Ryndam 14 day Western Caribbean appreciate your comment on your trip

[rjm1cc]

I will be taking this cruise in January 2010. I would appreciate any comments on the ports - close to what, how to get arround, what to do (other than the HAL tours), and the priceing of the Thermal Spa for the crusie. Thank you

[funlovin'cruiser]

I will be taking this cruise in January 2010. I would appreciate any comments on the ports - close to what, how to get arround, what to do (other than the HAL tours), and the priceing of the Thermal Spa for the crusie. Thank you

There are no 14 day cruises on the Ryndam in January of 2010 - there are only 7 day cruises. Are you taking back-to-back cruises? Also, the Ryndam has yet to do a 14-day cruise yet in the Caribbean, so there would be no one to report on what you are asking. I bet that you could ask people for their 7-day experiences and assume from there, but the cost of the thermal suite for a 14 day would probably not be twice that of a 7 day (seems to me like they would give you some sort of a deal). As for ports, there are several in January of 2010 that the Ryndam has not been to yet (the Honduran ports of Roatan and Puerto Cortes for example). You should probably check the boards under ports of call for your answers about those ports.

[RuthC]

What ports are you interested in knowing about?

[CowPrincess]

There are no 14 day cruises on the Ryndam in January of 2010 - there are only 7 day cruises. Are you taking back-to-back cruises? Also, the Ryndam has yet to do a 14-day cruise yet in the Caribbean, so there would be no one to report on what you are asking. I bet that you could ask people for their 7-day experiences and assume from there, but the cost of the thermal suite for a 14 day would probably not be twice that of a 7 day (seems to me like they would give you some sort of a deal). As for ports, there are several in January of 2010 that the Ryndam has not been to yet (the Honduran ports of Roatan and Puerto Cortes for example). You should probably check the boards under ports of call for your answers about those ports.

We were sold this cruise as a 14-day, so HAL seems to think it is 14 days. It is a "Collector Voyage", and IS 2 x 7 days cruises with slightly different itineraries. But it IS a 14-day cruise for the important stuff like shareholder OBCs, FCC OBCs, and such.

[rjm1cc]

Here is the itenary:
DAY DATE PORT ARRIVE DEPART
Sun Jan 17 TAMPA, FLORIDA,
US
5:00pm
Mon Jan 18 KEY WEST, FLORIDA,
US
1:00pm 6:00pm
Tue Jan 19 At Sea
Wed Jan 20 BELIZE CITY, BELIZE 8:00am 5:00pm
Thu Jan 21 MAHOGANY BAY,
HONDURAS
7:00am 5:00pm
Fri Jan 22 COSTA MAYA, MEXICO 7:00am 3:00pm
Sat Jan 23 At Sea
Sun Jan 24 TAMPA, FLORIDA, US 7:00am 5:00pm
Mon Jan 25 KEY WEST, FLORIDA,
US
1:00pm 6:00pm
Tue Jan 26 At Sea
Wed Jan 27 PUERTO CORTES,
HONDURAS
7:00am 8:00pm
Thu Jan 28 SANTO TOMAS,
GUATEMALA
7:00am 5:00pm
Fri Jan 29 COSTA MAYA, MEXICO 7:00am 3:00pm
Sat Jan 30 At Sea
Sun Jan 31 TAMPA, FLORIDA,
US
7:00am

You can book for one week but note that some of the ports are different in each week thus not a btb.

[RuthC]

So, editing to just the ports, we're looking at: KEY WEST; BELIZE CITY, BELIZE; MAHOGANY BAY, HONDURAS; COSTA MAYA, MEXICO; PUERTO CORTES, HONDURAS; SANTO TOMAS, GUATEMALA
I've been to some of them.

Key West is easy. It's the USA, so you already know the language and $$$. There's a trolley near the dock, and it will take you on a nice little tour. The Ernest Hemmingway house is not far. I took the catamaran out to the reefs; it was a neat tour.
In Belize City I did the HAL tour through the swamps in an airboat. What fun!
Costa Maya is a cruiseline built port. There's enough shopping to satisfy the most ardent shopper. There's also a big pool, and a lot of drinking if a Carnival ship is in. You can also head out to some Mayan ruins which are interesting.
In Santo Tomas the dock is a long way from much of anything. There is a HAL boat tour which goes all around the harbor area. There's also a large pavillion with various shops and tour vendors. IIRC, there was a shuttle to someplace, but I didn't check into it.
On your turn-around day in Tampa you could consider going to the Aquarium right there at the pier.

It's hot, Hot HOT down there. And the sun blazes. Be prepared!

[StartrainDD]

You can read our log/review of the Nov 6th sailing (7 days) at: http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=59853 (http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=59853)

There were some on our cruise who had been on the previous week as well. Check out the boards for each of your ports. We adored Belize AND Guatemala - these were the two best shore things we have ever done. Jaguar Paw cave tubing in Belize and the Escobas waterfalls and Green Bay resort tour in Guatemala. Full write up's are on the port boards.

Costa Maya is what you make of it. Try to determine if there are other ships visiting when you will be there. If the Ryndam is alone in port, or only one other reasonable sized ship, you won't need to book things ahead unless you want to. We loved the beach in town in front of Pez Quatro (may have spelled that wrong). If you're into touring ruins you can do that too. You are there twice so you can have double the fun!

We really enjoyed the Ryndam and would not hesitate to sail here again.