The oldest and smallest member of the Holland America Line ships is leaving the fleet. The 1988-built, 835-passenger ms Prinsendam has been sold to German cruise Line Phoenix Reisen effective July 1, 2018, and is being chartered back to Holland America so she can fulfill itineraries through July 1, 2019.
Guests scheduled to sail on Itineraries after July 1, 2019 will be contacted to be re-accommodated on Rotterdam, Volendam, and Veendam.
Holland America Line president, Orlando Ashford said in a statement, “Prinsendam has proudly served our guests since 2002, and we share in the fondness that many of our loyal cruisers have for this special ship. As we look to the future and focus on delivering the programming and innovations that our guests are asking for, we remain focused on exceeding guest expectations on every cruise and will continue to offer the unique itineraries that Prinsendam sailed on our other, smaller ships.”
She was originally built as the Royal Viking Sun for the Royal Viking Line and subsequently sailed for the Cunard Royal Viking line after Cunard purchased Royal Viking. In 1999, Carnival Corporation purchased Cunard and Seaborne and it was decided that the ship would undergo a refit and emerge as the Seaborne Sun.
In 2002, she was then transferred to Holland America Line (also owned by Carnival Corporation) and quickly gained a following from loyal HAL cruisers who loved the small ship experience and was given the nickname the Elegant Explorer.
As cruise lines look to build bigger ships that are more fuel efficient and technologically advanced, it was no surprise to learn that the Prinsendam was sold.
With the loss of the Prinsendam, the 1993-built ms Maasdam will become the oldest and smallest in the fleet with the capacity to carry 1,258 passengers. Holland America’s newest ships, and ones on order, all have the capacity to carry 2,650 passengers. While that may seem like a lot, it’s still a small number when you consider Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class ship can carry more than 6,000.