Western Caribbean, Volendam March 25 to April 4, 2004 By: DougMacP@aol.com

Before sailing on her I began to think of the Volendam as the Cinderella of the HAL fleet. For a fleeting moment in time she was the largest ship in the HAL fleet. From there her fortunes changed. Eclipsed by the Rotterdam class and the new "Vista" class she and her sister the Zaandam seem to become the forgotten middle children of the fleet.

After returning I had not planned to submit a review on this cruise (my 15th). This was my friends last trip, as he was in the final stages of liver cancer. When he was told that the tumor had metastasized he was given 6 to 8 months. As it turned out, he had 6 weeks. He passed away peacefully two weeks after our return. Read more