We've just completed our third cruise and our first with HAL. The previous two cruises were with Princess. At first I was going to approach this review as a comparison between the two lines. On further reflection, I thought this was unfair since both companies offer a very good product and I believe that each company can stand on its' own merits.

We arrived in San Diego one day early since winter-time air travel can be problematic. We stayed at the Holiday Inn across from the cruise port which was very convenient for embarkation the next day. The hotel is OK (nothing special) but my one suggestion would be to request a room overlooking the bay. That way, you can see the ship when you wake up the next day and it may reduce some of the noise (train whistles) from the Amtrak station on the east side of the hotel.

Embarkation: We left the hotel just before noon and walked across to the cruise port. We were directed to the side for our luggage (see the notes at the end of this review regarding luggage). From here we got in line (moderate in length at this point), completed our registration and received our card key etc. Proceeded onto the ship and we were onboard within 20 - 25 minutes from the time of our arrival at the entrance. Very efficient. We had an invitation for lunch in the Vista dining room so we decided to go there for lunch and avoid the buffet line-ups. At 1:00 pm, the overhead announcement let us know that the staterooms were ready. Dropped off our carry-ons and went to explore the ship while waiting for our luggage to be delivered. Luggage delivery was a bit slow as we received it just before departure at 5:00 pm. Read more