This was our 12th cruise, but our 1st with HAL. Although we were impressed by several things, we kept wishing that we were sailing with Princess again.

First impressions are important, and ours was made at the wine check-in table at Port Everglades. Two employees were manning the table when we approached with 3 bottles of wine. The first young lady started filling out a claim check and said that I would get my wine after the cruise. She then asked for our cruise cards. She was absolutely confused when I explained that we didn't have our cards yet, they were checking in folks behind her. Her co-worker corrected her, but first asked me if the bottles were wine or booze. (lesson #1: don't put an employee at the wine check-in table when they can't even tell the difference between wine and liquor) We signed a check for our corkage fee ($18) and proceeded to check in.

We waited 15 or 20 minutes before they started calling groups to board around 11:30. Read more