The Ryndam

[prshaker]

Could those who have been on the Ryndam recently please post your experience. It does not appear to be a commonly chosen "dam" ship and I am wondering if the newer ones are that much better?

[Downwind]

Try this link for a recent Ryndam Trip Report:

http://www.fortogden.com/mexcruise.html

 

Slides ( over 100) from this cruise at:

http://www.fortogden.com/mexslide-001.html

[dot73]

I was on the Ryndam in February 2005 (10-day Sea of Cortez cruise) and absolutely loved it. It still has the feel of a smaller ship, but it has everything that I wanted (i.e. great library, internet access, etc.) The ship was in dry dock in late 2004 and was in great condition. The beds were new and the linens and towels nice and fresh. I am planning another cruise on the Ryndam in 2007. Early on after the dry dock, there were some complaints about the plumbing, but I haven't seen any complaints lately so HAL must have fixed the problem.

[yiddishkopf]

The Ryndam was my first HAL cruise (around South America with a pre cruise trip to Machu Pichu) and like a first love, it is a trip I will never forget. The ship was fabulous, the itinerary, which is why we chose the Ryndam was spectacular and the staff of the ship were truly exceptional.

 

If you book a trip on the Ryndam, you will not be disappointed.

[TylerRose]

Ryndam will be the first repeat in our vacation time! Loved it last summer... Will return this summer. Love her NOT TO BIG-NOT TO SMALL size, Neptune Lounge and all the upgrades of excellence. Kids loved teen loft and pool. I loved Cooking demos and decor not so loud it assaults you. Staff is great, Can't say enough.

BUT... Our favorite ship is prinsendam, Least liked was Zuiderdam... if those are not your preferences, your opinions could differ. Larger ships definately have better entertainment, and offer more options. Smaller ships allow you to mingle, and have better docking options.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have sailed quite a few times on the Ryndam. In fatc we sailed on her just last November (2005). We did back-to-back cruises on her - Sea of Cortez and Mexican Riviera. I posted a review of our trip and talked about the ship when we returned - first part of December. It is probably down a few pages.

[willowoodf]

Our first two cruises were on the Ryndam and I LOVE her! I like her much better than the Westerdam, that we were just on. I just like the smaller size better, a little easier to get around and I like the layout a little better.

 

Mary

[Judyjay]

We just cruised on the Ryndam over Thanksgiving. We loved this ship. The size was perfect. Large enough to have plenty of places to go, but not so large you felt lost. The crew was wonderful. We really enjoyed the entertainment on board, the cast from the prodution numbers were great. Food was amazing with lots of options. If you are traveling with kids they will love the Kid Club, loft and oasis. Even my 16 year old was happy with the kids area. That is a tuff age to please, but he had a blast. This was our fourth cruise and I must say our most enjoyable. Didn't miss the neon in the lobby at all.

[travellady]

My husband and I have been on 8 cruises (note signature line below) and the Ryndam is his favorite ship. He loved the library with close by coffee bar, intimate feel of the ship, most comfortable bed on any cruise ship we've sailed, great food, etc. I enjoyed it as well though can't easily state it's my number 1 ship but pretty darned close to it.

 

We sailed 6 months after her refurbishment and it was in great shape!

[NancyIL]

It's too early to book Alaska cruises for 2007, but I really like the southbound itinerary on the Ryndam for summer of 2006. I will be anxious to see HAL's Alaskan itineraries for 2007 in the spring.

[Toad]

I hope this means that the issues with the toilets has been solved and there are no more smelly problems for the Ryndam! True or not?

[NDGma]

Looking forward to seeing her in 3 days as we embark on a cruise to the Panama Canal!!!

[Krazy Kruizers]

We did not have a major problem with our toilet system - but several cabins down from (suites) and for a couple of decks below that they didn't have use of their toilets for several hours.

 

The knob to push on ours got stuck!! We pushed it in and it stayed in. The knob and washer ring behind it had to be replaced.

[prshaker]

Thank you so very much one and all for your comments reference the Ryndam. The reviews and the pictures link provided was worthwhile. Again thanks to all who replied.

[cdkempton]

prshaker, I'll try again. I posted to this thread, or thought I did, a couple of days ago only to have it lost in cyber space. :(

The Ryndam is a lovely ship. We sailed on her in 2001 for 35 (?) days doing the So Amer Explorers. That was soooo wonderful. This year we wanted to get away for the Holidays and chose the Ryndam again because we loved her so much the first time. She is still very beautiful and we really like the upgrades. Our only complaint was our next door neighbor smoked nasty cigars and all the smoke ended up in our verandah so we didn't get much use of the verandah that we had paid dearly to get. I wish there were some way of knowing where the smokers are so they could be avoided when someone has such a bad reaction to them.

We requested main upper seating table for 2 and received main lower table for 4. ASAP I went to the Queen's Room to request a change. You had to take a number and I was #25 and they had just called #6 so I wandered around the ship and took care of other things and kept dropping back to check which number they were on. After about an hour they were finally ready for me. I told them I requested a table for 2 and, preferably, on the rail main upper. The first night we had to take the originally assigned table but we received the change we wanted for the 2nd night and rest of the cruise. We were very happy with table #75 upper main. We had a wonderful table crew and had a lot of fun with them. The food was just great. As it ended up, we were alone that first night and saw the other couple show up just once about 4 days into the cruise so that lower seating table was not used much.

All of the crew make you feel so special. There's just a personal attention attitude that's so pleasant and it abounds everywhere. I'm making myself homesick just thinking about those wonderful people.

We had no bad odors (except the cigar stink but HAL can't be blamed for that). The new beds are wonderful and the towels are plush & nice. There's plenty of closet and drawer space and the suitcases fit easily under the bed.

I hope you will give the Ryndam a try. She's smaller (1200 pax) and that's what we liked about her. She's not "glitzy" but elegant and a very tastful decor.

P.S. Maybe it was because of Christmas but the casino was pretty good to us also. ;)

If you have any specific questions, please post and I'll check back to this thread.

Happy Sails, Colette

[Toad]

Thanks for the info, it sounds as if most people really enjoyed the Ryndam. Glad to hear there were very few toilet problems as well!

[R&CCruisers]

Thanks for Ryndam review. Our last Ryndam cruise was in 1999 and am looking forward to our Feb. 5th sailing coming up soon.

[prshaker]

R&CCruisersThanks for Ryndam review. Our last Ryndam cruise was in 1999 and am looking forward to our Feb. 5th sailing coming up soon.

Does the R&C stand for Rum and Coke parchance. My wife and I will also be on the Ryndam 5th Feb 06 for 14 great days. The last time we were onboard was in 2000.