Prinsendam Review
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Cruising the Norwegian Fjords has been on our bucket list so the itinerary for this cruise was a big draw as was the ship. We enjoy smaller, more intimate ships and the Prinsendam was perfect. We sailed her a few years ago around England, Scotland and Ireland and that was a great experience. This cruise equaled that experience. The ship is well maintained has lots of character and intimacy, the food is very good and the crew is friendly.
Embarkation: this cruise leaves from Ijmuiden which is about 45 minutes from downtown Amsterdam. We stayed in Amsterdam 4 days prior to the cruise, so we walked from our hotel to the Renaissance which was the HAL hotel to take the transfer to the port ($32 per person).
Embarkation went smoothly. We were handed a number as we came in the door of the terminal. We didn't have a suite, are not handicapped and are only 3* mariners so we did not get priority embarkation. We waited about 45 minutes for our number to be called. We waited downstairs for another 10 or so minutes to check in. You are bused the short distance to the ship. We boarded and went to our cabin. Our luggage was already there. We went up to the Lido for lunch. The selections were as usual extensive. We particularly enjoy the Asian specialties and there's a different set of choices every day from one of the Asian cuisines. We walked around the ship (easy to do on the Prinsendam), bought a wine package, signed up for the Cellar Master Dinner, confirmed our existing Pinnacle reservation and headed up to the Crow's Nest for a beer/Bloody Mary. We watched the sail-away. We had early seating dining and went to the first of many enjoyable dinners.
Cabin Review
I like how the cabin doors are recessed on the Prinsendam and your closet and bathroom are on the outside wall off the main corridor. Our cabin was very quiet. We had a larger verandah than typical -- I poured over deck plans and picked it since it is the first of a set of cabins that juts out from the rest of the ship on that level. We spent some time on our balcony and we like having one on every cruise -- it's worth it to us. Our stewards kept our cabin very clean and tidy -- although we're very orderly to begin with so there wasn't much for them to do in that department. They made it up when we were out in the am and did that turndown service (towel animals and chocolates) when we were at dinner. The shower worked well as did the toilet. We spent more time in our cabin since it was cold outside on the promenade deck where we would normally sit.