainer in the true sense of the word. As other posters pointed out, if you want a *performer* then go to the Vista lounge. Jimmy engages, entertains and is fun! The man's mental musical library is impressive! The piano bar was packed every night with overflow crowds. Close relatives of ours were going to be on the Nieuw Amsterdam while Jimmy was on board and we told them about him. They thought he was great but could rarely even get into the piano bar--what they heard was from the corridor. We've experienced *performers* in the piano bar and booooooring.....so full of themselves and little to no interaction with the crowd....We're trying to coordinate our next cruise with Jimmy's schedule because, like others have said, the piano bar is one of the highlights of our cruise if it's fun!

my DH used the patch for several cruises with no problem. On the 7th cruise, 3rd day, he awoke during the night because his skin was itching--looked in the mirror and he was broken out head-to-toe--looked like he'd been boiled. And the itching was beyond tolerable. At first we thought maybe it was the blanket/linens but we got out the insert that came with the patches and, at the bottom of the 4th page of warnings, was the warning that it can cause rashes and itching. He immediately removed the patch and his skin cleared up within hours. Never again...he uses wristbands and ginger and has not had any seasickness.

I've ordered my CD and can't wait to get it :) Jimmy definitely has raised the bar, IMHO--we haven't found anyone close to his talent/personality since our cruise with him--we're actually trying to work our schedule to fit his so that we can enjoy another cruise with him...