The ship was filled to capacity but with only a maximum of 5 tenders it meant there were waits of 1 to 1 1/2 hours to board tenders and always long lines everywhere on the ship and no seats in the Lido. The ship may have beds for 2,000 passengers but it cannot properly serve them or get them on/off the ships. It was the worst HAL cruise since we started with them in 1991. The itinerary was wonderful but the ship just didn't function with so many guests.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
It was as expected.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Over salted, inadequate vegetables which were always over cooked. Constantly ran out of items. Coffee cups, lemonade, berries, muesli, etc. Heavy on red meat, fried foods and sauces. Even HAL's famed Balsamic salad dressing was horrid and obviously was just cheap vinegar and oil on this cruise. Lemonade, tea and OJ were so watered down they were tasteless. Even the usually delicious warm chocolate lava cake turned out to be cold chocolate cake with a hole poked in the middle and some chocolate syrup drizzled in. Service in the main dining room was always slow due to inadequate staffing.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Port talks and "History of Indonesia". There were NO cooking demonstrations or guest chefs from any of the ports of call. Nearly all of the "activities" were actually promos trying to sell something. i.e. daily art auctions and jewelry talks.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
Lincoln Center was excellent- as always. Rolling Stones were OK but way below other groups on other HAL ships we have enjoyed. No Ocean Bar dance band. The dueling pianos at Billboard Onboard were heavy handed on cords and flat when singing.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
The Indonesian staff are always 10* There simply were not enough of them. Tables weren't bused and no one had time to go around offering water, tea ,lemonade for the first half of the cruise- it was much better the 2nd half when additional staff arrived.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
This is the first HAL cruise in 32 years where we were disappointed in the cleanliness of the ship. Handrails on the stairs and especially the elevator buttons/panels were so filthy that we started using our elbows to push the buttons! Again- lack of staff the first half of the cruise. Much better the 2nd half when additional staff arrived and things started getting cleaned on a daily basis again.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We love "J" cabins - great value for the money we pay. More than adequate space for the time we spend in our cabin. Staying in "J" cabins allows us to cruise more often.
Ship tip
It is an older ship with no separate Tamarind restaurant(a space in the Lido is set aside as a "Tamarind" every other week on the cruise) and no library. which is really sad on a longer cruise. Because of a totally full ship and inadequate staffing there was a line of 20+ people at the front desk all day every day. The wait was typically an hour.
Couldn't walk out of port and after getting off shuttle at terminal gate there were NO cabs for anyone beyond the first 30 passengers to go in to town. Why didn't HAL know this ahead of time? A complete waste of a port.
Very, very poor area with roads leading to/from the port that were nothing but pot holes. Not much to see or do. There were better ports to choose from.
An industrial port but our private tour for the day was wonderful. There are fabulous temples and waterfalls but the ship's tour offerings were soooooo limited.
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