Despite the issues we encountered, I would go on the ship again. I think it was just poor management at the time that caused our issues. Probably the situation would be different now.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
The dining room was very good, the deck food was also. However I was very disappointed in the Lido. There were numerous issues most of which seemed to stem from the company trying to save money. We didn''t have a single meal in the Lido that was hot. We had several meals that were actually inedible. The pizza under the heat lamp had obviously been there for hours also the rice was completely dried out. These are just two examples of food that had clearly been kept too long and should have been disposed of. Each day we had to stand in multiple lines to get each item we wanted to eat. I have been on HAL many times and never encountered such problems. It was so bad that I complained but there was no response. I was also shocked to see a person who was obviously a manager or supervisor stomping through the Lido pointing and talking sharply to the staff while we and many other people were around. All in all this experience was a deterrent to returning to the ship which I otherwise absolutely loved.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Pools, hot tubs were mostly what we used.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The magician was hilarious and was definitely 5 star. The other entertainment was just good, but nothing outstanding.
Children's Programs
2 out of 5
We were disappointed as the outside area previously provided for the teens to get together and have some fun outdoors was not available for them. As it was during the summer I thought that would have been an important area to have open. They were using it for staff to have a private area which I understand the need for, but it could have been organized for both purposes with little effort.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
As always the room stewards were wonderful, but they really seemed tired and not very happy, although they were always cheerful to us. The dining room staff were very distracted, again to me it appeared there was too few of them and they had too much to do. They were always looking over their shoulders.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Very much loved this ship. It was beautiful, the art work and atrium were gorgeous. The ship was very clean and tidy.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
It was a first for us to have a ocean view cabin. Normally we would have a balcony.
It was a wonderful cabin, aft on the promenade deck. I loved having the promenade deck handy. It was a well laid out cabin in a good place on the ship. The only issue I had with it was a hammering sound in the middle of the night. I assume it was some repairs that for some reason they had the crew working on in the small hours. I thought it was a very strange decision to make on the part of the management.
Ship tip
Take time to walk through the ship and enjoy the decor and artwork.
The destination was not announced so I am not sure we even went there. I have been there before and I am pretty sure that for some reason we didn't go into Tracy Arm, but there was no communication from the bridge.
We were so lucky. I have been to Glacier bay several times. This day we had a very cold gale wind blowing and as a result the sky was completely cloudless. You could see every peak. It was stunningly beautiful and at the same time very sad to see the glaciers that we had previously seen as tidewater were now receding on to the land.
Did this cruise on Volendam in 2017 with same comments. Beautiful ship and artwork. The Tracy Arm “stop” was just drop off a group that rejoined in Juneau. I wondered the same so asked.
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