Veendam (IV) Historical

MS Veendam was the fourth and final ship built in Holland America's S-class, entering service in May 1996 after Statendam, Maasdam, and Ryndam had already established what the class was. She was christened by actress Debbie Reynolds, 57,092 gross tons, carrying approximately 1,258 guests. The four S-class ships were not individually remarkable. Together they defined what Holland America meant for a generation of passengers: mid-sized, Indonesian crew service, dark-wood interiors, formal nights, an intimacy the larger ships could not replicate.

She watched her sisters leave one by one. Statendam and Ryndam were sold to P&O Australia in 2015. When the pandemic came in 2020 and the ships went quiet, Maasdam and Veendam were sold together to Greek operators. Veendam became Aegean Majesty and was delivered at Katakolon in August of that year. She was the last of the four to go, which means she carried the S-class era to its end.

The passengers who knew her did not know when they booked their final sailing that it was the final sailing. That is usually how it works with ships. The last time aboard is rarely recognized as the last time. You leave the gangway thinking you'll be back, and then time passes and the ship is sold and the window closes. Veendam gave twenty-four years to the people who chose her. The quiet ones, mostly. The ones who wanted a ship that felt like a ship.

— In the Wake editorial

I booked the Baltic cruise four days after my divorce was finalized. I needed to go somewhere that was not my apartment and not my sister's house, and I needed it to take twelve days.

Veendam out of Amsterdam, June 2017: Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, and back. I had never done a Baltic cruise. I had never traveled solo on a ship. The travel agent warned me it was a HAL ship, meaning the average age skewed older, meaning I might not find many people my age — I was forty-four — and I said that sounded exactly right.

It was exactly right. The sea days between ports were long and unhurried. I walked the promenade deck alone in the mornings before most passengers were up and watched the Baltic go by. Gray water, gray sky, the occasional lighthouse. I ate dinner at the early seating by myself at a table for two and read without apology and the servers left me alone in the way that good servers understand when to leave people alone. By St. Petersburg I had started speaking to the retired couple from Edinburgh who sat near me at breakfast, and by Tallinn they had adopted me into their shore excursion group.

I did not need the ship to fix anything. It did not fix anything. What it did was give me twelve days of forward motion and sea air and the understanding that I was still capable of being somewhere new by myself. That was enough. Sometimes that is exactly what is needed.

— Margot F.