Just back from Ryndam

[KalenaD]

We just returned from the 8 day mexican cruise on the Ryndam. I thought I would give my observations and opinions of things that seem to be important on the boards. I am 46 and my hubby is 66 so we represent a couple of age groups.

 

 

First of all we had a small glich that once again makes the case for coming to a port early, one of our suitcases got sent to Alaska! We received it delivered to the hotel the next day, but if we would have flown in the day of the cruise we would have been out of luck.

 

We got the Holiday inn on the Bay for $99 on a bidding website. I personally thought it was very nice. Our room had been recently renovated and the bathroom was all brand new. Although we weren't in the front building, we had a view of the bay over the lobby building.

We had two meals at the pub and at Anthony's fishet, it reminded me of Ivars in Seattle. We spent our day just walking the pier and relaxing. I thought the employees at both the hotel and the pub were exceptional. We even hadd a young woman who was obviously off work ask us if we needed anything. We walked across the street the next day and got right on the ship. I would definately stay there again if I could get it for a good price.

 

 

We booked a HH outside obstructed view, I booked a specifiic room to be on the lower promanade. I figured this was the closest to our own balcony. When we checked in I was told we were now in room 220, I asked if it was on the lower promanade, she didn't know and told me I would have to deal with it on the ship. As I was getting myself all worked up for a fight onboard, I looked at the map and realized we had been upgraded to a Verandah Suite!!! Not only that, it was the aft corner suite!!! Needless to say I didn't say anything else and we had a wonderful room with spectacular views. The only time I noticed any major vibration was when the ship slowed down quickly when we arrived at port. The first night we ended up returning to San Diego for a medical emergency and the vibration was pretty evident when we stopped to wait for the coast guard. It would not prevent me from staying in an aft cabin again.

 

We wanted fixed late seating but did not get it. We walked into the anytime dining with an open mind.

 

The pro's were: eating when you want and being able to get a table for two once and a while. We never had to wait and the meals themselves were the usual wonderful fare.

 

The con's were:

We made a reservation on formal night, when we arrived promptly at our time, they told us our table wasn't ready, as we waited I watched them seat several people WITHOUT reservations including a large party of 7. I asked them why we were waiting if we HAD a reservation. He basically said again our table wasn't ready, but he could seat us somewhere else right now, so that's what we did. I don't get it?

 

We really liked the waiter we had the first two nights and asked if we could make a reservation for his area, we were told they could NOT guarantee that. So we did not make any reservations the rest of the week and just showed up. We had one waiter who was a bit slow but they were all very personable and we had no complaints about the service.

 

Although we met nice people every night, personally I got tired of having to introduce ourselves every night.

 

We also missed out on the dinner "events" such as the baked Alaska parade and the Master chef's dinner. In fact when we arrived at 7:00 on the night of the master's chef dinner we were "encouraged" to come back at 8, but when I asked if we would have to wait for a table since that was when everyone would want to be there, they said they couldn't tell us. So we asked to be seated anyway, while we were eating dessert they were beginning the events.

 

Because of the anytime dining, unless you went to dinner at the same times as the fixed seating, it was difficult to see the shows. We did go to the late night adult comedy show, I believe his name was Dave Cameron. He was hilarious, he made fun of EVERYONE but wasn't mean spirited or crude.

 

We did two shore excursions I booked independently.

One in Puerto Vallarta, the Pegaso afternoon sailing through Puerto Vallarta tours (Johann and Sandra). There was only 5 of us onbard and we chose not to snorkel so we had a lovely sail ato Los Arcos and around the Bay.

 

In Cabo we did a similar sail on the Yael through Cabo sailing, again there was a small group, 8 this time, we had some that snorkeled and then we went for an adventurous sailing in the Pacific.

 

 

Overall we had a wonderful cruise. Yes, you can see a few places where the Ryndam shows her age if you look hard, but the majority of the ship is beautiful and was constantly being worked on. The carpeting in our room looked brand new.

 

We had a lovely get together for our Cruise Critic group and the cruise director, hotel manager and even the captain attended! The captain was very cordial and was seen all over the ship, we saw him get his lunch in the lido one day and the crew seemed to joke and laugh along with him. He was also waiting at the gangway when we disembarked and shook our hand and hoped we had a good cruise. He wore a name badge that simply said Captain PJ.

 

We used the express baggage service on disembarkation and I have to say this is the way to go. We walked across the street to the Holiday Inn had a cup of coffee and asked the bell boy in front to get us a taxi, he said we could go ahead and take the shuttle. There were 3 ships in port so not having to stand in line to check luggage was a huge plus. The airport was crowded but not near as bad a Fort Lauderdale was after our last cruise. Not having to lug around any luggage made it almost pleasant to travel.

 

We had a wonderful cruise, it met all our expectations and we met some wonderful people through our CC roll call. Another home run for Holland America!!!

[ekerr19]

Thanks for posting your review. I'm glad you had a good time on the Ryndam.

 

We've stayed at the Holiday Inn across the street too - it's the only way to go!

 

I appreciate you sharing your AYW dining experiences too - I wonder why fixed late is getting so much harder to get? It used to be the easiest seating to obtain... We also requested it on our last cruise and got 5:45PM, which just won't work for us, lol!

 

Thanks again for your review. :)

[satchiesmom]

Hey Kalena,

How are you? We really enjoyed meeting you guys on the Ryndam. It was a great cruise.

 

Susan

[KalenaD]

Hi Susan, I agree it was an awesome cruise!!!

We had a good trip home, one of our most relaxing, and it's back to work tomorrow, BOO HOO.

 

We sure had a great group!!!