You can never go wrong with HAL! Very relaxed, easy going cruise and fellow passengers. Not partiers but can find as much or as little as you'd like to do onboard. Higher class of passengers and staff.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
We always do online check-in ahead of time. This was extremely simple on embarkation day, just show them the boarding passes on our phones and we were good to go within minutes!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
We did the Pinnacle Grill 2 nights, got a free dinner at Canaletto Italian Restaurant compliments of the Casino. Also, due to being too tired to get dressed up, ate at the Lido. All spots were great, but Pinnacle was the best. Also ate at the Dive In and they have superb grilled chicken sandwiches.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
We like hanging out at the sea view pool, back of the ship. Very surprised that we could always find a seat! We never sat at the main pool on lido as they never had the roof open and we wanted the sun. We tried bingo once, played in casino. Went to a couple of presentations on the Panama Canal that were interesting.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
LOVED the steel drum band on first and last night, wish they would have played during the cruise elsewhere as we would have followed them. The BB King Blues Club band was amazing and it was always pretty full and jumping. The piano players at Billboard Lounge were outstanding!! Krista and Eli always entertaining, had great voices and the music was fabulous. Standing room only at almost all of their shows. Had to get there early to get good seat. Did not go to any of the dancer shows, not our thing.
Children's Programs
No children
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
The last 4-5 cruises have all been aboard Carnival. We've sailed on HAL twice before and we obviously have forgotten how outstanding the service and staff were. Everywhere we went, all of the staff greeted us with smiles and seemed genuinely happy at their jobs, dancing in place, joking. Quite a difference from Carnival. HAL will be our first choice from now on.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Smaller ship which we like, very few kids (I think we saw maybe 5-6 total on board), easy to find your way around. It wasn't too far even if we had to walk one end to the other from dinner to theatre. Staff were always cleaning and was never an issue
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Cabins are larger than almost all other cruise lines we've sailed along with the balcony. The bathroom even had a tub which was amazing for shaving your legs ladies! The only downside is I found that there isn't quite enough storage in the bathroom (should have shelving on both sides of sink) and in the cabin. Corner cabinets, more drawers somewhere instead of under the bed (harder to get at for us). Otherwise, much nicer cabin than what we've had, we'll be back
Ship tip
More relaxed crowd, not a bunch of partiers on board which we enjoyed thoroughly!
Excellent disembarkation! We had chosen late departure but then after checking our shuttle information found out we should have done earlier. I asked and they let us debark earlier and it was extremely easy! Out and to the shuttle within 10 minutes.
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