We had previously taken the Silver Whisper from New York to Bermuda and liked the Silversea product, so we booked the Silver Shadow. We were supposed to depart from Tokyo, but a Tsunami caused Silversea to change the departure port to Inchon, South Korea and we visited Seoul also at that time. Silversea had to cancel all the Japan ports and allowed booked passengers to cancel if they wished, but if they stayed which we did they offered a 1/2 price cruise on a future trip which we did on the Silver Cloud. On the cruise many passengers had cancelled, but we had a light ship. Silversea is a fine cruise line and I think Celebrity realized it so formed Azamara as an answer to Silversea with its personalized service. As a thank you for keeping the booking, Silversea furnished a private car transfer to the Seoul Grand Hotel and furnished us a three step cost free upgrade at the hotel. We had a bus ride from the hotel to the port and didn't even sit down but walked straight to the check in counter and on to the ship with our cabin key. The Silver shadow brought us to Petropavlovsk, Russia on the Kamchatka Peninsula and then we visited the Aleutians, Dutch harbor, Kodiak and Homer. Our cabin was mid range and on the pool deck and very nice and roomy. Read Less

We spent a few days in Hong Kong before we boarded the ship and had planned our ports with both HAL and private excursions. We chose the cruise because we liked the variety of ports. We wanted learn as much as we could about the ports and the history of the area. the weather was cool to cold at times but we were prepared. Few people spent time at the pool since it was often gray and cool. Sea days were a challenge since since the weather did not encourage outdoor activities. Thankfully two wonderful bridge instructors from Canada set up duplicate bridge and I played every sea day afternoon. They were not sponsored ACBL games or from HAL but they ran a great game for 36-54 people per day. The transpacific part of this cruise really needed bridge and other indoor activities since it was cold. There was no librarian or tech person but the staff at the customer desk helped. The wifi is great now and I could download my mail in two minutes. Sending pictures took more time. We bought 1000 minutes for $250 for the 44 days and ended up with leftover minutes. We had excellent cabin attendants and even though we had select dining we established our table and and 7:15 daily. The dining room staff were very thoughtful and made sure that one of our dining companions could have s sundae no matter what was being served. They did little things to make the cruise so special. I look at the pictures and can not believe what we did and where we traveled. I never expected to be stunned by the beauty traveling through the Aleutians and the snow capped mountains And yes we saw cherry tree wonderlands in Osaka and Aomori. Read Less

HAL is one of my favorite lines. . I like long cruises of 30 day and have already booked next year's HAL Cruise to S. AMERICA why? 1.dining room service w/ yudi was as good as the pinnacle and i tipped xtra. my roomie was gluten free and i am vegetarian.and diebetic yudi was told once and after that always asked what i wanted for my evening snack when a table became available he moved us to a window table. hal now offers a full vegetarian menu - very nice! of course, there was surf and turf on a night; lobster on another and gigantic steaks any time.the saladsandchilled fruit soups were to die for and the desserts were decedant w/ a non-sugar choice the female the female wine stewart. instead of asking again and again when we said :no" to wine .like the male stewart. instead she came every nite and enquired about our day..low key -- no pressure -- polite and friendly i only had dinner in the dining room because lunch interfered w/ my trivia game. the lido buffet was boring the chef thinks vegetarians eat pasta. luckily i like mac and cheese. but daily. once i had asian noodles and korean/japanese pickles -- yes! i am from vancouver and prefer asian food. the sushi was ho hum. a gala asian buffet held on the deck andmost enjoyed it hal decorated w/ chinese lanterns and served food in street stalls. unfortunately, no vegetarian fare. strange. many chinese. korean and japanese folk r buddhist hence vegetarian. they tried. but thy r dutch. the specialty dutch tea was british interpreted by americans. (myfather's a brit) -- the indonesian hi tea was also british altho the actual indonesian tea was terrific the server let me take some back to my cabin.great service the only disappointment is the 24 hr. room service. if u order continental all is well. tricks of trade. if u r having ci=offee for tow write "large" beside coffee. if you risk a poachd egg -- write 'soft' beside egg. the coffee was not starbucks. but drinkable the vegetarian thai wrap is delicious. but only available til 10 pm. after that vegetarians starve. cabin cleaning on par w/ other cruises -- minimal. lectures: mr. terry greenburg lectured on the history of china. japan and alaska. terrific. factural w. human elements. cultural info regarding japan wee fascinating. dr. helen ayers lectured on geology incl. ice burgs the talk on oil mining was an eye opener and really clarified the conflict regarding fraking. wonderful. pARK Rngers came on board when we entered glacier bay. i've been to alaska twice so i skipped it. down side -- cruised for 6 days over date line and changed time 1 hr fwd each day so i was in constant jet lag (time lag) then changed 2 hrs fwd just b4 vancouver. activities - mixed -- steve was a phenomenal bridge teacher for two wks, then katherine took over and she sucked windows 10 couraes helpful. dynamic and patient teacher. trivial always fun. library/wifi area the best of any line. jazzy shore manager a dud, but available to hand out maps and provide tips for those going ashore on their own did not take hal shore ex. cruised w/ craig travel and took their tours and cruise critic hal tours too expensive. cabin inside as good as an inside can be. better than ncl. carnival and princess. boarding and disembarkation smooth Read Less

We loved the itinerary. The service was impeccable. Dr. Ruiz was brilliant and spellbinding. The food was delicious, especially Polo. I enjoyed the shows, coloring and the movies when not on excursions. We had a perfect outside cabin, a tad bigger than most as the balcony footage was actually in our cabin. Our only disappointment was the ridiculous size of the bathroom. They also took our robes the night before departure and did not replace the used towels. I guess they were through with us. I have special dietary needs and they were handled extremely well in the dining venues. The Seder meal that nautica put out was lovely. It was awesome going from Egypt to Israel at the auspicious moment of Passover. The other cruisers were generally very friendly. I do think that the cruise was a bit pricey, especially the excursion but it was an awesome experience Julie Read Less

Good cruise aboard the legend of the seas. Smallest of the RCI fleet, looking a bit old. Some great places visited. Highlights were Darwin, Cairns, Airlie beach and Brisbane. Had a great table at dinner, got on really well with our table companions. Highlight of the entertainment was my wife getting hypnotised, really great fun and had a great laugh. Highlight of the tours was the Great Barrier Reef at Cairns.This was our fifth cruise with RCI and enjoyed each one. Never stick with one cruise line, look for the destinations and the best deals. Read Less

This was our 3rd cruise with HAL. The first 2 were on Amsterdam,which immediatly set a high standard, which Volendam couldn't quite attain. More on that later. We had booked this itinerary a couple of years ago, but unfortunately it was chartered away from under us.We ended up doing a 37 day Grand Voyage sector on Amsterdam from Fort Lauderdale to Sydney, which was absolutely magnificent. We flew from Melbourne to Hong Kong and spent 3 days at the beautiful Royal Pacific Hotel & Towers before boarding Volendam. Even though we enjoyed a wonderful tour of Lantau Island and the shopping, we were counting the hours.We got a taxi from the hotel to Ocean Terminal and felt sure he drove the longest possible way. Didn't matter, we were on a high. Checking in and doing the obligatory paper work went smoothly, and it wasn't long before we crossed that wonderful gangway and found ourselves "home". I had arranged for a small bar fridge to be in our room and half a dozen Budweisers which were on ice. I ordered a bottle of house chardonnay. So we were having a sip while unpacking. All good. Unfortunately our first visit to the Lido Buffet ended with my wife returning one our favorites, shepherds pie, because it was nothing but gristle. Definately not good enough after what we had been used to. Even though she is physically identical to Amsterdam, that's where the similarity ends. The sail aways were low key without the band at the back of the boat and the nibbles which were the norm on Amsterdam. There appeared to be more effort put in on the pier by the locals than on board. We left Tianjin hours after we were supposed to , without any explanation given. We also missed the little surprise gifts when we returned to our cabin. On a positive, the cabin stewards and the rest of the staff were hand picked and wonderful. One thing HAL has to look at is the tendering procedure. We had booked a tour independently in Kodiak and missed out after having booked it 6 months before. It seems HAL have 2 lots of catergories to board a tender. Those who booked a ships excursion, and those that didn't, which included us. We sat in the Franz Hals lounge for 2 hours with people who had no bookings of any kind. Our tour waited for one and a half hours with people already in her bus so had to leave. There has to be some consideration given to those who have not booked through HAL. Read Less