Prinsendam in Port Everglades Yesterday..... 97

[sail7seas]

I posted this in another thread but I think it deserves a thread of its own..... :)

 

When Prinsendam called at Port Everglades yesterday, she was inspected by USPH and scored a fabulous 97.

 

Congratulations Officers, crew and staff of Prinsendam. VERY Well Done.

 

Hope they have a great party to celebrate.

[OVgirl]

Thanks Sail for bringing that to our atttention.

 

Congratulations, crew of Prinsendam!

[Vict0riann]

Congratulations, Prinsendam! What is USPH, and what is the testing for?

[CruiserBruce]

Congratulations, Prinsendam! What is USPH, and what is the testing for?

 

US Public Health. It is the inspections- mostly around food storage and prep, that all ships operating out of the US undergo.

[startwin]

My enquiring mind wonders where she lost points:confused: Many ships score a perfect 100, including RCI, NCL and Carnival, but none of the HAL ships since the beginning of the year according to this report.

http://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/InspectionResults.aspx

[CruiserBruce]

Other discussions have indicated it is hard for a ship more than 5 years old to get a perfect score of 100. As Prinsendam is much older than that, a 97 is pretty darn good.

[sail7seas]

The formal report will be posted on the CDC site. It customarily takes about 3 weeks or so for it to appear. You can read every little detail of where points were deducted on that report.

 

Keep in mind that is an old ship by today's cruise ship standards.

Some older ships have some small situation that is not unsafe or dangerous but there were different regulations at the time they were built. It could be a situation where every inspection they will lose a point for it but might be extremely costly to rebuild/replace and not worth the huge expense if the issue is not impacting health. It could be something like a floor of a different material than today is acceptable yet the floor is safe, clean and well maintained. (I have no idea if such a condition actually exists on this ship or any other but use it as an example of my point.)

[sail7seas]

Other discussions have indicated it is hard for a ship more than 5 years old to get a perfect score of 100. As Prinsendam is much older than that, a 97 is pretty darn good.

 

 

Prinsendam scored 96 at her last inspection in January, 2013. Seems she has been lovingly maintained. :)

 

Her Hotel Director is retiring soon. :)

[broberts]

My enquiring mind wonders where she lost points:confused: Many ships score a perfect 100, including RCI, NCL and Carnival, but none of the HAL ships since the beginning of the year according to this report.

http://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/InspectionResults.aspx

 

Of the 27 ships on the list of perfect scores at your link, 4 are Holland America. See http://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/Inspectionwith100Score.aspx, all within the last 12 months!

[sail7seas]

Of the 27 ships on the list of perfect scores at your link, 4 are Holland America. See http://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/Inspectionwith100Score.aspx, all within the last 12 months!

 

 

Thanks for pointing that out. :)

 

[CruiserBruce]

Of the 27 ships on the list of perfect scores at your link, 4 are Holland America. See http://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/Inspectionwith100Score.aspx, all within the last 12 months!

 

Including the Eurodam in January 2013.

[startwin]

Other discussions have indicated it is hard for a ship more than 5 years old to get a perfect score of 100. As Prinsendam is much older than that, a 97 is pretty darn good.

 

That's good to know, and it makes sense of some of the scoring.

[Modern_Viking]

Prinsendam scored 96 at her last inspection in January, 2013. Seems she has been lovingly maintained. :)

 

Her Hotel Director is retiring soon. :)

 

Are you saying Firmin is retiring? I have had the pleasure of sailing with him three times, once each on Prinsendam, Maasdam, and the Royal Viking Star.

 

He will be missed, but I would wish him only happiness in retirement.

 

And thanks for reporting the good news on the Prinsendam inspection score.

[Krazy Kruizers]

That is wonderful!!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Of the 27 ships on the list of perfect scores at your link, 4 are Holland America. See http://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/Inspectionwith100Score.aspx, all within the last 12 months!

 

Thanks for the link.

Interesting.

[catl331]

Just got off the elegant explorer and it certainly was in excellent care. They were constantly cleaning and scrubbing everything. The only thing that hit my eye was coleslaw at an outdoor BBQ that was not chilled. I never saw so many Purell stations and did not hear of any food borne problems. Seems like kennel cough was prevalent though and it came home with me!

 

Also on my first day I noticed the sills around the windows of the Lido pool area were gross. Two days later they had it roped off and were painting. People complain about dirty windows but gosh sakes, you are on the Atlantic with sea state 5. They rinse the decks every day but salt is prevalent. I wonder why??

 

Also wish they had more trash cans around--for paper not garbage.

[Pettifogger]

Modern_Viking:

 

Yes, I believe Mr Van Walle (Firmin) has either just retired or is about to retire. I believe he is still on the Prinsendam for her current eastbound transatlantic, but exactly what his status is for that trip, I don't know.

 

We were on what may have been his last official HD assignment, which ended last Friday, and his junior officers and crew seem to have pulled out all the stops out of respect for him; it was a cruise like no other we've taken on HAL.

 

Like you, we've taken three cruises with him and even though we've never met him personally, except for two seconds in a reception line, we've always been aware of his presence, which made those cruises among our very best.

[PathfinderEss]

Congratulations, Prinsendam.:D

[Modern_Viking]

Modern_Viking:

 

Yes, I believe Mr Van Walle (Firmin) has either just retired or is about to retire. I believe he is still on the Prinsendam for her current eastbound transatlantic, but exactly what his status is for that trip, I don't know.

 

We were on what may have been his last official HD assignment, which ended last Friday, and his junior officers and crew seem to have pulled out all the stops out of respect for him; it was a cruise like no other we've taken on HAL.

 

Like you, we've taken three cruises with him and even though we've never met him personally, except for two seconds in a reception line, we've always been aware of his presence, which made those cruises among our very best.

 

Pettifogger:

 

Thank you for the additional information.

[sail7seas]

Former Hotel Director, Firmin van Walle, is now officially retired.

Again we send wishes he have a long, healthy, happy retirement in his Belgium home.

 

[gigianne]

We were privileged to have been on Firman's last cruise as hotel manager - what a wonderful gentleman he is - and he will be sorely missed by the crew. There was a wonderful send off for him - not without tears. The Captain presented Firm with a framed photo of the Viking Sun (aka Prinsendam) and all the crew had signed a huge card for him. We saw firm leave the ship for the last time with his wife who had come to Zeebruge to meet him. There was a parade of stewards pulling his luggage through the port gate. I know that Firman is looking forward to his retirement and to returning to the HA ships - this time as a passenger - he mentioned he was looking forward to earning his mariner points! Happy Retirement Firman!!

[gigianne]

A bit about the inspection - it certainly did not hold up embarkation! We did have lunch in the MDR on the 17th - and when I asked the waiter for ketchup he came back to the table all apologetic - it seems that because of the inspection they had put the ketchup etc away to make things look more tidy - they just couldn't remember where they put them!!! Congrats to the staff of the Prinsendam for getting such a good score - as others have said the P is an older ship and possibly harder to maintain - the crew takes such wonderful care of it.

[shrimp56]

The Prinsendam was originally the Royal Viking Sun, which means it was well built in the first place. My first cruise was on her older sister, Royal Viking Sea, and it was an incredible experience.