First ever cruise with HAL

[Sunshine required]

Hi everyone,

We are considering booking a HAL cruise for August 2015 as a surprise for my parents. We always cruise together as a family (parents + 3 sisters + partners) we haven't had a big holiday like this for a while as we have been busy getting married/having children so we will be traveling as a party of 12 this time (children aged 7 years, 1 year, 10 months & 9 months)!!

We have only cruised with Royal Caribbean before so just want some opinions on the HAL ones, particularly if any if you have also cruised with Royal Caribbean aswell. The cruise we are looking at is on Zuiderdam, departing 02/08/15, going to Civitavecchia, Naples, Palermo, La Goulette, Livorno, Calvi, Monaco, St Raphael, Barcelona.

Thanks! x