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Prinsendam B2B "The Ship" (we're back)

July_Cruiser

By July_Cruiser,
in Holland America Line

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July_Cruiser

July_Cruiser

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Prinsendam B2B “The Ship”

 

Public Areas – Very Cold – definitely bring a sweater, Brrr…

 

Nice size – only tendered 2 times. Missed a tender port, Hendaye, due to weather. Felt like a ship not a hotel. Lacked glitz but we appreciated the small ship atmosphere and unique itinerary.

 

Entertainment – Loved Adagio but this particular twosome was leaving the ship for some time off. We listened nightly.

Show Room entertainment – fortunately the volume was tolerable and we could stay for the shows – some other HAL ships were way too loud in show room volume. The showroom (10 p.m.) always had room and many good seats available.

Prinsendam Orchestra was a real plus, they are all talented musicians, better than HAL Cats on other ships. Prinsendam Singers and Dancers were all quite talented.

 

Bonus – NO HELL CATS! Pool area was nice and quiet until they brought a belly dancer in for a few days with really loud music playing (gave me a headache and not appropriate for the guests who were on board this cruise). Otherwise the music playing through the speakers at the pool was nice.

 

Condition over all – Needs dry dock and cleaned up a bit. Canvas lounge chairs were threadbare with paint peeling off the arms. Wooden lounge chairs needed varnished and cushions cleaned. White paint splattered on some cushions. Funky mildew smells in hallway, port side, in front of rooms 420+.

 

Dining Room – Our chairs were never covered for formal night. (white slip covers) They didn’t have enough covers for the last few rows of tables at the stern side of dining room. We thought that in seven formal nights our section’s chairs could have been covered and another section left uncovered. Most people dressed well on formal nights with glitter and tuxes or suits.

 

Waiter – The assistant waiter was friendly and always smiled. The regular waiter was merely an order taker – uncaring and indifferent. He did get the orders right and fulfilled his job obligation but nothing more. Waiter never returned to ask about our food. It’s a good thing for him that our tip was automatically charged.

 

Food – pretty good over all. Don’t order ice cream or sorbets in main dining room. They are melted (also true of other HAL ships). Put your faith in the Lido ice cream service, there your friendly ice cream lady will tell you if any flavor you order is a little too soft at the time. Mango and passion fruit sorbets are very good. Ice cream – cinnamon, coconut plus the soft serve chocolate are very yummy.

 

Lido – better bet for “hot” soups and “hot” entrees. The Lido staff was very nice and friendly. They went out of their way to please people. A striking difference from the main dining room.

Terrace Grille – If you are out touring past the Lido lunch hours, the pool grille (Terrace Grille) is actually quite good. We loved their grilled chicken sandwiches. The cobb salad wrap is fantastic! The guys here did a great job and also were very pleasant. (We didn’t care for the salmon burger,)

 

Pool area – One area of concern was that we looked forward to “fresh sea air” at breakfast on outdoor pool deck. They were varnishing doors and even a full wall was being varnished. The workers all wore protective masks but we were breathing the same air while eating! They also scrapped and painted around the pool area during our cruise. Needless to say – this was not pleasant! This was on port days when passengers would soon be off the ship. Sea days – scrapping and painting. Loud and stinky even on parts of promenade deck. I understand regular maintenance, but the ship is going into dry dock soon anyway.

 

Room Steward and assistant – the best we’ve ever had. We always had ice, clean towels and sheets. Nice job – well done. Didn’t have to ask for anything in thirty days. We were greeted by name from day one. A truly friendly greeting and inquired about our daily activities. TUTUT (Toot Toot) & YOGA were their names. We saw at least one of them, practically any time we walked down the hall to our cabin. So pleasant!

 

Cabin 400 – Very noisy but we enjoyed the walk-in closet and all the space. Actually had a few empty drawers and we packed for 30 days of clothing. You will be awakened EARLY every morning though. This cabin really is right behind the ship’s anchor and it is like the anchor chain is running right through the cabin.

 

No problems with A.C. Toilet and shower worked great. We were grateful for no plumbing problems.

 

Fellow Passengers – We knew a core group from Cruise Critic, because it was a small ship, we ran into the same people often. A very cordial group. Enjoyed our ship mates a lot.

 

The captain assured the group that the Prinsendam would remain in the fleet for 5 more years. Captain announced the new 2600 passenger mega ship and people actually booed.

 

We would love to sail Prinsendam again if given the opportunity. Our preference is “small ships”.

 

We are early 60’s and newly retired. This ship is a thumbs up for us.

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

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Thanks for the report. Nice synopsis and well done.

 

Glad you enjoyed the Lido as we found that the service and food there to be excellent. We don't usually enjoy the Lido but we certainly did on this ship and ate there a number of times.

 

Nice to hear that you would sail her again. :D Sounds like you had a great cruise overall !

 

Great review and welcome home:D

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rafinmd "Live from...." Rare

rafinmd

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It was Captain Tim during our B2B cruise. We loved his announcements and enjoyed meeting him. He came over from the Windstar line and he is a good fit on a smaller ship like Prinsendam.

 

Thank you. One of my indelible memories of Captain Tim Roberts was in Tarshavn. We were there with the Marco Polo, and as we left the Captain talked quite reverently about the ship and it's long and distinguished record. It really exuded class on his part and marked a man confident enough in what he was delivering that he didn't need to trash talk his competitors. My all time favorite Captain is Ralf Zander of the Crystal Symphony but Captain Roberts is just a fraction of a step behind.

 

Roy

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Loreto

Loreto

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Thanks for your Prinsendam report! We enjoyed her on the 23 day Amazon Explorer...right out of the unfortunate dry dock. It sounds like all the electrical/plumbing issues have been resolved, which is fortunate. The ship will need a lot more work to keep her sailing 5 more years! She is a very special ship.

 

Karen

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KirkNC

KirkNC

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It was Captain Tim during our B2B cruise. We loved his announcements and enjoyed meeting him. He came over from the Windstar line and he is a good fit on a smaller ship like Prinsendam.

 

We also really enjoyed his style, very engaging as well as funny.

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USN59-79

USN59-79

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We took a B2B on Prinsendam in the Summer and are boarding her this month for another B2B, so your review was very meaningful to us. I had noticed that some public areas were kind of cool but I assume that it is a way to keep the germs and virus at bay. Anyway, there was no noro while we were aboard. We had the opposite experience with stewards. Our room steward was OK, but sometimes had to ask him to do things like fill the ice bucket. Our two dining stewards were outstanding, always going out of their way to please. We also felt that the ship's cast was the best we have seen on HAL. So good that we didn't mind seeing a repeat performance later in the cruise. We always ate breakfast in the Lido mostly lunch there and dinner always in the MDR except when we ate at the PG or Canaletto. Never had a bad meal, altho I would classify the PG as outstanding. Seems strange that they can sell a meal for two worth $75 to $90 there for $25. (4-star mariner price) but sell an $8. bottle of wine for $35. plus 15%. Yet I see more people buying bottles of wine that eating in the PG, so it must just be me.

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LindaM

LindaM

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Thanks for your Prinsendam report! We enjoyed her on the 23 day Amazon Explorer...right out of the unfortunate dry dock. It sounds like all the electrical/plumbing issues have been resolved, which is fortunate. The ship will need a lot more work to keep her sailing 5 more years! She is a very special ship.

 

Karen

 

What kind of work is necessary to keep her sailing? I thought she looked better than when we sailed her 2 years ago. We had no issues at all with the food or service. The promenade deck chairs are pretty bad and need to be replaced, IMHO. We didn't like the singers and dancers this time around. I think that is because we had the Jean Ann Ryan group on Regent in the Spring, which is a very professional group. We enjoyed the guys in the Ocean Bar!! We have quite a few HAL buttons from music trivia in the Crow's Nest!!

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Modern_Viking

Modern_Viking

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Thanks for your comments. I was on the first part of this B2B (Amsterdam to Barcelona) Sept. 2-16, 2013 and while I agree with many of your points, I disagree with others. Each person has their own perspectives, and I had different dining room and cabin stewards, so that probably makes a big difference.

 

inside temperature: I did not feel it was cold and I am from the southern USA. Then again, I think the temperature was comfortable for men in long pants, not people in shorts or women in short skirts. I'm sure the temperature is also set to help the hard working stewards in hot uniforms.

 

ship condition: Was improved over December 2011 (my most recent previous Prinsendam voyage). Much of the interior carpet was new and felt better padded than in the past, so recovered chairs, newer hull pain, etc. Also many of the outdoor promenade chairs seemed new and were of the chair design and not loungers, thus they allowed more room for people walking by. I agree that in 2013, the cushions on the loungers were in poor shape and needed to be replaced. There was some splattered paint here and there.

 

varnishing: I know some others were bothered by this work, but really, it has to get done. I doubt there is time in dry dock to do this as compared with other work (in fact, I wonder if the wooden railings are covered for their protection like the wooden decks are during dry dock). The worst experience I have had with this was on the Amsterdam, during a Christmas and New Years cruise that was right before the Grand World Voyage. Well, to be ready for the next trip, all the wooden railings in the interior stairwells (all 3) were systematically re-varnished. That smell outside is unpleasant, but inside is really bad. Again, the work had to be done, but it was much more annoying when inside (on the Amsterdam) than outside on the Prinsendam.

 

No HAL/Hell Cat: Agreed! Glad not to have them around or playing obnoxiously loud music by the pool at lunch. And there was no female singer with the house band / HAL Cats either. A Double Win! :D

 

Singers and Dancers: Nice people. I even talked to one who was on a shore excursion with me in St. Malo. They seemed reasonable talented, but the writing of the shows was terrible. I really hated the scripted banter between the songs. Watched half a show this time then gave up. Watched one and a half shows last time on Prinsendam. Really, they need much better show writers and producers.

 

Dining room: was in the forward section and had the white chair covers for 2 of 3 formal nights. Service was friendly, but slow. I later found out that our Stewards were assigned the most people/chairs of any team in the dining room. Our section had 34 chairs in it, with the smallest sections having only 22, thus our service suffered. Our section was a mix of fixed and open seating tables. I was told the sections that have only open seating have the lowest ratio of seats to stewards, thus open seating seems to be favored by management. This was a disappointment since I strongly prefer fixed seating (although I acknowledge a sizable number of people prefer open seating, and I am happy to see them accommodate, but would like more equal treatment). The dining room team was friendly, and worked hard, but were stretched thin.

 

Some evidence of service cuts in the dining room: Less frequent visits by stewards to check on us, bread was served cold and waiting on the table at the start of fixed seating (in the past it was stored in warming ovens and delivered only after diners were seated), crumbs were not cleared from the table between the main course and dessert, dirty dished were not promptly cleared from tables after guests left the dining room (and in fact, empty tables with dirty dishes and linens were a common sight after about 8:30 pm), only one round of bar drinks (other than full wine bottles) was served during each dinner seating, and was performed after menus were delivered and by the food stewards instead of the now less plentiful wine stewards. These were mostly little things, but they stood out as odd and disappointing to me.

 

We did notice that we had three food stewards instead of the previous two: the regular and assistant remained, but a runner had been added. The "Head Waiters" were long gone, and on a couple nights, the Dining room manager (2 and a half stripes) and assistant dining room managers (two men with 1 stripe each) both had to buss tables to keep meals flowing. They were not as visible after the first few nights, but the speed of service seemed to be about the same (perhaps the dining room was short a few people those early nights).

 

Cabins: Still nice, and unique compared with other HAL ships, although the woodwork was definitely showing its age and looks well used. Still, on modern ships, there isn't this kind of trim, so worn wood is better than new plastic, I would say. Had no plumbing or a/c issues. In 2011 in the Caribbean, I had had no plumbing issues but the a/c didn't work very well for much of the cruise. (It was decent, but not great in 2011. In 2013, it was better, but also was less hot outside, so the a/c did not have to work as hard.)

 

Lido extension: I liked the new Canaletto enclosure on the Lido deck. I only used it for breakfast and lunch (not dinner when there is an extra charge), but appreciated the additional indoor seating as compared to the trip in 2011 when that was covered but not otherwise enclosed. Also, the glass sliding doors worked on both sides of the Lido, compared with only one side working in 2011.

 

Other changes: Two new tenders (which replaced the older boats at stations 7 and 8). Ship mostly handled the waves very well, although we never had rough seas, so that certainly helped.

 

Captain Tim Roberts seems genuine, friendly, informative, honest, but is kind of (dare I say it) not fun. I enjoy all the whistle salutes that most HAL captains perform (some people call them horn battles or toots), but Capt. Roberts seems to despise them. He only sounded the ship's whistle when required for safe navigation (such as in fog or when a fishing boat decided to cur across our bow), when required by law, port authority, or harbor pilot, or to return a salute initiated by other vessel. In non emergency situations, Captain Tim or the Staff Captain would make a public announcement in advance to warn of the dreaded whistle. In two cruises, Captain Tim always avoided using the whistle when leaving the pier, when passing the Port Everglades channel condominiums (in 2011), when passing other HAL or Carnival corporation ships, etc. This is in stark contrast to other HAL captains (van Zaane, van de Loo, Draper, Matabor, etc.) who seemed to find it fun to use the whistle at sail away as a means of entertaining the passengers. I don't know why Captain Tim has this unique aversion to using the whistle. It is a little thing, but it stood out as odd and disappointing to me.

 

The quality and variety of the Lido ice cream seemed reduced this cruise. The number of selections on a given day wasn't reduced, but there were fewer changes from day to day. Also, the station seemed to close early (like at 2pm or 3pm) and not reopen for the rest of the afternoon. Not a huge deal, but disappointing. The quality and variety of other Lido foods did seem slightly improved over 2011, so maybe it is a bit hit and miss in terms of the food ordering and suppliers.

 

Butter server on board was made in Europe, but to American specs (only 80 % fat). In 2011, it was American butter. On HAL cruises from 2004-2010, the butter was made to European specs (84% fat, as I recall) and was previously less healthy but much better tasting on bread than American spec butter. Again, not a problem, but a step down from the past.

 

At least two of the cruise staff members were not native speakers of English (one from Spain and one from France). I guess in Europe it makes sense to have some staff who are fluent in local languages to help with local guests, but since most entertainment was supposed to be in English, the lack of speaking stills was often noticeable. The French lady, while nice, ran the daily pub trivia and often had to spell out words in the questions because she could not pronounce them. (Granted, I would have to do the same if I was trying to speak French, but this was on Holland America Line and not Holland France Line.) The ports speaker (travel guide) was better but still had his moments. During one talk, I was confused at his description of of the moose statues along the roof of a French concert hall. Later, when he changed the slides, it was clear he meant to say statues of "muses" along the roof and not "moose." This didn't happen all the time, but did happen a few times, an while not terrible, was a step below what I have come to expect from HAL in the past.

 

P.S. I mostly like the new and expanded room service breakfast menu. The bad things is that scrambled eggs and omelets are no longer made from fresh, shelled eggs but instead from pre-packaged and pasteurized eggs. At least they tasted slightly better than the powdered eggs some cruise lines use and there were still fresh eggs available served fried or poached. (Note: this change in eggs was actually written on the bottom of the room service menus, and I appreciate the honesty.)

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crusinbanjo "Live from...." Rare

crusinbanjo

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Prinsendam B2B “The Ship”

 

The captain assured the group that the Prinsendam would remain in the fleet for 5 more years. Captain announced the new 2600 passenger mega ship and people actually booed.

 

We would love to sail Prinsendam again if given the opportunity. Our preference is “small ships”.

 

We are early 60’s and newly retired. This ship is a thumbs up for us.

 

Glad you liked the ship, she is the favorite of Mrs Banjo & Myself. Also happy to hear that she will be part of the HAL fleet for a few more years. I'm hoping, (not realistic I'm sure), that when they do replace her it will be with a similar size ship.

 

Not surprising that when the captain announced another new Mega ship people were unhappy. When cruising after all, bigger is not always better.

Mrs Banjo & I have drawn a line in the sand that any ship bigger than the "S" Class is too big and we will not sail on them.

 

We are late fifties and retired as well.

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LindaM

LindaM

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FYI, when the ice cream girl is gone, you can get someone else to serve you ice cream. On our first P cruise, the ice cream was inedible. I thought it was fine this time, as did the rest in the long lines I encountered. The waffle cones were a plus!

 

I agree that the Canaletto addition was a great plus. I was disappointed when I heard the back of the Lido was going to be enclosed, but it is wonderful to have the extra seating at breakfast/lunch. It is also attractive and a little quieter than the Lido.

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