Review: Ryndam Transatlantic (long-ish)

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The cruise was over April 16 but the wonderful memories are still floating all around us. We stayed on in Europe for awhile after the cruise so we're still catching up at home . I'll put together the usual photo blog when we're back in California (link to past entries is in the signature; the one for this cruise will join those) so this is a review of our Ryndam trans-Atlantic cruise that began in Tampa on April 1 and ended (way too soon!) in Rotterdam on April 16.

 

RATE THE CRUISE: My DH and I agree: we just have to rate this cruise as a 10 (of 10). "Perfect" would fit as well, but I guess that's in the mind of each cruiser; what we absolutely loved might not suit others at all. Since there were only 3 port calls (Bermuda, St. Marlo and Cherbourg in France) and then the disembarkation point of Rotterdam, this was essentially a sea vacation. It doesn't make sense to do a day by day run-down. So, instead, categories:

 

CRUISE CRITIC MEET AND GREET: Excellent! We had almost 100 people up in the Crow's Nest, the Captain Werner Timmers, Hotel Manager Simon de Boer, Cruise Director John Mann, GRM Rina Malado all came and most brought staff with them. There was a note in my cabin when we arrived to assure me (I was in charge of the M/G) that the ship was aware of our request and that everything would be set up. Which it was, and staff hung around to help us and to make drinks available if anyone wanted to purchase. Most of the staff stayed for nearly an hour, mingling and talking with the Roll Call.

 

Because we had so many individual tour groups in the Roll Call who wanted to use the Meet/Greet to connect with each other, I didn't want to be insensitive to the Ship Excursions people who need to sell tours. We made a special point of inviting them and introducing them first. I think they were able to see that people were open to hearing what they had to offer and they could see that many of the destinations people had worked out among themselves weren't places the shore excursions would have wanted to put together anyway. Lots of individual battle areas in Normandy were of interest to this group but the ship tours wouldn't have gotten enough participants to have justified all those separate destinations.

 

 

WHAT WAS NEW TO US (since we were on the Amsterdam in October 2011):

 

DINING: First, a couple of menu items. Risotto has been added, occasionally, to the evening dinner menu and I thought it was really good. Once it was prepared with some sort of tomato preparation but that included some basil that I'm allergic to so I had it just plain, with the asparagus and pine nuts for garnish. The other time was a mushroom preparation which was very good too. Then on the breakfast rolls tray there was a hew pecan pastry that seemed like a miniature pecan pie. Just a small spoonful of filling, but very much like a good pecan pie filling, with just a few pecans sprinkled on top. Great addition to the pastries! Mmm, pecan pie!

 

This was our first experience with the new "runner" system. The Dining Stewards and Assistants now have an entry-level runner whose job, I was told, is to get the main course items from the kitchen and bring them up to be served. The appetizers, desserts, etc. are still procured as they always were--mostly by the assistant stewards but sometimes by the head steward. The additional help has been added because the stewards are now taking orders for individual bar drinks, serving them, and charging the room cards for them. The wine stewards are handling just the bottle orders. The system seemed to be working out; the runners are the newest crew members (and on our cruise, had some problems with the "motion in the ocean" that was excessive for the first few days so their work was a little slow). An Indonesian crew member told me that "things have changed in Indonesia" and being asked to serve alcohol isn't the cultural negative that it was in the past and I specifically asked an officer if the dining stewards were now rated on how much they sold (in bar items) and he emphatically denied that was the case; they are still rated just on their dining performance, as always. We ordered a wine package and the wine steward assigned to our table was prompt each evening, was right there for most of the refills; no problems at all. But he was hustling up and down his section!

 

The printed menus, as others have mentioned recently, didn't include the "always available" items--but we were told both by staff and stewards that if you ask they can almost always get you salmon, steak, etc. that was once on that menu.

 

NEW THIS SUMMER: HAL MOVES TO CAPTURE MUCH MORE OF THE EUROPEAN MARKET: The non-Dutch employees are all taking Dutch lessons! At least on the Ryndam they are! The Dining Stewards were often seen with their little paperback textbooks at their stations and they "practiced" on the passengers and the ship's Dutch staff when they could. And, added to the Dining Room Management staff was an intern who is from Germany and is a Hotel Management college student in the Netherlands. She's there for her college-required internship, but HAL will use her this summer to work with European guests who speak the languages she speaks. How this position will be used in the future (if it continues) I have no idea. I guess we'll find out in time. The young woman intern who was on our cruise told us that "she learned more her first night than she'd learned in school so far" and it's her very first cruise as well. She's being mentored through the first part of the summer by one of the DRM staff members.

 

OUTSTANDING OFFICER TEAM: This cruise was blessed with officers who were visible everywhere, all the time. Captain Timmers could often be seen, chatting with passengers, stopping by one of the information desks to pick up paperwork, talk, or whatever. Hotel Manager Simeon de Boer was out and about as well. Never in his office, according to the Captain! Cruise Director John Mann was available all day and in the evening he stood at the door after Showtime to talk to those who attended the show as they were leaving. We saw them all frequently, all over the ship. But a first for us was to see the Guest Relations Manager Rina Malado station herself at the desk out in the open corridor outside her office, where she worked on her own work unless someone came by and wanted to talk to her. I'm sure she didn't work out there all the time, but I saw her there several mornings. I'm sure this level of availability was one of the reasons that everything on this cruise seemed to run so smoothly. There were most likely, problems somewhere; there always are, but the people I talked to were having a really good cruise. I did not hear of any toilet or air conditioning issues.

 

THERE WAS A BIT OF ROUGH WATER: Weather was a factor; the seas, after the first day, were really rough. Captain Timmers was the first guest for Good Morning Ryndam (second morning of the cruise) so those in attendance had plenty of warning that the seas were going to be rough for a couple of days. The barf bags were out, lots of green apples were being distributed, and the captain warned everyone during his mid-day talks to use the hand rails to to walk very carefully. New crew was affected too; we heard that several weren't on duty the second night because of seasickness and those who were didn't have the "sea legs" they needed to work as quickly as they usually do. After Bermuda it was a calm trip, except for the tender port at St. Malo when a very strong river current in the ocean channel made positioning the ship for the tender operation difficult. Apparently they worked for over an hour to get a safe positioning, which upset the day's schedule and made the tender process somewhat chaotic. But, safety first.

 

 

ON BOARD ENTERTAINMENT:: There were 4 male singers, 2 female singers, and 2 female dancers in this cast. Most had professional experience past local theater or college. One of the production shows used only the 4 male singers, along with the dancers. The final show, "Encore" made especially effective use of the side screens that had been hung in the showroom. Graphic "loops" which are background images with subtle animations designed to enhance the activity on stage were used during many of the songs and I really liked the moods that they helped to enhance while taking nothing away from the musical performance. The Rosario Strings group was very good and they were featured in one of the evening shows as well. We also got to hear them in the Main Dining Room on formal nights; they played for at least 30-40 minutes. If you're interested in other entertainment ask me; I can check the programs.

 

The usual mix of daytime activities seemed well-attended, as was a "Good Morning Rynam" feature most mornings that featured such guests as the Captain, the previous evening's entertainer, etc. There were astronomy and meteorological lectures; I didn't attend and don't know how well those were received. Attendance at Good Morning was pretty good and people sort of lingered to talk more even though the room was needed right after this half-hour session. And trivia, pool games, golf-chipping; the usual.

 

 

WHAT WE DIDN'T SEE: No Master Chef Dinner! It seems to have been officially retired now. There was no "Baked Alaska Parade" when Baked Alaska was on the menu. Instead, this was just another item that could be selected but there were other choices too.

 

MAINTAINING TRADITION: The dining staff did gather and sing the Farewell Song, and we heard the usual singing of birthday and anniversary congratulations. The chefs did come out at the final formal night and were recognized, but it was pretty quick. There was a dessert extravaganza night.

 

OTHER: Everyone showed up for the mandatory drill but I think they should have some sort of emergency seating for those who couldn't stand for the length of time it took to find and round up the stragglers. My suggestion would be to have some of those portable museum seats that are everywhere in European museums; lightweight; just hang it over the shoulder and sit down on the opened-out seat when necessary. A couple could be available at each muster station, distributed by the staff as needed.

 

We dislike smoke around us intensely but there were no problems that we detected. Our verandah was fine, walking through the casino wasn't bad.

 

After the cruise we stayed on in Europe; took the train to Amsterdam, then the train again to Brussels and finally the Eurostar Chunnel to London. Anyone thinking of doing this feel free to e-mail; we found some really great resources. This was easy to do!

 

Here are some meet-greet photos; I'll put up a bunch so as many as possible can see themselves. With nearly 100 in attendance a group shot really wasn't possible.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

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[erewhon]

Really enjoyed reading this review of your cruise.

Thank you for taking time to write and posting the photos.

Sounds like a fabulous cruise.

[kazu]

A great review - and great pics. Thanks for taking the time to share with us. Very enjoyable:):)

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to write your wonderful review.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review, wow 100 at the M&G is a lot! I wonder why they have deleted the always available items from the menu?

[IRL_Joanie]

Awesome Review and welcome back to Homedam!!

 

Joanie

[portofrome]

Thanks for the review.

[mamaofami]

Thank you for the wonderful review. I'll be sailing on Ryndam next winter so was glad to see you didn't mention any problems on the ship. Great pictures of the Meet and Greet.

[SwissMyst]

Thank your for the review and bringing back our own memories on the Rydnam trip last year - it is one of the HAL "happy ships" for sure and I can really recommend its Barcelona to Barcelona via Malta itinerary.

 

We had the same type of dining service on a later Maasdam cruise and while we were confused about who was handling the wine ordering, the dinner service was very speedy too. This looks like it will work out as a good change. Thanks for letting us know how the wine ordering works now. Good news about the drawn out Master Chef dinner elimination. Smart move, Ryndam.

[DFD1]

Thanks for a good look at Ryandam. We're sailing on her next year.

 

Your review sounds like a wonderful trip. We love the trains and I think you made good use of them.

 

Welcome home, and thanks for sharing your trip.