canadianbear

Ryndam was our first ever cruise.  I’ve signed up to follow along on the other thread.  

32 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Just goes to show that all experiences are different. There are two (or three) Ohana boats. Our crew wasn’t ‘great’ and on the other boat a CC member has photos of the crew sitting in the back on their cell phones as passengers helped each other up the ladder.

 

I would also note there was no soap in the bathroom which, for me, was pretty icky (I didn’t see sanitize anywhere either). Since we were still under Noro protocols, I felt that sanitation for distributing the fruit was way below standards too. 

 

Apparently not all Ohana boats are created equal. I am glad you had a better experience onboard and it sounds like you went to the same snorkeling spot (inside the reef but certainly no lagoon as we would describe it).

 

For those that want to snorkel, IMO Papeete isn’t the best choice. 

wow…not helping passengers back on would be a huge complaint.   
 

No, it certainly wasn’t a lagoon.  Did you guys dance on the way back?  They had the ladies then the men which was fun.  We did not have to use the facilities so can’t comment on that.  
 

Agree, Papeete isn’t the place to snorkel since there are such other great options to do that. 

42 minutes ago, josumello said:

Thanks for this info. I was going to book this as I thought it might be easy for DH. Will probably now look to booking land tour in Tahiti. 

We went on a different day that BermudaBound went on.  The snorkel isn’t great but it was easy to get off & back on when you’re on a catamaran if you snorkel.  We only booked it because we had extra OBC we had to use.  
 

We enjoyed the vibe of it & staff who were great.  It was actually relaxing & a fun time for us. 

3 hours ago, Homer88 said:

@canadianbear we made it to daughter’s in Vancouver.  Rained from northern CA to now, but looking forward to a pretty weekend and seeing the cherry blossoms.  This is such a beautiful area!  Glad you made it home safe too.  Our other daughter flies in on Friday, and we’ll head to Colorado on Monday. Our fun is continuing!

Glad to hear you’ve made it.  I hope our weather improves (but I heard snow on our local mountains is happening 🤦‍♀️).    
 

You’ve had quite the adventures & still going strong!

Safe travels.  Shoot me an email when you get home. 

32 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Sadly, smash and grabs are not isolated to California :(. Somehow we have lost our way.

 

I will continue to sail out of San Diego as long as there are itineraries I want to sail on. One day of disorganization was insignificant in the grand scheme of things. San Diego as a city offers a lot. We walked our tails off in the tourist areas the last 4 days and never once felt unsafe. 

 

We have an issue here in Vancouver, Canada too.  Within blocks of the cruise port people have to be very cautious.

We love San Diego & will sail from there as it is an easy flight for us to get to.  We will just always make sure we pick a later flight like we did after the SP cruise.  Or next time maybe just stay overnight before flying home. 

We just returned from the 35 day cruise to the SP and did not “require” any shots.  However, some chose to get some after visiting their travel medical center for recommended ones.  I don’t know how to provide a link but it was passport health global dot com 
 

@Ileneilene123
 

Sitting on the balcony it didn’t affect our view.  Standing looking over you got to see stuff but honestly, I don’t remember-it certainly didn’t impact me.  Hubby is sleeping or I’d ask him. 

Here are a few of 7128.

We were in 7128 for the 35 day South Pacific cruise and just got home last night.  No issues at all. 

If you’re Canadian the time is longer.  US citizens had their line & others had a separate one.  We had to get our photos taken then moved along.  It was quick but our line was much longer.  

When we flew out I took this photo at 7:05pm from our plane.  Disney gone but Koningsdam still there.  
 

We were in no hurry to get off the ship as we had a 5:00 flight which was delayed of course.  We never heard our colour called just ones for disembarkation.  So we wandered down & it was still a zoo & one of the officers said if we had a late flight come down in another 30-45 minutes so we did.  The line moved fast then.  

My last latte from the Dutch Cafe tonight.  We honestly had a wonderful & relaxing cruise.  Did lots of fantastic snorkel excursions & then relaxed on all the sea days back.  I’m not sure if Mr Bear will want to do this one again or not, time will tell.  I know I would. Such beautiful water, scenery & people in Hawaii & the South Pacific.  
 

One issue-my suitcase was over 50 pounds so had to regroup.  More now in our carry on 🤦‍♀️. Wish us luck tomorrow, lol.  We don’t fly home until 5pm so no hurry to get to airport. 
 

To all the other passengers - safe travels tomorrow wherever that may be.  I know some are staying on the ship, some driving home & some flying home. 

35 minutes ago, kiwimum said:

Plan on it being cold and possibly wet in San Diego.  There is a large storm heading this way arriving late morning Saturday.

Oh joy 🤦‍♀️…hope we get to the airport before it rains too much.  

6 hours ago, Hogladyrider said:

We were on the cruise before this one and we normally do "self-disembarkation".  Well, I made a management decision to not do it this cruise, BIG MISTAKE.

 

We only had one bag but did not want to deal with it in the elevators and crowds etc as we were in no rush to debark.  So I put the suitcase outside our door.

 

We had breakfast in Lido and waited until called to disembark.  OMG we took the stairs the elevators were a nightmare.

 

We got into the terminal ok but despite it being later in the morning, the luggage was not unloaded and ready to be picked up!

 

They had us standing off to the side and wait and wait and wait we did.  It was very frustrating.

Never again, we will go back to "self-disembarkation".

 

We realize this was not HAL's fault but the long shoremen and I hope your return to San Diego is much smoother.

Yikes 😳…I have a feeling ours will not go smooth either.  Guess I’m thankful now we have a later flight and not in a rush.  We have one bag each but also carry on so no way can do the self disembarkation this time.  After being away 38 days we’ve had to reshuffle our suitcases to get under the 50 pound limit 🤦‍♀️….shouldn’t have bought those 2 duty free bottles on the ship 😂

This is so very sad.  Condolences to all.  Everyone is affected when we hear this kind of accident resulting in death.  Crew are so important to all cruisers and loved by all. 

9 minutes ago, Ineke said:

I wonder when the Legendary Voyage tiles were introduced? We were on the Tales of the South Pacific Legendary Voyage, and did not receive any tile, not even a regular one. But it sounds like there are a number of ways that Legendary Voyages are different now - a work in progress?

I honestly don’t know.  We booked this cruise ages ago and I’m sure it wasn’t called Legendary at that time.  We received regular tiles and then these ones so I am as surprised as everyone else.  It has been a wonderful cruise and yes, I think it’s a work in progress.  Plus the legendary bag too surprised us. 

@GTVCRUISER  if I lived near San Diego I’d be on a lot more cruises!   We will be getting off as you get on.  Have fun!

51 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Your pictures have been terrific. I almost went diving w/the sharks in So Africa but decided not to when I learned they lured them by chumming. They called it swimming, but then referred to it as "cage diving" as I researched more. I would love to have had what I consider (for me) is a once in a lifetime experience, but I can't support that treatment of animals. 😪🥺

I did snorkeling with stingrays once and just cannot imagine snorkeling w/sharks - good for you!! I am sure you'll enjoy those memories for a long time and hopefully have a great picture for your wall. 😊

I hadn’t expected to like the snorkel with sharks but loved it and got so many videos. I’m so happy my old underwater camera worked so well.   A few years back we did the snorkel with whale sharks in La Paz and that too was amazing.  I also love snorkeling with turtles.  
 

Not sure where our next cruise will be as our son & his wife & their little one would like a Caribbean cruise & we’d love to go to watch over our grandson while they snorkeled.  The only time they can go is January or February.  

7 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Thanks for sharing the Legendary tile pics @canadianbear I don't have one and didn't know they're larger. Nice reminder of what sounds like a fabulous cruise.

It has been great-was a bucket list for me to snorkel in the South Pacific especially after we had to cancel a previous one.  My favourite was snorkeling with the sharks!  

Nice to come back from breakfast & find these on our bed.  They are larger than the other tiles we received previously. 

@gourmetnotgourmand

just for you, photos of the lobster I’ve had during this cruise!  Some from dining room, Canaletto & Pinnacle.  
(sorry you had to cancel-I developed a knee problem on this cruise but could still snorkel thankfully). 

I had a baked potato for my main course in the MDR the other night!   Had a craving. 

13 hours ago, ljgordon54 said:

that is what I heard from somewhere that you could get the gelato shakes included if you ordered at the Dive In or something really convoluted like that. 

I posted that as we are currently on this cruise and when I ordered a milkshake at the Dive In with our burger the milkshake was included in HIA.  If we order it at Gelato it isn’t.  Doesn’t make sense but that’s how it is on this cruise. 

2 hours ago, ljgordon54 said:

that is what I heard from somewhere that you could get the gelato shakes included if you ordered at the Dive In or something really convoluted like that. 

I posted that as we are currently on this cruise and when I ordered a milkshake at the Dive In with our burger the milkshake was included in HIA.  If we order it at Gelato it isn’t.  Doesn’t make sense but that’s how it is on this cruise. 

1 hour ago, yellowjacket_cruiser said:

They do not record the port talks or the presentations/speakers and have them on the stateroom TV. This is really inconvenient since for the port talks there were no seats available and they were in the afternoon before our pool time was over. And the prerecorded port overviews are not very accurate for the less visited ports. Anyway, this seems an easy upgrade that is already available on most other cruises I have been on. 

I don’t understand why they don’t do this.  I’m sure they used to?   Totally agree they are lacking in this area.