Our cruise went to Half Moon Cay, Tortola BVI, Martinique, Barbados, St. Lucia, and St. Maarten. Overall, we both rated it excellent on the HAL feedback form. We've sailed on RCCL, Disney, and Princess before this. This was by far our favorite cruise line.

EMBARKATION: We drove from Orlando, and reached the cruise terminal around 2 pm. There was a small line that took a long time to get through for some reason. We boarded around 3; our luggage was in our cabin by 3:30.

STATEROOM: We were offered an upgrade from our VA to an SY for $400, which we declined. We now wish we had taken it for the extra space. We liked the cabin; it was 2 doors from the midship elevators. Our cabin steward and housekeeper, Danang and Alim, were absolutely fantastic, wonderful, friendly, genuinely happy people. We wanted for nothing. We learned that they work for 10 months straight, 7 days a week, 11 hours a day, and are given just a few hours off to go into a port now and then. Then, they have 3 solid paid months off. They pay the same internet rates we do, as well. If you tip them extra (beyond the gratuities HAL charges daily), they are required to place the tip in the general tip pool. Read more