Western Caribbean Cruise - March 10-17 from Tampa. The smaller ship ended up being one of the biggest bonuses of being on the Ryndam. Nothing seemed a long walk, and they had enough of everything on the ship that you didn't seem to be missing out on anything that the bigger ships had - other than the crowds. We found that it was definitely a quieter ship - which was nice - less running around - fewer lines at the breakfast and lunch buffets and lots of room around the pool on sea days. There never seemed to be the huge lines and crowds you usually encounter when on bigger ships.

Our EMBARKATION was very smooth. We arrived via cab to the port in Tampa at about 11:40. They opened the doors for registration at noon and we were dropping off our carry-ons in our cabin at 12:30 and were off to the main dining room for lunch.

Our CABIN was midship on the Main Deck - Quiet and easy to access the elevators and stairs. We tried to use the stairs as much as possible, but when using the elevators we never had to deal with full elevators. It was an interior room - nothing special as far as decor or size - but clean and updated. The stewards did a great job and seemed to invisibly know when the room was empty. The one problem we did have was with our air conditioning. They immediately brought a large fan to our room which worked out fine - did the trick while we were sleeping and spent little time in the room anyways. When it was fixed after a couple of days we found a letter in our door apologizing for the inconvenience and a generous credit to our account for the troubles. Nice touch to make the offer without even asking for it. Read more