Ryndam
Sail date: February 03, 2009
We just experienced the 10 day sea of Cortez on the Ryndam. As always one of the best things on the ship was the room steward. They attended to your every need and were very courteous. I enjoyed the cruise since they visited places like Los Mochis where you can truly experience some of Mexico and not just the tourist traps that you find at most ports. The two tank dive experience in Puerto Vallarta was amazing and is a must do for divers. However, the rest of the trip was very mundane and you didnt get that special feeling that you normally do from a cruise. Because of this it will be a long while before we travel on Holland America again. It started with trying to get part of a special offer we purchased and were supposed to receive. It took three attempts to finally get it; the customer service just didnt understand that you should try to please the customer. The next thing we noticed was that they never cleaned the windows on the ship, and I am talking about the ones in the dining room as well as your room. So if you were enjoying your meal and wanted to take a photo from the window you ended up with salt streaks or just a blurred sight instead of a beautiful sunset. Finally, we questioned one of our excursions. We did the two tank dive in La Plaz (if you value your life you will not do this one until they get the situation corrected). The first thing we noticed was that we were practically on our own. The company was not prepared for us, and we lost a lot of time picking out and trying on our gear. We then had to carry it out to the boat. The gear they had was piece-mealed together and almost everything leaked. The tanks and octopus regulators all had bad seals and were rusty endangering our health (and potentially our lives). To, the boat itself was rusty with peeling paint and it experienced engine troubles going to and returning from the dive site jeopardizing our return time to the cruise ship. This excursion would have been nice for a snorkeling adventure, but I really did question the experience and qualification of this La Plaz dive operation, which reflects on Holland America for having contracted with this dive company.