Beautiful new ship (less than a year old). On-board activities were stale and needed some updating. Ports were uninteresting (but I was more interested in ship than ports, so that's on me). Food was great and plentiful. Really enjoyed the Dutch Cafe (great coffee, snacks and for people watching). Nice to see that HAL has relaxed the dress code, only about 30% dressed for dinner.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
HAL hasn't done a lot improve their embarkation process. They could take a lesson from RCL.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Food was very good. Specialty restaurants were excellent, buffet had very few changes as the week progressed and there were often lines at the most popular stations.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Very few fresh activities. HAL really needs to update this. A bingo session to win a cruise was $35/card! Fitness center was VERY nice.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The Lincoln Center Stage was very good, but didn't offer enough seating, people were forced to stand for the performances.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
I found the service and staff to be excellent except for the maître d in the Pinnacle Grill had a bit of an attitude.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Beautiful new ship. The artwork was very interesting. Always people cleaning, but they didn't seem to have many hand sanitizer stations.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
It was very comfortable and larger than most oceanview cabins. The view was out the front of the ship which was different. We had to clothes the drapes at night due to interference with ship navigation from the lights in the cabin.
Ship tip
Choose your ports wisely as there is few interesting activities on board.
It seems like you probably needed to do more research on the ports as you seemed to think each one was an overpriced bar owned by Carnival. There are lots of great options outside of the port area at Amber Cove and Grand Turk and HMC is Perfect for a beach day and very highly rated.
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