Review of Prinsendam cruise August/September 2017

My review of this trip has now been published in the Review section, but it is incomplete. I did not realise several of the ports we visited would not be available to comment on, and I did not seem to be able to go back and add extra info in the main part of the review. So here is the complete version and if anyone has any questions I will try and answer them. Following this cruise we transferred to the Westerdam, so I will add a review for that one too. Sorry it has taken me a while to get these posted.

PRINSENDAM review August/September 2017.

This was our second cruise with Holland America, and first on Prinsendam. We have also cruised with Azamara, Oceania, NCL, Windstar, Louis, Katarina and several river cruise operators. This cruise was 20 nights, starting and finishing in Amsterdam.

The ship was looking a bit worn in places. The public areas were in better state. We took an upsell from an ocean view cabin on deck 5 to a verandah cabin on deck 9. The room was comfortable enough, but looking tatty, particularly around the verandah door. Our room stewards did a good job.

Our first HAL cruise was on the Zaandam, on a South America/Antarctica trip. We loved most of the itinerary but we found the food to be boring, bland and repetitive. On this second HAL cruise on the Prinsendam we again found the food to be mainly pretty boring, with a distinct lack of vegetables. The service in the Lido Market was pretty good, particularly from the two wait staff we saw most of. However the area never seemed very clean – there were always excessive food scraps all over the floor. We did not eat in the Main Dining Room, partly because of reports that the service was extremely slow and we preferred to get through meals at our own pace. Also, on checking the menus for the MDR and the Lido the food was the same in both venues.

There were 2 lecturers. Both were okay, but the one who did fewer lectures had a much more engaging manner.

The entertainment was quite good. We enjoyed most of the shows by the onboard entertainers as well as the guest entertainers. There was also a piano/violin duo which we enjoyed after dinner each evening.

The weather meant we could not stop at Heimaey. That port was replaced with Scrabster, but when we got there it was too windy to get into the harbour, so that port was also cancelled. Weather can’t be helped, but we were disappointed to miss Heimaey.

We had been to Iceland before, so a lot of the places visited on this cruise were not new to us. Iceland is an interesting country and has some impressive scenery, but it did not have the wow factor for us. This cruise also confirmed our dislike of "at sea" days! Holland America would not be our choice of cruise line, but if the itinerary was of interest we would consider it.

Port Reviews:

Amsterdam: Embarkation & Disembarkation port. Pier is convenient and easy to access. We walked from our hotel to the ship for embarkation. For disembarkation we walked back to the railway station to catch a train to the airport.

Lerwick, Shetland Islands : We did a ship excursion to Jarlshof. We had a good guide and it was a very interesting day. We were dropped off in Lerwick at the end of the tour. Didn’t have much time left, but were able to have a quick walk around the town before catching the last free shuttle back to the ship dock. The Shetland Islands stop exceeded expectations.

Torshavn, Faroe Islands: There was a free shuttle to take us in/out of the industrial port. We spent the morning walking around the town. In the afternoon we took a ship excursion for a drive around the island.

Eskifjordur, Iceland: This village is small and there is nothing there! It is the starting point for visiting some places of interest. We had been to this part of Iceland before and no desire to spend a lot of time in a bus to go to somewhere we had been previously. So we just went walking through the village. It was a magnificent day and there were great reflections in the fjord.

Akureyri, Iceland: Again this is a base for some interesting territory, but we did not wish to travel to previously visited places, so we spent the day walking the town. There are numerous museums and good shopping.

Isafjordur, Iceland: Another small town, which meant travelling some distance to places of more interest. We went walking. Not many shops if you are looking for souvenirs.

Nanortalik, Greenland: Isolated town, with a museum, a church, an interesting cemetery and a fantastic info centre with many great souvenirs! We walked all through and around the town. HAL did not offer any shore excursions.

Qaqortoq, Greenland:Another isolated town, but bigger than Nanortalik. An ugly new church, a picturesque old church, a town square with some old buildings. The info centre did not have as interesting an array of souvenirs as in Nanortalik. The trail of stone carvings was disappointing – the ones by the info centre were in the best condition. HAL did not offer any shore excursions.

Aappilattoq, Greenland:This was an unscheduled stop. This is a very isolated village. Unfortunately it was very foggy in the morning, and we had to wait for this to clear before the tender process could be started. We were organised into three groups and as part of the first group we should have been going ashore about 8am, but tendering was not started until 10am due to the weather. Consequently we only had about 30 minutes ashore, barely time to walk around the village. Nevertheless the stop at this village was an unexpected bonus. Many of the villagers came back to the Prinsendam for food and drink.

Reykjavik, Iceland: A good base to do the “Golden Circle” from, but we had done it before, so stayed in Reykjavik. There is a large array of museums. As we didn’t see the northern lights on either of our trips to Iceland we went to the Aurora Reykjavik, which is a small museum. It has a great continuous film of northern lights. The info centre at the town hall is useful for free wi fi. There are lots of very interesting shops, though not cheap. The cruise port is some distance from the centre of the city. There was a shuttle, which you had to pay for. We walked into town in about 45 minutes. Fortunately there was only a little light drizzle for part of the time.

Heimaey, Iceland: Our stop here was cancelled due to adverse weather for tendering. It was replaced with Scrabster, but it was too windy to dock there, so we ended up continuing to Kirkwall and arriving the evening before we were scheduled.

Kirkwall, Orkney Islands:Also exceeded expectations. We did a HAL excursion to the Ring of Brodgar, Skara Brae & Skaill House. The Ring of Brodgar & Skara Brae were interesting, Skaill House ordinary. Unfortunately the weather deteriorated into rain and wind and it was very unpleasant. The local council ran a free shuttle from the port into the town of Kirkwall. At the end of our tour we caught it into the town which was quite interesting. A pity about the weather, otherwise we would have spent more time wandering.

Rosyth, Scotland: Many people went into Edinburgh, but we did not want to return there. Rosyth is an industrial port and even though it is not very far, you are obliged to catch the free shuttle to the cruise terminal building, where there is an info centre and free (slow) wi fi. The locals manning the info desk are very helpful. You can get tickets for the free shuttle they operate to Dunfermline. Dunfermline is quite an interesting town and it was pleasant to wander. There is a magnificent cathedral, a ruined abbey and pleasant parks. The shuttles returning to the ship did not operate very late in the day and if they were full you had to wait for the next one. On the way back they stopped at Queensferry so we could get off the shuttle and get some photos of the Forth bridges. Leaving Rosyth we got some great views of the bridges as we sailed underneath them.

Enjoying your review.

Keith

Great review.

Looking forward to the rest.

Thank you so much for your review!

I enjoyed it.

Denise:)

Thank you for your review.

Thanks for the review.

I loved your last port where you did something different.