One Heckava Cruise!
Written: Nov 18 '01 (Updated Nov 26 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Room and bathroom size, laundry facilities, coffee bar, movie theater, cuisine, staff.
Cons: Excessive e-mail rates, floors aren't numbered, dirty windows, broken things weren't fixed.
The Bottom Line: The Ryndam is a nice-sized ship (1,300 passengers),with fairly roomy cabins, has some great amenities and has an outstanding staff as well as a super cuisine.
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| D_Edgers's Full Review: Holland America Ryndam |
This was our 7th cruise, and the 1st on Holland-America Line. We've taken three 7-day Caribbean cruises on Norwegian Line, two 7-day cruises on Royal Caribbean (one Caribbean and one Mexican Riviera), and a 28-day cruise from Singapore to Athens (read: "Cruise of a Lifetime!) on the Orient Line's "Marco Polo."
We have wanted to go through the Panama Canal and also visit South America and Central America for several years, and we liked the idea of sailing from Fort Lauderdale to our home port of Seattle and eliminate so many hours of flying.
DAY 1 - (Wednesday, April 18) Boarded the Ryndam before 3 P.M. and experienced a very smooth check-in. In our very early 60s, we were among the younger of the nearly 1,300 passengers. When we found our cabin (the room was in the 600s, but on the 5th deck which was labeled "Main" Deck) and were pleasantly surprised at the roominess of the cabin and especially the bathroom. On all of the other ships we've been on the bathrooms are quite small, barely able to accommodate two average-sized people. The Ryndam's bathrooms can easily hold two adults and a small-to-medium-sized alligator in the bath tub (if you're so inclined). Before sailing we had a wonderful buffet and with full stomachs attended the mandatory lifeboat drill (one of three during the cruise) in full regalia (life preservers). Then it was anchors aweigh! The wind was blowing so strongly many folks were practically having their eyebrows blown off, but because we were leaving the harbor a bit behind schedule the captain chose to steam full speed ahead in tumultuous seas. The excessive pitching and rolling of the ship, even with the stabilizers working to smooth out some of the rolling, caused a good number of passengers to come down with the "Ryndam Flu" (sea sickness), and that wonderful buffet didn't seem so wonderful anymore. The welcome aboard show as well as dinner were sparsely attended, but as the evening wore on, the seas smoothed down and the next morning - - -
DAY 2 - saw appetites return to normal and we arrived at Half Moon Cay, Bahama, HAL's own private island. I found the communication about the day's activities almost secretive. I'd heard we were going to have a barbeque, but the where and when of this event we had to find out on our own. The island was sort of Disneyland-like (without the rides), but I could find no information about the size of the island, when it was founded, etc. I chose to go snorkeling for about two hours, and throroughly enjoyed that experience, seeing many colorful fishes and even a lone barracuda. I'm from the Pacific Northwest, so seeing the sun and being able to swim without a wetsuit was a wonderful experience, too. The ship departed the island about 3:30 P.M. and set course toward one end of Cuba, sailing on much smoother seas, so all were able to enjoy an excellent cuisine with an evening of comedy with entertainer Dick Hardwick.
DAY 3: We cruised all day in calm water and could see Cuba clearly not so far-away. There was ample time to browse the ship's shops, walk around the promenade deck, attend lectures and demonstrations, read, go to a movie in the Wajang Theater, lounge in the sun, play BINGO, gamble, drink, eat or sleep. We went to the art auction, featuring works from the Park West Gallery collection. The auctioneer, originally from Scotland, explained the various items as we sipped champagne, then auctioned off works by artists such as Salvador Dali, Peter Max, Itzchak Tarkay, and animation artists like Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones, et al. I mention Tarkay, who was unknown to me until the auction, because at the end of the auction we were holding the winning raffle ticket handed out at the beginning of the auction! We have the picture hanging in our dining room as I write. Around dinner time was the Captain's (Captain Jonathan Mercer) Reception Party, so most of us were dressed to the hilt in order to have our pictures taken with him. Since the cruise, I have seen him in TV ads for Holland America Line. The evening's entertainment was provided by the Ryndam's dancers and singers in "Copacabana." Good show!
DAY 4: The ship anchored off shore of George Town, Grand Cayman. We've been here a couple of other times, so are familiar with the Turtle Farm and Hell (the turtles don't do any tricks and Hell's not all that great unless you want to send a post card with Hell as the post mark) so my wife went shopping while I went snorkeling. I'd been looking forward to going to Stingray City, but the water was too rough, so I had to be content with a Reef and Wreck dive, which was very enjoyable. Because we had to anchor off shore, those wishing to go to land had to be ferried in by tenders (actually life boats which hold over 100 people). I tend to wonder at the wisdom of the cruise lines in allowing physically challenged and somewhat infirm older folks to board these tenders in choppy water. Disaster is waiting to happen! The ship pulled anchor at 6:00 P.M., and we enjoyed dinner and getting to know our "most unforgettable waiter" of 7 cruises, Dolly (from Bali), who kept us in stitches and gave us the most outstanding service we've ever had. I think the service was due to the fact that we had second seating and there were only 8 of us at the table(s) he served. We don't really like eating late, but booked the cruise late, and there were no opening at the first seating.(We're looking forward to a couple of cruises on newer ships that have open seating at various restaurants on the ships). There were beautiful floral arrangements throughout the ship, but especially in the dining room. Dinner music was provided by various pianists and sometimes strings every evening. The evening entertainment was just so-so, along with some other shows throughout the cruise. However, I'll mention some we thought were especially good, later.
DAY 5: We cruised along toward Columbia, South America. I discovered the Java (Internet) Cafe where there were over 10 PCs ready for business. Each cabin could use the Internet for 5 minutes free, and the manager gave instructions to those not computer savvy. I found the fee, after the free time, of 75-cents per minute, a bit excessive, especially when my Internet provider updated my account. My wife cut me off of Internet use when I'd racked up over $30 in charges later in the trip. Next to the computers was an excellent coffee bar with FREE lattes, cappuccinos, espressos, and cookies and pastries. Directly across from the coffee bar is a movie theater called the Wajang Theater (on Deck 7) that showed two current movies twice a day. Outside the theater (which probably held 200 people) was a table with free popcorn and cold soda - for a price. A sample of film titles: "Finding Forrester", "The 6th Day". Vertical Limit", "Wonder Boys", "Billy Elliot", etc. There were also movies shown throughout the day on the TVs in the cabins. Some titles: "The Green Mile", "Battlefield Earth", "Almost Famous", "U-571", "The Hurricane", etc.
DAY 6: We arrived in Cartagena, Columbia, South America around 6:00 A.M. The primary city most people, including me, are familiar with is the capital city of Bogota. We didn't care that we'd never heard of Cartagena, because we had never been to South America before and we were excited to be anywhere in this part of the Americas! When the Spanish Conquistadors pillaged the interior of the country in the 16th century, their loot, consisting of gold and emeralds, went to Cartagena for shipment to Spain. Sir Francis Drake was paid a 10 million peso ransom to not burn the city in 1586. After that, Spain spent considerable effort to fortify Cartagena with walls and forts, which were completed 100 years later and worked to defend the city from an English force of 24,000 men and almost 200 ships in 1741. In 2001 we took a trip to one of the old forts and appreciated the work that went into the 300+ year-old structure. It even had a form of air conditioning built into it! Of course we bought some Columbian-grown coffee (which has turned out to be no better than Columbian-grown coffee in a can in the U.S. - but, hey, we bought it in South America!) and other souvenirs. I'm here to tell you that you can get tremendous bargains ($3 for a beautiful leather belt that I didn't need) when you're the last person on the last tour bus! We departed Cartagena at 4:00 P.M., getting some pizza and ice cream to carry us to dinner four hours later. The evening's entertainment was furnished by singer Pamela Blake, and who was first rate at singing Broadway show tunes.
DAY 7: found us entering the staging area to enter the Gatun Locks - the first of the 3 locks of the PANAMA CANAL. If you're interested in seeing the Panama Canal in action, check out the Panama Canal site at http://www.pancanal.com. It takes vessels about 2 1/2 hours to be raised 85 feet to Gatun Lake, which we traversed at a snail's pace through verdant jungles for 3 hours, to another set of locks which would lower us to the Pacific Ocean's level. My wife and I went trough the Suez Canal in 2000, and saw virtually nothing but desert and a ship in front of us and a ship behind us except when we met oncoming ships anchored in a lake waiting their turn to go to the Red Sea. Also, the Suez Canal doesn't have any locks. In the Panama Canal it was interesting to see monkeys in the trees, mass pelicans and one lonely alligator. Our ship was treated to a running historical and factual commentary like: "A man by the name of Richard Halliburton paid 36-cents to SWIM the Canal in 10-days in 1928! There are about 14,000 trips made through the Panama Canal yearly, etc." The Ryndam paid a toll of over $100,000! A little after 6:00 P.M. the high-rises of Panama City were very visible, and around 6:30 we went under the impressive Bridge of the Americas, connecting South & Central America. If the cruise ended at this point, the trip would've been worth it! After a wonderful dinner, we took in a show by Red, Hot & Blue (3 guys & 3 gals [singers and dancers] from Branson, MO) topping off a most interesting and relaxing day.
Day 8: At 10:00 A.M. we had a 2nd lifeboat drill! I guess we didn't do good enough the 1st one. Back in 1962 when I was taking my 1st 13-day cruise across the Pacific Ocean from Oakland, Ca to Yokohama, Japan on the troop ship USS Gen. Breckinridge, we had at least 3 lifeboat drills, but then we were trying to set the world's fastest time of reaching our lifeboat station, which I think we did. The 2nd drill on the Ryndam wasn't exactly a record-setter, but evidently it was good enough, because we didn't have to do it again on this day. This was was also the day I sent my last e.mail when I got the bill for using the Internet. After lunch my wife and I took rhumba lessons, then I took a bridge tour while she saw "The Wonder Boys" in the Wajang Theater. After these activities we read, then got spiffed up for our second formal dinner. I'll have to say the menus were exceptionally good. The variety was excellent, and the Maitre D' would send us plates of items we hadn't ordered so we could try them, including desserts! We had one vegitarian at our table, and they were always pleased with their fare, as was the one diabetic (especially at dessert time). The after-dinner show: "The Twin Piano Twins (identical): Mark & Clark (Seymour) truly were as billed, "--- unique in all the world!" This show was the best of any cruise we've taken.
DAY 9: This was another day at sea, and we needed another lifeboat drill or something in the morning. At 11:00 A.M. we did attend a "celebrity chat session" with the piano twins Mark & Clark which proved to be very interesting. I liked HAL hosting these chats which shed light on how and why entertainers do shows on ships. After the "chat" we took advantage of one of the biggest amenities on the Ryndam: LAUNDRY FACILITIES! On a 7-day cruise, it's not really necessary to wash clothes, but anything longer (on most ships) it's necessary to wash your clothes in the sink, or send them (for outragious prices) to the shipboard laundry. There are several laundry room with four washers and dryers, plus an iron and ironing board on the ship. Let me tell you, it's a real pain to wash in a sink and dry in the shower - which we did on our 28-day cruise. We took merigue dance lessons in the afternoon, did some reading, went to the show, ate and went to bed.
DAY 10: This was another day we were looking forward to because it was our first visit to Central America! We landed in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala, which is bordered by Mexico, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador. Some of the ship's more physically fit passengers took a one-hour plane trip north to Tikal, an ancient Mayan city once populated with 100,000 people and thousands of stone structures, including 20-story pyramids! For unknown reasons, by the 10th century, Tikal collapsed. Those from the Ryndam who took this trip said it was well worth the time and expense. My wife and I took a shorter excursion (8 1/2 hours) to Antigua. From the ship to the former capital city was about a three-hour trip by bus. We made a couple of stops: a view spot where we could see two mountain top volcanoes spouting clouds of smoke and steam, and then a museum and coffee plantation. Of course Guatemala claims to have the best coffee - just as Columbia did. After brewing coffee from both nations, I'd side with Guatemala. Of course I bought ground coffe from street vendors in Columbia rather than beans at a coffee plantation in Guatemala, and no doubt the vendors get the cheaper or inferior beans. I know I could have bought the same stuff cheaper at Starbucks or Seattle's Best, but it just isn't as much fun as buying the goods at its original source. Part of our tour (to Antigua) included a "traditional" feast complete with live local musicians and entertainers.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Seniors
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Epinions.com ID:
D_Edgers
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Location: Port Orchard, WA USA
Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Don Edgers
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