Prinsendam Cruise Review ~ 12/2/06 to 12/12/06 (Be warned: This is LONG!!)

[HeatherInFlorida]

(Please note I have no idea why some of this came out in different print and bold. I didn't put it in that way... copied from Word and this is how it turned out.

 

Our long planned, much anticipated, cruise aboard the Elegant Explorer Prinsendam has come to an end and while it’s all still fresh in my mind and my heart, I’ll try my best to encapsulate what was for us a most magnificent experience. Were there glitches? Sure and absolutely, but as always I try to be fair and forgiving about those and come away with the overall experience.

As our CD, Peter, said …. “Don’t let one incident affect your entire experience”. The fact that the Ice Cream Bar was a bit late in opening one night is just not going to upset me. At home I don’t even have one and it’s a good thing, tooJ.

First and foremost, I commend our wonderful, friendly, accessible Captain Christopher M. Turner who was always there with the most amazing smile on the high seas. He plowed us through some massive swells at sea that had even some the most stalwart and long sailing passengers crying for mercy. He explained this was a very different kind of sea than normal roughness. As for me, at night it lulled me to sleep and during the day I marveled that I wasn't sick!

Captain Turner previously sailed Windstar Cruises and only recently transferred to HAL to sail on the “big ships”. He told me that ‘my’ personal much loved Wind Song (now resting on the ocean floor of the Sea of the Moon) was his favorite ship so I consider us friends now .

He is the perfect Master of a ship like the Prinsendam and I hope if he ends up sailing the larger ships, he doesn’t lose the wonderful personal touch that he added to everyone’s cruise.

Other VIP's on our cruise:

Hotel Manager: Simon De Boer

Cruise Director: Peter Daems

Our Wonderful, Amazing Cabin Steward: Harry (the best ever!)

 

PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS ABOUT THE PRINSENDAM EXPERIENCE

She is not for everyone. I need to say this at the outset. As a rule 10-day cruises are not even offered aboard the Prinsendam and she enjoys longer journeys. So this was a special treat for us to be able to walk her decks.

She is truly elegant … no other word describes her so well. This is not a ship with door decorations, wild parties, etc. I’m not saying there’s no place for that anywhere, but if that’s what you crave, don’t choose the Prinsendam.

I surveyed many passengers and we all agreed the average age on this cruise was probably between 60 and 65 which made me feel quite young most of the time. There were a few in their 40’s and 50’s, but overall everyone was considerably older.

However, everyone was a true sailor who got around beautifully even in the rocky seas. It was rare that people weren’t walking briskly about the ship. There was not one single child on this cruise … not even a teen (if there was the poor kid hid in the cabin the entire cruise!!!)

While the ship may have lacked a boisterous, uproarious party-like atmosphere … it sure didn’t lack for laughter, fun and a general feeling of relaxation and joy for us. The people always make the cruise for us and this was no exception. From the moment we arrived at the port I did not meet a single soul I didn’t like. I have never felt that way before … there’s almost always someone to annoy the heck out of me.

OVERALL OBSERVATIONS ~ HAL VS. CELEBRITY

 

Anyone who knows me on these boards knows I always compare HAL with Celebrity and I won’t disappoint you this time

Because I’ve never sailed on a Celebrity ship this small, the comparison is virtually impossible. First, our cabin was the best we’ve ever had on any ship in our 25 years of cruising (more on that later).

Second, with less than 800 passengers, obviously the overall feel is entirely different. This cruise was outstanding both in general feel and service.

The only glitch (more on this later, too) was the Dining Room service which is sadly lacking beyond description … at least in our experience.

Except for that, I have to say that HAL is back in our good graces and I will continue to enjoy sailing on HAL steering clear of the Vista class. While Celebrity knows how to provide exemplary service on that size ship, I just don’t feel HAL did. However, since I’ve not cruised Vista class since late 2004, my perception could be wrong.

EMBARKATION:

In a word: Awful! But I don’t blame HAL for this. First we arrived at the gate to find something going on; we never found out what. But the back-up at about 11:45 was horrendous and we were over ½ hour just waiting to pass through the Port Everglades entry gates. We were driven by a good friend and he told us it was worse after that with traffic backed up all the way to the airport!!!

We were not at the regular pier, but way over to the right (I forget the number). This was not good for people parking their cars at the garage across from the HAL pier since they had to be shuttled back to the ship. We smoothly went through the lines, but they hadn’t even begun boarding at 12:45 so the place was jammed packed with anxious passengers (fortunately only 750 or so of them ... one of the many blessings of the smaller ships).

We learned that the Coast Guard had decided to do a massive inspection of the ship since she had come on a very long journey along Africa’s coast, across to South America and on up. So I cannot blame the delay in any way on HAL.

Once on board the rooms were not ready so we made our way to the Lido looking forward to the usual sumptuous buffet. There was absolutely nothing there. Yes, I said nothing … empty platters, empty trays … nothing. They apologized, but the onslaught was just too much given the delays in the kitchen because of the inspection and the burden of everyone boarding all at once. They just couldn't keep up.

So after eating what little I could conjure up (yes, okay there was something, stuff nobody wanted, I made my way to the starboard side (which I found out was the side to always go for the rest of the cruise) and I found 3 wonderful desserts and decided that was a good way to start.

Around 2:00 pm they announced the rooms were ready and we excitedly made our way there.

STATEROOMS

Where do I begin??? We were in Cabin 197 (AA category) on the Promenade Deck, starboard side. There are only 2 cabins like this on the ship. These were added along with Cabins 190 through 195 and 198 and 199. First a word about 198 and 199. At this time these are designated as SY cabins. I was told by 2 reliable sources that everyone who books them complains. They are beautiful and large. Our Cabin Steward let us peek in. But their balconies are a part of the aft deck and are enclosed by see-through partitions. Since this deck is a covered one, it affords no light and no view. So be forewarned. We were told that people who don’t know what we learn here on CC are always disappointed.

A note about the aft deck. It remained a pretty big secret for most of the cruise and we pretty much considered it ours. If there were 10 people at a time out there, it was a lot. When we had a bad rainstorm some people showed up looking for cover and were astounded to find it! We basically lounged out there the entire week.

So back to 197! What an awesome cabin. These are booked way in advance so keep this under your hat. When I post my pictures, there are several from inside and outside our cabin. The floor to ceiling glass windows along one whole side of the room (the rounded side) look aft and are accompanied by the sliders out to our private verandah which is huge. So you literally have a 90 degree vista during the day. The windows are blackened and covered by a filmy curtain with a design that defies anyone to see in.

There is a large walk-in closet with the safe and several shelves (as in all Prinsendam staterooms), but the most wonderful addition is a large armoire against the wall between the sliders and the windows. Above is a cabinet with doors and several deep shelves. Below are 4 or 5 very wide drawers. Of course there are drawers in the end tables as well as the dresser. So the amount of storage in this cabin is just amazing. There were more hangars than any ship I’ve every cruised and I attribute that to her usual long voyages.

The bathroom has a double sink, a nice long shelf underneath, and the usual 2 glass quarter shelves above one sink. Annoying there was only one soap dish by one sink so I had to reach across, but small price to pay.

There is a very large tub/shower with an ample shelf for shampoos, etc. There was no place to actually hang your towel which frustrated me since they did ask us to use our towels twice. There were not enough hooks in the bathroom and I wished I had brought suction hooks which would have been very helpful. I did, however (and thanks to CC), remember my bungee cord which held the door open when the seas wanted to close it and we wanted to go in and out of the bathroom quickly.

The shower is powerful and invigorating and the height can be raised and lowered depending on how wet you want to get. For an AA category, this is an amazing bathroom.

Our Cabin Steward, Harry, kept our cabin incredibly clean and perfect. We never returned to an unmade room and we were often only gone 45 minutes for breakfast. Harry had a fun towel animal waiting for us every night.

PASSENGERS

 

Before I get to the best part, a word about the passengers as a whole. I would say the age range was definitely in the over 60 department. But there were several passengers in their 40’s and 50’s. There were no children of any age on the ship and I can understand why. I can’t imagine any family choosing to take their children on a ship this size when the larger ships have so much more for them to do.

 

We had a very friendly Roll Call over the past 9 months or so, small and intimate. Even as we boarded I began seeing the faces I had seen only in pictures and we were all calling out to each other through the boarding process and around the ship. We had made arrangements to meet up the first day for lunch in the La Fontaine Dining Room where they seated us at 2 tables of 8. Jerry had made name tags for everyone and I ran like the dickens to avoid that! I’m just not a name tag personJ.

After that luncheon, we all split off into smaller groups, but the wonderful part about cruising on the Prinsendam is that you continually run into everyone. So throughout our cruise we really enjoyed everyone who had been on our Roll Call.

DINING

 

La Fontaine Dining Room

About our table and service (the good, the bad and the really ugly):

I spoke with HAL Ships Services 2 or 3 times before the cruise about our table and was thrilled they came through with flying colors. We were at Table #114 and it was perfect. There were no large serving stations anywhere near us and being by the window afforded a bit less noise for conversation.

Eight of us on our Roll Call decided to form a table before the cruise so I arranged that with HAL Ship’s Services. They were wonderful arranging exactly what I wanted … a large round table by the window.

At the last minute (2 days before) one of our couples sadly had to cancel their cruise due to illness. As disappointed as they were, so were we because we had come to bond with Donna during that time and were so looking forward to meeting them. Luckily for our table, at the last minute the Maitre D’ managed to move people around and add another of our Roll Call couples to our table by the 2nd day.

Now for the only really scathing part of my entire review: The service was terrible. It wasn’t even average … it was simply bad. I don’t know the cause, I couldn’t tell how many tables our Steward had, but it appeared to be 3 tables of 8. There might have been another smaller table, but we didn’t see him anywhere else.

Our dining time was 8:15 with the Show at 10:15. Right away this made no sense with the 6:00 seating having a show at 8:30. So the 6:00 people were in no rush to leave and it was a rare night that we entered the dining room at 8:15. It was an even rarer night that we were out by 10:15 and we missed some shows we really wanted to see.

In the end, upon arrival at our table I would beg our Steward to take our order first so we could make the show. When he did that, we would just make it. We literally had to make a rule: No talking until we've made our menu selection ... that's how fast we had to order to get served. The Shows were excellent and we wanted to see them. But 2 hours was just not enough time for dinner and I can’t imagine why they didn’t either simply move the show to 10:30 or improve the service.

To explain my comments: The first night I told Tory that I wanted Iced Tea every single night. I've done this on other cruise lines for years with no problem. It was served one night mid cruise without my asking and even when I asked, I didn’t get it until mid-meal sometimes.

The first night one of our table mates explained that she absolutely LOVED shrimp cocktail. I didn’t realize how much until she explained to Tory that she wanted it every night. He called over the Head Steward (who, incidentally, spent an enormous amount of time at our table for some reason). The Head Steward was rocked by the request and his head practically spun around on its axis. He said “But you understand that there will be an additional charge”.

An additional charge????? …said we? Yes ...said he. And then I was reminded of my visits to car dealerships where they have to “go in the back to check”. This happened often in the dining room. Eventually he told us that we could have shrimp cocktail every night if we ordered it the night before. He also explained that it would need to be served on a plain plate so no one else could see .

While I personally felt that the menu afforded many choices and I was more than happy, a couple of people at our table asked if they could order chicken or salmon instead of the menu items. Again, the Head Steward had to be summoned and again the shock and dismay registered on his face when he explained that salmon is only available on cruises in Alaska. “Back room” time again.

In the end, he would bring us the next day’s menu every single night and our wonderful Kelly would do the now famous “Reading of the Menu”. It was truly one of the highlights of the cruise and I can’t imagine another cruise without this reading.

And so it went … there were other stories, other moments. Everyone got different courses at different times. Sometimes we would all get an appetizer and the last wouldn’t arrive until the next course. It just went on and on and I can honestly tell you that while I really liked Tory … he was an incredibly sweet guy … the service was just unacceptable.

One of our couples did meet with the Food & Beverage Manager just to learn the current policy regarding such requests. They had cruised on HAL ships before, always able to get shrimp cocktail without a problem as well as chicken or salmon should the menu not be to their liking. The Manager explained that some confusion prevails in the DR because there have been many cutbacks and changes in availability on a nightly basis. They discourage changes to what is on the menu, but our friend did get her shrimp cocktail every single night. I have to say it really was like extracting several wisdom teeth to get this done and it never worked with my iced tea.

I should mention that the Head Steward was incredibly there for us verbally. He just was astounded by our requests (which really weren't so out of line). He tried so hard to please us without actually doing anything ... sort of an all talk and no action kind of guy.

But it didn’t ruin our fun. Dinner was always an enormous good time with a ton of laughs with Ray’s “true stories”, Michael’s abundant comic relief, Ed's incredible patience and, of course, Kelly’s “Reading of the Menu”. We ladies could almost just sit back and enjoy, but we managed to get just a few words in .

Okay, Now About the Food … J

The food was 20 times better than our last HAL cruise. I still found some of the dishes inedible, but … !!!

The lobster was absolutely delicious and it was Maine lobster … be still my heart! I could have had 3 of these, but didn’t even try. Still others at the table requested additional and received them. But it always seemed to me that it was brought with the suggestion that we were really pushing our luck. In fact, additional dishes were ordered a few times and were received but definitely not as willingly as on Celebrity ships.

The Escargot was delicious. I had what they call “salmon trout” twice (once at lunch, once at dinner) and both times it was so unbelievably good. The prime rib was amazing although layered in fat ... some cow that was. But I ate around the fat and it was really delicious. I ordered pot roast one night and really enjoyed it. Even the turkey dinner was really good. But the lamb roast was inedible. While others enjoyed the lamb chops (one of my usual favorites), mine were fatty, tough, and I couldn't eat them.

I chose not to have the Dover Sole as much as I wanted it and good thing because those at our table were full of bones. The chilled strawberry soup was to die for and I only wished they knew earlier they had excess strawberries . I had it at both lunch and dinner one sea day toward the end of our cruise.

The salads were somewhat lackluster, but okay. Almost every appetizer was absolutely delicious and the desserts were out of this world.

On the last night they offered Opera Cake. Michael said it was his favorite so I ordered it. At the same time I ordered the Strawberry Sundae. Good thing, too, because as pretty as the Opera Cake was, I didn’t enjoy it. The Sundae, however, was sooooo good. I needed my desserts because I rarely ate my dinner .

A total failure of a dessert that was ordered by almost everyone at our table was the Grand Marnier Soufflé. A greater disaster you could not serve. Not one of us had more than 2 bites. It was a pile of dough. We pointed this out to our Head Steward who, as always, was at our table and he did say he would report that back to the Chef. However, nothing was offered in its place. I honestly believe you could put up wallpaper with that souffle.

All of this was a major improvement and the variety was wonderful. It was a rare night there was nothing appealing on the menu.

Lido Restaurant

Except that I had 2 personal disasters with French Toast (served to me raw), everything in the Lido was wonderful. I just loved it. Around 5:00 they would put out small cheese platters with covers and I would bring one to our aft verandah and it was great to tide me over until dinner. And a good thing given some of those!

Other Food

I made this heading just for cookies. How I loved the cookies. If not scooping a couple up on my way past the Ice Cream Bar, I was going off course by the Java Café where 3 platters always held a delicious array of chocolate chip, pecan, etc., cookies that were so absolutely delicious.

As I write and review what I've written, I come to realize that for 10 days I basically subsisted on chocolate croissants (so so good), cheese, smoked salmon, cookies, ice cream and dessert.

OTHER SERVICE

Service throughout the ship, smiling faces everywhere, everyone at the Front Office all the way down to Main Deck …… all amazing and wonderful. This was a very happy ship.

ENTERTAINMENT

 

We didn’t go to every show but we thoroughly enjoyed what we did see. There were just 4 women and 3 men in the stage show and all were singers and dancers. There was no dubbing and we thought they were fun. These shows were not your typical Las Vegas type fanfares … more like reviews, nicely and tastefully done.

Featured Entertainers:

Dima Belinski is a piano showman who also has mastered the accordion and the Romanian folk flute. We enjoyed him. Add to that his performance on the “Draculaphone” and you will never forget him. His hands literally danced across the keys.

Neil Austin: You have to see this act to appreciate it. He had our group simply rolling on the floor, tears rolling down our cheeks. They called it “magical mayhem”, but there wasn’t a whole lot of magic going on. He effortlessly combined visual comedy with a kind of magic I’ve never seen before. He is simply a great entertainer and we were thrilled that he came back for a short stint at the end of the cruise.

Morry Coleman, “The World’s Fastest Banjo Player”. While we did catch his shorter act at the end of the cruise, we did not go to the longer program. Just as well given our reaction at the final farewell. DH fell asleep and we were in the front row!!!

SEA DAYS

Both our sea days were very rough and as I mentioned before, many passengers on our ship who have cruised throughout their lifetimes could not believe how seasick they were. I was a bit so the first day, but wore my sea bands, took a Bonine and was fine. The second rough day (much worse than the first), I had gotten my sea legs and didn’t even experience a single twinge.

SHIP’S PHOTOGRAPHERS AND PICTURES:

I hardly knew they were there. They took very few pictures. We didn’t even get a group table picture because the seas were so rough no one dared try to stand for it!!!

I bought exactly one picture and only for the memory of it. It’s ridiculous at $20.95. I don’t know why they can’t make a 5 x 7 and price it at $15, but they don’t so they just get one out of me.

BARS & LOUNGES:

My favorite drink before dinner was at The Crow’s Nest hands down. The Ocean Bar was far too smoky even though the Prinsendam Orchestra as well as the Sea Breeze were wonderful.

But Buddy Mitchell tinkling the ivories in the Crow’s Nest was my kind of entertainment. Name a tune and he played it. Wonderful guy and I just loved him. I was surprised he didn’t know “The Best of Times” from La Cage Aux Folles, but he promised to learn it and know it the next time I sail. So if you see Buddy in the Crow’s Nest, ask him if he knows it yet!!!

The Explorer’s Lounge is lovely and I walked through it constantly since we were on Promenade Deck, but I never stayed. The Moonlight Strings sounded lovely as I passed through, though.

 

PORTS AND TOURS

The “Shopping Ambassador” on this cruise was the worst I have ever encountered. In his talks, he read off his laptop, repeated himself over and over and stumbled over words. Thankfully, I really didn’t need him at all.

Grand Turk: What can I say? … I loved it … my kind of port. A little shopping, a little beach time, a little swim in the aqua waters, a little drink, a little swim in the pool. That’s all we did here and it was fabulous.

Favorite Shop: A little shop called Island House where they sold Fresh Produce clothing. Little did I know how I would fall in love with these shorts or I would have bought all 3 colors. I never made it to the Fresh Produce outlet on St. Thomas and thought I could get these back home. I can’t and I’m devastated.

Nevis: Magnificent from the sea as you’ll see from my pictures. We didn’t tour here; just walked around the little town.

If you go: Be sure to check out Glendora’s Oceanview Restaurant which rests near the water’s edge. If you can, make a reservation because there are only 3 tables out on the deck and you won’t want to miss the view .

(Disclaimer: Before attempting that reservation, be sure to look at my pictures of Nevis. I’ve included 2 of this amazing restaurant and you’ll want to see those first )

San Juan: Having visited this port so many times, we simply walked the streets of Old San Juan. This is not a favorite port of mine.

St. Lucia: This was the only island we took one of the ship’s tours and it was absolutely wonderful. At first we were disappointed when told that instead of the ship picking us up in Soufriere after the tour, the bus would return us to the ship. So we had to depart at 9:45 a.m. instead of 12:45 which altered our plans a bit. But in the end we really didn’t mind. The tour was 6 hours including the hour each way to the Pitons. The tour was Queen’s Route and at $59pp, I highly recommend it. We visited Bagshaw’s which is set on one of the most beautiful places on earth, a small fishing village Anse la Ray where the locals laid out their crafts and stopped for a magnificent view of Marigot Bay. I purchased a small doll there for $5 that I later saw for up to $22 elsewhere on the island.

The tour also took us to the world’s only “drive-in” Volcano, the Diamond Botanical Gardens and Waterfall and, of course, the famous twin Pitons.

I just love St. Lucia … magnificent island.

St. Barts: The best part about St. Barts is I only spent $5 and that was on a magnet for the fridge. What a magnificent port and understandably so because it is one of the wealthiest islands of the Caribbean. One yacht was larger than the next and it’s fun to see how the other half lives.

St. Thomas: I don’t think there’s a single person reading this who doesn’t know St. Thomas. We just walked around the shops of Havensight since we’ve been there so many times and stayed on the island for two weeks awhile back. It was nice to be one of only 2 ships at Havensight.

Half Moon Cay: HMC has one of the most magnificent beaches and waters I’ve seen. Nothing else there particularly beckons me, but the water does. And now that they have the huge shore tenders, getting ashore is a breeze … particularly when you’re on the Prinsendam and you’re the only ship there.

This is the way to visit Half Moon Cay. The temperature was perfect, there were no crowds and it was a lovely way to end our amazing cruise.

CLOTHING AND ATTIRE

 

Passengers dressed according to the suggested attire every night. No one was under dressed that I could see during the entire cruise.

DISEMBARKATION:

Piece of cake … simple as pie . We thought there would be a problem when they didn’t start until almost 9:30. We were slotted for 9:00 and they hadn’t even begun by then. But we stayed on our veranda and enjoyed a few last moments with new friends and then ……. Poof! It was done.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

 

We both agree this was one of our favorite cruises … partly because of the size of the ship, partly the crew and the wonderful friendly service, but most of all because of the people we met around every corner of the ship. We would strike up conversations with someone and then run into them again the rest of the cruise. We felt we were cruising with a bunch of friends.

Our table was simply the best it could be ... wonderful new friends who we hope we'll know forever and at the very least see again on another cruise someday soon.

While our CC Roll Call sort of got split up into 2 or 3 groups, it was still fun to see everyone along the way, call out a quick “Hi”, meet for a drink before dinner.

I sat with the Future Cruise Consultant inquiring about a 14-night Holiday itinerary in December 2008. She told me it’s actually 17-night which surprised me since all the literature said 14. Cabin 196 was already taken (yikes!), but we could have 197. She said she’d hold it a couple of days while we decided. When I returned to tell her that it was longer than we had wanted and that the $12,000 rate was a “bit” more than we wanted to pay, it turned out she was booking us for the 2007 cruise!!!! Since we’re on the Veendam just before that, I explained this was not possible.

I did leave her with $200 to be notified the minute they open the Holiday Cruise 2008 for booking, but something tells me that even with 3 less days the pricing will be beyond our reach (even with a discount we will likely get through our T/A). I can't believe they require $200 just to let me know when they start taking bookings, but it is what it is.

This cruise came at a time I needed it desperately. Though I had to return to all that I left behind, for those 10 days I sailed virtually on a cloud with nothing but smiling faces and so much laughter.

It was a memorable cruise and we are so looking forward to our next one on the Veendam next November.

I have kept all my Daily Programs, etc., so if anyone has a question, just ask. I’ll do my best to answer as honestly as I can.

And when I’ve uploaded my pictures to Webshots, I’ll let you all know.

[RevNeal]

Thank you so much for your report, Heather ... and Welcome Home!!!!!

[localady]

Great to hear you enjoyed my favorite little DAM ship and those fabulous aft cabins!!:D

[localady]

Great to hear you enjoyed my favorite little DAM ship and those fabulous aft cabins!!:D

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Heather, first off let me say "Welcome Home" I had been thinking about you the whole time. I really enjoyed your review and yes were lucky to go on the Prinsendam for a shorter cruise. I hope that someday before they do decided to retired her we might have the opportunity.

I really enjoyed your review, it is just too bad that they could not get things going a bit faster in the Dining Room but since you still had a lot of fun that is really what counts in the end. Definitely looking forward to seeing your picture.:)

Again Welcome Home you have definitely been missed.

[RuthC]

Heather, what a great report! I laughed; I cried; I...nevermind what else. :eek:

I was delighted to read how you described the entertainment---wish I was there to see/hear it.

And most of all I'm glad you had a nice time. It sounds like it was a real chance to renew and refresh in order to come back and face real life. I'm happy it worked out well for you. :)

[Slinkiecat]

Welcome home, Heather, and thank you for posting your impressions of my favorite ship, Prinsendam. I knew you'd like the ship.

.

As for the dining room service, well, it all depends on your individual server, and the folks at the table next to you may have been raving about their experience. Maybe it was the off-menu items that new employees didn't know how to handle.

 

Dover sole is one of those wonderful menu items you have to experience. The dining room steward knows how to debone it, and once you've tried eating it without his service, you know to sit back and wait for him to do his expert trimming and fileting this delicate fish. Usually you end up with no more than a couple of small bones, and they are easily picked out so you can enjoy the fish. I learned the hard way myself.

.

We found far better service on the long cruise on Prinsendam than on the shorter ones on any ship. I have highest expectations for our Circle South America and Antarctic cruise coming up next month as far as dining room personnel and others around the ship. They just seem to put their best on those long cruises.

 

Slinkie

[hammybee]

Welcome home Heather. I enjoyed your review. BTW, you can find Fresh Produce, one of my favorites on, where else, eBay.

[kryos]

Heather,

 

We had the same service issues in the dining room onboard the Amsterdam this past October. Things moving very slowly ... long waits between courses ... at one point, the head steward even came over to our table to apologize. Most nights, it was a real challenge to make it to the show. And, we had early seating. So obviously the problem isn't restricted to one ship, nor one dining room seating.

 

The explanation I heard was that major changes had occurred in the kitchen. They had less staff now and were really struggling to keep up with the demands of an almost fully-booked ship.

 

So, the service issues weren't with the dining room stewards. They were always ready, willing and able to provide top notch service, but could do little if the kitchen didn't have the next course ready.

 

Could that possibly have been the problem on your cruise as well?

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[happy cruzer]

A great sense of humor fixes just about everything in the world.

 

I wish your food had been perfect but I am so glad your table could enjoy any way.

 

Was you review long? I didn't notice:)

 

thanks for sharing.

[cruznon]

Welcome home Heather. Your review was terrific--it gave us a "feel" of the ship and your experiences.

[HeatherInFlorida]

A quick response to a few of your comments ...

 

Slinkie, unfortunately I have to say that the other tables were most likely not raving about the service since we were all trying to be #1 in the order taking:) . There were several nights that one table (which was part of a large group) did not come at all and it made no difference at all.

 

There was no mention of deboning the Dover Sole even when everyone spoke about the problem with the bones. But I'll certainly know the next time! Everyone said it was delicious except for the bones. I will mention that lobster night one of our table mates asked that the Steward please remove the lobster from the shell for her. She asked him 3 times and he never did ... not a huge thing, but not sure the deboning would have been forthcoming either.

 

BTW, we did have the full fledged Dutch Night ... hats and all:) .

 

Again, I do not blame the Steward for most of the problems. I think they more likely lie with HAL itself since my understanding is that there were similar problems on the Volendam due to "cutbacks". You cut back ... something has to give. My guess is it's usually the passengers.

 

So, Rita, I would agree that it probably wasn't poor Tory's fault. There was never an issue with his attitude. He was terribly sweet and I think he tried.

 

I did forget to mention that our Assistant Steward remembered to bring me my wonderful decaf cappucino every single night:D ... just couldn't seem to quite make it with the iced tea.

 

Hammybee, I'll check Ebay for the shorts. Thanks for the tip! They have Fresh Produce at Nordstrom, but not these shorts.

 

Thanks, all, for the welcome home and I'm glad my feeling came through that the little glitches in no way diminished our enjoyment of the overall cruise. These little things could never get me down when everything else was so fantastic.

[wander]

Heather,

 

I got off the Prinsendams the day you boarded. Loved your review! Too bad about your dining room steward. In the course of our cruise we had three different ones. While none were as problematic as yours, they quality of their work did vary from OK to Very Good (maybe even excellent).

 

You mentioned the inspections. I thought you might be interested in teh following. They had two inspections that day, the Coast Guard and the Food/Environment folks. (I do not remember which group rates the ships from a health perspective, Dept. of Health maybe?) For several days before we disembarked the crew was madly preparing for the quizzing they might get. Random employees would be individually questioned on all manner of things by the Coast Guard folks. The information they EACH needed to be able to spout and or demonstrate was extensive! Not fun.

 

Then for the Food folks, I went to the Lido to get a breakfast snack about 9:00 AM, there was NOTHING there. I am sure that they warned about this the night before as I remembered seeing the Lido hours listed, but I did not pay any attention to them. They had to have the Lido closed down and cleaned in depth for the inspection. I have reason to know that at least some of the inspectors were over an hour late, which I am sure pushed their whole schedule for you folks out of wack.

 

Staff not involved with disembarkation we gathered in the show room, with some stragglers being paged to report there immediately for the Coast Guard. They were BUSY, BUSY folks. Hopefully all went OK. Embark/disembark days are busy and stressful enough for all levels of the crew. That day was going to be nightmarish.

 

 

Thanks for your review.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Wander, thanks so much for that information! It explains a lot and is pretty close to what we thought.

 

BTW, while on our cruise they had yet another inspection and were happy to receive a 96.

[hmorrow]

Heather,

I never noticed that you hardly ate your dinner...........maybe because I was so busy eating ALL of mine!!!! Helaine

[dakrewser]

Wonderful review, Heather. And I'm so glad you really like the Prinsendam - I thought you would. I am sorry about your DR experience, nothing like the great service we had in June & July. Of course, that was a table for 2 which I think does make a difference. And I'm shocked to hear that the sole was de-boned and the lobster de-shelled - that's something the Captain or Asst. Maitre d' often did.

 

Oh well, next time you'll know better. And I'm willing to bet there will be a next time....

[Southbound]

Heather -- A big welcome. Hope your return to reality didn't hurt too much. Thanks for such a detailed review. It sure got my juices flowing in anticipation of boarding her on Thurs of next week. Was certainly surprised to hear about the problems in the dining room, but glad it didn't impact on your otherwise overall enjoyment of the cruise. On all of our past HAL cruises, we experienced very slooow service in the dining room for breakfast and, after the first try, we'd switch to the Lido for the duration; thankfully never had a problem with dinner service.

Did you ever ascertain the reason embarkation was switched from HAL's usual boarding venue?

[Blue Eyes]

Thanks Heather for the wonderful report of the cruise...

 

To all those reading this, yes, I am the Donna that did not get to go....sounds as if our lively group lived up to their pre-cruise reputation. I am so glad you did not stress out about all things going on back home and you and Ray had a great time.

 

Randy is off the high priced meds and feeling much better and we are searching for another cruise after the first of the year....

[Grumpy1]

Did you ever ascertain the reason embarkation was switched from HAL's usual boarding venue?

Here's the list of cruise ships that departed on Dec 2. It definitely was not your typical day at Port Everglades. The "little" Prinsendam got moved to a less desireable pier to make room for the "big guys".

 

Carnival Cruise LinesCarnival Legend

Costa Cruise LinesCosta Mediterranea

Cunard LineQueen Mary

Holland America LinePrinsendamHolland America LineZuiderdam

Princess CruisesCoral Princess

Princess CruisesStar Princess

Royal CaribbeanJewel Of The Seas

 

Thanks for a really great report Heather. We're so glad that you and Ray had a great cruise in spite of a few "hiccups".

[Bill S]

Heather: what a wonderful review-thanks! I'm glad you liked the Prinsendam and especially "our" great cabin! I read your review about the cabin to DW and she just smiled and nodded and totally agreed with your assessment! It remains our favorite cabin, even more enjoyable than the Cat S cabins we have been privileged to occupy on other HAL ships. I think it is that glorious combination of the "bay window" and spacious verandah--you really decscribed it perfectly!

Again, welcome home and I am looking forward to seeing some pictures!

[Southbound]

Grumpy -- Thanks for the info. I should have thought to check cruisecal.com before asking the question. I did recently check our upcoming voyage and, so far, it's only the Prinsendam and Island Princess sailing out of FLL on 12/22. Thank goodness we're not going out on the 23rd!!!

[arzz]

Thank you so much for the detailed review of your cruise on the Prinsendam. For me it was great reading and just increases my anticipation for our upcoming cruise in January. I am anxious to see your pictures!

[Copper10-8]

Hey Heather, thanks for taking the time and effort to write your excellent review! Glad to hear you had a good cruise regardless of the DR service problems. Like Dave, we luckily did not encounter those on Prinsendam in August with table #111 (same 8:15 seating) with Agus, Nadimin and Asst. Dining room Mngr Raj (from India). Prinsendam is without a doubt a very nice ship to cruise on!

Just wondering what you thought of C/D Pieter Daems, one of the few (if not the only) Dutch-born cruise director on HAL.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you Heather for your wonderful review of the Prinsendam.

 

Enjoyed reading it very much.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Hey Heather, thanks for taking the time and effort to write your excellent review! Glad to hear you had a good cruise regardless of the DR service problems. Like Dave, we luckily did not encounter those on Prinsendam in August with table #111 (same 8:15 seating) with Agus, Nadimin and Asst. Dining room Mngr Raj (from India). Prinsendam is without a doubt a very nice ship to cruise on!

 

Just wondering what you thought of C/D Pieter Daems, one of the few (if not the only) Dutch-born cruise director on HAL.

 

John, I loved Raj! He was on the other side of the DR, but he helped Helaine and me when we wanted to move her and Kelly to our table.

 

One day the DR was overwhelmed due to flooding in the Lido (on storm day) and Raj was so understanding with me. It's a funny story: We were behind a small group complaining, b****ing and moaning about just about everyone and everything that was "wrong" on the ship ... whine, whine, whine. I couldn't bear to have lunch with them. Raj led them to a table and motioned to Ray and me to join them. I shook my head ever so slightly and he raised one eyebrow in question. So when they weren't looking I crossed my fingers in a "no way" gesture so common all over the world:) and he "got it". He came over to me and asked what was wrong and I told him I just wasn't in the mood to listen to their complaining all through lunch.

 

He sat us at another table and later came over to me and expressed his understanding as only he could. If I explained his gesture and remark here it would be misunderstood (as it was by my husband;) ), but it was very gentle and very sweet.

 

Also, when we couldn't get butter at our table no matter how many Stewards we asked, I appealed to Raj and it was at our table in seconds. He was terrific.

 

I absolutely loved Peter! I loved when he would say "The moment I stepped out on the stage I felt a story coming on". Anyone who knows Peter knows this phrase. He was a riot. He's so excited about his upcoming marriage and told us he would no longer be under contract because he and his fiancé had decided this would be no way to start a family. He was trying to do a lot of wedding planning from the ship which he said was very difficult. He was really looking forward to 3 weeks off with her. He is a very unique and enjoyable CD ... not for everyone, but definitely for me.

 

In fact, John, I thought of you the moment I met him. Helaine and I enjoyed quite a long conversation with him almost making him late for his talk about life at sea.