Let me start by saying that this is my 4th cruise to Alaska - first on HAL.

I think that the average age on this cruise was 75 - There were about 40 kids(teens and below) on this cruise. I don't know if it was because it was early June or the demographics of HAL, but sometimes it felt like it took hours to move down the hall or board a tender, etc.

Embarkation - Due to a SNAFU, I ended up parking our car at the port and had to get there early. Lines were short and were probably on the ship within 15 minutes of parking. Granted, I dropped off the luggage with a porter first. And some of that time was spent going up the gangway behind someone in a walker. Cabin was a decent size and was ready when we boarded. HAL seems to have a policy of serving food for the first two days. Needless to say, getting some snacks took a while and it also took a while for the other folks to figure out the lines. Read more