Book a suite for your first cruise

[General Max]

Suite S033; MsRyndam

 

 

 

As this was to be our first cruise, I decided what the heck and booked a suite for our Alaska cruisetour no. 18. I had originally booked cabin A047 in December 2003 but then I upgraded it to cabin S033 in April, 2004 when I saw that suites were still available.

 

The cabin was already set-up for the night when we arrived. We were welcomed by an arrangement of roses that I had ordered for our 38th Anniversary which also happened to be August 27, 2004, the day of embarkation. Also upon arrival we found a bowl of fruit and a bottle of wine (thanks for the wine Captain Smits). The fruit bowl was not refreshed daily.

 

The cabin was nice and made a good use of space. We never used the sofa Even with the sofa converted to a bed it was still easy to access the verandah. The closets were very large, and left us plenty of room. The drawers and cabinets provided a large volume of storage. There was even a small closet by the door for your jackets. This closet also held the life jackets. Suitcases all easily fit under the beds. There was a cabinet near the door behind the sofa that you should use with caution. This cabinet gets blocked by the table when the steward makes up the room at night. Not a problem if you don’t use the sofa bedThe bath area was split into to sections. The main section contained the closets and a small sink and dressing table. Two people could change in here if necessary. The dressing table had drawers on one side to hold your toiletries.

 

The verandah was huge as you can see from the pictures. There are no other words to describe it. It was the perfect place to watch the scenery go by or take an afternoon nap. The room had some nice comfy blankets for those naps. Our cabin steward was always diligent in making sure he took care of the cabin shortly after we left for either breakfast or dinner. The free laundry service was nice and we used it several times. Sure helped to do the laundry from our week land tour prior to the cruise. One nice perk we received was a copy of the menus for dinner and dessert in the Rotterdam Dining Room. Knowing what was coming for dinner was a nice way to start the day.The cabin had a control for listening to music or tuning to the announcement channel. This is located on the head board of the bed. This came in very handy when we were touring various sights.View the panorama of the cabin here.Various information and price sheets were found in the usual stack of cabin paperwork:· Laundry Pricing · Breakfast Menu · Mini Bar Probably the best thing we found was the ship map. · Cover · Decks 4-8 · Decks 9-12 · Basic Information

 

Neptune Lounge

 

As the cabin is classified as an "S Suite" we had access to the Neptune Lounge. The lounge had appropriate snacks and light meals depending on the time of day. The domed refrigerator display was a fun gadget. Our concierge was Rose, who handled every request of ours, including a wine billing error on our billing statement. The staff in the lounge quickly learned our entire parties names and always greeted us with a friendly smile and a warm hello. All the items that would normally be handled at the front desk were handled here. We had no major issues that needed to be addressed during our cruise and never had a worry as we just asked and were always told "I'll take care of that for you."The lounge included a large television, some books, magazines and various seating. The lounge was never crowded, but appeared to be frequented often by everyone. I had it pictured much larger in my minds eye, but it was more than adequate to suit the needs of this ship.

 

General Max

[bepsf]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise, General!

 

Yes - suites are a great way to go!!!

[Spot]

Thank you for your review.

I'm assuming from your review that you would cruise with HAL again - how did you like Alaska?

[CINCY40]

Are you going to put up photos? You mentioned pictures of the veranda. We are sailing on the Ryndam this Friday in Suite 016 and would be delighted to see pictures of the ship. Prior to now, we have sailed on the Amsterdam and the Zuiderdam.

 

Nancy and Andy

[Ziggy7]

We would love to see your photo's!

Glad you had a great time! Thanks for sharing with us!

[TedC]

General, didn't you have free laundry, dry cleaning and pressing that has been offered for the S and PS suites?

[Krazy Kruizers]

Glad you enjoyed your Alaskan cruise on the Ryndam.

We have done 3 Alaskan cruises on her - in a suite. One was even a back-to-back.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

It was nice reading your review because in just 53 days we will be in a Suite on the Ryndam we have cabin 043. This will be our first Suite. So glad you enjoyed yourselves. We were on the Oosterdam for Alaska this past May the really enjoyed it. Would love to see your pictures especially those of the ship.

 

Thanks,

[sail7seas]

Are you going to put up photos? You mentioned pictures of the veranda. We are sailing on the Ryndam this Friday in Suite 016 and would be delighted to see pictures of the ship. Prior to now, we have sailed on the Amsterdam and the Zuiderdam.

 

Nancy and Andy

 

 

Nancy and Andy....The "S" verandahs on Ryndam are identical to those on Amsterdam. Ryndam's (and Amsterdam's) are larger than the "S" verandahs on Zuiderdam.

[sail7seas]

General, didn't you have free laundry, dry cleaning and pressing that has been offered for the S and PS suites?

I noticed that General mentioned laundry price list. The laundry sheet lists all of the prices but for the "PS" and "S", the sheet is stamped 'complimentary for Suites'. Laundry and dry-cleaning are included in the fare for those category cabins.

[ryansmemom]

I didn't book a Suite on my first cruise, but I really wish I had. I booked a mini and thought I had died and gone to heaven. As it turned out I was just in the lobby.

 

Linda :)

[CINCY40]

Thanks for the veranda information.

 

Nancy and Andy

[General Max]

By the way, we just booked our second cruise and guess what? We booked a suite again because we enjoyed it so much. (Just spending the kid's inheritance.)

 

msWesterdam; 10/22/05; Civitavecchia (Rome) to Ft. Lauderdale

 

Yes, the laundry and dry cleaning is complimentary in suites but the laundry list we filled out had prices listed. We also had to count each piece and list it. The laundry slip came back and they verified the count. The laundry tags were somewhat annoying to get off. The tags were more annoying if you forgot to take them off before putting on especially the boxers.

 

General Max

 

General Max

[obriendan]

Its the old ski vacation (spending the kids inheritance)!

[ncdeac]

Before I ever booked our first suite, I was thrilled with a balcony and never knew there could be anything better. Then I got a steal on a suite so we took it...worst decision I ever made because I can never go back!!!!

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Before I ever booked our first suite, I was thrilled with a balcony and never knew there could be anything better. Then I got a steal on a suite so we took it...worst decision I ever made because I can never go back!!!!

I totally agree, we are goners, hook, line and sinker. Of our next 3 cruises 2 are confirmed suite now I just need them to open up a xuite for the Maasdam in July:confused: