Prinsendam Reviews

[RuffinReady]

We are booked for May 9, 2005 transatlantic with back-to-back onto Athens. I have read some great and some less than great reviews on the P. We have a friend who sailed on her in Oct. 2003 and called her the "ship from hell":mad: . The A/C was down and the plumbing didn't work:mad:

Our recent experiences were on the Galaxy and the Royal Princess 2x32 days. I have heard that the P is having her water pipes replaced and getting new bedding, but don't know the status of this work. I would appreciate some recent information, including food, staterooms and entertainment. Thanks

Bermuda Star (long time ago!)
S.S. France (1965)
S.S Atlantic (American Export)
Europa (1969 - North German Lloyd)
Statendam
Song of America
Crown Princess (1999 & 2002)
Royal Princess (2001 & 2002)
Galaxy (2003)

[Brandis]

Did the transatlantic last month and loved the ship! Never had a problem. The ship will be in dry dock before leaving for the World Cruise, so a lot of the points mentioned in some reports should have been fixed then.

I have some pictures on my website: www.brandis.org

If you have any questions, just ask and I will be happy to help if I can!

Marc

[RuffinReady]

Thanks Marc, I am happy that they are going into drydock and then shakedown on the world cruise. I hope that they are able to fix all of their problems before my cruise in May. My friend's cabin and public rooms were over 80 degrees during a Panama Canal crossing in 2003 and with no cold water, only hot in the bathrooms. I don't want to be 26 days on a ship with A/C and water problems! I have had two 32 day cruises on the Royal Princess which was a great ship and look forward to this cruise in May. I have been to the western Med. before as a bachelor and wanted to see it again with my wife, along with Greece and Turkey.

Some reviewers said that HAL/Carnival are beginning to cut down on their expenses by reducing entertainment, maintenance and quality of food. Did
you see any signs of this on your voyage on the Prinsendam?:confused:

You said that you sailed transatlantic from Lisbon. We will be stopping there on our trip. Do you have any suggestions for land tours? I would appreciate any advice that you have, including on any other ports that you favor. Regards. Ruffin


Bermuda Star (long time ago!)
S.S. France (Transatlantic -1965)
S.S Atlantic (Transatlantic, Mediterranean - American Export Lines - 1966)
Europa (Caribbean - 1969 - North German Lloyd)
Statendam (Caribbean - 1975)
Sunward (Bahamas - c. 1980)
Song of America (Caribbean - 1988)
Crown Princess (Alaska - 1999)
Royal Princess (Double to South America - 2001)
Crown Princess (Baltic - 2002)
Royal Princess (Triple;Transatlantic,France,Belgium,Holland;Gt.Br itain-2002)
Galaxy (Caribbean - 2003)
Next - Prinsendam (Transatlantic, Mediterranean-May 2005)

[Brandis]

I didn't feel there were any cutbacks. We had a Cat. S suite and we had 3 floral arrangements in the cabin, which were replaced when they started to wilt. Nice attention to details. Also, everyone on board was very friendly and the crew took very good care of us. I thought the food was quite good, maybe with exception of pasta dishes, which were overcooked for my taste.

The ship was very clean and some maintenance was done on some decks, looked like they were replacing plumbing.

I had no complaints and am looking forward to our next cruise on Prinsendam.

I can't tell you much about Lisbon, as we flew in on embarcation day and went to the ship directly from the airport.

We did a Med cruise from Barcelona in summer 2002 on a RCL ship, so I might be able to give advice about some of the ports you are visiting. We called at Villefranche, Civitavecchia, Florence, Naples, Athens, and Malta. Public transport in all these cities is very good, so we did all our excursions on our own, using trains and public busses. This saved us a lot of money.

Hope this helps!

Marc

[RuffinReady]

Thanks for the critique. I feel much better now that I know that the ship is up to standards and repairs on the pumbing are underway. I am now more confident that other repairs will be done during drydock before the world cruise in January.

I would appreciate any information that you may be able to give me about Barcelona as we will be there overnight.

If you haven't been around South America, I can highly recommend that voyage. My favorite ports were at Devil's Island (French Guiana), Buenos Aires (Tango Dancers!), Falkland Island (Penguins) and around Cape Horn. Cape Horn was an unique experience. We did have to get Yellow Fever shots because of our stop in French Guiana, but it was worth it.

Happy cruising,

Ruffin

Bermuda Star (long time ago!)
S.S. France (Transatlantic -1965)
S.S Atlantic (Transatlantic, Mediterranean - American Export Lines - 1966)
Europa (Caribbean - 1969 - North German Lloyd)
Statendam (Caribbean - 1975)
Sunward (Bahamas - c. 1980)
Song of America (Caribbean - 1988)
Crown Princess (Alaska - 1999)
Royal Princess (Double to South America - 2001)
Crown Princess (Baltic - 2002)
Royal Princess (Triple;Transatlantic,France,Belgium,Holland;Gt.Br itain-2002)
Galaxy (Caribbean - 2003)
Next - Prinsendam (Transatlantic, Mediterranean-May 2005)

[louiskam]

South America sounds very interesting to us (more on the east to south coasts) on our 2006 list. And HAL seems to have a lot of experience on this route.

[RuffinReady]

Marc.

I posted an earlier note about my concerns with water pipes leaking. My concern was based on a conversation with a friend who had crossed west to east via the Panama Canal in Oct. 03. Here is a posting that I found on another message board dated June 20, 2004. I am hoping that you can comment on it.

Date: 06-20-04 11:42

Hi,
I'm responding for your request for more information on the Prinsendam:
The ports of call (Nessebur, Bulgaria; Odessa Ukraine, and Kusadasi, Turkey were fantastic. The problems we endured were with the ship. It leaked water everywhere. The crew could not contain the leaks which meant many toilets were not working. Throughout the decks there were puddles of water along with buckets to catch the leaking water. On one day we were without hot water in our cabin. Our cabin was an outside cabin on deck 6. It is located directly below a work station on the Promenade (deck 7), and we had constant loud noise from workers gathering tools and equipment. With the on-going leakage and plumbing problems there was constant noise from maintenance workers attempting to fix the problem. My biggest complaint with HAL was that we could not find any member of the staff including supervisors on up to the manager of the hotel division to take our complaints seriously enough to move us to a quieter cabin. We've cruised with Princess, RCCL and Mediterranean Shipping Lines and in our opinion this ship was in the worst condition of any we've been on. I checked the schedule for Prinsendam and noticed it was cruising non-stop for most of the year, so I don't know how or when they will be able to fix the plumbing. If you are considering sailing on this ship, perhaps you should call HAL and ask if the plumbing is still a problem. Since my return, I have read other complaints about noise endured in cabins on deck 6.
Hope this information helps.

Hope to hear from you or anyone who has useful information.

Regards,

Ruffin

[Aussie Gal]

We sailed on the Prinsendam this October (2004) and did the same cruise as your friend only a year later. We had a fabulous cruise and could not fault the ship. The food was the best we have eaten on a cruise, the staff were so obliging and the Captain was excellent with a great sense of humour.

We had an SS cabin. Our flowers in it were replaced half way through the cruise and we were well looked after. I believe the new beds will be in place before the world cruise and also new carpets. It is an older ship and in our stateroom the woodwork on the cabinets showed its age plus our carpet needed replacing but other than that we had no complaints. We had no problems with plumbing or with the toilets. The walk in wardrobes are fabulous and our verandah was a good size.

You should have a great cruise.

Jennie.

[Brandis]

I didn't notice any leaking, it looked more like regular maintenance work.

One afternoon, there was no hot water for about an hour, but it was announced in the morning with a little note left at the door.

The carpet and furnishing in our cabin looked quite good, I think the carpet had been replaced recently. Also our bed was great, we slept wonderfully in it.

Marc