We had not visited the Windward Islands and this itinerary would take us to Martinique, St. Lucia and Dominica for the first time. We reserved a family ocean view cabin as we were bringing our 10 year old grandson and 8 year old granddaughter with us. Our cabin was excellent. Very comfortable beds, adequate stowage and an unobstructed view. We really liked the floor lighting that came on automatically if we got up in the middle of the night. Having the two bathrooms in the cabin was wonderful! Our cabin stewards were absolutely fantastic. The meals in the Lido Market were very good and the meals in the MDR were excellent. The Lido Market was a bit crowded and noisy. Service in the MDR was slow on a couple of the evenings, but the meals were very relaxing. The waitstaff was excellent. The food at the Drive-In and the New York Deli and Pizza was very good, but the service was very, very slow. The photographers were outstanding and lovely to work with. The shows on the World Stage were very nice, but there were several technical problems. We did five excursions on our own and one excursion through HAL. The St. Thomas Catamaran/Snorkeling HAL excursion to Turtle Cove was outstanding. The HAL excursion to Half Moon Cay was canceled due to high seas causing safety issues with the tenders. We rented a car on St. Martin and had a lovely day touring the island and had the entire beautiful Baie Rouge to ourselves! We rented a car on Martinique and had a wonderful day touring the island and snorkeling with sea turtles at Anse Noir. We hired a driver/guide for all day in St. Lucia, Dominica and Barbados and had absolutely wonderful tours of the islands. The drivers/guides were amazing. We wish that we had more time ashore. "On-Board" times of 3:30 and 4:30 are far too early, especially considering that the islands still have hurricane damage to the roads, which made travel on the islands slower than normal. The cruise dock locations at St. Thomas and Dominica are not convenient, and are at a distance from the ports proper. On Sea Days the grandchildren had a terrific time at Club HAL. The young ladies who worked there were wonderful with the children. We are Catholic and enjoyed being able to attend daily mass. The priest was wonderful. Every evening before dinner we had a grand time competing in The Trivia Challenge in the Crows Nest and snacking on their wonderful desserts that are served next door at the Explorations Cafe. The pool and hot tubs were not too crowded most of the time. (Need to have more towels available.) The sports deck is great, playing a lot of soccer with my grandson, but they should provide a squeegee to push off the water after the several rain showers we had as the water collecting on the sports deck is a safety issue. The weather was mostly very good, with just a few brief rain showers during the trip. The Captains Talk was outstanding. Every passenger should try to attend it. The island presentations by the Excursions Team were very good, but I wish the presentations were divided into two parts: Part One a 30 minute overview of the highlights of the island and Part Two being 30 minutes of the details of the HAL Excursions for those who may be interested in going on the HAL Excursions. Everyone we met on the trip was very, very nice. This is just our second cruise, and second HAL cruise, and we would definitely cruise with HAL again.