Let me be quite clear -- We are 4-star level on HAL so this is NOT our first rodeo with this line. We've enjoyed many wonderful cruises, including one in 2016 on the MS Rotterdam which was a great cruise. However, the ship is 20 years old and in need of more than just a face lift.
We sailed on the 22-day itinerary because of the wonderful ports listed. Our boarding was delayed substantially because contractors were still struggling to complete work that should have been done while the ship was in dry dock. This ship should NEVER have sailed on November 4!! The delays and actual boarding were badly handled.
Let's begin with the worst that went on -- So much water leaking steadily around the entire ship that we thought they would run out of buckets to catch it all; water leaks from toilets soaking brand new carpet in many cabins; broken pipe within one wall that we personally know about because it was the third leak in our friend's cabin -- flooding her entire cabin in about 10 minutes time; no air conditioning in many cabins -- including ours; constant fumes from 15-days of painting and turpentine use on our deck -- Lower Promenade; some public toilets out of order as well as some hot tubes; no hot water in many cabins for the entire 15 days (including other friends we were traveling with); water in the shower cycled from almost scalding hot to almost freezing cold frequently.
The cabin was smaller than a balcony cabin. The carpet was new and the cabin stewards were wonderful.
Once our glass door leading out to the Lower Promenade deck was repaired, sitting out on the deck was quite pleasant since there is a lot of air circulation. There were no signs telling others that two deck chairs belonged to each lanai cabin so requesting that others leave so we could use our deck chairs was uncomfortable.
If painting was being done, fumes from paint and turpentine made sitting out on the deck very uncomfortable and the fumes permeated the cabin for the rest of the day.
The water in the shower cycled from almost scalding hot to almost freezing cold frequently.