Mtn

9 hours ago, roxybear135 said:

The service was fantastic, the food was great, and the ports were beautiful. I’ve done three other HAL cruises - Alaska in 2015 and 2021 and Mexican riviera in 2021. The Alaska cruises were good but the food on the recent one wasn’t that great. The Mexican riviera one was pretty bad. It left the day after Christmas and came back on the day after New Years. The food was awful, the service was atrocious, and we got a cabin that had so much engine noise that the room shook all night (they did change us to a new room the next day when we requested one). This cruise just felt very high end and polished in terms of the food and service - we had no complaints with that. The only disappointment was the entertainment but that’s always the case with HAL. 

thank you for the detail. Much appreciated.  I am surprised that you came back to HAL after the Mexican experience!  We have been on only 1 HAL excursion - sailing from Vancouver to Hawaii.  It was so marvelous: cabin, food, service, various shipboard activities (the educational offerings about the upcoming port where great; the spa was lovely; dancing in the evening was a treat) were such that we look forward to sailing with them again.  Before that we've sailed once each with Norwegian, Oceania and Cunard.  Cunard is the only other one we would want to do again.

14 hours ago, roxybear135 said:

Last night we had dinner at Tamarind, which was excellent as always. The highlights were the scallop and satay appetizers and the crispy duck with udon noodles. Service was amazing and so incredibly friendly. 
 

After dinner we watched the show, which involved the singers from billboard onboard and the step one dancers. It was pretty good and entertaining. We then went back to the cabin to pack up. 
 

This morning we had one last breakfast at Club Orange where the service was great as it was the whole cruise. The free shuttle bus only took a few minutes to get from the cruise terminal and we were on our way to our hotel. We’ve now checked in to the hotel and I’m waiting to see if SAS rebooks me on a new flight (they finally cancelled my flight for tomorrow) or if I have to go with my backup plan. We are sad the trip is over as it was great. This was probably our best HAL cruise ever. 

I'm curious. What made it, for you, "the best ever" cruise with HAL?  What was better than any other?

Thanks for sharing!

Lea

we are booked on the same 2023 Hawaii, French Polynesia trip as BillericayUK.  Thank you for starting the good questions about what first timers need to know!

I, too, would like to know how important it is to book tours in advance.  I'm afraid, for us, even thinking of booking an outing that is almost 2 years away is hard to fathom!  What are people's experience with waiting to book closer to the trip and/or just 'winging it?'

Also, are there places where one can just wander ashore and, perhaps, get a cab to take one about?

And, anyone aware of French language tours in French Polynesia? Would give me and my husband a chance to practice our French!

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences.

Lea

Calgary AB Canada