Embarkation at around 11:30 was somewhat long, but discovered that there was an accident on the escalator up to the boarding level and also the HAL check-in card machines were operating slowly. This may have caused the back-up we experienced. Our 2 previous HAL cruises were on the Zaandam and the Maasdam a number of years ago, and we were anxious to experience HAL again.

THE SHIP: First impression inside was a bit underwhelming and claustrophobic. This is a lovely ship, no doubt, but VERY understated. THere's definitely no "Wow" when you first board, like I remembered with the 2 previous HAL ships. We found the atrium areas to be very small and pretty much unused. I also thought the Lido buffet area was poorly laid out, as people walked through it constantly to get from the aft pool area to the mid pool. The space between serving areas and tables is small as it is, and the extra people walking through who weren't even eating made it all the more congested. Not much they can do now, but feel the design just isn't quite "right."

Cabin: We had a VE balcony on deck 5, a triple as we had our grandson. It also seemed smaller than our previous cabins, and those were an OV and an inside. However, the storage space was super, more than adequate for the 3 of us, and we loved that there was space to store luggage under the bed. Once again, though, the layout of the room seemed off. When the sofa was extended into a bed, no one could access the balcony. Our room steward was exceptional, so he had our beds ready EARLY in the evenings (meaning we couldn't sit on the balcony after that without doing acrobatics), but he also made up our room as soon as we left for breakfast. The bathroom had lots of areas for storing all of our toiletries and we really appreciated the size of the shower/tub. Much bigger than most other lines. However, The lighting around the closet area in the entryway is very poor and you can't see inside, so I would recommend you bring a small flashlight to remedy this problem. The beds are WONDERFUL and the linens are so soft you'll want to run out and buy new ones for your home. Read more