Ryndam Part 2 - My final post of this Cruise!

Welcome back! You won't be hearing from me for some time now but I'll be back in September as I set sail on the Zuiderdam for Alaska and the Panama Canal. But for now, enjoy some pictures of life on the Ryndam (part 2) and watch The Neptunes perform a tune for your delectation!

We'll start with some shots of the outside of the Ryndam, before moving inside.


Above: The Ryndam, docked at Key West's Mallory Square. This photo was taken from the top of the Key West Shipwreck Museum.


Above: The front face of the Ryndam, taken from the Bow on Deck 7 in Honduras.


Above: A life raft (which can hold 25 crew members) dangles from Deck 7. You can see a lifeboat (for passengers) in the background. Shot taken in Jamaica.


Above: The Lido Pool area on Deck 11 (taken in Jamaica).


Above: The tennis court on Deck 11. Basketball court was situated on the other side of the funnel.


Above: Deck chairs line the Lower Promenade Deck (Deck 6).

Moving inside now, there are many more spaces on the Ryndam which I haven't shown you. Here are a few:


Above: The Lido restaurant - the self-service buffet restaurant on Deck 10. Other Restaurants included the Rotterdam Dining Room (table service), Canaletto (Italian) and Pinnacle Grill (very posh).


Above: A shot of the Showroom at Sea, the Ryndam's main theatre.


Above: An atmospheric shot of the Showroom at Sea during the New Year's Eve celebrations.

We'll take a dive down to Deck 3 now to show you a few more photos from crew areas.


Above: The main corridor which runs the entire length of Deck 3. The elevators in the foreground are for passengers when the ship is docked (as the gangway is located on Deck 3).


Above: The corridor which my cabin was situated on (second on the right). The narrowness shocked me when I first arrived but you soon get used to it. These corridors run at right angles off the main Deck 3 corridor, one on each side, spanning the entire width of the ship.

Let's head back up to passenger areas now, specifically Deck 8 where most of the entertainment took place.


Above: Barry from Boston, entertains the crowds in the Piano Bar.


Above: The Adagio Strings serenade passengers.


Above: Gregg, the Solo Guitarist performing.


Above: The HALCats performing at the New Year's Eve party.


Above: The Neptunes (us!) with Arran, the HALCats Band Leader, who sat in with us regularly.

Many of the musicians on the ships were on shorter contracts than my 6 months, so I saw many come and go including 4 solo pianist, 3 string quartets, 2 solo guitarists and MANY HALCats players!

I'll leave you with a short video of the Neptunes performing Vera Lynn's 'We'll Meet Again'. More video content will be posted on Facebook and YouTube. Thank you for reading my blog and I'll be in touch in September. Stay tuned!