Which Cruise Would You Take?

[Cruising Jedi]

Just wondering about people's opinions, from those who have cruised these itineraries before, or even just have an opinion one way or the other.

 

We are trying to decide between two options.

 

One is the Ryndam on an itinerary that goes down to Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, new ports for us! .... The other choice is Niew Amsterdam that does typical Caribbean islands that we have been to before.

 

So based on itinerary we prefer the Mexico one. However, the ship Ryndam is basically the same as the ship we were just on, Veendam, and we had been hoping to experience one of HAL's newer, larger ships to compare. I tend to prefer larger ships overall.

 

So sorry for my long winded way of basically asking: what is more important to you, ship or itinerary? Or any thoughts on either cruise / ship? I am truly torn.

 

Oh what a perfect world if Niew Amsterdam would sail to Honduras and Guatemala, lol.:)

[Crazy For Cats]

Just wondering about people's opinions, from those who have cruised these itineraries before, or even just have an opinion one way or the other.

 

We are trying to decide between two options.

 

One is the Ryndam on an itinerary that goes down to Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, new ports for us! .... The other choice is Niew Amsterdam that does typical Caribbean islands that we have been to before.

 

So based on itinerary we prefer the Mexico one. However, the ship Ryndam is basically the same as the ship we were just on, Veendam, and we had been hoping to experience one of HAL's newer, larger ships to compare. I tend to prefer larger ships overall.

 

So sorry for my long winded way of basically asking: what is more important to you, ship or itinerary? Or any thoughts on either cruise / ship? I am truly torn.

 

Oh what a perfect world if Niew Amsterdam would sail to Honduras and Guatemala, lol.:)

 

I think that the itinerary is more important than the ship. We have been on several HAL ships and the service on all has been good. That said, I have an aversion to ports in Mexico so would go with the Nieuw Amsterdam. We sailed on her in March just before her dry dock service. Looking forward to our next adventure on her in December.:)

[innlady1]

Just wondering about people's opinions, from those who have cruised these itineraries before, or even just have an opinion one way or the other.

 

We are trying to decide between two options.

 

One is the Ryndam on an itinerary that goes down to Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, new ports for us! .... The other choice is Niew Amsterdam that does typical Caribbean islands that we have been to before.

 

So based on itinerary we prefer the Mexico one. However, the ship Ryndam is basically the same as the ship we were just on, Veendam, and we had been hoping to experience one of HAL's newer, larger ships to compare. I tend to prefer larger ships overall.

 

So sorry for my long winded way of basically asking: what is more important to you, ship or itinerary? Or any thoughts on either cruise / ship? I am truly torn.

 

Oh what a perfect world if Niew Amsterdam would sail to Honduras and Guatemala, lol.:)

 

We did the 21 day Ryndam Collectors Cruise this winter, and I wasn't impressed with the ports on the last 7 days - Mexico. Roatan was OK...could have done without Honduras and Costa Maya. We did enjoy our stop at Key West, however. So, I guess if I were you, I'd opt for the NA...even though we love the S class ships!

 

[Randyk47]

We're itinerary first ship second people so it would definitely be the Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala cruise for us. It also helps we prefer the smaller ships and the Ryndam was the ship we took our honeymoon on and my first HAL ship a few years earlier.

[sail7seas]

The major difference between Ryndam to Veendam is the aft pool. Veendam's was replaced with that 'retreat' business of hot tubs but Ryndam still have the lovely aft pool which DH loves.

 

I like Ryndam better than Niuew Amsterdam but for her Silk Den and Tamarind and, personally, to our taste, like the itinerary better on NA. We did NA back-to-back and the combination of the 14 days of ports was good.

 

We also did the 14 days on Ryndam out of Tampa and enjoyed that cruise very much as well.

 

 

[Cayoooga]

We are booked on the Niew Amsterdam for December.

We have done this itinerary many times previously. We decided to do a B2B and make it a 15 day vacation with the pre cruise stay in Ft Lauderdale.

 

The Ryndam itinerary is also one that we are extremly interested in for many reasons.:

-cruising out of Tampa with a flight from Buffalo

-An excursion to Tikal from Santo Thomas, Guatemala

-our two favourite stops, Costa Maya, Mexico and Roatan which has the best snorkelling in the caribbean (the second largest barrier reef in the world)

 

Everybody will have different opinions on ports of call. It will depend on what things you like to do. We are very adventurous people and we like to get off the beaten path.

 

We plan on doing both and maybe you should too :D We just decided to do the NA first.

 

Cheers

[AZNative2000]

We are trying to decide between two options.

 

One is the Ryndam on an itinerary that goes down to Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, new ports for us! .... The other choice is Niew Amsterdam that does typical Caribbean islands that we have been to before.

 

So based on itinerary we prefer the Mexico one. However, the ship Ryndam is basically the same as the ship we were just on, Veendam, and we had been hoping to experience one of HAL's newer, larger ships to compare. I tend to prefer larger ships overall.

CJ,

 

Our second cruise was on the same ship as our first (Zuiderdam) and was chosen for the itinerary. So, don't let that deter you. You may just feel like you are "back home" as you board. We did.:)

 

We are more interested in exploring new places so, given this choice, would pick the new itinerary regardless of ship. (We chose a different cruise line to get the western caribbean itinerary and date we were looking for and had a terrific cruise.)

 

Cheers!

[doublebzz]

As most of the posters have pointed out, its a choice between itinerary and ship. I've sailed on 8 different HAL ships and, except for Amsterdam's Grand Cruise, Nieuw Amsterdam is, by far, my favorite ship.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We choose our cruises for the itinerary -- that is our #1 priority.

[RuthC]

If I had to choose, I would pick the Ryndam cruise. She's a great little ship. Easy to get around her quickly; easy to meet people, and still run into them again. I find service on the smaller ships better than on the huge ones.

Ryndam still has that nice aft pool on Navigation Deck. It's so pleasant to sit out there and watch the day's port disappear as you sail off to a new adventure.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Do the new ports for you ..

[PathfinderEss]

Awe, I'm just happy to be on a ship, I really don't care where it goes, so either one works for me.:D

[tacrum43]

I can't comment on those ships specifically, but I would go with the itinerary that interests you more. Personally, I enjoy the Western Caribbean ports more than the Eastern ones, but then I like nature type stuff better than shopping.

[Scrapnana]

I would go with the new itinerary especially if you have been to all the ports on the Nieuw Amsterdam cruise.

[Typhoon1]

Any cruise would suit us just fine. As long as it was aboard a HAL ship.