Need opinions on Ryndam

[KimberleyFL]

Hi everyone. I'm considering a Christmas cruise on the Ryndam. I've been on the Veendam and Zaandam and loved both (Veendam the best).

We also cruise other cruiselines, but love HAL (our favorite) for its elegance.

Can you tell me about your experiences on the Ryndam? The Christmas cruise is going to the western carribbean but that doesn't matter here. We love the itinerary; I'm looking for information on the ship and crew.

I read some reviews, but they mainly talked about the itinerary (mostly Alaska) and not much about the ship or crew.



Thank you.

[trvlcrzy]

We have just returned from our 2 weeks aboard the Ryndam. We have absolutely no complaints. I plan on writing a review, but as I said, we just got home last night.

I do plan to make one post in my thread about "what's wrong" and list every miniscule detail I noted. Some claim that the Ryndam is an old lady that needs to be removed from service based on nitpicky concerns.

Problems I saw were things like...
not all of the grout in my shower was the same color (implying that some repair work had been done)
three tiles on the wall under the bathroom sink were not flush with the rest of the wall
a small crack near the drain of the bathroom sink (probably from someone dropping a can of shaving cream) but no leak
one public restroom (near the show lounge) had a repaired sink (with major caulking clearly visible in the bowl) EGADS! :eek:
the crew was refinishing handrails in stairways during our cruise (scraping to bare wood to revarnish)... some might complain about the smell, but maintenance must continue
the crew was painting along the lower promenade deck one day, preventing us from being able to walk around completely on the port side... nearly ruined my cruise (you believe that, right???)
you can't go to the 7th floor lower dining room on the 7th floor. You must access from 6 or 8 or use the rear elevator bank. Some find this bothersome. We don't.
The elevators... I had read several issues (from posters I absolutely trust, so I have no doubt true) with the elevators. On boarding day, two were out of use due to the movement of luggage (which was handled more quickly than any other cruise we have taken). On the last day, the farthest rear elevator (starboard side) delivered us to the lido for breakfast, but the doors did not open. A fellow passenger forced the doors open, and we were about 6 inches above floor level. The elevator seemed to be out of commission after that.
We did experience higher levels of warmth in Vancouver while the ship was docked. Of course, Vancouver was in the process of breaking temperature records! Once moving, the air flow improved.
In Sitka, tendering was a little slower than I expected it would be. We wrote about this on our survey cards.
The comedians, in my opinion, were a bit weak, but others were quoting those same lame jokes later in the cruise, so others obviously enjoyed it.
(Maybe I just spend too much time on the internet, so I had read/heard most of one guy's material.)

I ran out of thank you cards based on our experiences with the crew. Everyone was delightful, helpful, conscientious, professional... what more can I say? We had contact with the Hotel Manager, the Beverage Manager, Assistant Beverage Manager and the Cruise Director through our meet and greets... all wonderful, friendly, informative, accommodating...

We would gladly serve as your tour guides on this wonderful ship... for a small fee of our cruise fare. Ha, ha. ;)

We also loved the layout. Due to our previous trips on Amsterdam and Statendam, we knew the layout already.

We had no complaints about food. I joked that on my Statendam cruise, we had the pumpkin soup... with three toasted pumpkin seeds as garnish. This time, I got no garnish. Wow, the quality is really slipping. (Tongue firmly planted in cheek.)

If you read my review, you will end up seeing these comments again. I may just copy and paste... and rearrange comments to save myself a little time.

Have a great cruise! Hope this information helps.

[garydm]

We were on the Ryndam in April and the service and food was very good. The only problem we had was a periodic horrible vibration in our cabin which was above the library/internet area. I suspect it was an old air handler between decks but I have no real knowledge of what it was. I base this on the HVAC noise in the library area below our cabin. I would not book a cabin in this area again.

Gary

[CowPrincess]

We like the Ryndam. One cabin we were in had issues with the tiles in the tub and on the floor, a troublesome shower drain, rusty window casings and stained curtains. Didn't affect our enjoyment at all :) We had no issues with the other cabins we've been in on the Ryndam. It's still a nice ship and the crew is great. Other people have made mention of it being "tired" or "old" but we've never really noticed much of that.

[KimberleyFL]

Thanks, everyone, for the information. Those issues listed wouldn't bother me either. I think we will book it if we get the right price and right cabin. I can be a little picky about where the cabin is located.

It seems like many of the cabins for this cruise, that are available, are at the very front of the ship. I try to steer away from the very front (although I've never had a cabin there) because I fear it will be a rougher ride. Can anyone comment on experiences of having a cabin at the front of any ship?

[jer_l]

We sailed north on the Ryndam to Alaska in June and then south on the Statendam. Last summer we did a b2b Alaska cruise on the Veendam. Of the three I would say the Ryndam would be our favorite. They definitely had the BEST Pinnacle Grill of the three. We ate in the Pinnacle twice on each of the three ships and the two times on the Ryndam were better than the Veendam and FAR superior to the Statendam. The shows were excellent on the Ryndam, the cabin steward and waiters in the MDR were excellent, and everything went quite smoothly on our cruise.

[CowPrincess]

I had a cabin at the VERY front one time -- my first cruise. There was a fair amount of motion. I was low in the ship, and could hear the waves hitting the front when I was laying in bed. I quite liked it. Made me KNOW I was on a ship.

[cruznon]

We did a back2back on the Ryndam two years ago. The crew was amazing and the ship just has a wonderful "feel" about it. We had the best cruise dining experience ever on the Ryndam. I've spoken to other friends who've sailed on the Ryndam and we all loved the ship.

[brucory]

I read some reviews, but they mainly talked about the itinerary (mostly Alaska) and not much about the ship or crew.
.

We loved the friendly crew of the Ryndam and the ship was top notch. We would sail on her again just to see the friends we made amongst the crew.

This size of ship may be the smallest in the fleet (excluding the elegant explorer), but it packs a punch as it has everything it's bigger sisters have.

Enjoy the beautiful Ryndam...

:D:D:D

[Lemur]

We were on the Ryndam in April and the service and food was very good. The only problem we had was a periodic horrible vibration in our cabin which was above the library/internet area. I suspect it was an old air handler between decks but I have no real knowledge of what it was. I base this on the HVAC noise in the library area below our cabin. I would not book a cabin in this area again.

Gary

Gary, can you tell us which cabin you were in? We just booked a cabin above the library (explorations) and would like to know if maybe we should switch cabins as we really do not like machine noise. :eek:
Thanks a ton,
Lemur

[gachan]

We were on the Ryndam in July and had the trip of a lifetime. The whole experience was great.

The crew were wonderful, the food was very good and I think HAL try to make sure you have a good time.

We did a ships tour after we boarded the ship and it was well worthwhile. I think it started in the Crows Nest. I am sure they were making announcements about it. The tour pointed out how to get around the ship and also introduced you to the gym /spa areas as well as cinemas library etc. I think they had 2 of these tours on the first afternoon.

Have a good trip

[BluskyBluH2O]

DH and I are booked on the December 6th cruise; have been excited about it for months! Glad to learn about the quality of the Pinnacle and dining room, but would like to know if the Lido selections are good -- looking forward to embarkation day and bread pudding.

[trvlcrzy]

DH and I are booked on the December 6th cruise; have been excited about it for months! Glad to learn about the quality of the Pinnacle and dining room, but would like to know if the Lido selections are good -- looking forward to embarkation day and bread pudding.

We ate breakfast in the Lido all days but one. We ate lunch in the Lido almost everyday (once in DR, once from in-room dining, might have skipped once due to port time). We have no complaints at all. We walked through during dinner one night to see the same entrees we were offered in the dining room. A fellow CC'er commented, 'Hey, up here you get to see it before you order it,' since samples of the entrees were on display.

Breakfast... poached egg station, waffle station, french toast (regular), french toast (specialties like banana nut, granola-crusted, vanilla, cinnamon swirl), scrambled eggs, eggs to order, omelette station, bacon, link sausage, patty sausage, oatmeal, cream of wheat... toast, bagel, English muffin... so many choices.

Lunch... Asian station, Italian station (usu. 3 sauces and 3 types of pasta offered), carving station, sandwich station... lots to choose.

Terrace Grill... DH enjoyed burgers/fries and pizza.

Ahhh... the bread pudding. I could eat just a bowl of the vanilla sauce!

[BluskyBluH2O]

Enjoyed reading your comments and am looking forward to the Ryndam review.

[Silverwing]

Our first ever cruise was on the Ryndam (Alaska 2007) and we had the most wonderful week, so that ship will always be special for us. DH had always said he would never cruise, but eventually made an exception as part of our month long Alaskan trip. That meant I had to choose very carefully, otherwise we might never have cruised again! Thankfully I found Cruise Critic and by browsing the different boards, I just knew that HAL was the one for us. Last year we were on the Eurodam and in September we'll be on the Noordam in the Mediterranean - can't wait!

[garydm]

Lemur-I cannot remember the cabin number but it was around #190 or so but could have been 3-4 either way. I do remember when heading to the cabin from the nearby stairs I turned right and went down a couple cabins. The vibration was worst when the ship was not underway which might indicate it is some kind of auxiliary equipment. We have not experienced vibration at all on other HAL ships or on the Ryndam before, although on Crystal it is fairly prevalent aft of mid ship.

Gary

[Debbie&Chaz]

We were on the Ryndam June 5-19, it was a wonderful cruise, and I have posted a review on CC. We were in cabin 548, a "sideways" cabin that seems larger than other inside cabins. It had a wonderful location - we were near the front elevators which made it easy to get to the Lido, gym and Crow's Nest. Also was easy to get ashore without using an elevator most of the time.

[trvlcrzy]

I have submitted a review, but I plan to provide a link in a thread here:

"Great Days in the Great Land" -- the annotated reader's companion

The review didn't tell everything, and our roll call members have graciously agreed to add comments about their experiences (excursions, cabins, etc.) to the one thread.

I actually took along a small notebook and took notes along the way for the very purpose of sharing with CC.

[freckledcat]

We just got back from the Ryndam (sorry for missing the meet and greets, we did try to track you down in the Crow's nest but never seemed to get the timing down when we were onboard).

This was aour first cruise and we absolutely loved it. We only ate in the dining room twice. We preferred the Lido for our meals - if you see Benk, tell him we said hello. He was by far the nicest and funniest person we met. Our stewards were great.

I didn't much care for the Lido manager - he was, IMHO, very fake and treated his staff poorly.

Explorations cafe made the best lattees.

We don't have any complaints, we spent a good part of at sea time at the front of the ship (the bow?) and had a great time.