Brandis
November 26th, 2004, 10:02 AM
Hello all!
Last tuesday, we returned to grey and cold Switzerland after a great cruise on Prinsendam. The 7 sea days in a row were so relaxing. Weather was excellent all the time except for one day where it was a bit rainy and the sea a bit choppy.
Here are some random thoughts in no particular order:
As some of you might know, I surprised my friend with a suite. He thought we would be in an inside cabin. I could keep it a secret until I opened the door... :-)
Check-in was really quick, took about 5 minutes and we didn't have to stay in line because we were in a suite. We arrived around 2 PM and the cabin was ready for us, so we headed there immedeatly to drop the carry-on luggage. Then we went down to check out the Neptune Lounge. As we entered, we were immedeatly greeted by name, what a nice touch.
Every informations letter delivered to our suite was personalized with our names, also very thoughtful.
On the first evening, we were invited to a Welcome Aboard cocktail party for all suite guests in the captain's quarters.
Suite guests could enjoy breakfast and lunch in the Pinnacle grill.
We had a very nice table for two at the back of the dining room, right next to the panoramic windows. Food was always excellent with the exception of pasta which was mostly overcooked and somewhat bland.
Our verandah was very spacious and originally contained 2 chairs, 1 ottoman and 1 loungechair. We asked our room steward for a second loungechair which was provided the next morning. Even then we still had plenty of room to move around on the verandah.
After fiddling a bit with the temperature control of the AC, we found the temperature we felt comfortable with. At night, we always slept with the verandah door open.
On Prinsendam, all suites (17 in all, 1 Penthouse and 16 deluxe) are named after explorers. The sign on the outside of the cabin door bears the room number, explorers name and his signature. Right behind the cabin door there is a plaque telling the history of the explorer the room is named after and in the living room area is a picture frame containing memorabilia and/or pictures also related to the suite's namesake. Suite 001 (ours) was the Cook Suite. This was the most forward suite on the right of deck 12 (Sports Deck), right behind the Crow's Nest. Even though the official entrance to the Crow's Nest was the corridor on the left side of the ship, there was a door right next to our cabin door with a sign saying "Emergency Exit only" but the bar staff told us we could use it to get to the Crow's Nest.
On Half Moon Cay, we rented the Pink Cabana. The evening before we arrived there, the Asst. Food & Beverage manager came to our suite to ask what kind of drinks we would like in the fridge in the cabana and to explain us how the tender procedure worked. The next morning, he and the Executive Chef (both german speaking) waited for us at the pier on HMC and escorted us to the cabana, which is the third from the far end of the beach. On the way there we saw one cabana which was under construction and one right next to ours which hadn't been reconstructed, only the patio and some chairs were visible, the cabana-structure was missing. The cabana boy took very good care for us and was there all the time, he didn't have any other cabanas to attend to. We loved it there and were the last passengers to leave the island. The Asst. F&B Manager and the Exec. Chef came by several times during the day to make sure everything was ok!
In Ft. Lauderdale, it took quite a long time until the officials cleared the ship and disembarkation could start. I think it was around 9.20 or so. After getting up, we went down to the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast (only time for the entire cruise, the other days, we always got up too late, so we had to go to the Lido for breakfast. We could leave our stuff in the cabin and after breakfast we went to the Neptune Lounge to await disembarkation. Thanks to our suite passes, we were among the first off the ship. Immigration was quite easy and when we stepped outside the terminal after picking up our luggage, there weren't even any taxis waiting yet. When they finally arrived, it was a bit tricky at first to get one as everybody just rushed to the cab as soon as it arrived. But in the end, there was a steady stream of taxis showing up and also a somewhat orderly queueline was formed.
Before the cruise, I read some posts here about clogged toilets etc. We didn't experience any of this but on deck 9 in the accomodations corridors, a lot of ceiling panels were removed to reveal the plumbing and apparently some work was done there. Also, in some areas it smelled a bit moldy, but not to the point of being disgusting...
I have posted some photos of the ship and our suite on my homepage
www.brandis.org
Check it out if you like!
Some key personnel:
Captain: Hans Mateboer
Cruise Director: Bruce Scudder
Social Hostess: Sheri Tushi(?)
Neptune Lounge Concierge: Rich (She is the best!!!)
Everyone on board was very helpful and friendly and a lot of them were remembering our names after just meeting once, in the case of the Neptune Lounge staff they even knew our names without even having met us before, neat!
Sorry for this long post but I thought it might be of interest to people planning to cruise on the Prinsendam, as there isn't very much information available about her...
We are already thinking about taking another cruise on her next summer!
Marc
Last tuesday, we returned to grey and cold Switzerland after a great cruise on Prinsendam. The 7 sea days in a row were so relaxing. Weather was excellent all the time except for one day where it was a bit rainy and the sea a bit choppy.
Here are some random thoughts in no particular order:
As some of you might know, I surprised my friend with a suite. He thought we would be in an inside cabin. I could keep it a secret until I opened the door... :-)
Check-in was really quick, took about 5 minutes and we didn't have to stay in line because we were in a suite. We arrived around 2 PM and the cabin was ready for us, so we headed there immedeatly to drop the carry-on luggage. Then we went down to check out the Neptune Lounge. As we entered, we were immedeatly greeted by name, what a nice touch.
Every informations letter delivered to our suite was personalized with our names, also very thoughtful.
On the first evening, we were invited to a Welcome Aboard cocktail party for all suite guests in the captain's quarters.
Suite guests could enjoy breakfast and lunch in the Pinnacle grill.
We had a very nice table for two at the back of the dining room, right next to the panoramic windows. Food was always excellent with the exception of pasta which was mostly overcooked and somewhat bland.
Our verandah was very spacious and originally contained 2 chairs, 1 ottoman and 1 loungechair. We asked our room steward for a second loungechair which was provided the next morning. Even then we still had plenty of room to move around on the verandah.
After fiddling a bit with the temperature control of the AC, we found the temperature we felt comfortable with. At night, we always slept with the verandah door open.
On Prinsendam, all suites (17 in all, 1 Penthouse and 16 deluxe) are named after explorers. The sign on the outside of the cabin door bears the room number, explorers name and his signature. Right behind the cabin door there is a plaque telling the history of the explorer the room is named after and in the living room area is a picture frame containing memorabilia and/or pictures also related to the suite's namesake. Suite 001 (ours) was the Cook Suite. This was the most forward suite on the right of deck 12 (Sports Deck), right behind the Crow's Nest. Even though the official entrance to the Crow's Nest was the corridor on the left side of the ship, there was a door right next to our cabin door with a sign saying "Emergency Exit only" but the bar staff told us we could use it to get to the Crow's Nest.
On Half Moon Cay, we rented the Pink Cabana. The evening before we arrived there, the Asst. Food & Beverage manager came to our suite to ask what kind of drinks we would like in the fridge in the cabana and to explain us how the tender procedure worked. The next morning, he and the Executive Chef (both german speaking) waited for us at the pier on HMC and escorted us to the cabana, which is the third from the far end of the beach. On the way there we saw one cabana which was under construction and one right next to ours which hadn't been reconstructed, only the patio and some chairs were visible, the cabana-structure was missing. The cabana boy took very good care for us and was there all the time, he didn't have any other cabanas to attend to. We loved it there and were the last passengers to leave the island. The Asst. F&B Manager and the Exec. Chef came by several times during the day to make sure everything was ok!
In Ft. Lauderdale, it took quite a long time until the officials cleared the ship and disembarkation could start. I think it was around 9.20 or so. After getting up, we went down to the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast (only time for the entire cruise, the other days, we always got up too late, so we had to go to the Lido for breakfast. We could leave our stuff in the cabin and after breakfast we went to the Neptune Lounge to await disembarkation. Thanks to our suite passes, we were among the first off the ship. Immigration was quite easy and when we stepped outside the terminal after picking up our luggage, there weren't even any taxis waiting yet. When they finally arrived, it was a bit tricky at first to get one as everybody just rushed to the cab as soon as it arrived. But in the end, there was a steady stream of taxis showing up and also a somewhat orderly queueline was formed.
Before the cruise, I read some posts here about clogged toilets etc. We didn't experience any of this but on deck 9 in the accomodations corridors, a lot of ceiling panels were removed to reveal the plumbing and apparently some work was done there. Also, in some areas it smelled a bit moldy, but not to the point of being disgusting...
I have posted some photos of the ship and our suite on my homepage
www.brandis.org
Check it out if you like!
Some key personnel:
Captain: Hans Mateboer
Cruise Director: Bruce Scudder
Social Hostess: Sheri Tushi(?)
Neptune Lounge Concierge: Rich (She is the best!!!)
Everyone on board was very helpful and friendly and a lot of them were remembering our names after just meeting once, in the case of the Neptune Lounge staff they even knew our names without even having met us before, neat!
Sorry for this long post but I thought it might be of interest to people planning to cruise on the Prinsendam, as there isn't very much information available about her...
We are already thinking about taking another cruise on her next summer!
Marc