Ryndam to Alaska Review: Short!

[SailorKate]

We just returned from a wonderful 2 week vacation aboard the Ryndam with one week at sea and 6 days on a land tour. (Tour #15). This will be short as I am suffering jet lag and need sleep.

 

The trip overall was excellent. There were unfortunately some high and low points..not all within HAL's control.

We arranged to land in Vancouver for a 3day/s night pre cruise add on. We were very glad we did! The three flights there were really tiring and we wanted to unwind and relax. The Fairmount Waterfront was very nice and my husband had the best two nights sleep he has had in a year! The trip to Buchart gardens and Victoria was really wonderful and so was the weather! My only complaint was that as we found in all the ports...You see only a smattering as there is barely enough time to "stop and smell the roses" as it were. I do wish I had followed Lafnevegas lead and skipped the tour of Vancouver as Lisa did. We ended up not being back to board the ship until 3:30PM and lunch in the Lido was served only until 4PM. We missed lunch:mad:

 

I will skip the details but will answer any questions that I can if you are interested. The cruise portion of our two weeks was fabulous. The service, the facilities, the food, the folks we met, the evening shows....Almost everything was excellent. Even my DH enjoyed it and would go again. Yippee. My only complaint was that the second formal night we had some very rough weather ( not HAL's fault) and it happened on the evening of what should have been a lovely meal. I ended up going down to my cabin for Bonine. My one complaint was the filet mignon was terrible which was strange because the Prime rib earlier in the week was excellent. I would skip steak and order 2 or three lobster tails!

 

An excursion I would highly recommend was the "Pilot's Choice" Helicopter trip with two landings on two different glaciers. We booked the one out of Juneau because I was afraid that if I booked the helicopter trip later, we might miss it due to inclement weather which in fact lots of others did. I know this interferes with "whale watching" but we have seen lots of whales and it was not ouir priority. We ended up seeing lots of whales right on the ship! At any rate...the weather was glorious...sunny and clear...and the trip was beyond words. There were 4 of us in the copter so we all had excellent visibility. It would have made the trip worthwhile on it's own.

 

Moving on to the land tour.....We left the Ryndam at Seward. Unfortunately the wether had turned misty and very overcast. We had booked a 6 hour excursion to the Kenaii Fjords which should have been a wonderful opportunity to see wildlife. We did see whales...orca and humpback...and sea lions...but we also experienced 6-9 foot waves and lots of folks were sick. Also a young child was running on the wet slippery dock and literally wiped me out. I ended up limping for the rest of the trip. Not a great beginning. We took a bus to Anchorage that evening. The next day we took the McKinley Explorer train to Denali where we had an extra day which meant that we too the 8 hour tundra wildrness tour. The Low point was that they loaded the bus with 53 people which was very uncomfortable for Charlie who was the last to board and sat in the middle of 5 folks in the back of the bus. The high point was...We saw all of Mount McKinley and all of the five largest animals at Denali. The weather was fantastic. The next day the clouds moved in and once again the mountain was not visible. We did take a jet boat trip on the Nenana river which we enjoyed and saw mouse, caribou and goldern eagles. All of the HAL folks from our ship stayed at the new Canyon Lodge at the McKinley Chalets. It just opened this summer and the room was really attractive. The next day we were back on the train headed for Fairbanks. The train, by the way is wonderful. It is very comfortable has good visibility and the meals in the dining room downstairs were very good!!! The staff was great and very entertaining as well. We saw several moose along the way. I was grateful for the train as it was so relaxing and I was weary of getting on and off busses!

 

Our last excursion was the Riverboat tour and Gold dredge. Both were suprisingly enjoyable. It was fun seeing the various homes along the river along with interesting naration by the owner. We got a sense of what current life in Alaska is like as well as the early days and era of the gold rush. We petted Husky dogs from TimberLake Kennels who have run the Iditerod and learned more about the sport and the race, toured a recreated Athabaskan Indian village and panned for gold. My haul was $8.47 cents worth of tiny gold nuggets. It was fun!

 

If I had to do it over I might do the North to South route. I'm tired....but the trip met and exceeded my expecttions. Please ask if I can be of help.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for your review.

 

I always advise people to do the land portion first and then the cruise so that they can rest up.

 

Glad you had a wonderful time.

[GMoney]

Thank you so much for your review. I am considering an AK cruise on the Ryndam next year, so this is a big help.

 

Would you be able to comment on the condition of the ship? I am used to sailing newer, larger vessels, and am concerned that give the Ryndham's size and age, that this may not be the cruise for me.

 

Thanks again.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Kathie, Great review. Sounds like you had a great time with the exception of needing a little Bonine. Don't feel bad, this last cruise on the Ryndam we hit an area that also made me feel ill which has not happened for a while. Actually the rough seas for us have been Alaska. It is not really rough seas because it looks very calm it is more the under current that causes more problems. Actually when we have had rough seas I have been fine. Kathie, I am so glad Charlie also enjoyed the cruise. Thanks so much for reporting in.

GMoney, the Ryndam is a beautiful ship, I was just on her this past May and also in November 2004. She is in great shape and every bit as nice as the brand new ships, no need to worry.