We arrived one day early. Stayed at the Hyatt Boston. It was a great location. Enjoyed dinner at Durgin Park. Walked through Quincy Market, the Commons and the Gardens...even took a ride on the Swan Boats. The drive to the Black Falcon Pier was less than 10 minutes from the hotel. After giving our luggage to the porters at curbside, parked the car ($14/day) and checked in. We had done the preboarding online in the hope of speeding our checkin. That was a huge mistake. The line for checking in was enormous if you had checked in on line. The people who didn't checkin online had no wait. Do not checkin online! We boarded about 1:30 and were able to go directly to our cabin( oceanview maindeck) Cabin was fine. Lots of space for storage. Glad that I had previously read these boards. Brought a pitcher, an extension cord,nightlight, and put toiletries in a hanging bag (bathroom doesn't have much laydown space) Closets had a lot of hangers, bureau had 6 large drawers, and each nighttable had 2 small drawers. Our cabin steward was excellent. Our cabin was in a great location near the rear elevators...a lot quieter than the cabins hear the escalators and atrium.

The ports were okay...not very exciting. We did not book any excursions with the ship. They were too overpriced. It was easy to get to places on our own...and we saved $$. In Newport, we chose to ride the public trolley. $1.50 ride ($0.75 seniors) Went to the Breakers ($16 admission to the house tour and grounds) Walked the cliff walk (free) and did some shopping near the dock. Cuffey's had deals that are too good to pass up. In Portland, we arranged to sail on the Frances ( State pier right next to the ferry terminal..about 2 min. walk from the ship). $30/pp for a 2+ hour sail. It was superb. Also had lobster rolls and chowder at Gilbert's (excellent) In St. John, we walked to Balbours General Store (about 5 min. from the ship) and took the public transit tour (2+hours for $17/pp) St. John is kind of dull. In Halifax, we walked along the waterfront to the Maritime Museum ($15/pp) Very interesting. Ate lunch at Salty's and got an ice cream cone at Cow's (on the waterfront near the Marriott) In Bar Harbor, we walked uphill to the town square where we took the Jordan Pond Loop Bus (free), ate lunch at a sandwich shop (not the corner deli). Excellent food..share a sandwich with a friend..they are huge.

Ship was okay. The refurbishing looks nice. The beds were great. The food was poor. We ate 4 dinners in the Rotterdam, 2 in the Lido, and one in the Pinnacle Grill. Fish and meat were never cooked right. veggies were overdone. Salads were the best thing.. the cooks didn't get a chance to ruin them. Ate breakfast in the Lido twice and the Rotterdam the rest. The service was poor. We had a waiter who had attitude especially when we requested that we have our raw food cooked. The best coffee,cakes and cookies were at the Exploration Cafe. Cakes and cookies are free...coffee costs $$. The lounges had a variety of live music which was nice. Nothing really memorable. Only went to one show in the Rembrandt. It was okay. We had a nice time on the cruise until we met folks who were bragging about the great deal that they got on the cruise. We found that several folks paid less than half of what we had paid and had better cabins than we had. It really out a damper on our goodtime. Would I go on HAL again? Only if I got a great deal.