Our second trip with HAL did not live up to expectations. Whilst the itinerary was excellent (and the reason we chose this particular ship) there were definite issues on board the ship which had just come out of dry dock. The carpet in our cabin was soaking wet - absolutely disgusting to step out of your shoes onto wet carpet. You would think this would warrant being moved to another cabin, but no, the remedy was to lay down towels for us to walk on and when we were not in the cabin an industrial drier was brought in. It took two days to dry out and if one must find a positive, at least it didn't smell. On top of this, there was no hot water in our bathroom the first day, and only lukewarm water for the following two days but that was rectified thereafter. Our toilet was blocked twice but that was fairly quickly rectified. For the first three days almost all public toilets were "out of service". The Crows Nest was out of action for the first 10 days, the Explorations Cafe and Library closed for the first 5 or 6 days and building works seemed to continue right the way through the 22 day cruise. Many levels had a sewer smell at various times throughout the cruise.
Beware when buying any packages for "the duration of the cruise". As far as we were concerned, we had booked one 22 night cruise but this was actually made up of two different itineraries back to back so the unlimited internet package which supposedly finished on the last day of the cruise in fact finished in the middle of our cruise on day 11, not day 22 (I finally found the small print - too late). Likewise with the unlimited laundry package - only valid for the first 11 days of our cruise. We didn't have any problems with the wine package though which carried through until the actual end of the cruise.
Whilst the food was good enough, we found the dining room menu of the first 11 days frequently repeated during the second 11 days - surely it can't be hard to offer more variety over 22 days. There seemed little variation in vegetables and no option to choose different salads or vegetables as an accompaniment. Dinner in the Pinnacle Grill was very good.