We chose this cruise because we prefer traveling with HAL and it was a planned destination.
The food and cabin were clearly HAL worthy but the on-board activities and excursions on this ship were a disappointment. The cabin steward, table steward, and wine steward were all excellent. The food was prepared well and the presentation was great. If any complaint it is that they didn't keep the Lido cafeteria open sufficient hours during the lunch period.
The BB King lounge and performers, the singers and dancers, and the guest lecturer were all highlights of the trip.
The most filmed castle was a fizzle. Poor guide and poor quality of the sound system made this a total bust. We do not find HAL excursions to be a good price value.
We did the two-day hop-on-hop-off pass and self-guided to many of the Dublin sites. Did so much the first day that we simply walked to a couple of places on the second day and did not hop-on.
We did a pre-arranged private food tour from the Food Hall. It was a fantastic experience with a really well-informed Canada born guide. This was great fun and a chance to learn more about some of the cultural aspects of the city which we had missed on previous visits.
We were pleasantly surprised by our privately pre-arranged Beatles tour. Our cabbie/guide was very personable and highly entertaining. His photo album was a great augmentation to the sites he presented. His dialog interspersed with relevant Beatles tunes was outstanding. This far exceeded my expectations.
Generally a waste of time.
Probably did not see the parts of the city that would be interesting. The carnival atmosphere on the streets surround Tattoo was simply too congested and a turn-off. The less than efficient tender operations were simply not well managed.
We debarked at the port and hired a private cab for a three hour tour. We ended up having a great guide (Paul) who treated us to one of the best tours we could experience. We learned more about the ongoing Troubles than any history class could present. One of the best value propositions of our trip.
Very attractive town with interesting sites within walking distance of the port. The only negative was that the restoration activities in the old town limited our ability to enjoy it more. In a couple of years this will be a very desirable destination.