Epilogue

This has been a most incredibly exciting voyage of discovery as few of the countries and territories visited in the last 70 days had previously been seen by us. It was the itinerary that sold us on this Grand Voyage.

The Prinsendam is somewhat unique in making this annual trek round the South American continent into the Antarctic and up the Amazon. No other ship seemed to offer such a good overall value for money coverage of this area in the southern hemisphere.

We had once briefly visited the Prinsendam while she was docked in Dubrovnik when we were passengers there on sister ship the Amsterdam.

Neither of us were impressed with the overall image of this slightly aging small to medium size ship, particularly having been passengers on the more glamorous and sparkling Amsterdam at the time. Therefore we didn't book the ship in blind ignorance.

Our experience is really divided into three parts: (1) the itinerary, (2) the ship and (3) the officers and crew.

(1)As far as the itinerary is concerned it really couldn't have been bettered and is something we will have great memories of for years to come. Our daily blog will hopefully allow us to continue to capture the magic of much of the voyage.

The provision of free shuttles from most ports into the centre of the local town was an important feature of this voyage and was always much appreciated.

(2)The ship is most definitely showing its age. It has a significant rust problem throughout.

The main services, so essential to guest comfort, seem to not be completely reliable. Sometimes it may be the air conditioning, on the rare occasion it may be water and plumbing and the elevators can be problematic in slightly rough seas.

The life boats (doubling up as ship tenders) also show signs of wear and tear and occasionally became unreliable while in action!

The balconies that I have seen also have deficiencies with rust showing through where passengers might stand or sit.

Although on going maintenance does take place while the ship is underway it seems to be a losing battle to my untrained eye.

Food and entertainment are always subjective matters but suffice to say there is more than ample of each. Perhaps food wins over entertainment on the quality rating side, in my opinion.

The new extended aft deck pool area is a real asset to the Prinsendam and an ideal place to sit and relax.

One of the really big minuses for us was not having the navigational information available on screen in our cabin. ALL cruise ships offer this service showing where you are on a map, your speed, wind direction etc.

It's what I consider essential information to ponder on a cruise. This was missing for 90% of the time on this ship. Unacceptable I'm afraid.

(3)The excellence of the officers and crew can not be emphasized enough.

In some ways they seem to try to make up for the other deficiencies. From Hotel Manager down, the attitude and concern for passenger comfort from these extremely hard working individuals is just so commendable. They keep this up on a daily basis for Grand Voyage after Grand Voyage. They are all quite exemplary.

Our Captain was not visible during the day but often made himself available for sessions in the Queens Lounge, where he was the occasion, and at many other social events held more privately by the various organizations represented on the ship.

Captain Albert, who also publishes a daily blog of his own, was normally very interesting, entertaining and often amusing. A good combination of assets to possess. He genuinely seemed to enjoy interacting with passengers.

Overall this was an excellent voyage only being spoiled very slightly by the vagaries of an aging ship. Well done HAL but you must address the matter of the ship itself. Either sell it and replace it with a newer version or really spend some money making it absolutely fit for purpose.

Finally, I should add that we did meet some delightful fellow passengers on this voyage, a few of whom I hope and expect to stay in contact with over the forthcoming years.

Amen