Sam B.

It's wonderful! They started experimenting with facial recognition on our cruise last year, and it was a struggle. It was great to see it working successfully. Btw, don't miss "City on the Sea" in World Stages toward the end of the cruise. One of our favorite things attend. We've never missed it.

On this last cruise, I did bring the issues to the attention of the manager. I agree, it is important to let them know when issues come up otherwise they can't correct them. I didn't mention them initially, because things are not always perfect. When it happened consistently on this cruise, I finally mentioned it. At the Lido, we really thought maybe drinks were changed to self service. After the third day, we finally asked a server nicely if beverage service is now self serve. To our surprise he responded "no, but we can't serve everyone at once". Again, it is important to bring these issues to the attention of managers. On HAL, they are always apologetic and quick to try and resolve the issue.

Thanks for sharing your journey. We just finished our Rotterdam cruise on March 17th, and it was our third on the Rotterdam. I love this ship and HAL, but was disappointed in the service and food, in both Lido and the Dining Room. It was near impossible to get drinks at the Lido. At the dining room we waited an hour, received entree and never received our appetizer. It appears they are short staff and/or have purposely cut down on staff to cut costs. It was definitely not what we were accustomed to, and we began to think maybe it was too familiar, since it was our 3rd time. Appears that you, and others that I have read, are having the same experience. I also thought the staff lacked some energy and enthusiasm that we came to love. We booked a 18 day Hawaiian cruise on HAL for January, and were considering CO, because we have never done it before. Fortunately it was full, but we were told we could call back for cancellation. After reading your experience with CO (and others post), I'm going to pass on CO. I still believe HAL is one of the best, and hopefully this is an unusual set of circumstances that they will rectify. Enjoy the remainder of your cruise, and keep up the posts.