This was my 10th cruise, and 2nd on HAL. I had done the Statendam 7 years earlier to Alaska, and was a bit concerned for activities and Nightlife as any 23 year old would be. This was not a problem in the least.

Embarkation: We arrived around 11am and got in line and was on the ship in about twenty minutes, the cabins were not ready so I went to the front office to sign up for my cooking class later in the week and get a hole punched into my card so I could put it on my cruise critic lanyard. We then went up to the lido for lunch and swung by the Pinnacle Grill to learn they would be open for lunch Wed and Thus, we choose Wed and made reservations, our cabin was ready by 1:30 and went in to check it out. The room was nice size with a nice size tub, flat screen TV and dvd player. The Verandah was also nice with 3 chairs for all of use to sit on. Me and dad went up and got a margarita and joined the 'Ship's Tour' which was lead by Event Staff member Matt.. Matt was great, informative and funny. We strolled down to our Muster Drill station and sent dad back to grab life jackets and were wearing them and prepared 15 min ahead of schedule, as were several others.

Cabin: Joko was our steward, he was nice and the room was always clean, and we saw him in the halls several times. 5 stars for Joko and his friendly attitude and towel animals! Read more