Ryndam Review Jan 3rd- 10th, 2010 :: Western Caribbean

[pseudochicken]

Holland America Line

Ship: ms Ryndam

Date: January 3rd – 10th, 2010

 

In this review I am going to try and say it how it was. No sugar coating and no exaggerations.

 

Just a little preface: My girlfriend and I went on the cruise to get away from the cold and enjoy ourselves. This was the only time we could go. As I go through the review and bring something up for the first time I will bold the word of interest and go through a short digression about the subject. The only exception to this rule will be the weather, because that varied sufficiently from day to day.

We drove down from my place in New Jersey where we celebrated New Years to her place in Raleigh the day before the cruise. Every time I forget how boring I-95 is. We were one of the few young couples on this cruise. We saw maybe a handful of other people our age. Not only that, my girlfriend was probably one of about three or four people with blond hair. A few more had brown hair or black hair, like myself. The rest was all blue, ;) But I do want to say that this was the nicest group of passengers I have ever cruised with: full of smiles and friendly greetings.

 

First Day: Embarkation

We flew out of Raleigh, using Southwest Airline, to Tampa on the day of the cruise. We caught the 7:45 AM flight. The flight was smooth as glass, though cloudy almost the entire way. As we approached Tampa Bay we could see the ms Ryndam and the Carnival Legend out the right side of the airplane, which was pretty cool. Tampa Bay Airport is so nice compared to the airport I usually travel out of, Philadelphia, it blows my mind. We landed around 9:45 and had our bags before 10 AM. It was a bit chilly in Tampa (a theme for our cruise later on) at around 35 degrees Fahrenheit. We waited for the HAL transfer bus which arrived around 11:20 AM and we were at the terminal by 11:50. The embarkation process was very smooth and we were on the ship by 12:30 PM.

Lunch at the Lido was quite good that day, as well. However, I found lunch on most days to be a bit boring and not that tasty. Sushi was always a fall back, as were the custom sandwiches you could order. The Asian food was hit or miss as well as most of the grilled lunch stuffs. The cold noodles and salads were typically bland and not worth it. Desert at lunch was never that great either, in my opinion, but I am not a big desert person. Fruit was pretty good, however. Particularly the pineapple :D … We went to the muster drill, and at the end we went to the aft of the promenade deck to catch the Carnival Legend as it pulled away into the bay. The outside promenade (which was actually on the lower promenade) was a great feature on this ship that I missed while on my last cruise on Celebrity. We spent a lot of time out there and very few other people would ever go out on the promenade which I find quite weird. At some point in the evening we went to the library area, by the Explorations Café, which I must say is the best library I have seen on any ship: plenty of books, computer terminals and board games. Now normally on a Caribbean cruise such a facility would not be used. But we used it quite a bit because it was quite chilly a good portion of the cruise, unfortunately.

The main dining room is very nice, and a proper size for the ship. We had open seating which in most cases was perfect for us. We had Pandu the first and last night of the cruise and he was by far the best waiter we had. If you can, ask for him. The food was decent, but not as good as Celebrity or Royal Caribbean from what I had experienced. The pastas were never that good, and I am a big pasta person. The seafood was good though. The red meats tended to be undercooked.

Day Two: Key West, FL

We woke up around 9:00 AM, the most leisurely wake up we had the whole week. We could feel the ship rocking quite a bit. My girlfriend and I like the rocking of the ship, particularly at night. It’s calming and helps us both to fall asleep. Never have I felt a cruise ship rock as much as this cruise, which I would bet would have something to do with the smaller ship and the choppy weather we had most of the vacation.

We felt the rocking particularly well from our stateroom which was located all the way aft on the port side on the bottom level, Deck A. Room 848: We had a picture window, which was better than a porthole. The bathroom was quite spacious, though the tiling was bumpy. The room had plenty of closet space for two people on a week long vacation. The room was right next to the rigging room, however. It only bothered us on the last morning of our cruise as we pulled into Tampa Bay around 6:00 AM. We could hear rope engines and banging for about an hour before docking. The other days we docked we got up much earlier so it was never a problem, but be AWARE if you sleep in past 8 AM on most days. You will be woken up, as the noise is quite loud!

We had a late breakfast which was alright if you got omelets. The sausages and bacon were alright, otherwise breakfast was a mediocre affair at the lido. We never went to the MDR for breakfast, but we weren’t sure if that was open to non-Mariner club folk. It was a bit cloudy and quite cool as we approached Key West. We could see a few keys the hours leading up to Key West which was quite exciting. The sun was fighting to get out when we finally arrived in Key West, which had already greeted the Seven Seas Mariner, a luxury ship. We had lunch just before we docked and ran up to deck 12 to watch the docking process as we looked over Key West.

We were one of the first people to get off the ship in Key West. It was cool, in the lower 60’s, but much warmer than the north east so we didn’t complain. It was mostly cloudy with patches of blue. We walked all around the island and made it to the other side where there are some hotel beaches. We meandered our way back past Hemmingway’s house and through the touristy district. I honestly don’t understand what all the hulla-balloo is about Key West. We had both been here before, but there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot to do. A lot of gimcky shops, expensive bars, tattoo parlors and tee-shirt shops. I would see these long automobile trains that would be giving a tour to the visitors. What are they talking about!? There is not THAT much to discuss, in my opinion. There’s a fort, Hemmingway’s house, Jimmy Buffet’s Margarittaville …Oh well. The walk was nice. At the end we went to the aquarium right by the dock, and that was pretty cool. I do not remember dinner that night too well, but I remember it being decent enough. Again, we were sat by ourselves, which was nice and romantic. We played some ping-pong that night. There are three ping-pong tables, two of which are in the main pool area on the 11th deck and one at the back pool on the 10th deck. We played a lot of ping-pong, as the tables were often not being used. It was a lot of fun. :D

 

 

I will continue with Day 3: Sea Day later this evening. :cool:

[pseudochicken]

I will add some pictures later this evening.

[pseudochicken]

Here are some pictures:

 

The Carnival Legend in port

 

 

I got yellow flowers because that's her favorite color. ;)

 

 

Pulling into Key West, Seven Seas Mariner in the background

 

 

At the aquarium. Ryndam in the background.

 

 

Visit the alligator area of the aquarium, it is pretty cool!

[IRL_Joanie]

:DI got's blonde hair, not blue and I is still old:D

 

Kidding side... Sounds like you still had a good time, and the smiles in the photos looks like it to;)

 

Welcome home. And glad you did the review for us.

 

Joanie

[CCRUZER]

Can you tell me which nights were formal and which night was the Chef's dinner? Thanks...

[pseudochicken]

Sorry I didn't get to day 3 this evening. I'll be sure to do it tomorrow. And maybe Day 4 as well.

 

:DI got's blonde hair, not blue and I is still old:D

 

Kidding side... Sounds like you still had a good time, and the smiles in the photos looks like it to;)

 

Welcome home. And glad you did the review for us.

 

Joanie

 

;) True. The blue hair comment is just to give you a picture of the passenger age on the ship. We did have a great time, though. :)

 

Can you tell me which nights were formal and which night was the Chef's dinner? Thanks...

 

Tuesday night (3rd night) and Friday (6th night) night were formal nights.

Now don't quote me on this but I think Chef's dinner was the LAST night. I am pretty sure of it anyway. :cool:

 

And as always to all, feel free to ask questions!

[MrsMuir]

Your girlfriend is darling and you seem like a nice couple to cruise with. I just finished highlighting my blonde hair. Tomorrow may be my 63rd birthday, but inside I feel as young as your young lady. Thank you for posting the review.

 

Mrs M

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome home.

 

Am enjoying reading your review.

 

Will be waiting to read the rest.

[mountainmare]

Thank you for your review. We are on the Jan 31 sailing and this adds to our excitement.