We (my wife & I) choose the Holland America cruise up the Amazon as it was a Bucket List Item and the Prinsendam is a small (800 passenger) ship. The Prinsendam is an older ship showing her age with rusted through holes in the superstructure, dings in the woodwork in the cabins. The public rooms are kept spotless. The first cabin was a Vista suite (206) which was one of the new suites added in the rear of the ship. It was small and cramped if you invited two guests to the suite they would have to sit on the bed. It was a downscale motel type of room. We were moved to cabin 105 which was much better although it was above the entertainment venue, the shows stopped by 11pm so the loud music did not affect our sleep.
Dining: We ate in the main dining room with assigned seating as we did not want to risk gaining extra pounds. The Lido buffet was much better with a wider and better selection of food. The menu items description bore little resemblance to what was served. The food was at best average. The Asian chefs were great at preparing asian items but when preparing western food did not have any idea how it should taste as they just followed the recipes. The dining staff tried their best but suffers from lack of training. The Maitre d' should be sent for training on the Cunard Line.
Embarkation: We were late arriving at the port, dragging our luggage through the terminal to the ship hoping after a long overnight flight for some assistance when we got onboard.
It was good overall and the staff were great. I would have liked a bedside table, but you don't get much for your money. The verandah was not worth the extra $$.