Why I like Holland America Line

"We were the first cruise ship to be allowed to stop at St Lucia. These poor people were really hit hard from hurricane Tomas. They get all their drinking water by using their desalinazation plant. That plant was down completely. Well, HAL decided to help out.

"They had the head of the island come to the ship where our ship gave them blankets, HAL's ship reserve of supplies. They told us they were giving them water. I naturally thought they meant bottled water. NO, the man in charge of HAL's desalinazation methods on the ship found a way to take the water and pipe it into water trucks.

"I personally saw 8 or 9 huge tanker trucks filled with water leaving our dock. We were late leaving by an hour because the Captain said if we stayed he could pump something like 20,000 gallons more for these people, and he said he would make up the time so we would not be late to our next port. Our water went to the hospitals and other emergency places.

"Now, that was really nice, but wait it gets better. The children from the local orphanage came to the ship to eat pizza, hotdogs and ice cream and play in the kids area. You know they had to think they were in heaven. The orphanage received around 2 thousand dollars that was collected just for them. The Sister we are told was in tears and extremely appreciative.

"I was proud of the crew and those passengers on board that donated money." (Ship's Message Board.)