Embarkation was smooth and check in friendly, the ship is very nice and we loved the "Crows Nest" which was a library, bar, and Cafe area at the front of the ship above the bridge. We also liked the movie theater with comfortable chairs and great sound quality. The number, speed and location of the elevators was well thought out and there was rarely a wait. The pool areas were clean with comfortable seating. Our cabin attendants were exceptional and made a poor situation bearable, they also made a different towel animal for our room every night.3

The dining situation at the Lido cafe was what really bothered us the most. The staff were indifferent at best and usually just unpleasant. We were not accustomed to having to ask for what we wanted (as most other ships allow you to just serve yourself), there was a general feeling that the dining staff was tired or just didn't care, the language barrier was also evident as many things had to be repeated or were just ignored. The whole dining experience took too long both in the Lido and the sit down dining rooms. The wait staff were inattentive and seemed excessively busy (too few staff for the number of guests). The buffet style dining should be SELF SERVE as it is on almost all other ships, having staff serve the buffet line is probably safer from the standpoint of spreading germs but if you under-staff the lines or have too few lines it takes too long to to get something to eat.

The hours the Lido was open is also too limiting, guests fly in from all over the country and many different time zones, it takes a few days to get acclimated and not everyone will be hungry on the ships schedule.The quality of the food was good to fair but in no way exceptional. The guests on either side of our balcony were smokers and this caused us to seek refuge inside our cabin when we would rather be outside, (smokers and non-smokers cannot coexist in this close proximity and this would factor highly in any future cruise plans we make). This was our third cruise on HAL and our least favorite. Having just come from a wonderful cruise on Celebrity really made us question weather we will ever cruise with HAL again.