2nd recent HAL cruise for my partner and myself.
Boarding: We had inside information so we were quickly processed (system was partially down) and one of the first to board. Plenty of time to wander around before a Mariner's lunch at the MDR. Had a bit of problem getting on as the bar staff on duty evidently was mistaken that you could not take more than 2 bottles on even if you wanted to pay corkage.
Cruise was pretty o.k. Ate almost always in the MDR with great service from the staff. Food portions were small out of Vancouver but grew massively for the first few days out of San Diego. The servers said the kitchen portioner may have been new. Seafood was pretty good so that is what we ate most days.
Cabin was nice and everything functioned (better than the N GTY we had booked) Lots of closet space but a bit short of drawers. Close to the elevator banks but no noise other than when the ship was tendering (or the hatch was open (mechanism for stairway and hatch almost right below). Got a bit warm towards/around the equator but fortunately it was cool once we got to the coast with the winter fog and all.Window was a bit dirty and that was never washed but then again, there's always sea spray at this level.Toilet did stop working one day but that was fixed relatively quickly (seems it was a system problem in our section).Didn't use the CRT tv other than for outside views and positioning, nor used the DVD player,