Monday 5 August 2013
Amsterdam

At 5pm today Holland America’s ms Prinsendam will sail from Amsterdam, visiting Milford Haven, Wales; Liverpool, England; Dublin, Galway, Foynes, Waterford, Ireland; Plymouth, England; Zeebrugge, Belgium; and then back to Amsterdam.  Having seen the Prinsendam sail into Amsterdam during the night I am quite content to sleep in this morning before checking in at the cruiseport at 11am.  Check-in and embarkation proceed smoothly and shortly after 11:30am I am on board and ready for a light lunch (Caesar salad and fruit) in the Lido Buffet.  There are the usual warnings about gastrointestinal viruses and the cancellation of self-service until 48 hours after embarkation.  But the precautions are somewhat easy-going, since the ship is small and the passengers are mostly Dutch, British, and American.

My stateroom is quite comfortable, and significantly larger than the one I occupied on the QM2.  There is a king-size bed and a walk-in closet with ample room.  The bathroom is three times the size of the bathroom on the QM2 and is fitted out very nicely.  I am located on Deck 9 (Upper Promenade Deck), three decks from the top, and situated perfectly amidships.  The ship was originally built for Seabourn Cruise Line and purchased by Holland American in 2003, when it was refurbished.  Although quaint by the standards of today’s superliners, she has special charm that comes from a longer history of sailing.

 

I don’t stay on board long, however, because I plan to visit “The Eye,” Amsterdam’s film museum.  Located across the River Ij from Centraal Station, the museum is visited by tram from the cruiseport and then a short free ferry ride.  The weather is very warm so it is pleasant to be on the water, if only briefly.  In all the times I have visited Amsterdam (probably 12 or 13 times over the years), this is my first venture across the river.  The striking architecture of “The Eye” contains a general film museum, several screening rooms, and a large restaurant and outdoor café.  There is also a special temporary exhibit on the films of Frederico Fellini, that presents a chronological distillation of his career (in Dutch and English), in still shots and film clips.

 

MS Prinsendam Starts Its 14-Day Celtic Treasures Cruise

Back on the Prinsendam for a five o’clock departure, I don’t have much time to unpack before the 4:30 lifeboat drill.  It is interesting that different cruise lines handle this drill very differently.  On Cunard (on both the Queen Victoria and the QM2) the drill is held inside the public rooms of the ship and passengers must carry (not wear) their lifejackets.  After a brief demonstration, passengers are encouraged to try on the lifejacket, but there is no formal checking.  The drill lasts about 15 minutes.  On Holland America, the drill is held on the deck at the lifeboat position, but passengers do not bring their lifejackets.  Attendance is taken and evacuation procedures are explained in detail.  Passengers who do not attend the drill are not allowed to sail with the ship.  The drill lasts about 30 minutes.

Men are encouraged to stand at the back of the deck and women and children (I don’t see any on this cruise) in front.  Since there is a lifejacket chest against the body of the ship, I can sit on it and still be at the back.  Several other passengers sit on the chest, including two middle-aged women.  About half way through the drill the woman sitting next to me starts leaning back heavily against my shoulder (and we hadn’t even met).  Since I can’t see her face, I’m not sure what is going on.  But I quickly feel the dead weight of her body and realize that she has lost consciousness.  I call out for medical help, which soon arrives and attempts to revive her, although her responses are very slow.  But she is breathing and is taken away in a wheelchair.  By coincidence, the wine steward at my table at dinner is also the captain of my lifeboat crew, and he assures me that the woman is okay.  Indeed, I see her the next day and she tells me that it was just the heat and dehydration.

After all the excitement of the drill and the departure from Amsterdam, it’s time to unpack and relax before dinner.  The two-hour cruise from Amsterdam down the river to the locks at the North Sea presents an interesting panorama of residential, agricultural, and industrial countryside.  But since I watched this all carefully last August on the Eurodam, I don’t spend much time of the deck taking pictures.  There is an LBGT cocktail reception at 7:30, but as I expected on this ship, no one shows up except me.  Dinner tonight (second seating at 8:00pm) is casual, and unlike on Cunard, jackets are not required.  But the food is significantly more interesting and better prepared:  prosciutto with melon, spinach and bacon salad with balsamic vinaigrette, prime rib with potato and vegetables, and my favorite Burgundy cherry ice cream for dessert.  I start the first bottle of my five-bottle wine package, an Argentine Malbec (2011).  The La Fontaine Dining Room is only one level and I have a table to myself with excellent views of the other diners and the seascape outside the large windows.

There is a brief show after dinner (the second of two nightly performances), and I actually stay up late enough to attend.  The Showroom at Sea is small and intimate, but there are plenty of seats.  The cast (four men and four women) is more attractive and more talented than on other Holland America ships, so I might even attend more performances.  But for now it has been a long day and this has been a long blog entry, so good night to all.