This was our second HAL cruise. Our first was on the Veendam NYC to Bermuda. On that cruise, one of the engines broke and we lost 2 days in Bermuda. We were compensated with one hour of free drinks, which seemed terrible at the time. So it was somewhat reluctantly that we booked this cruise, but a new ship, great itinerary and good deal swayed us. And am I ever glad that we went!

We are in our late thirties and were definitely some of the youngest couples on the ship. In fact, during embarkation we had an elderly lady come up to us and apologize for staring, "but we were literally the only young people that they saw!" What can we say except that it made us feel very good! In some respects it was great (ie there were literally only 4 or 5 kids on the whole ship, there was always tons of room at the pool and hot tubs), but in some ways it was bad (Name That Tune Trivia didn't have any songs newer than 30 years old & the whole ship tended to go to sleep at 10pm).

Our cabin and cabin stewards were wonderful. We had booked an inside guarantee and to our amazement, 4 days before the cruise our assignment was a balcony- cabin 8059. We were stunned and so happy! The cabin layout is very functional with two big closets, a fridge, safe, ice bucket (filled on request), desk with mirror, both US and European outlets, USB outlets, a mini sofa and table, and firmly large bathroom. The shower was the biggest one we've ever seen on a ship. We loved the shower head so much we're trying to buy one here- it's a Bossini from Italy and has amazing water pressure for a water saver. The TV was also good. There were 4 live news channels, 2 ESPN sports channels, and a tons of movies and TV channels to pick from for free. When we were on the ship, the tv shows were The Big Bang Theory, Game Of Thrones, Downton Abby, Caribbean Life, BBC Earth and a couple of documentaries about the Caribbean. Read more