Let me start by saying this was my first cruise. My girlfriend came with me and she has cruised on every line out here and cruised about 15 times. My expectations are what she had described to me from the performance of Royal Caribbean and Carnival.

AT THE PORT IN NEW YORK

Everything went smoothly until we got to the check in desk. I had pre printed my boarding pass about 1 week ahead of time to avoid headaches. This apparently didn't mean I wouldn't have one. They booked my cabin to a different person but not only that my credit card was linked to someone elses sail and sign. I had access to someone elses credit card with my card. After HAL pondered this simple fix for 2 hours they put us in a different room and they had to jump through hoops to re route our luggage to get it to the new room. Then I had to spend another 45 minutes explaining the predicament to the inept front desk of foreigners who neither understand nor speak English. Once they understood I wanted to make sure my credit card issue was settled could the cruise begin. This was before the surprise gift (cigars) ordered to the room by my girlfriend had to be re routed to the new room. The front desk lady ended up telling me what it was. Thanks for the surprise. Read more