Aug. 18, 2013 sailing from Venice to Barcelona: As retired New York teachers now living in Fla. almost 20 years, we have many choices of cruise lines and itineraries. We thought we would never vacation in the summer, but we do want to get away from the heat of Fla., so we chose our vacation by the ports, not the cruise line. We were pleasantly surprised by what HAL gave us: great service, excellent and abundant food choices, our "wish-list" itinerary, comfortable king-size bed & verandah; Oneg Shabbat wine, challah, etc., attentive staff. The location guide, Tom, was offered a wealth of information, history and suggestions for places to visit on shore.
Too bad we only had one day at sea! We used our time wisely and were off the ship at every port at 8:00 AM - walking every city at least 3-5 miles each day. We used Cruise Critic Message Boards to find groups to join in Dubrovnik, Naples and Rome.
We used the transfers offered by HAL for Florence and Barcelona. Then were were able to navigate on our own. We would highly recommend those transfers to all passengers.
8027 Navigation deck. Fabulous location. Away from elevator and main hallway. NEEDS drawer space.OLD, ancient drawers inconveniently placed under the bed or under the sofa.....not for senior citizens.Sofa needs to be replaced.Bed was very comfortable.Bathroom needs storage shelves with doors, so things don't fall off shelves into sink.Loved your shower head. I wanted to take it home! great water pressure