Dave’s Live from Ryndam Southern Caribbean Feb 16 – March 2, 2014

[RetiredMustang]

March 1, at sea (cont.)

 

I will do a few posts today with photos I've taken around the ship over the cruise.

 

Here are some photos of the atrium sculpture:

 

 

 

 

 

the Wajang Theater:

 

 

 

and the Oasis (HAL Teen area):

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

Edited March 1, 2014 by RetiredMustang

[RetiredMustang]

March 1, at sea (cont.)

 

Here are a couple of photos of the waling deck:

 

 

 

And, a couple of the newer, larger signs at each end:

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

March 1, at sea (cont.)

 

Here are several photos of the main dining room decorations and ceiling glass:

 

 

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[kazu]

Great pics Dave - I HAVE to ask - are the tulips and daffodils real? I'm expecting they are but curious.

 

It's just a beautiful display for spring:D

 

I can't believe that your cruise is nearly over.

 

This board is going to be missing all of your lovely updates.

 

and I have been enjoying using some of your information.

 

Before I am done halfacts will have it all - you will be famous on the website;)

 

thank you again for your willingness to share with us. It is a HUGE help:D

[sapper1]

All good things must come to an end and I guess your cruise ends tomorrow. Thank you for all your efforts and wonderful pictures. I have enjoyed your report immensely.

[1of4]

Already? I can't believe it so you must be in shock. I have really enjoyed this thread and I thank you for sharing your vacation.

[wanderlust268]

I've really been enjoying your posts and am envious of the warm weather you've been experiencing! Your posts have been a great introduction to the Ryndam for us - we'll be sailing on her on April 6 for a transatlantic and then again in June for a trip to Norway's North Cape. Thanks so much for helping us to get orientated before we actually board! Now I want to do your cruise too!:D

 

Daryl

[RetiredMustang]

Dave,

 

...

 

So, we know we are being brave boarding right when she comes out of drydock as we are well aware of the issues that sometimes plague the cruise following a drydock. We're just wondering if you've heard anything from any member of the staff as to what is going to be done during this upcoming one.

 

Thanks in advance for any information you may have picked up from staff. And enjoy the rest of your cruise!

 

We missed the Q&A session with the captain, but I have chatted a bit with the some of the hotel staff (who of course may not know the details). The yard period is 14 days in the Bahamas, so there won' be any major configuration changes. But, the staff seems to think there may be some work on a few air conditioning issues, as well as cosmetic things like replacing worn carpets and chairs, etc. One thing all agree is that the internet will be shifted from MTN to a new provider (presumably Harris) which has received a new contract to convert the entire fleet. The crew hopes this will make it faster and easier.

 

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Great pics Dave - I HAVE to ask - are the tulips and daffodils real? I'm expecting they are but curious.

 

It's just a beautiful display for spring:D

 

...

 

Jacqui,

 

I was prepared to swear they were real when I took the photos, but I decided I had better check to make sure before responding to your question.

 

The answer -- I hope HAL paid the artists who made them a lot because they are superb ... silk flowers.

 

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

March 1, at sea (cont.)

Here is the menu from the main dining room (photo taken through glass – sorry for the glare):

However, we had reservations at Canaletto. They still had the older menu, not the new sharing one:

We both had antipasti:

I followed with the zuppa de pesce:

And then with the linguini frutti di mare (forgot the photo, oops).

The meal was pretty good, although not truly authentic, except the antipasti. There were only a couple of tables occupied while we were there, and the list of reservations they checked our names against had only about 8 or 9 for the evening. I think Canaletto was crowded for a while, and then cleared out when they started charging a fee. We still enjoy going, but I think many people won’t pay the fee for good but not authentic Italian food.

Perhaps what HAL should do is get a real Italian chef on their council to design real Italian menus – someone like Mario Batali or Lydia Bastianich. They could advise in the same way as Jacques Torres or Johnny De Boer. The food would likely be more authentic and people may go more often. Just a thought.

More later,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

March 2, Tampa, Debarkation

Today is:

Since we last sailed from Tampa, HAL has instituted an expedited, carry your own stuff debarkation option. We selected that one, and I will report later how it went. In the meantime, here is the Cruise Log:

More later,

Dave

[Krazy Kruizers]

This has been a wonderful review.

Thanks for doing it.

Hope you have a safe travel home.

[tjcox9]

Dave,

 

Thanks for the info on the drydock. We didn't anticipate anything major and hope this all goes well! And one can only hope their switch from MTN to Harris goes more smoothly than it did on the Amsterdam!! :eek:

 

Once again, thanks for taking us along.

[catl331]

WELCOME BACK! Enjoy the sun cuz it sure isn't appearing up north!

 

Thanks for the menu and food shots. Going back on my diet now!:)

[bajacali]

Thanks very much for your photos and daily reports from your cruise.

I enjoyed it very much and will miss your morning updates.

[RuthC]

Welcome back to real life. And thanks for sharing your cruise with us. (I still want that cappuccino bomb dessert. ;))

[innlady1]

We missed the Q&A session with the captain, but I have chatted a bit with the some of the hotel staff (who of course may not know the details). The yard period is 14 days in the Bahamas, so there won' be any major configuration changes. But, the staff seems to think there may be some work on a few air conditioning issues, as well as cosmetic things like replacing worn carpets and chairs, etc. One thing all agree is that the internet will be shifted from MTN to a new provider (presumably Harris) which has received a new contract to convert the entire fleet. The crew hopes this will make it faster and easier.

 

Dave

 

The Ryndam is such a lovely ship. I wonder why they never added the lanai staterooms? Perhaps it has not been a good return on investment :confused: I have no idea.

 

We enjoyed one on the Maasdam in January...it was being DH's favorite cabin of all that we've had.

 

Thanks for your commentary and your awesome photos. And, welcome back to reality!

[Copper10-8]

....................... One thing all agree is that the internet will be shifted from MTN to a new provider (presumably Harris) which has received a new contract to convert the entire fleet. The crew hopes this will make it faster and easier.

 

Dave

 

Harris techies are/will be working on all the ships doing the transformation from MTN ,Dave. Safe flt home!

[rwams]

Welcome back Dave really enjoyed your review and photos. Brought back fond memories of the Ryndam with my first HAL cruise in 2006.

Rick

[RetiredMustang]

March 2, Tampa, Debarkation (cont.) and closeout

 

We ate breakfast, triple-checked our stuff and got ready to go. I did a recon mission and found the gangway on Deck 5 forward. I then checked out the line to the show lounge for non-U.S. folks to meet with U.S. CPB personnel. There were a lot of people in the line, but it seemed to be moving, so I went back to the cabin. DW and I collected our gear and proceeded to deck five, where fellow expedited departure pax had already started to congregate.

 

The CD made an announcement, saying that we would not be able to debark until CPB had cleared all the non-U.S. people. He also said there would be 2 gangways, one for expedited/wheelchairs/persons needing help, and the second one for all others, with colored tags and numbers.

 

A few minutes later, he showed up at the deck 5 gangway. He said it was out his control which gangway would be used by which passengers, as it was the call of the port personnel, but he would guess based on experience that we would have to go to deck 3. He also said that the CPB had been about 35 minutes late coming aboard, so the clearance process was going to be a bit longer.

 

At that time, an announcement was made for all non-U.S who had not screened to go to the show lounge and do so. The CD said that was a good sign, as it meant they were down to the last few names. He said the next announcement would be calling for people by name. He then left (he was a very busy man).

 

Sure enough, a couple of minutes later, the call came for Mr. & Mrs. XYZ from cabin xxx that now would be a real swell time to check in with the authorities. Shortly thereafter, the CD came on to announce we were cleared and that the expedited would go off on deck 3, and the rest on deck 5. This was about 8:10 or so, so the delayed arrival of the CPB did not make us all that late, as the advertised time for expedited departure was 8-8:15. (Still, if they had been on time, we might have gotten off earlier.)

 

Well, we and the other expedited folks made our way quickly to deck 3, scanned off, followed the ship's security person to the entry to the luggage hangar ... where shipboard security refused us entry because baggage loading was going on. It took the ship's security officer himself speaking with the port ops supervisor on the dock to get the situation resolved. We then cleared immigration quickly, got our car out of valet hock, and were on the way by 8:35. Not bad, but it was somewhat a comedy of errors.

 

I think the city and Florida state should pay some attention to the situation at the Tampa cruise terminal, because I gather that this is not uncommon to have communication breakdowns and other glitches. If they keep up, the cruise lines may decide, once the smaller ships are no longer in their fleets, simply to pull out of Tampa altogether as being too hard for the payback.

 

In any case, we were on our way about the time we expected to be and made it to Savannah for the evening. We checked the weather, and Carol was right -- we should be able to slide into home tomorrow as the storm brushes D.C., and hits harder further north.

 

In any case, unless there are any questions I might be able to answer, I will close off the blog with this post. It was fun doing it. Thanks for coming along.

 

Dave

[Mytime2014]

Dave, thank you so much for all your time and work on this. I'm impatiently waiting for July to get here for my 1st cruise, your pictures and descriptions are so exciting and helpful.

[mudscraper]

Another great review with wonderful pics. Thank you.

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Nice job Dave, once again. Thanks.

[hpf]

Thanks Dave for your wonderful reports and pictures. Those tulips look so real. I guess if you picked one it would last a lot longer than from the garden. Safe drive home.

 

Helen

[1of4]

Much appreciated and enjoyed.

 

We scratched our heads in Tampa too. As non-US citizens we had to go through immigration twice....not sure why or what the shipboard immigration is for. But that is the way it is so we go with the flow.

 

Safe drive.