The cruise from Rio to Santiago began with a sour note as HAL arranged the overnight accommodation in Rio, at a grossly inflated price and in a tired hotel. The airport to hotel transfer was good. The hotel to ship transfer was chaos - all buses arrived at same time and we were standing in a hot marquee for an hour to embark. There was no attempt to relieve the frustrations.

The only greeting was for the Safety Drill, which does not meet any offshore facility I have worked on - so more frustration. One would have thought that the recent events on cruise liners would have sharpened their efforts to calm people and do a thorough drill.

Our cabin was tidy, a bit dusty, but AC was not working. It was hot. After a few complaints we got a fan and then the AC came good for the last half of the cruise. There was no room introduction and info in room was very scant - being a dumb Aussie I rang 911 for information and realised I was on the emergency line! Bar list and prices not there. They have a general help line which was ok if you were prepared to wait a while. Read more