dreamer320

My husband is very prone to motion sickness. He used scopolamine patches, starting before we even boarded. However, it wasn't 100% effective - after a miserable first night, he added seabands and was fine for the rest of the trip. Whenever he forgot to put the seabands back on after a shower or whatever, he very quickly felt the difference! So be prepared, because what works for one person won't be another, and you may need a mix of remedies.

If the ship's excursion has weight limitations, be sure to check with private tour companies. The ATV excursion in Costa Maya through HAL had a per person limit I wouldn't fall within, but the private operator had a different limit that was a maximum allowed for the vehicle, not per person.

Be prepared. My husband is very susceptible to motion sickness (the cog railroad to Pike's Peak is a particularly bad memory). He had the Rx patch, which turned out not to be enough. I also had brought seabands, and those were the extra bit he needed to feel good. I had also brought bonine, but he didn't need that, thank goodness. Everyone is different, and what works for some won't for others, so be ready with everything so you can use what works best for her.

We booked the ATV excursion in Costa Maya on our Christmas cruise. It was a blast! The shore personnel were a bit abrupt, and the ATVs were a little worn, but overall, it was a great time. Our guide went as fast as the group went, so we kept a pretty good clip.

Once we got off the paved road, there were a lot of big holes to be maneuvered around. It had rained recently, meaning the holes were full of muddy water, so we were soon quite splattered, which only added to the fun in our opinion. After the halfway point, we stopped for 30 minutes or so at a little resort for a rest and drink stop, which was quiet and idyllic. When we got back in town, we stopped again for about 30 minutes on the Mahahual. It was wasted time, IMO, since we were planning on returning on our own after the excursion.

As an FYI, be aware that the engine area on the ATVs got quite hot, and I occasionally burned my calves when leaning into a curve and touching the hot spots. The ATVs are easy to drive, and have handlebars rather than steering wheels, so you need to keep your thumb on the gas lever constantly.

The only downside of the tour was the other participants. There were two double-riders who wanted to go straight through the mud at high speed (and consequently got the spark plugs wet), and as a result drive less than carefully, passing too close and unexpectedly and then often slowing down unexpectedly after passing. I do hope those drivers don't drive their cars so poorly!

After ending the tour back at the port, we walked outside the port to catch a taxi. Apparently, you can't pick up a taxi inside, and have to take a shuttle bus. We went back to town and spent several hours at the Tropicante before heading back to the ship.

"We" are my husband and I, mid-50s and late 40s respectively.

The cabin. We had a balcony cabin on deck 9, Verandah, aft and port. In light of the a/c problems on other ships, I’ll say that our a/c was, thankfully, great. We adjusted it several times, from cranking the a/c when returning from a hot day in port, to making it warmer when returning from the icebox that was the Showroom at Sea. No problems whatsoever in getting the temperature to our liking at any point. Likewise, no plumbing problems.

I’ll say, however, that a couple of cabins down our hall often had their doors open. I didn’t get a chance to ask the occupants, but have a feeling it may have been due to a/c problems. On the final night, I also heard from several people on deck 5 that a section of cabins had malfunctioning a/c, but it was a new problem, and hadn’t been ongoing throughout the cruise.

The bed and bathroom were great and looked good. The desk chair was a bit rickety, but we didn’t use it much. The couch cushions had been turned to the good side, and both had large bleach-like spots on the bad side. I was a bit surprised by the large step up into the bathroom and the high sides of the tub, as my previous HAL experience on the Rotterdam had been with my mother in a handicapped suite. It took a little getting used to, especially remembering to step down in the middle of the night.

We were under the seaview pool and did hear the deck chairs being moved around in the evening, but it didn’t bother us.

We had one problem with the cabin door. The strikeplate around the lock was missing a screw, resulting in that part of the plate moving out and impeding the opening and closing of the door. Before we figured out what it was, I actually couldn’t open the door from the inside and had to wait for my husband to come back. Also, one time the door was left ajar after the steward had been in because the door was hard to completely latch. I contacted the front desk twice a day until it was fixed on the third day. The steward said they had to get a part in the next port – hmm, looked like all it needed was a screw! Once I told the steward about it, he made sure the door always latched.

The ship. We didn’t see any problems elsewhere on the ship, though the a/c depended on where you were. As mentioned, the Showroom was always frigid. We quickly learned to put four layers on top when going there. The elevator/stair foyers on our deck was always very warm. The Crow’s Nest and Lido were both very comfortable. The two times we tried the MDR were both very wam.

The personnel. Almost everyone was pleasant, with only a few Lido stewards being really personable. The one exception with the future cruise consultant, who was the most unhelpful person imaginable. For every question I asked or opinion I solicited, she just referred me to the cruise planner. She was really not a good spokesperson for HAL at all.

The food. This is totally subjective, and I’ll likely be flamed, but if I were to switch lines, it would be because of the food. My situation is admittedly very different than the average person, but I’ll stick to generalizations. I’m extremely picky, and eat a quite limited range of foods. But I consider that my problem, and deal with it; for example, on excursions, I don’t expect to eat when a meal is included, and that’s okay. My husband is unlike me and eats just about anything.

We are not fine dining people. It’s just not our thing, we don’t like the fancy presentations, the pace, etc., not to mention that I don’t like most of the choices. At home, we subsist primarily on casual food such as sandwiches and pizza. As such, we mostly ate in the Lido. Breakfast and lunch were great. For dinner, however, it seemed like the buffet menu was much the same as the MDR, for people who didn’t want to dress for dinner. My dinners consisted of a plain salad, or a roll, or nothing. Again, while I’m not the norm, I think it wouldn’t be a bad thing overall if they added just a couple more casual items on the dinner menu. My previous cruise on the Rotterdam in Alaska definitely had more variety.

Dinner would have been better in my particular case if the Terrace Grill were open a little longer. And speaking of the Grill, for a venue that’s so popular for lunch, you’d think they’d expand it a little. The waits are so long partly because they’re working a kitchen smaller than a walk-in closet!

We tried the MDR for Christmas Eve (I ordered from the children’s menu), and again for the Mariner’s lunch. Both times my husband wasn’t impressed, and has sworn off the MDR in the future. And, incidentally, the concept of having a loose, ill-enforced dress code was made humorous on formal night on Christmas eve, with the table of women who were wearing Christmas sweatshirts and what looked to be sweatpants with the elastic taken out of the ankles.

Overall. We quite enjoyed the Ryndam, and really appreciated the Christmas activities they had. We spent time in the Crow’s Nest, the Mix and Explorations Café, and enjoyed them all. All our excursions were arranged independently, and I have or will be posting reviews of them on the appropriate ports of call boards.

Unfortunately, our private "Best of Roatan" tour with Victor Bodden Tours bucked the trend of good experiences reported here.

The guide. We had Isaac, who was a very nice man, but not a good guide. When I reserved, I noted we wanted to do a little shopping, some photo opportunities, and Monkey Business. Upon arriving a greeting him, I clarified that we didn’t want to do much shopping, and were really interested in the history and culture of the island. He took us to the local vendors set up on the hilltop, and then insisted on taking us to three other shops, each more expensive, despite our saying we were done shopping. Rather than arguing, we went in for a minute to each, and he kept urging us to spend more time. Perhaps he was getting a reward for taking people to certain shops? He also told us nothing of the history and very little of the culture. We got little in the way of photo ops, too. Granted, I hadn’t done my usual research on the destination, and left my notes onboard, but still, a private guide should have done much more. As it was, there were plenty of places on the island that we didn’t see. A large part of that may have been because of the second problem:

The van. Our vehicle had no air conditioning. We didn’t discover this until we were quite a distance from the port, after our first stop. This was probably a blessing in disguise, since the van smelled like wet dog with the windows up, so having the windows down gave us fresh air. Worse than the air-conditioning, however, was that after a few hours, the engine light came on the dashboard and the performance suffered, to the extent that we barely made it up a hill, literally. Oh, nothing to worry about, Isaac said. On the next hill, there was a slower-moving car ahead of us. Afraid of losing the momentum we had built up and probably dying out on the hill, the guide decided to pass the car on the hill. Near the top, we came face to face with a large tour bus. Had the car we were passing not come to a quick stop to allow us back into the lane, we surely would have had a collision. I don’t scare easily and have driven throughout Italy on sketchy roads, but it took awhile for my blood pressure to return to normal.

Given the state of the car and our near miss, we didn’t press it when we headed back to the ship, despite still having a couple of hours before we needed to back. Time to cut our losses. Roatan had been our most-anticipated port, and it turned out being the worst day of the cruise.

On the plus side, the pre-cruise communication was prompt and responsive, and all the personnel we encountered were pleasant. On our return home, we received an email asking for feedback, and received an apology for the van situation. After detailing our experiences, I kind of doubted we’d get any reply at all, so I appreciated the response.

I think we just were unlucky enough to draw the short straw with our tour. Lessons learned: request a tour guide other than Isaac, and make sure the vehicle has a/c before leaving port.

I got an automated email reply that my request for information and reservation had been received, but no actual response. There seem to be relatively few things to do in Porto San Tomas, at least that interest us, and it's a shame one of the tour operators who has gotten good reviews is non-responsive.

We used our verandah in Alaska a ton, especially leaving Hubbard Glacier. And one of the magical memories was wrapping a blanket around me and going out to the balcony in the early light of dawn and watching the shore and glaciers and wildlife.

Has anyone done this excursion recently? The HAL ATV and beach excursion lists a weight limit of 240 lbs; this one has a max combined (2 person) limit of 650, which is quite a difference. This one doesn't sound like it goes off-road, while the ship excursion does, so maybe that's the difference in the weight limit?

I'm with you on the "better to be prepared" side. My husband has a propensity for motion sickness - not always, but often. And when he does get it, it tends to take him out of commission for a day or so. Most recently, he got ill on the cog railway to Pike's Peak and was flat out in bed for 24 hours. He's gotten sick on a deep-sea fishing boat, too.

So we're planning on the worst case scenario. Waiting to find out if a big ship is going to make him seasick is too late, as it would waste a day or so of valuable vacation time!

What will it be like on Christmas Day, for different site and shops? We're not beach people, so am wondering what else will be happening on the holiday. One thing we'd like to do is take a cab to one of the local churches for mass, if timing works out, but then what?

I sent pics to Joanie (and they're posted on her page) of 7061, which is a center aft handicapped cabin.