I booked my sister and I on this cruise about a year ahead. It was a special treat to her as a gift from me and she had never been on a cruise before. We booked a best available outside cabin. I found out that we received a partial upgrade up to a D. However, I found out that dinner companions who had booked an inside cabin and had never sailed on HAL were upgraded to a lanai stateroom. Since I had booked long before them, and have sailed on HAL six times before, I was not happy.

Embarkation was extremely fast. However, trying to get lunch in the Lido was almost impossible due to the long lines and lack of table space. There was a Norvovirus outbreak on the cruise prior to ours, which meant everything needed to be served, and there was not adequate staff to do that.

The new lanai staterooms have changed the teak lounger policy. One of my favorite things on HAL was reading in a teak lounger. The lanai rooms have two loungers reserved for each stateroom, and there are no loungers available with any view other than the solid metal part of the ship, and this is assuming you can find some that are not broken. Read more