We had a very pleasant cruise. Unless you got sick, had an accident or died during the cruise (more on this later), any day at sea is better than a day at the office. Some may argue that my four star/very good rating is too generous but I believe it is a fair assessment, as the crew works very hard providing excellent service and HAL is doing what they can to do address various concerns, as posted by others in the poor and terrible ratings category here on cruise critic. We booked this cruise and went into it with an open mind and I agree with many posters that expectations were high, most of us really expecting the old familiar HAL, combined with new features. A lot of the old HAL is no longer there and, as a number of fellow passengers we spoke to remarked that HAL has “changed too much”, to the point that we no longer recognize it. I have only read a few of the many reviews so apologies if some of these are repeated from others and for the length of this review.

First of all, my wife and I are in our mid-50s, have been cruising for over 15 years. We are 3-Star Mariners (70-199 sea days) but have not cruised with HAL for a couple of years. We are also Cunard World Club Platinum (7+ cruises), Princess Captain Circle Platinum (6+ cruises), Disney Castaway Gold (5+ cruises), also sailed with Celebrity (4), RCCL (2) and a 15 day European river cruise. Even though we are no longer cruising as often as a family, we are grateful for the opportunities to have sailed with other lines and get a different perspective. On this cruise, I would say more than 90% were over the age of 60, with the majority in their 70s and 80s. The oldest married couple had been married 69 years, one guest was 116 years old (born in 1900, how cool is that to see and live through an entire century), lots and lots of walkers and scooters - much more than we have ever seen, one person using an oxygen tank. We had a helicopter medical evacuation from Half Moon Cay to Nassau, multiple ambulance evacuations, a departure delay due to a delivery of urgent medical equipment and pharmaceuticals, and then in Curacoa, we stepped off the midship gangway at about 10 am to the pier and a waiting hearse, with the stretcher waiting outside the vehicle (perhaps this situation could have been handled a bit better, such as using a canopy to allow more privacy and using the forward or aft gangways).

Overall, this is a beautiful ship. Yes, some areas could be improved but the food was great, the staff worked very hard, and HAL is trying their best to make things better. Read more