We did a 71 day cruise on the Prinsendam, March - May, 2014 and loved the smaller ship. It was the Grand Med and then the first two week extension from Rome to Amsterdam, around the Iberian Peninsula, up the coast of France to Amsterdam.
The itinerary was outstanding and as one comment above stated, the smaller ports give some new places to visit that bigger ships can't go so we had a chance to see quite a few new places. For example, we sailed up the river to Bordeaux, France, a place usually visited by river cruises.
The rooms were great with walk in closets and much more storage than on other ships.
We had a top quality staff, largely because we were on a Grand Voyage, so I am not sure if the staff will be as experienced on your holiday cruise as we had. The first week in January, the ship does the Grand South America and probably much of Grand Voyage crew will be coming on board and will have had the holidays off.
The only two things we didn't care for were the crowded elevators -- there are only four for the whole ship (but remember the ship capacity was smaller) -- and the Lido pool is open to the sky and, unlike other ships, there is no roof. It means if there is rain, you either leave or get wet. Lido dining of course is covered. I wouldn't let either of those factors deter me from doing another cruise on the Prinsendam.
Prinsendam, Is it worth it?
in Holland America Line
Posted
We did a 71 day cruise on the Prinsendam, March - May, 2014 and loved the smaller ship. It was the Grand Med and then the first two week extension from Rome to Amsterdam, around the Iberian Peninsula, up the coast of France to Amsterdam.
The itinerary was outstanding and as one comment above stated, the smaller ports give some new places to visit that bigger ships can't go so we had a chance to see quite a few new places. For example, we sailed up the river to Bordeaux, France, a place usually visited by river cruises.
The rooms were great with walk in closets and much more storage than on other ships.
We had a top quality staff, largely because we were on a Grand Voyage, so I am not sure if the staff will be as experienced on your holiday cruise as we had. The first week in January, the ship does the Grand South America and probably much of Grand Voyage crew will be coming on board and will have had the holidays off.
The only two things we didn't care for were the crowded elevators -- there are only four for the whole ship (but remember the ship capacity was smaller) -- and the Lido pool is open to the sky and, unlike other ships, there is no roof. It means if there is rain, you either leave or get wet. Lido dining of course is covered. I wouldn't let either of those factors deter me from doing another cruise on the Prinsendam.
We liked the Prinsendam very much.