I booked this cruise last August 2010. We have done 2 previous TransAtlantic cruises and loved them both. Originally I booked the NCL Sun and planned to add on one week in Ireland after departing in Copenhagen (however our son told us he was going to get married in Aug/11 so this changed our plans financially ). This T/A had wonderful ports including Ireland which seemed to be a good compromise for us.
Compromise may be the an underlying theme to this review. We seemed to give up some wonderful aspects of other cruise lines to gain some wonderful experiences on the HAL Rotterdam.
Room: We originally booked an Inside cabin then my T/a was able to get the Outside across the hall for the same price so we took that. Two weeks before we left for the trip we got an up sale call for the Lanai / or Verandah . We took a Lanai cabin and looked forward to being able to use the lounges and enjoy the expansive view from our room. The room stewards were very good and virtually ghosts which is a good thing. However they would get us anything we asked for (our robes were dirty when we embarked so they changed them no problem, brought wine glasses etc.).
Middle of ship. With high winds I found the Lanai a little unnerving as water came over the deck.