We love HAL and have completed 10 Cruises with 3 of them just this year with 1 more to do in Dec. Greatest Cruise Line ever. On our 24 Aug. Alaska Cruise there were a few pluses that made the Cruise even more efficient than ever.

For the mandatory emergency drill on the first day they scanned the room cards to see who was there rather than having to listen to crew members wailing over loudspeakers 30 feet in every direction. This greatly speeded up the process and made it painless. On a few decks there were kiosks where you could book your excursions from there. I'm not sure if you could print the tickets right then and there but you could book the excursions and have the tickets delivered to your cabin. This proved to be very handy for many. At the Mariners Luncheon the Captain and members of his crew stood up front and greeted everyone as they entered the MDR with a loud and cheery good afternoon in at least 6 languages. Nice touch. The dis-embarkation process was the smoothest that I have experienced. As everyone knows you get a ticket with a number/letter and a colour. They only made one announcement during the entire process. Your dis-embarkation was at such and such a time and that was when you showed up at the platform. There were no announcements of this colour/number could leave. People only showed up at their time and there was never any crowds or further announcements. It was a breeze. And there waiting at the end of the gangway was at least 10 crew members, including the Cruise Director wishing you safe travels. Very well done indeed. I was greatly impressed.