The places we went were great, but the ship did not have good activities or any night life (if you're under 65). We did have really rough seas (25' waves) so it was a rough trip.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Service in the dining room was not fast but the food was excellent.
Onboard Activities
1 out of 5
It was too cold to use the pool even with the roof closed and to access the saunas, etc, you had to pay extra even if you had a massage booked. We tried to go to the painting class but it was filled 15 minutes before it even started. We paid for wine tasting but then all the seats were taken and had to stand up the whole time. Most of the activities were senior focused like bridge and knitting.
Entertainment
1 out of 5
Scarlet in the piano bar was the ONLY good entertainer, and she only performed for 90 minutes / day. There is NO dance club / disco. All of the music & shows are for 65+ seniors, nothing to do if you are younger than a boomer! They also have the stages open to each other so only 1 show can go on at a time so if you don't like it, there's nothing else to do.
Children's Programs
no kids
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
The ship was spotlessly clean and well maintained but the layout is not good because the music venues are not separated. There also is no "central" area / atrium that everything is centered around so it just feels like long hallways everywhere.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Well designed and room stewards were excellent but the bed was hard.
Ship tip
Don't go on this ship if you are under 65 years old and want anything to do at night.
I agree that HAL is for an older crowd. While my husband and I are no spring chickens we got extremely bored on our last HAL cruise. Their ships are beautiful and elegant and the service is exceptional but unless you love Bingo, there’s not much else to do onboard.
A little research goes a long way when you are investing in a cruise. HAL is geared toward a mature customer base and does not come with all the entertainment bells and whistles that some of the other cruise companies do. I’m sorry your cruise did not meet your expectations.
If you cruise again please do a little more research. HAL is really geared Ted and older crowd. You should try RC or NCL next time. They have the music walk spaced out so you can travel between venues and listen to different types of music. The saunas on HAL are open to all for free you don’t need to pay for spa packages to use it.
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