Ryndam.... never again!!

[Pammie poo]

Here's part of the letter I am sending Holand America about the trip we just took on the Ryndam April 25 - May 5th. We've been on several other cruise lines and have never had this kind of vacation.:mad:

 

We have just returned from a 10 day cruise on the Ryndam to the Mexican Riviera and the Sea of Cortez leaving on April 25, 2005. I am writing this letter to let you know how unhappy we were with our service and overall treatment while on the Ryndam.

 

Day 1 Check in was great, fast and easy. Our room was ready and clean. We did not however meet our room steward until day 3. Dinner this night was for the 8:30 seating. We had requested the early seating but understand that not everyone can get their seating requests. Dinner was served luke warm at best. Our dinner steward was unfriendly and was not interested in visiting with us. My husband asked for a baked potato with dinner but it never came.

 

Day 2 We started to notice that several public restrooms had signs that read “Out of Order”. Our dinner was changed to the 6:15 seating so we were very happy with that. Our new dining room waiter wasn’t friendly either. Not really sure if he spoke English.

 

Day 3 This was a sea day and I spent most of my day at the Lido pool. The beverage steward came by and took an order at the table next to mine and I asked her if I could have a glass of ice water. The other tables order came but mine did not. I asked her again and she told me I could go inside the Lido to get my own glass of ice water. So much for service!

 

Day 5 My husband wasn’t feeling very well and still we noticed many of the restrooms were out of order or just so dirty that we wouldn’t use them. Dinner was luke warm again.

 

Day 6 My husband is very sick this day so he stays in the room all day. He missed our stop at Topolobampo. I had visited with 2 others who were sick and they told me I should let the ship doctor know about my husband’s illness.

 

Day 7 We went to see the ship doctor to report how my husband was feeling and they told us several others were sick on the ship and that we needed to be quarantined for 24 hours. They would call us later to see how we were doing and that we could order room service for our meals. Our cabin steward took our ship books so we had no menu to order from. I stuck my head out the door and asked another steward if he would get me the book but it never came. I ended up calling room service and having them send me a list of things we could order.

 

The doctor’s office never called to check on us that whole day. We missed another stop, this time Loreto. That evening a Health Notice went to all the passengers letting people know that the ship had some health issues.

 

Day 8 My husband is feeling much better and we really wanted to get out of our room and off the ship so we could enjoy Picilingue. We were at the doctor’s office at 8:00 when they opened and they gave us a release to leave the ship. We went downstairs to check out but our room key indicated that we could not be released. They told us we needed to go back up to the doctor to get released again. We did and the doctor said he would call downstairs to let them know. Down we go but again our room card read no release. They told us again that we must go back to the doctor for release. I said “NO, please call him from here and get the release”. They finally did and we were free to get off.

 

On this night our room had such a bad order of sewage it was awful. All night long we smelled sewage. I had to spray perfume just to get the bad odor to go away.

 

Day 9 I’m in the elevator with 4 other women and it got stuck. We all wait while someone pushed the open door button and other floor buttons. Still the doors do not open and we are not moving. After waiting, I’d say, about 6 minutes the doors open but the floor is not flush with the elevator and we much step up to get out. I asked one of the ladies to stay with the elevator and not let anyone on while I called the front desk to let them know they have a problem with that elevator. No one came or even put out a sign.

 

This was our last dinner on the cruise and we hadn’t seen the dessert tray all cruise so I asked our waiter if we could see the dessert tray tonight. He showed it to us and I ordered the cheesecake. He told me they were out of it. Mind you we are at the 6:15 seating so where is all the cheesecake and why is it still on the dessert tray?

 

 

We won't be traveling with Holland America again! :(

[KateBobbi]

I'm so sorry you had such a bad time on that ship! It is one of the ships listed, that has gotten that flu virus on it, and I'm sure that is what they were so concerned about. That doesn't excuse the shoddy treatment though. I have to say, that I went on the Maasdam, and it was wonderful! We had great stewards, and waiters, food was great, and they were very prompt with our requests. There is a group of people coming back from their cruise today; hopefully they had a great time too! Maybe you could try that ship sometime! :) Again; sorry you had such a bad time!

[joeyanddavid]

Pammie poo,

 

Just wondered who you wrote your letter to?

and really interested in THEIR response.

 

until then ..

[peaches from georgia]

Here's part of the letter I am sending Holand America about the trip we just took on the Ryndam April 25 - May 5th......:mad:

I am so sorry you had such a disappointing cruise and so much went wrong. May I give you a word of advice, however- your issues will get much more consideration if you compose a concise letter of NO MORE THAN ONE PAGE. Just one single sheet. This letter reads like a diary, is much too long, is not going to get the attention it should, and you do say this is only part of what you plan to send HAL. With a complaint letter, more is not better. :eek:

 

Organize the problems you endured into clear easy-to-read categories- food, service, maintanence of ship, etc. and just give the pertinent facts- 1, 2, 3- not a day to day running account. I'm not being critical of you; I understand your frustrations! But you will get much further with any company when you have complaints if you make your letter short, concise, easy to read, and to the point. ;)

[zdude]

The best time to comment on service issues is right then and there. It amazes me how people sit back and complain to everyone BUT the people that can do something about it. If you new the food was luke warm, get another. If your waiter sucks, get another. If you have not seen a dessert tray that you know exists for 7 days ask the first day.

 

Sounds like you sat around waiting for bad service and then just let it slide. Certainly I would never, EVER do this, but I have worked in a the hospitality industry.

 

For example:

 

Did you report the warm dinner to the people that served it. Going ahead and eating it 1) means that it is really OK 2) could be a health hazard 3) doesn't send the message to the staff that you want it done correctly the first time.

 

Did you try to talk to your waiter? If so you would quickly know whether or not he spoke english. Again if dissatidfied with the waiter, talk to the head steward, he is bound to make it right. Worst case call the hotel manager, that will get thei0r attention.

 

On the Zuiderdam there were a billion servers on the Lido, maybe you could have tried another or kindly asked again. We had people bringing us whatever we wanted.

 

Illness is going to happen on a cruise. No way around it. If you do not not religiously deal with hygiene issues and if something is going around it is the risk you take when you take a cruise. Sorry about getting sick, but **** happens. Same thing with the elevator. 6 minutes really is not that bad right?

[Esme]

What I don't understand is why the women in the elevator did not open the little door that contains the emergency phone and call for help. :confused: There's one in every elevator.

 

 

Peaches is right - a short one page letter written as she described is going to go a lot further than a day by day long letter of complaint. It will just end up in someone's trash can.

[sail7seas]

Sorry for your disappointments. Please let us know what response you receive.

 

I also wonder to whom you are sending this letter.

Hope your next cruise is more to your liking.

[zdude]

The correct place to place this information was on the survey card at the end of the trip. The hotel managers read each one that has hand written comments and I fully believe this is true, at least for Mr Deering on thed Zuiderdam.

 

If they were *that* disappointed by the things mentioned, send a letter by all means. However, these complaints are about issues that either 1) were unavoidable or 2) could have been dealt with at the time. So I would suspect that all they will get back is that HAL is concerned about health issues and mechanical issues on the ship and that they will send feedback about the service to the appropriate supervisors. However, I am not familiar with how HAL deals with these comments.

 

If you provide this feedback about service and food, please include your cabin, seating and table number otherwise it will not have any effect at all. In fact this should have been dealt with immediately. One of my personal pieves is when people do not complain about something. For example I "hate" it when people sit and comoplain about a steak being overdone, but never even bother to tell the waiter. For me, I merely state that its overdone and I require a new one. Same if it is underdone. I amake sure to say-- please not the same steak. Why are people too scared to politely complain. If there is an issue I will take it to the management.

 

If you are looking for compensation-- forget about it.

[ekerr19]

Pammie -

 

I am also sorry to hear that your cruise did not meet your expectations. It is disappointing when that occurs, especially when it is so anticipated.

 

I agree with the other posters here, your letter should be concise and limited to one page and perhaps focus on those things that were truly problematic - like the isssue with Doctor's release and being allowed to disembark in port, etc.

 

Not meeting the cabin steward til the 3rd day, well - it does happen sometimes. Were there issues with the cleanliness of the room you wanted to address with him? I would be more specific as to why it was an issue. The same with the dining steward. In what manner was he unfriendly? Was he rude? Again, specifics will go along way in getting your point across.

 

Understand and clarify what you are expecting from HAL as a result of this letter. Are you looking for compensation? Do you just want to let them know that you did not enjoy your cruise and found it lacking in several areas? Make sure you state the objective of the letter.

 

Again, I am sorry to hear the Ryndam cruise did not meet your expectations, I wish it had turned out differently for you.

[RevNeal]

I truly am sorry that you had such a horrible cruise experience on the Ryndam. It's never fun when the things you describe happen. However, I cannot reiterate strongly enough Peaches' recommendation that any letter you send be 1 page, and be simply and concisely written. For instance, here is how you could easily condense your mail in order to reflect what happened on your cruise which you believe ruined the experience:

 

1. Dining Room Service was not as friendly or engaging as you would have liked, and food was only lukewarm at best -- please include table number, dining time, and waiter name (if possible)

 

2. Lido service wasn't as helpful as you believe they should have been by failing to get you a glass of water when they were serving others in your area.

 

3. Cabin steward took room service book, hence you had difficulty ordering from Room service.

 

3. Many public restrooms were out of order or "dirty."

 

4. A sewage problem with your bathroom stank up your cabin one day.

 

5. Medical Staff was inattentive, failing to check on you when you were in quarantine.

 

6. Failure of communications between Medical Staff and Ship's security, informing security that you were released from quarantine.

 

Did I miss anything?

 

Making your points concise and clear will help HAL-HQ to read and comprehend your complaints. Of course, it also has the effect of minimizing the personal impact of these events.

 

Please understand, I'm very sorry that your cruise on the Ryndam wasn't all that you had hoped it would be; had those thing happened to me on a cruise I wouldn't have been happy, either.

[Pammie poo]

WOW, thanks everyone for the help with the letter to HAL. I well definitely redo the letter to a one pager. I am sending it to Guest Relations in WA, sound ok to send it there.

 

In terms of complaining on the spot, we just felt that the waiters were in such a hurry to get on with whatever it is they do, they didn't have time to spend hearing us complain. Plus, I really think service should be the best the first time around. After all HAL is a 4+ rated cruise line. The service should be 4+ all the time.

 

I'm really most upset with the plumbing problems this ship seems to have, and not just with our cruise. The sewage smell was unbearable! Why would HAL let this continue and perhaps become a health issue as well.

 

Thanks again for your help, I love this board!!!!;)

[Time2sail]

I understand that HAL employees read the posts on this board. So, along with the letter that you are sending to corporate, the details in your post will be another source of information for them.

[Maywoodian]

May I ask why?

 

Maywoodian

[Esme]

WOW, thanks everyone for the help with the letter to HAL. I well definitely redo the letter to a one pager. I am sending it to Guest Relations in WA, sound ok to send it there.

 

QUOTE]

 

I would send it to the CEO, Stein Kruse at HAL's Seattle office and mark it "Personal".

 

I doubt that you would get an answer from Guest Relations in WA, in fact, I don't even know if there is such a dept. there.

[zdude]

In terms of complaining on the spot, we just felt that the waiters were in such a hurry to get on with whatever it is they do, they didn't have time to spend hearing us complain. Plus, I really think service should be the best the first time around. After all HAL is a 4+ rated cruise line. The service should be 4+ all the time.

That is exactly what I mean by the wrong approach. Do not take it as a compaint. Do not speak of it as a complaint. You are not complaining, you are merely requesting a higher level of service.

 

You will never get perfect service anywhere, you will almost certainly never happen with every cruiseline, every staff member and every day and meal. They are afterall human.

 

The best way to solve this is on the spot-- make a complaint and it should be solved immediately, if not go to the next level. If the meal is luke warm DO NOT eat it. Make them take it back and make it right for you.

 

The problem with wating is that you get more and more upset with the lack of service, you learn to live with it and the staff does too. Then you're pissed because you had crap for service the entire time. Fix the service issue first time it happens and you are bound for a better cruise.

 

If the waiters do not have time, walk down to the head steward. He WILL make stuff happen, I guarantee it. If not take it to the Hotel Manager, then and there. Get the hotel managers cell phone number while you are at it and if it happens again, get up, go to a house phone and talk to him.

 

I'm really most upset with the plumbing problems this ship seems to have, and not just with our cruise. The sewage smell was unbearable! Why would HAL let this continue and perhaps become a health issue as well.

 

All ships have plumbing issues. My toilet did not flush one morning after numerous attempts. A call to engineering and it was fixed in about 30 minutes. I also let the front desk and my cabin steward know.

 

Keep in mind most people do not realize a ships plumbing is much, much different than a house and they shove everything down there, so this presents a serious plumbing nightmare. On many small ships they do not allow even toilet paper in the toilets. Frankly the door on my bathroom was tight enought to seal most sounds, I cannot imagine smells getting through there-- must have been nasty.

[WyoFloater]

Looking forward to my first cruise on the Ryndam (first on any ship!) on 6/19. It will be something of a family reunion with teens and tweens along . . guess I'll need to underscore the instructions for the proper use of toilets.

 

Hopefully the plumbing won't leave the biggest impression of the trip!:eek:

[Pammie poo]

I've been on about 8 or 9 other cruises and have never had the bad service we had on HAL. I've never had the plumbing problems we had on HAL. I've never felt that staff was unfriendly on other cruises. I know what to expect from a cruise and I didn't get it with HAL.

 

Bottom line is I think HAL should know how I feel no matter how late the informations gets to them.

 

( I would send it to the CEO, Stein Kruse at HAL's Seattle office and mark it "Personal".) Thanks for the name and suggestion, I'll do that as well. Our letter from HAL had the name of someone in Guest Relations in Seattle WA. But the CEO is even better. Thanks!

[sail7seas]

 

I would send it to the CEO, Stein Kruse at HAL's Seattle office and mark it "Personal".

 

I doubt that you would get an answer from Guest Relations in WA, in fact, I don't even know if there is such a dept. there.

 

 

There is indeed a Guest Relations Office in Seattle.

 

It is called, Customer Relations and the head of the Department is titled "Manager".

[gizmo]

 

All ships have plumbing issues. My toilet did not flush one morning after numerous attempts. A call to engineering and it was fixed in about 30 minutes. I also let the front desk and my cabin steward know.

 

After numerous plumbing problems being reported on this board I went to all the other boards and asked about plumbing problems.

 

I found it very strange that no one seems to have the problems reported on the board. I think it was only the Princess board that someone said they had plumbing problems on a Princess ship.

[sail7seas]

As most posters on this board know, we have cruised a great many times on HAL.

 

We were on Back-to-Backs a year and a half ago. We had plumbing problems (both toilet and sink) at least 6 of 14 days on that cruise. We have never had any plumbing problems during all of our other HAL cruises. Only that cruise.

Had that set of b-to-b's been my only HAL cruise, I would have had the impression HAL ships have plumbing problems, which, of course, is not the case. All ships do have a problem from time to time and MOST of the time, the problem comes from someone flushing something that should not have been put into the toilet.

When it happens to you and your cabin, it is very unpleasant and inconvenient.

 

[Pammie poo]

The plumbing problems were not even from our cabin, they were from others around us. The halls had a very bad smell of sewage and one particular evening it over powered into our room.

[Barocl]

The diningroom staff have very little time to stop and talk as they did in the old days because HAL has increased the number of guest each waiter serves. This doesn't give an excuse for waiters or assistants to be rude. I've encountered luke warm food on some cruises and asked to have another plate and explaned why. There never seemed to be a problem with my request.

 

I'm sure the guest asked a bar person for the water. The bar people are interested in selling drinks. A mention of no or poor service to the supervisor would have cleared up the problem.

 

Unfortunately, the last time we were on the Ryndam we had the bad (very bad) sewage smell. We received a letter explaining the problem was with a newly installed sewage system. I had hoped this problem had been resolved because we are sailing on the Ryndam on Sunday. I'll be sure to let everyone know if the smell is still there. Take care

[zdude]

I would think that the person in charge of the ship with the problems you experienced would have the most impact on solving the problem. That would be the hotel manager. As far as compensation goes, that would be soemone at corporate HAL, but I am pretty sure that they will see little reason for re-imbursement.

 

BTW during my research of cruiselines, I read a number of reviews and BB on Pricess, RC and HAL, all seemed to have plumbing issues (seemingly random, which makes sense). As a result, I worry not about the random issues of plumbing. I can understand the nastiness of it all though since I have expereince fixing such problems. It would surely suck to have sewage smell in your cabin for any significant amount of time.

 

I have also sailed a ton of sailboats in the 30-70 ft range. I can honestly say that most of the time a boat will have a plumbing problem and it is pretty much directly proportionate to the number of people on board. If you have 3 sailors with experience fixing plumbing problems on boats on board, you will not have an issue, if you know what I mean.

[RevNeal]

The plumbing problems were not even from our cabin, they were from others around us. The halls had a very bad smell of sewage and one particular evening it over powered into our room.

 

Pammie, someone in one of the cabins that shares the same sewage trunk line as your cabin probably flushed something they should not have, and it got lodged in the pipes and "crud" backed up. It happens. It might not have happened even on your cruise, but may have occurred on the prior cruise. When the main trunk line gets clogged, all those bathrooms with sewer lines that empty into it will back up.

[dot73]

When will HAL come to terms with the fact that there seem to be constant toilet/sewage problems with the Ryndam and do something about it? Surely, it is not the passengers that are to blame all the time. It seems that ever since the ship came out of drydock, there have been toilet complaints on almost every cruise. I was lucky that my toilet worked well during my February cruise on the Ryndam but there were constant complaints from passengers about the toilet. No cruise is perfect, but a non-working toilet and sewage smell can definitely ruin a cruise. I loved the Ryndam as she is a beautiful ship but I will definitely think twice about sailing on her again if I keep reading about the sewage problems.