Prinsendam Irish & Scottish Explorer Review

Irish & Scottish Explorer – August 4-18, 2017

I thought I would do a short review about our first cruise on themsPrinsendam.

Background: I was on thiscruise with my mother and sister. My mother has mobility issues and we shared ahandicap accessible cabin (#200). Mysister was originally going to be sharing with her mother-in-law, but due tohealth issues, she was unable to join us. My sister ended up in an inside cabin diagonally across the hall fromus. Mom and I are three star Mariners and my sister got her three star while onthis cruise.

August 3: My mom and sister arrived in Amsterdamfrom the U.S. in the morning and took a cab to the hotel. I am currently living in Dublin so I had ashort flight over and arrived in the early afternoon. We stayed at the Hilton Amsterdam, Apollolaan138. A nice hotel which we booked withpoints.

August 4: Embarkation – We took a taxi to thecruise terminal around 11:00ish. When wegot to the terminal there were no large crowds and we got checked in relativelyquickly. Our biggest mistake was notwaiting for the wheelchair assistance for my mom. We thought it was a relatively short distanceto the gangway (it looked close) but we forgot about going through security andthen through passport control. She wasexhausted by the time we got to the cabin. Nap time for her! My sister and I went to the front desk tosign up for the unlimited laundry service ($126) and the cooking class. By thetime we got back, our luggage had been delivered and we tackled that job. We also went to the spa to sign up for ourmust do massages and facials. The muster drill was at 3:15. For some reason my mom and I were at adifferent station than my sister. Thedrill went smoothly. They used thescanners to scan your room card so a minimal amount of shouting for missingpassengers. We were assigned earlyassigned dining (5:30). I really likethe smaller dining area forward of the main dining room on the Prinsendam. Not so many people and you can have actualconversations.

August 5: At Sea – A nice lazy day at sea. I think my sister had her first massage inthe morning and I had my first facial that afternoon. We went to the port talks thatafternoon. We had a nice dinner thatnight. I believe we went to the showthat night which featured the Prinsendam singers and dancers. I would just liketo say that the caliber of on ship talent seems to have improved over the lastyear or two. The group on this cruisewere really talented especially the dancers.

August 6: Rosyth (Edinburgh)- This was a working port so we werenot allowed to walk through the port area. The port authority provided shuttle buses to the port terminal. We had booked a private tour through Tours byLocals. Our guide was waiting for us atthe terminal as promised. We went toDunfermline Abbey, Loch Leven, and several other castle ruins etc. While he was very knowledgeable about thearea and was able to provide a really different experience at Loch Leven (youmust reserve tickets for the small boat, 12 person capacity, that takes youover to the island where the castle is located) and was very patient with mymother’s limited mobility, he seemed a little unorganized and we wasted timetrying to find a petrol station that was open (he had not filled up his carbefore picking us up.) It was still agood tour and we had a great time exploring new castles and ruins.

August 7: Invergordon - Ihad booked private tour through InvergordonTours to Dunrobin Castle and a scenic drive through the countryside. What a difference from the previous day. Our guide met us at the end of the dock andoff we went. We stopped at Millionaire’sView and the Falls of Shin on our way to Dunrobin Castle. The scenery in Scotland is amazing. We missedthe salmon running at the falls but still made the walk down and back up. Dunrobin Castle is spectacular. We made it in time for the falconry show onthe grounds. Our guide was able to drivedown to the area so my mom could get out and see it. We also stopped at Tain Pottery on our wayback to the ship. There was also anoption to stop at a whiskey distillery but none of us were interested inthat. Truly great day.

August 8: Scrabster – I hadbooked us on a ship’s excursion here because I could not find a localtour. The tour stops were fine but therewere four bus loads for this tour which is to be expected because it is a verysmall town on the edge of northern Scotland. We stopped at an interesting church (totally overwhelmed by the numberof people), John O’Groats (very touristy photo stop) and then Dunnet Head whichis the actual most northerly point of mainland Scotland. The microphone did not work on our bus. The guide and bus driver tried repeatedly toget it to function but failed. She gaveup and tried to talk to everyone from the middle of the bus but that didn’twork at all.

August 9: At Sea – A nicebreak for various spa appointments. We attendedseveral guest talks in the show lounge (also love the fact that the show loungeon the Prinsendam is only one level). Wehad dinner at the Pinnacle Grill. Verygood and a very nice atmosphere. We endedup eating here three times and enjoyed it every time.

August 10: Dublin – I hadbooked a private tour with Tour Dublin.Seems a little weird to have a port of call be the city you live in but it gaveme a chance to show my mom and sister where I live (I moved to Dublin eightmonths ago because of my job). My momand I had been to Ireland several times before but my sister had neverbeen. So I tried to give her a taste ofthe city and the countryside. We wentsouth to Wicklow and visited Glendalough (one of my favorite places in Ireland)and Powerscourt House and Gardens. Wethen came back and took a tour of the city stopping at Christchurch and St.Patrick’s Cathedral. Another long but wonderful day.

August 11: Liverpool – I hadbooked another private tour for Liverpool through Tours by Locals. Our guidewas great. He took us through part ofLiverpool. We stopped at the Anglican Cathedral(really amazing and huge!). We then wenton the city of Chester. An old medieval walled city. He took us on a walk through the old centerof the city. My mom had her scooter withher so was able to enjoy it also. We touredthe Chester Cathedral, another amazing church. Our guide gave us some free time and we had a wonderful lunch in a smallpastry shop in the old town. On our way back through Liverpool, our guideshowed us several sites of Beatles fame including the tiny home Ringo Starr wasborn and brought up in. All in all avery nice day.

August 12: Belfast – I hadalso booked a private car and driver for this port through Belfast Attractions . My sisterhad absolutely no desire to see anything that had to do with the Troubles so wehad a tour up the Antrim Coast to the Giant’s Causeway and Dunluce Castle. Absolutely spectacular scenery all the way upthere. At the Giant’s Causeway you can pay a small fee (£4 roundtrip) for ashuttle bus that will take you all the way down to Causeway. Mom used her walker for this one. We did not pay to enter the Visitor’s Centeras everyone we had met, local or tourist, told us it was not worth themoney. Our driver then took us toDunluce Castle that was just made for climbing all over. Mom stayed in the car but my sister and Iwent all over it. Our driver also tookus to several locations where they film the TV series Game of Thrones. At one location that was a small shelteredharbor with caves there were very few people about, but at the location of theDark Hedges there were masses of people everywhere. The Dark Hedges are pretty impressive treesthat were planted over 300 years ago. Another great day.

August 13: Milford Haven – Ihad booked a ship’s excursion here because the options were quite limited. This was a tender port and my mom decided shejust couldn’t do the tenders so it was just my sister and myself on thisone. Once again there were three or fourbusloads for this tour. It is a lovely little town and it was nice to havemusicians playing when we got off the tender and greetings by the local officials. The tour was to St. David’s Cathedral and aScenic Drive. We were lucky that our buswas not full so when we went to the back of the bus we had some extraroom. We not so lucky in that the aircon for the bus was not working. It was a warm, sunny day and by the time wegot to St. David’s some of us were a little on the warm side (my sister was alittle more dramatic and was “melting!”). St. David’s Cathedral is a pretty awe-inspiring compound. Unfortunately because it was a Sunday we werenot able to go inside because of services. Undeterred my sister and I paid the small admission fee to go into theBishop’s Palace. Pretty fun ruins withlots of windy staircases up to towers and down to dungeons. We got our money’s worth out of thatone.

August 14: St Mary’s, ScillyIsles - We had nothing planned for this stop as it was another tender portand a very small town. We discovered aGarrison Walk that skirted the garrison walls around one end of theisland. So we set out on this walk. It was about 1 ½ to 2 miles total. It started raining when we were about 1/3 ofthe way around so we just kept going. Itwas actually a lot of fun. It stoppedraining when we got back to the town, so we had lunch and did some shopping andthen got back on the tenders to go back. They used the island’s ships for tenders so that was interesting J In spite of the rain we really enjoyed doingsomething different.

August 15: Portland – I bookeda private tour here that was totally different from anything else we haddone. It was through a company called Jurassic Safari. They are a local company run by a husband andwife who use Land Rovers for their tours. We went off road on cow tracks all over the countryside seeing reallyspectacular views of the Dorset coastline and countryside. We had a view of Corfe Castle that I’m prettysure no one else had. We stopped forlunch at a 17th century pub in Kingston called the King’s Arm. We then went back up into the hills andstopped at a breathtaking overview and had a cup of tea with a homemadeVictoria sponge cake. I cannot recommendthis tour more highly.

August 16: St Peter Port,Guernsey Island – Our last port of call which was another tender port. Ihad booked another private tour with Gill Girard. We walked throughpart of the harbor side of the town and then met up with the taxi she hadbooked to see the rest of the island. Ifyou have any interest in WWII, you should come to St Peter Port and book Gillto take you around. The Germans occupiedthe island for five years during the war and all of the structures they builtare still around including bunkers, radio towers, and undergroundhospitals. We also stopped at the LittleChapel that was pretty interesting and also a Stone Age dolman. We finally had our cream tea here withGuernsey cream and butter. Another thoroughlyenjoyable day.

August 17: At Sea – The last of our spaappointments, packing, cashing out at the casino and other activities took upour time on this our last day.

August 18: Amsterdam – Disembarkation – I had madearrangements for wheelchair assistance while on board and we had signed up forthe ship’s transfer. It was prettyreasonable at $29 pp and I just didn’t want to deal with the luggage and my mom’sscooter etc. We had our own issues atthe airport but it all worked out in the end. I was home by 2:30 pm and my mom and sister eventually made it home latethat same night.

Comments: - We like thePrinsendam a lot. It does not take longto get from one end to the other. Ourcabins were on deck 8 which was very convenient to the Show lounge, front desk,Future Cruise Consultant, Shore Excursions, Explorer’s Lounge, casino, and theJava Café. The dining room was one deckdown and the spa was one deck up. The elevators are slow and funky. The staffand crew are outstanding.

Food – We enjoyed the food on board. The only disappointing meals we had were the final dinner in the MDR –limited choices and nothing was appealing and the Mariner Lunch that same day. Otherwise we really enjoyed our dinners in theMDR and the Pinnacle Grill. My motherand I also ordered room service for breakfast almost every morning. I wrote in additions and changes every timeand they fulfilled our requests.

We are booked on the Prinsendam in October 2018 for the transatlanticcrossing and are already looking forward to it.

Thank you very much for your review. I'm doing a similar cruise in Sep/18 and appreciate your information on private tours.

Thanks for you review! We were on the ship with you and had a similarly wonderful time. I think the Prinsendam kitchen has a lot of leeway in preparing and presenting their meals, while the menus for Mariner's Lunch and that last dinner are probably set in stone from Seattle.

We also booked another Prinsendam cruise, The Spitsbergen-Iceland-polar ice cap one leaving on July 16, 2018. Can't wait!

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

Sounds like you had a wonderful time.

Wonderful review!

And really appreciate the discussion on a few of the ports we will be visiting next year.

Thank you so much for taking the time to share.

Glad to hear my favourite ship is still up to snuff.

thanks again and welcome home.

Glad you had an enjoyable cruise, and bonding with your family!

Thanks for the feedback, especially your port activities.

Glad you enjoyed the cruise. Thanks for the review.

I very much enjoyed your review.

Keith

Thank you for your review.

Enjoyed reading your review, thank you.

Thank you very much for your report. I especially liked it as I will be on a similar itinerary next year. You have provided lots of hints on things to do when I go.