Two years ago I spent three weeks on the MS Westerdam in the Northern Mediterranean, Madeira and then a seven day crossing to Fort Lauderdale. There is a review re. that cruise in Cruise Critic. I called it the "Cutting Back Cruise" as other than the ports of call a pretty miserable cruise, mainly due to lack of decent entertainment and less than desirable cruise.

Now this cruise was perfect. It was my 13th time on HAL, and they upgraded us to a Pinnacle Suite at the last moment. It was wonderful. The cabin has 1100 sq. ft., two whirlpools etc. I knew we were going to have a great time when upon check in a representative from the ship met us at the dock and escorted us to our cabin.

Our ports of call were Grand Turk, Phillipsburg, St. Martin, San Juan and Half Moon Key. My wife was getting a message and facial while we were at Grand Turk so we didn't get off the ship. I had been there before and so no loss. There were a total of eight ships in Phillipsburg. That equates to about 40,000 people on the island. The dock population looked like Times Square, so we didn't get off. We did have a nice visit in San Juan and enjoyed some local Mojitos. Half Moon Key was our favorite stop. They have a better tender system now utilizing two large passenger craft. It works great. I hung out at the "Wish I could Stay Here Forever" bar and my wife worked on her suntan. Read more