Prinsendam Oct 28 - Nov 9 -- Athens to Lisbon

Hi all,

Just returned from a very nice sailing on Prinsendam. Here are a few thoughts/opinions/comments:

Embarkation: EXCELLENT !! No lines/no wait and onboard by 11am

Ship condition: Elegantly worn. Classic ocean liner feel. NOT hotel/resort like.

The ship is FULL of fresh flowers arragements that are HUGE

and beautiful. The artwork onboard is varied and interesting.

This ship is NOT for those who expect NEW surroundings with

flashy decor. This ship is aging as is evident both inside the

ship (furnishings) and outside (rusting decks and hull). BUT WE

LIKED IT ANYWAY !!

Service: Very friendly crew, smiling and eager to please. Dining service was

slooooow as has been the case on our last 3 HAL sailings. This by

no means ruined our trip!

Food: EXCELLENT , Lido food was the best of any ship that we have

previously sailed -- this was cruise #20 something for us.

Diningroom food was better than average with a wide

range of choices each night. Soups were MUCH improved

over previous HAL sailings. Prompting soup bowl re-fills

on several nights ....LOL

Cabin: GOOD, the mattress was horrible but they are currently being replaced

shipwide. We had cabin SS022. TV in cabin was excessively

small in relation to the size of the cabin. Veranda would have

easily supported 2 loungers and a table for 4; however HAL only

provides 3 chairs with 1 ottoman for this cabin.

We took the time to tour cabins on embarkation day. IMO --

SS cabins at the "bump out" forward deck are the best bet -

the verandas are MUCH larger than other SS verandas and

the "cover" over our veranda was excellent. The cat S cabins

are of course Great, but unless you have money to burn, stick

with the SS cabins.

The new cat A cabins added to the ship by HAL were also very

nice with all new furnishings and great verandas.

Entertainment: THE weak spot for this sailing. Cruise director was

inexperienced and didnt connect with passengers. Shows

didnt appeal to us. (however, will didnt attend all shows)

Again, this didnt spoil our trip...

Fellow passengers: 60+ years old on average, as expected (we are mid-30's).

We dont mind older fellow passengers, thus we continually

return to HAL.

Disembarkation: We were off the ship by 8:45 am and we were some of the

last to leave.

If you have any questions about the ship, let me know,

Travlnman

Thanks for the information!:)

Glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise. Did you prefer the smaller ship vs. the larger "mega-ships"? We are very much looking forward to our cruise on the Prinsendam next summer!:cool:

The largest ship that we had sailed on prior to the Prinsendam was the Zuiderdam (~82,000 tons). WOW, what a contrast !! We much prefer the smaller ship experience ----With 1 addition- a passenger/space ratio >46 which is the case with Prinsendam. There are other small vessels (ie, Horizon, Zenith, Holiday, Celebration) that have poor space ratios. I have sailed on all of the afore mentioned ships and all had lines to wait in and crowded public areas. We never encountered lines on Prinsendam. At times during the evenings, the ship seemed hauntingly empty --- WE LIKED IT !! Others on this board may refer to this ship as boring... We felt at times like we were on a private yacht. We created our own entertainment and had a great vacation.

3 of the ports of call required tender service. Within an hour of arrival at each port the "Open Tender" announcement was made - (ie. no need to crowd into a public space and wait of a tender number to be called).

On the Prinsendam, we attended a meeting with the Social Hostess and Hotel Manager and we learned that the next class of ships from HAL we be ~35- 40,000 ton ships with 800 passenger capacity. WE WILL BE THE FIRST TO BOOK WHEN THEY DEBUT.

Travlnman

We also really enjoyed our recent Prinsendam cruise that went the other way ... Lisbon to Athens. The smaller ship had a more intimate feel, but we didn't feel like we were in a shoebox by any means. The nicest thing was that you could get from stem to stern in just about 2 minutes! Very easy to get around in.

Glad you liked the Prinsendam. We had a fabulous cruise on her in the cabin next to yours just in September/October, with Jim Hannah.

I'm very happy to hear that more of the smaller ships are coming. :D :D :D

Was the ship full?

Lefty Bob

Your great comments were very much appreciated. Those of us who are interested in the Prinsendam have not been able to find as much information on the ship as on other vessels. I was interested in your comments on the new A cabins on Promenade Deck - both the cabins and the decks looked larger on the deck plans, but it was nice to hear you confirm that. Any other observations on those A cabins ? Were the furnishings and trim different from the regular A's ? How did they compare in size - cabin and veranda - to the SS you had ? We are booked in one of them on next fall's Transatlantic crossing, which makes us particularly interested. Thanks for any further info you can provide.

Thanks so much for your review. We are leaving in about 4 wks for the Prinsendam's Holiday cruise. We are booked into 1 of the AA Cat cabins on the Promanade deck and in addition to the deck and larger cabins, I choose these cabins for the specific reason that I thought the bed would be much newer than those on other decks. There is nothing worse for me to sail for 16 nts in an uncomfortable bed. When I read your review it sounded like your only complaint was the bed. So, I hope your observations on these newer cabins on the Promanade deck holds true for the bedding. Thanks again for the info - greatly appreciated.

Travlnman

I agree with you regarding the size of the ship. I love the smaller size ships.

We sailed on the Prinsendam on 3rd October from Athens to Venice via the Black Sea and we had a full ship yet there were never signs of a lot of people on board. We tendered twice and there were never any lines.

We also had an SS 051 and the first thing I did on embarkation was a) to ask for an egg crate mattress for the bed and b) to ask for a lounge for the verandah.

We received both within a couple of hours and the lounge on the verandah was fantastic as we also had to the two "cane" chairs and table and it still wasn't crowded.

I also agree with you regarding the Entertainment and the Cruise Director. We found the shows put on by the chorus/dancers were very tame and the Cruise Director wasn't brilliant but that didn't spoil our cruise in anyway as we always have late sitting and usually go to bed around 10.30 - 11pm anyway.

Jennie

Yes, the sailing was full; therefore if anyone is fortunate enough to be on a sailing that is not full, then WOW it would be that much better. Even with a full ship, good seats are easily found on the lido and the Queens Lounge.

The new cat A (or AA) whatever they are called have much deeper verandas than the other cabins of the same category. The only drawback that I could detect with the newer cabins would be that the veranda is mostly open (exposed from above); therefore, if you sail in the Caribbean or a tropical climate it might get a little hot on the mostly exposed balcony.

Yes, there is quite a difference in size between cat AA and cat SS cabins.

The SS cabin is about 1/3 larger than the cat A. However, if I remember correctly, the balcony is larger for the new cat A cabins than the SS cabins -----except for the cat SS cabins at the "Bump Out" at the forward section of the Veranda Deck. Would I spend more than $100pp to upgrade to the SS category from the cat A ?? NO.......

Here is a tip.... I am not sure which categories have a DVD player. But our SS cabin had one and we purchased a small CD pouch and several new DVD releases to take with us on our trip. This was an excellent idea since afternoons of CNN and the movie selections offered in the cabin tend to get boring. We loved the show Friends, so we purchased the complete 1st and 2nd season collections and this provided great entertainment for those lazy sleep in mornings or at late afternoons while getting ready for dinner.

Travlnman

Hi all,

Just returned from a very nice sailing on Prinsendam. Here are a few thoughts/opinions/comments:

 

If you have any questions about the ship, let me know,

Travlnman

We are booked for Nov 2005 sailing up the Amazon.

I am nervous about this ship. We have been sail the past few years on the new large ships. We are in Cat D. Most all the postings are of S & SS

We usually do inside cabins as we do not spend much time there except to sleep or nap and Sailing the Caribbean there is not much to see out the window, except water.

Have you seen inside the D cabins (we wanted midship as I am afraid of getting sea sick).

Does she have the ice cream bar that we remember from the Amsterdam? That is my husbands favorite place.

Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Crusinggranny

Cruising Granny,

We were on the Prinsendam in October and I am sure you will love the ship. As I mentioned above we were in an SS but my sister was in a C about two years ago when the Prinsendam first went to HAL. She loved her cabin and is a very fussy traveller having been on over 25 long cruises of at least 14 days or longer. She is doing the S.A. trip on 16th December on the Amsterdam in a suite. I am mentioning this just to let you know she does appreciate the finer things in life.

I am sure you will love it. My sister was wanting to do the Amazon cruise in 2005 but left her booking too late, so you are one of the lucky ones.

Yes, there is an icecream bar. My husband had ice-cream quite a few times whilst on board. It is in the Lido.

Jennie

Great to hear that HAL's new-builds will be 35/40000 ton ships - can't abide those floating apartment blocks.

There's a couple of nice reviews over on 'that other board' on Prinsendan's

t-A voyage. Seems quite a few people who joined in Athens stayed on board all the way to Ft. Lauderdale.

Thanks for sharing your experience. On the entertainment side, was the live music/bands lively to provide enjoyable dance rhythm?

Hi,Cruiseoften

Can you be a bit more specific on "the other message board" ? I tried a couple of boards that I know of but couldn't find anything. I would really like to see the reviews you mention. Thanks