A comprehensive review of OUR HAL EXPERIENCE on the 09/28/16 Oosterdam 12nt Mediterranean Dreams cruise follows.
Summary: With the exception of the two very negative experiences, our overall HAL cruise experience was nothing out of the ordinary. I highly recommend reading through all of our experiences listed, while paying special attention to the deal breaking experiences detailed at the end of this review.
This was our 34th cruise, 7th and LAST on HAL. The people, both staff and guests were a good bunch, we met new people and made some new friends. The itinerary was decent and the aspects of some ports, as well as this cruise experience, were better than others.
Positive, tons of room and storage, nice 40 inch LED TV and free on demand movies. Negative, you can't hear the BB King band, but you can hear the late night deejay with his techno beat coming from above.
Romantic, but expensive. Buy a vaporetto pass and validate it before riding. Visit Venice, stay and eat on the Lido.
Kerkira - Scenic historic city center and park walks await.
Waterfront, two streets, four blocks of shops. Olympia ruins and Giorgio's Bike Bar ride await.
Best Duty Free, Parthenon and Acropolis ruins await. It's a big city.
Quaint is now over commercialized, Big money bought out the independent's.
Historic city center now glorified brand name outlet mall. Knossos Palace ruins await, big AM queues, empty after 1PM.
Take the funicular, beware of queues, avoid donkeys. Overrun with small shops.
Capri, Sorrento, train to Pompeii, Herculaneum ruins await. You must be cautious, a young couple was victimized. Do not get on a bus or train without a validated ticket and announce the fact. You will be legitimately fined or caught in the typical Napoletano "we are the police" scam. Pick pockets, purse, phone, camera and jewelry snatchers galore. If you value it don't bring it ashore. As for your bank card and getting cash, do not use the ATM's. Theft of cash, identity, card eating ATM's and non dispensation of cash, while debiting your account are common here.
Nice beach at port of Civitavecchia. Take train to Termini station, see the Colosseum first. Like Naples, it's the big city, beware.