1st timers on Holland my opinion

[tidygirl]

Hi we decided on a spur of the moment cruise and since no one but my DH and I would be travelling figured this would be a good time to try a different line as they offered 3 ports we haven't been to before.

A little about us we have been on around 12 cruises now with Royal, Norwegian and Carnival. Royal being our first choice but we aren't snobs and choose a trip on the itinerary! We are very active 48 and 49 yr olds that don't sit for too long.

We decided on Ryndham on Monday March 9th leaving the 15th! We flew into Orlando and rented a one way car rental to Tampa that was the cheapest alternative on such last minute planning.

Positives for Holland

Check in was a breeze

ship was clean

oceanview room had a bathtub (much easier shaving the legs!)

free dvd's to borrow (Not something I would use unless I was confined to my room or raining outside but a nice option if you want it)

very good food in Lido once we realized that you had to ask for some of the stuff (at first we thought we may go hungry but ended up gaining 5#):(

Breakfast-toast cooked to order so actually warm, they had eggs benedict, cooked to order eggs, and orange juice was fresh squeezed.

We only ate at the buffet they actually have most of the items they have in the MDR and we loved getting our food and sitting outside! We ate every meal outside soaking up the warmth as we are so sick of the cold!

Things they could improve on

Lemonade would be nice! 1st cruise we have been on that did not have that for lunch and supper. DH doesn't drink tea or soda so something beside water would have been nice.

rooms a little dated ( I realize they are retiring her from the fleet, and I am sure that would be why they haven't did any updates the.)

A ship looking a little tired or dated would not in anyway be a deciding factor on a cruise for me, but some people that would be a big deal so if that's important you may not want to cruise on the Ryndam

Sea days for us was boring as they don't have mini-golf, shuffleboard or much in that line of activity. We aren't interested in going to cooking shows, how to use our camera classes, acupuncture seminars etc.

Nightly entertainment needs great improvement in our opinion! I did hear other people complain on this also saying they tried the production shows but walked out.

1st night- was a Listen to the music by the singers and dancers- tolerable

2nd night-Rich Purpura "He knows what your thinking sometimes"-ok kinda funny

3rd night- Classique - I am not a big fan of musicals but it was ok and something to do

4th night- pool party and no show! Sorry they need more comedians or something else different than singing and dancing

5th night- Paul Pappas Fast Flying fingers and fun- Sorry he was a good piano player but they have enough music around the ship and it wasn't fun 45 mins I thought I was going to lose my mind I need something different!

6th night Droom by the singers and dancers pretty good show and costumes

7th night- Dancing with the stars- finale this was actually pretty good and one of the more interesting shows!

I always wonder why ships don't get some of the acts that have been on America's got talent maybe they didn't win the show but was very entertaining to watch?

Overall we had a good cruise we enjoyed our ports and that is priority, but it is nice to have something to do in the evening as we don't drink or go to the casino!

 

If you have any questions I will try to answer them or if anyone wants to hear about our port excursions I will post.

[arzz]

Thank you for taking the time to share your review. This frequent mariner always enjoys hearing what newbies think about HAL.

 

Did you know that you could check out games in the library? I do not know the Ryndam but I thought all of the ships in the fleet had shuffle board and ping pong or tennis. I must be wrong.

[RMLincoln]

Thanks for posting your review. I think most here will agree that the entertainment is the weak side of HAL. Sorry to hear that they didn't have enrichment lecturers aboard, but maybe not on the shorter itineraries?

 

So nice for you get out of the cold on short notice and soak up the warm sunny ports! m--

[erewhon]

Thanks for taking time to review your cruise.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

Glad you enjoyed your HAL cruise.

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.

Glad you had a good cruise, out of the cold and into the warm!

[pascalburns]

very good review.

thanks for posting.:)

[Himself]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

[Hlitner]

We would just add that HAL often does have Lemonade in the Lido at lunch time but you have to ask one of the staff. When we were on the Oosterdam they kept pitchers of the stuff at their stations, it was never in the self-service dispensers.

 

Hank

[tidygirl]

They did have ping-pong, but we never did find shuffleboard as that seems to be on most all of the cruises we have been on.

Hubby asked several days about lemonade, he lucked out just 1 time.

[HamOp]

Thanks for a well balanced and thought out review of your cruise.

 

Did you find you were younger then most of the others on board? To some of us, 48 and 49 are still kids:D

[jasbo49]

Thanks for posting your thoughts. Interesting stuff, because we've thought about trying HAL some time.

 

We've always been concerned about the lack of entertainment and activities, and it sounds like that was your experience. For entertainment, we've found NCL to be the best, but I don't think we'll ever sail NCL again after our last nightmare (involving a toilet that wouldn't flush and a hotel director who didn't care).

 

One of the positives I've heard about HAL was that cabins tended to be larger than most other cruise lines. What kind of cabin were you in? Was it good-sized? I'm also curious what kinds of foods were available but not displayed at the buffet.

 

Jim

[DaveOKC]

Tidygirl - first, thank you for you first timer's thoughts - they were very interesting.

 

Second - I wanted to mention that HAL offers something most other lines do not - the ability to order your room service dinner off of the main dining room menu! Really a great deal if you want to dine on your veranda (assuming you have one). You just have to order during the first hour the main dining room is open (for dinner) and it can be delivered to your cabin at any time you wish.

[George C]

Lack of entertainment was one of the big factors for me to return to RCCL after several Hal cruises, that and worst wine list on the seas.

[summer slope]

Thank you for your review. I usually carry the packets of CL lemon flavored to put in my water. I don't like plain water so that helps and doesn't take up space.

[rwams]

Thank you for your review and happy overall you enjoyed your cruise. Ryndam is a favorite ship of mine, my 1st HAL cruise was on it.

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for the review of your Ryndam cruise. I have to agree with you about the entertainment.

[cb at sea]

If you're not into music, then most of the shows on all the ships will not be to your taste.

[tidygirl]

I knew after checking on the roll call that there was atleast 1 couple mid 30's I thought we would be the next youngest:) I had read Holland had the tendency to be an older peoples cruise and my kids were joking with us all the menus would be in large print and blenders would be provided at the buffets to puree our food! I also told them we had a mat for our tub and robes provided they wanted to know if they provided non slip socks too?

To our relief while checking in we saw quite a few people younger than us including some teens and small children!:) From talking to a few others this was unusual so I think maybe some people were on spring break that week had something to do with it!

Now I have nothing against older people but we are more active than what some of them can be do to health and age so was hoping to find people to do some excursions with that suited us.

We had an oceanview room (it was a guarantee room) so I had no idea where we would end up till a couple of days before the cruise. We ended up on deck 5 and it was a good location. I can't say the rooms were much bigger than any inside we have been in but for 2 of us was plenty.

There was plenty of storage in the room, though I did miss having a small cooler in the room and the bathroom just had a couple of open shelves missed the cupboards to hide stuff in!

Hubby did bring lemonade packets with him but had trouble remembering to take them to every meal!

Hubby wakes up earlier than me so ends up eating 2 breakfasts! LOL

1st morning he went down he had some eggs and sausage, but informed me they had no pancakes, waffles or french toast. When I returned with him we went to the other side and they did have a waffle, 1 french toast and a pancake on display. You have to ask them to get them for you as they keep them in a warming drawer and the waffles are cooked to order. At dinner time they would show plates with food items displayed on them and sometimes you would have to ask where something was. I did learn I could ask for meat well done and may have to wait a few minutes, but I had some good steaks etc which I normally won't eat on a ship as I can't handle pink meat!

[Granny DI]

We were on the Ryndam last fall from Venice to Istanbul. We were prepared to not love the ship as we knew it had been sold. Our cruise was port intensive so we didn't care about entertainment. I think there was only one sea day. We felt the food in the MDR was excellent...poorest service was in the Pinnacle. We had a wonderful time and are glad we were able to sail on her before she leaves the fleet! Our next cruise is on the NCL Breakaway.

[Ky Colonel]

Tidygirl - first, thank you for you first timer's thoughts - they were very interesting.

 

Second - I wanted to mention that HAL offers something most other lines do not - the ability to order your room service dinner off of the main dining room menu! Really a great deal if you want to dine on your veranda (assuming you have one). You just have to order during the first hour the main dining room is open (for dinner) and it can be delivered to your cabin at any time you wish.

 

... HAL is also the only cruise line that has a Catholic priest on every cruise which means that daily Mass is available for all who want to attend ... for my DW and me, this is the reason we are almost exclusively HAL cruisers ...

 

Rod

[Ricktan]

Are you welcome to services even if not Catholic?

[Ky Colonel]

Absolutely yes. Some of the cruise ship priests we have had (they are all volunteers) have given very motivational sermons (which are now called "homilies") - we were on several cruises over the 9-11 memorial day, including the 2003 anniversary when a priest friend of Father Mychal Judge (the Franciscan priest who was killed in the World Trade Center) was our cruise chaplain - his sermon was very emotional and heartfelt and would've been appealed to people of all religions. Please feel free to attend Mass on your upcoming cruise, and be sure to introduce yourselves to the priest. Regards & smooth sailing,

 

Rod