The "Elegant Explorer"

At 38,000 tons and carrying a maximum of 793 passengers, the Prinsendam is Holland-Americas smallest cruise ship. She started out as the Royal Viking Sun in 1988, was sold to Seabourne as the Seabourne Sun and then, in 2002, became the Prinsendam, Holland-America has continued to upgrade her, the last renovation being in 2007. Remarkably, Captain Halle Thon Gundersen has been her captain since she was launched, staying with her from company to company. One crewman mentioned that Prinsendam has the largest master's quarters of any cruise ship afloat. Hmmm...

She has a devoted following. One couple at our dinner table even met on a previous Prinsendam cruise and they were celebrating their 3-month anniversary on our cruise.  Many of our fellow passengers were back for the fourth, fifth or higher cruise onboard the "Elegant Explorer." There are a number of factors which contribute to this passenger loyalty:


It doesn't look like a small ship, but it is (relatively speaking). The Eurodam carries over 2,100 passengers.
The Prinsendam tendering in Qaqortoq harbor.
At each port the pilot boat would bring the local pilot out to us, and bring him home as we were leaving.

We had an outside cabin on the next-to-the bottom deck of passenger cabins.
The cabin was comfortable and the housekeeping was excellent. I once got up in the middle of the night, and when I came back, my side of the bed had been made,
The Prinsendam has large walk-in closets even in the standard staterooms.

Captain Gundersen could drive the Prinsendam with the same accuracy was we drive our cars.
Here's how you tell time on a cruise ship: you step into the elevator.
We really enjoyed dressing up for the three formal dinners. One of the ship's officers joined us on those occasions.

In Isafjordur harbor we had a barbecue on deck.
The Lido deck pool and hot tub are sheltered from the wind.
A bar was set up to accompany the barbecue.

Tendering

People who have not cruised sometimes ask what it means when I say that we were "tendered" ashore at Qaqortoq, or Lerwick. What it means is that the port was to small for our ship to tie up at a wharf, so it dropped anchor out in the harbor, and smaller boats, able to carry about 100 people at a time shuttled back and forth between the ship and the shore. These tenders double as lifeboats in an emergency.


The tenders hang in davits along with the rest of the lifeboats
They are speedy little boats with a cockpit amidships.
They provide basic transportation to and from the ship.

The tender ties up to a floating dock along side the ship.
You step from the tender to the dock, then into the ship and up to deck 4.
When it's time to sail, the tenders are hauled back up into the davits.