We had booked the Volendam for a back-to-back trip from Vancouver to Alaska. We got an incredible deal last minute (one month ahead). We had a toss-up between the RCCL Serenade of the Seas or HAL Volendam. Having never tried HAL before (we are RCCL cruisers), we thought we'd give it a try.

The verdict is we wished we went on the Serenade.

The hype for HAL ships is bad for the first time cruiser. We expected an awesome trip and a wonderful ship. We had previously gone on the RCCL Vision of the Seas, which I think it about the size of the Volendam. There is no comparison. Read more