While I am more a "Celebrity guy", as a mid 50s aged cruiser, I've wanted to take my first cruise with one of HAL's newer ships and give it a thorough comparison and review. My presail research of the line was that HAL prides itself on food quality and entertainment. So I was anxious to see how it delivered in those particular categories. I have cruised on Celebrity 4 times including the Edge, Azamara cruise lines once, on the higher end of the scale, Silver Sea, and lastly Royal Caribbean. So I have a fairly good understanding of expectations.

Let's cover the positive: Overall, this newer ship on HAL's fleet did well in most of the major considerations I value: service, food, cabins, ship design, decor, events, and entertainment. But some of these categories had caveats that I will explain below. That being said, again overall, HAL does deliver a reasonable experience for your "premium" cruise line fare, which I confirmed myself and from chatting with many other passengers that some had cruised on HAL up to "38 cruises".

But comparing those categories to its competitors is where things change, some. I'll cover those details now. Otherwise, the other categories I mentioned earlier met expectations and were very well received. Read more