A little background, this was our 42nd cruise, the 6th cruise on HAL. Been on Windstar, Oceania, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, et al. Choose this cruise for its itinerary. HAL changed Key West to Bimini and later changed Grand Turk for Freeport. Both of these new stops SUCKED. Bimini had a few nice beaches but nothing else and Freeport was a joke. We docked at the commercial port where there was nothing except the usual tourist shops selling cheap t-shirts and assorted junk from China. Half Moon Cay was nice but Amber Cove had nothing for us to see as we had stopped there several years ago and hated it, we just stayed on the ship.

Now for the good things on this cruise. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the ship was about 2/3's full which made it nice and quiet. No lines to get off the ship, get a drink, have something to eat. We reserved a sea view cabana up on the 11th deck at The Retreat. It featured your own private cabana which had two cushioned lounges, a small table set for two, bathrobes and slippers and iced bottles of water. There were two attendants, Humphery & Radim, that were there to get you your drinks from the bar, get breakfast in the mornings and lunch in the afternoon from the Lido Buffet. There was Mimosa's with breakfast and sparkling wine in the afternoon, no charge!! Those two really spoiled us and the small extra fee for all of this was well worth it. We never ate in the main dining room because the Lido Buffet had most of the items on their menu and we could pick and choose what we wanted and could somewhat control the amount. We never made it to the evening entertainment but did catch the show at BB King's on a few nights and they put on a great show.

Now, this cruise was basically free due to my wife's past history of spending a lot of time in the casino, we only paid port charges and taxes for an inside cabin, cabin #L-7010. This cabin was ok and our cabin stewards were great. First time in an inside cabin, but it was almost directly under The Retreat and directly above the casino!! A short elevator trip to either place. Speaking of elevators, never had to wait more than a minute and most times it was empty. Read more