I traveled with my 20-something daughter on her first trip to Alaska. Both of us have been on previous cruises. Check-in at the port was smooth. We had our boarding information and passports ready. We arrived just before noon, ate lunch on the Lido deck and proceeded to find our bags already inside our cabin the first time we arrived there.
The ship is pretty, very clean and well laid out. I was disappointed in the condition of our stateroom however. Behind that closed door, we found a different situation than I had seen in the public areas. The Rubbermaid bath mat had quite a bit of black mold on it, as did the lining of the drapes at the sliding glass doors to the veranda. The shower curtain liner kept falling from the hooks. The ice bucket had quite a bit of rust on the outside. The loveseat was worn, not unlike a college apartment piece of furniture. The towel bathmat was ragged. I simply felt the public areas were more important to HAL than the private areas.
Neither my daughter or I were very impressed with the food. I ate lots of salads from the Lido salad bar at lunch. The Italian station had some good choices. My dessert consisted of ice cream because I couldn't find any of the baked goods that were tasty.
4179 - lack of closet space & hangers, great veranda views,bathtub/shower combo, loveseat (needs replacing) and chair, small TV, DVD player, great location on ship. Great view for whale watching from veranda with leaving Glacier Bay. Have your camera ready. (Details: rusty ice bucket, ragged towel bathmats, mold on Rubbermaid bath mat as well as on the lining of the drapes. Loveseat worn. Verandah furniture cushions were dirty. Verandah railing needed to be cleaned and given a new coat of varnish.)