Bad stuff first:(1)Embarkation was slow. (2)When we got to our cabin on Saturday, there was no heat--and we did not have any heat until the following Thursday. It was not just our cabin, a lot of other people had the same problem. (3)The shows were really rather poor. (4)The gym was minimal and really needed some maintenance.

Items of note: (1)The only butter available was unsalted. (2)The passenger loyalty was amazing--a lot of those people had sailed with HAL many, many times. I was surprised, because we plan our trips around itinerary--what ever cruise line will take us where we want to go is the line we sail with. (3)The average passenger age was pretty old (I'm 76).

Now, the good stuff:(1)The storage room in our cabin was immense--we brought a lot of stuff, and there was room to unpack and store everything. (2)Heated plates in the Lido food area. (3)We had open seating for dinner, and showed up at lots of different times--with no reservations, and we were able to get a table for two almost every evening with little or no waiting. We prefer this so we don't have to sit for two hours to eat dinner. The food service was very good. (4)The Adagio Strings from Ukraine--this string quartet was absolutely wonderful! (5)The cooking staff really knows how to do chocolate well. (6)Our cabin attendants were excellent. (7)By and large, the food was excellent (8)Disembarkation was great.