We were on the same cruise. For the first two days I kept thinking, "They weren't ready for us." This was especially true of the cabin steward. He was efficient, but not outstanding. The leather bound book of general information, stationery, etc. didn't even appear until the 3rd day! We never did get laundry and dry cleaning bags. (which was OK because we didn't even use the service.) Then things seemed to settle in. Our dining room stewards never introduced themselves, but gradually loosened up and by mid-cruise were quite friendly. Their service was impeccable, however. Interestingly, the worst service we had was in the "specialty restaurant". The manager was quite haughty and the waiter just plain bad news. He continually reached in front of me to serve my daughter.
Speaking of my daughter (age 18+), she liked being able to go into the Crow's Nest. On Princess, the disco-type nightclub was only open to the 21+ crowd.
On the plus side, we loved the Rotterdam and all the deck space. Found it much superior to the Dawn and Sun Princesses, which we took to the Caribbean. We especially liked all the small, intimate gathering areas and lounges, and the fact that the Lido restaurant had trays. We also thought the variety in the Lido buffet was better than Princess' Horizon Court. We thought HAL did a much better job with shore excursions. They also got our documents to us much earlier than Princess had. Our prime reason for choosing this cruise was the itinerary and we were not disapointed. On our next cruise we will most likely consider HAL again, even though this one wasn't perfect. But then what in life is?
Rotterdam disappointing
Linear Mode
