My mother and I had often discussed how we would visit the Greek Isles together... sometime. As she started to get a little older and a little less healthy, I decided we should hurry up and act on all the daydreaming. However, when I did more research on traveling to Greece and thought more practically about my mom's limited ability to lug suitcases around ports and on and off trains, small planes and so on... the Greek trip morphed into a back to back cruise (which included multiple Greek ports) with a visit to family in Germany tacked on the end. I don't regret the choice in the least.We flew from Vancouver to Fort Lauderdale for embarkation. Because of flights times we need to overnight somewhere- we booked the Comfort Inn Airport Cruise Port. This place was cheap enough, but the vibe was very much like a sad retirement home, and the pool was contaminated with feces which we didn't see until after we were swimming. Gaaa... Enough said about that.Especially after the sad hotel experience the night before, we were so pleased when we got on the ship. We had a veranda room, and that balcony was one of the best things about the entire trip. We spent a huge amount of time just relaxing, reading, chatting out there. Other fav. places onboard were the promenade deck, the treadmills in the fitness centre (the view is excellent), the aft pool, and the Crow's Nest area. I thought some of the hallways were a little claustrophobic, but overall the layout of the ship worked for us.The transatlantic crossing was not something I'd repeat, but it was an experience. We didn't have really rough seas, but we had enough rolling that it was hard to walk on the ship at some points and we both were sea sick enough to take away from the overall enjoyment. We had pills and patches and wrist bands which we tried at various times, but I'm not sure any of those things really work that well. I'm way younger than HAL's usual guests (I'm in my early 30s and my mom had her 61st birthday during the cruise), but I knew that before we left. We chose this ship mostly for the itinerary. As I say, I don't mind what age people are. What I did mind is how rude and entitled some of the cruisers were. Both my mother and I felt that the crew were not treated as well as they should be. The crew work really hard and do an excellent job (except maybe some of the Lido serving staff). Guests don't need to complain and pick about every tiny thing, and if guests do have a legitimate complaint there are respectful ways to communicate the issues to the ship's staff.My next note is on dining. We used room service a lot. We really enjoyed that option. I am a vegetarian and like to eat healthy, though, and I will say that I did sometimes struggle to find food to my liking. Breakfast always had excellent healthy options, but lunch and dinner were not always as good. We only ate in the main dining room a couple times, as we didn't find the food there better than at the Lido. We did enjoy both the Pinnacle Grill (excellent vanilla soufflE) and the Canelleto (very good antipasti). Also, no matter where we ate on the ship, I felt the food was rather bland. I know they do this to appeal to the masses, but I also had a hard time finding chillies, spices or hot sauces just to add as extras. I also drink a lot of water and am against bottled water for environmental reasons. I think HAL should let you fill up reusable water bottles instead of insisting you spend extra and waste more and more plastic. Shame on you HAL for not making that one of your "green" initiatives. Entertainment wasn't fabulous, but we didn't expect it to be. I could happily live without the singer and dancers or the live band by the aft pool. The lectures we went to were also poor. The one stand out was an English soprano who sang on April 26.When we got across the Atlantic, we really enjoyed all out ports of call. We did some ship tours (varying quality/value but overall pretty decent) and went on our own some places. One beef I had with ship tours is people with mobility challenges signing up for tours that are described as requiring a high level of activity. This of course is not HAL's fault, but very poor form on part of our co-cruisers. There are tours set up especially for people who have limited mobility. Why not go on those?? I think my fav. ports of call on the first part of the cruise were Almeria and Split.All in all this was an very enjoyable trip. Cruising is a great way to get around and see many places if you don`t want to unpack and re-pack every few days. Also, if you love the water like I do, just sailing along a coastline checking out the scenery is very pleasant. I`ll write about the second half of our trip in another review focusing on the Eastern Med.