The expected changes due to the pandemic were the requirement to wear a mask any time or place outside your stateroom. There were temperature checks available and PCR testing was done at least twice during the cruise. The important test was just before getting off of the ship so as to be able to meet USG rules for getting back into the country. The staff was relaxed about using a mask in the dining rooms once you were seated. No one complained if you took it off and did not put it back on till the end of the meal. Passengers were asked to keep a mask on unless actually drinking during the shows, but there was no enforcement.

Speaking of shows, after almost two years since my last HAL cruise, the ship's singers and dancers were still doing shows I had seen two years earlier.

The personally most annoying this was the absence of any US newspaper. Before covid you could get a paper daily summery of the International Herald Tribune delivered daily to your stateroom and access using the HAL app or the library computers to the digital New York Times. No more. There is a newspaper selection on the HAL app, but all you get are foreign papers like the Bangkok Post or Romania Times. Not a single US paper is available and the in cabin TV only gives you FOX and MSNBC. Both trash with constant repetitions. Read more