Prinsendam to Northern Europe

Once again I turn to my friends on the HAL board for enlightenment and advice.

DW & I are planning a cruise to Northern Europe. St. Petersburg is the key destination. We have found a cruise offering (for us) the perfect itinerary at the perfect time. It is billed as the 14-Day Baltic & Kiel Canal Explorer sailing out of Amsterdam on September 7, 2019. (I would prefer more of a "white nights" perspective, which we could have by taking the July 1 sailing, but for reasons of her own DW insists that we cruise after the grandchildren are back in school.)

The snag is the eye-popping fare. The least expensive inside cabin is currently listing at $4,199 pp, not to mention the additional $380 for "taxes, fees, and port expenses." Please educate me: what would make this ship or itinerary worth paying almost $300 per day per passenger for? Are the fares likely to go down if I wait until closer to the sailing (say, February or March of next year)?

I look forward to tapping your collective wisdom. Thank you all!

We did this cruise on the Prinsendam a few years back & loved the itinerary. As for the cost, can't help with that. We were told because the Prinsendam is a smaller ship with fewer passengers the costs go up. I guess you have to decide if the cost is worth it to you. I know you'll love cruise, enjoy.

Allan

I checked and your itinerary is part of the early booking Prinsendam promo. https://www.hollandamerica.com/find-cruise-vacations/CruiseCampaign?dateCode=9_2019&page=0&dest=E&specialOfferCode=cmpgn_EPREBB&specialOfferType=PREBB

What you may wish to do is call and see what the pricing is without the promo and compare apples to apples. Then you can determine if the benefits are worth it to you (they include prepaid HSC).

Will the price go down later? Hard to say. It could go up if the ship is selling well and it could sell out.

What is nice about your itinerary is the sailing down the Elbe River and the Kiel Canal. There aren't a lot of ships that can do this and I will say that when we did it, it was a highlight for us.

Once again I turn to my friends on the HAL board for enlightenment and advice.

 

DW & I are planning a cruise to Northern Europe. St. Petersburg is the key destination. We have found a cruise offering (for us) the perfect itinerary at the perfect time. It is billed as the 14-Day Baltic & Kiel Canal Explorer sailing out of Amsterdam on September 7, 2019. (I would prefer more of a "white nights" perspective, which we could have by taking the July 1 sailing, but for reasons of her own DW insists that we cruise after the grandchildren are back in school.)

 

The snag is the eye-popping fare. The least expensive inside cabin is currently listing at $4,199 pp, not to mention the additional $380 for "taxes, fees, and port expenses." Please educate me: what would make this ship or itinerary worth paying almost $300 per day per passenger for? Are the fares likely to go down if I wait until closer to the sailing (say, February or March of next year)?

 

I look forward to tapping your collective wisdom. Thank you all!

My DW and I have done 25+ cruises on HA. Not until this past May have I sailed Prinsendam.,I too questioned the high fares as compared to the other ships of the fleet with similar itineraries. From other CC members the point was made for the higher fares is that Prinsendam, being a small ship, could go to ports that the larger ships could not go. Prinsendam gets high marks from the vast majority of past cruisers. My wife loved the ship but I did not. I won't sail her again and it is nothing against the ship or the crew. As weird as this seems I just could not get the "feel" for the ship compared to the others in the fleet and I know that is me. Your going to have to decide if you want to pay the extra $$$$ for the luxury of a smaller ship and weather or not you can find a similar itinerary on a different ship at a lower fare.

My DW and I have done 25+ cruises on HA. Not until this past May have I sailed Prinsendam.,I too questioned the high fares as compared to the other ships of the fleet with similar itineraries. From other CC members the point was made for the higher fares is that Prinsendam, being a small ship, could go to ports that the larger ships could not go. Prinsendam gets high marks from the vast majority of past cruisers. My wife loved the ship but I did not. I won't sail her again and it is nothing against the ship or the crew. As weird as this seems I just could not get the "feel" for the ship compared to the others in the fleet and I know that is me. Your going to have to decide if you want to pay the extra $$$$ for the luxury of a smaller ship and weather or not you can find a similar itinerary on a different ship at a lower fare.

It is not just you. We didn’t get the feel either.

We were underwhelmed and regretted paying a higher per diem for a Holland America ship.

First comment my husband made was that the ship is very plain. Food and service were mostly good but pretty much standard for the fleet. The previous year we had a better experience for less money on the Ryndam.

Pay a bit more and choose Viking or Oceania. Viking offers a terrific product, especially in Northern Europe. And we love, love Oceania. We have more cruises booked on both lines.

Thanks to all who have taken the trouble to respond.

It's especially interesting to learn that Prinsendam is not everybody's cup of tea. I surmise that Prinsendam possesses the usual features I have grown to love on board HAL ships: on-board Catholic priest as chaplain, the Adagio Strings, the Yum Yum man, the Mariners luncheon, among others that are no doubt escaping my mind at the moment. But are there other benefits on Prinsendam that mark it off from the rest of the HAL fleet. For instance, I note that Viking Ocean sailings include beer, wine, and soft drinks at no additional charge at lunch and dinner. Does anything of the sort stand out for Prinsendam that is not standard for HAL? Is there anything other than the smaller size that justifies the price premium?

Can anyone point me to a thread on CC that covers a head-to-head comparison between HAL and Viking Ocean?

Thanks to all who have taken the trouble to respond.

 

It's especially interesting to learn that Prinsendam is not everybody's cup of tea. I surmise that Prinsendam possesses the usual features I have grown to love on board HAL ships: on-board Catholic priest as chaplain, the Adagio Strings, the Yum Yum man, the Mariners luncheon, among others that are no doubt escaping my mind at the moment. But are there other benefits on Prinsendam that mark it off from the rest of the HAL fleet. For instance, I note that Viking Ocean sailings include beer, wine, and soft drinks at no additional charge at lunch and dinner. Does anything of the sort stand out for Prinsendam that is not standard for HAL? Is there anything other than the smaller size that justifies the price premium?

 

Can anyone point me to a thread on CC that covers a head-to-head comparison between HAL and Viking Ocean?

Yes, Prinsendam has the Adagio strings and they were the best on all of my sailings on her.

There are no freebies per se, but at Happy hour, there were always the lovely hors' d'hoeuvre and the staff know what you want very quickly. All you need to do is nod. ;)

The ship is different from the other HAL ships in layout and crew to passenger ratio. Much higher on the P'dam.

there is a "vibe" on the ship. Many love it but it's not for everyone. No question.

The itineraries are part of it's intrigue and it's crew.

So far, I have found the service and food "up a notch" from the other HAL ships.

We are sailing on her in May and I usually do a LIVE thread. Trust me, if I find things are not up to snuff, my disappointment will be clear on my live thread. Our cruise isn't cheap either but I am anticipating (and hoping) we have the same experience we have had on our other cruises. This one gives us 100+ days on her if that's any indication.

Sorry, can't help you with Viking comparisons. I actually went looking at Viking but they don't offer the itinerary we are doing. Couldn't find it anywhere with the combinations we have other than this cruise on the Prinsendam.

And, I should add, since we are doing a TA and some Irish seas, I'll take this ship over any other if we do have to hit some rough ones. She really does cut through the waves.

Thanks to all who have taken the trouble to respond.

 

It's especially interesting to learn that Prinsendam is not everybody's cup of tea. I surmise that Prinsendam possesses the usual features I have grown to love on board HAL ships: on-board Catholic priest as chaplain, the Adagio Strings, the Yum Yum man, the Mariners luncheon, among others that are no doubt escaping my mind at the moment. But are there other benefits on Prinsendam that mark it off from the rest of the HAL fleet. For instance, I note that Viking Ocean sailings include beer, wine, and soft drinks at no additional charge at lunch and dinner. Does anything of the sort stand out for Prinsendam that is not standard for HAL? Is there anything other than the smaller size that justifies the price premium?

 

Can anyone point me to a thread on CC that covers a head-to-head comparison between HAL and Viking Ocean?

Viking does not compete with Holland America so I haven’t seen a detailed Point by point comparison. There are multiple comparison threads discussing Viking verses premium and luxury lines.

Viking does not compete with Holland America so I haven’t seen a detailed Point by point comparison. There are multiple comparison threads discussing Viking verses premium and luxury lines.

Well, one of the other posters suggested that we spend a few dollars more to upgrade to Viking for a Northern Europe cruise that includes St. Petersburg. So, in that sense at least, HAL and Viking compete with each other.

There is so much that we (DW & I) enjoy in the HAL experience that I can't fathom why we would want to "upgrade" to another luxury class. If we're content to drive Buicks, we need a pretty darned good reason to shell out thousands of dollars more on a Lexus.

Thanks to all who have taken the trouble to respond.

 

It's especially interesting to learn that Prinsendam is not everybody's cup of tea. I surmise that Prinsendam possesses the usual features I have grown to love on board HAL ships: on-board Catholic priest as chaplain, the Adagio Strings, the Yum Yum man, the Mariners luncheon, among others that are no doubt escaping my mind at the moment. But are there other benefits on Prinsendam that mark it off from the rest of the HAL fleet. For instance, I note that Viking Ocean sailings include beer, wine, and soft drinks at no additional charge at lunch and dinner. Does anything of the sort stand out for Prinsendam that is not standard for HAL? Is there anything other than the smaller size that justifies the price premium?

 

Can anyone point me to a thread on CC that covers a head-to-head comparison between HAL and Viking Ocean?

I agree with Jacqui about the Prinsendam. While it is not everyone's cup of tea, it is definitely our favorite ship. We have spent 275 days on her in the past eight years. They have all the things that you love about HAL, Mariner's recepton and lucnch, Adagio, and the great, friendly crew.

Yes, it is an older ship, but they have spent a lot on her in the last several years, and she will have another dry dock next December. Part of the higher price is the unusual itineraries, but part of it is the higher crew to passenger ratio. Also, remember, even on a smaller ship, they need to have the same number of navigation officers, engineering officers, and hotel department officers in order to keep the ship's operations running smoothly. With fewer passengers, there is a smaller base to pay for this cost.

As Jacqui also said, the price could go down or if the cruise is selling well, it could go up. We have generally booked closer to the date of the cruise, often after final payment, and were lucky to have the price lower than what was offerred when the itinerary was first published.

For us, she really is the Elegant Explorer.