We were first time cruisers celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary. We worked with our local TA who assured us that HAL was the perfect fit for people who wanted an upscale, low key cruise. Sadly, this was not the case.

HAL left the port with one (of two) of the azipods functioning. With one of the azipods not working, it slowed the ship considerably and ports had to be changed. HAL was not forthcoming with this information. The guests were informed of this after leaving port, when HAL was fully aware of this issue because they had weeks ago cancelled a cruise on this ship because of the malfunction. We chose this cruise because of the ports, so this was disappointing. At one of the ports we were directed by HAL staff to a beach with raw sewage. Then let’s talk about the fact that HAL deemed it safe for their guests to port in San Juan when the island had just hours before suffered a catastrophic earthquake. No power, except in a few places and it was not safe to be out after dark. No beautiful Half Moon Cay for us either..swells were too high... if we had been able to travel at the correct speeds to our destinations, maybe we would have made it on time to the HMC location. Sadly disappointed in the lack of communication from HAL, and the frequent admonished warnings from the Captain to, “Not congregate at Guest Relations, because they cannot help you.”

Ship was not clean and when we were unpacking, we found a pair of soiled men’s briefs in one of the cupboards. Also there was the strange phenomenon of towels placed all over the ship to soak up water?? They were everywhere, and this did not suggest the first class experience that we were promised. Read more