My wife, daughter and parents just returned from the Dec 11-Dec 21 S.Carib. cruise. Previous cruises include Carnival and Royal Carib. The ship is beautiful, however, for our age (55) not much to do on board. Embarkation and debarking was a breeze. Rooms were spacious with an extremely comfortable bed! (best we've had yet) The service from all the staff, waiters and crew members was the best I've ever seen on any ship! Always smiling and friendly! As a chef, I found the food only acceptable at best. I expected better than the other 2 lines, but was disappointed overall. Veal medallions tough and dry, potatoes overcooked, repetitious veg and so on. Not an overly great selection or rotation for a ten night cruise! As a pastry chef, the chocolate buffet was very disappointing to me, selection of items not bad, however the quality and skill was much better on R.C. and Carnival. Ports of call were very good except for Guadeloupe, which needs to clean up their act for the tourists! Half Moon Cay was beautiful, great beach, nice barbecue lunch! Clientele of HAL seems to be very elderly and so the crew doesn't seem to get much involvement from the passengers. No Deck parties (even though the pool is covered), not many attend the dances in the crows nest. Generally not much to do at night for younger people other than gamble in the Casino!

The Pinnacle Grill (tried it one night) was very elegant, great service, but not worth the $30 extra per person. That type of service and food quality should be offered in the main dining room every evening! Entertainment was about par with other ships we've been on. The crew shows (singing and dancing) nicely done, comedians were good, singer (Gerry Sager) great voice, and the violinist (Martin Lass) was incredible!) ( by the way...that's not my kind of music, but I enjoyed him thoroughly!) Pool areas nice (although supposedly heated they were not any more than 78 F.) Drinks were not pushed on you like on some ships!The one thing I found the most disturbing on this ship, was the amount of constant complaining from many of the passengers. Unfortunately as people age, the tendency is to become miserable and grumpy! (no fault of HAL!) In a 20 minute conversation with one crew member, I was informed most of HAL'S ship were like this!(much older Clientele) I will likely choose HAL again but, NOT TILL I'M MUCH OLDER! Overall, great cruise and ports, exceptional service. (room attendant, dining room and buffet) The 6 of us had a great time!