My husbandq and I cruised British Isles July 12-24 on Caribbean Princess. First and last Princess cruise, ship too big, lacked personal touch. On Holland America, (which we have cruised 7 times) the captains greeted passengers at formal nights and even held Q&A sessions for passengers. The Princess room service was excellent, as well as in the dining room, where they were working as fast as they could, tho service was sometimes slow. Would give dining 4 of 5 for food. The Lido on Princess did not appear to offer custom-prepared fried eggs, pancakes or waffles (the steam-table waffles) weren't worth the calories. Rating 3 of 5. The staff of Lido was very attentive. The touted ice cream shop only offered too soft choc. and vanilla soft ice cream. HAL had special ice cream flavors available all the time as well. Princess managed embarcation and final debarking well. Same for port debarcation except the Guernsey port where we waited 1.5 hours in the sun for tendering. Announcements were rarely made in the rooms. If you didn't open your hall door you missed the captain's daily message and information about port procedures. The prof. laundry was expensive...$4.50 to wash a pair of cargo pants. Laundromat down the hall had 1 working washer. Each load was $3, washer or dryer. On HAL you can stuff a laundry bag for one flat price. Closet and drawer space was adequate for the two of us. Neither Sabatinis nor Crown Grill Restaurants were any better than reg. dining room. The so-called culinary demo was a joke, slapstick and waste of time. Galley tour was free but no ship tour with technical info was offered. Princess did restrain the photo ops on board, which was welcome. There was no printed "newspapers" as HAL offers, in 3-4 languages, a daily summary from major newspapers. Nice to read with breakfast. Minimal library. No free DVD's to watch movies. No DVD pkayer in room. No mention in daily printed announcements to remind that Belfast is N. Ireland and pounds are used, not euros. We were in the lowest class of cruisers and felt it when the Elite etc talked about their free wifi, priority boarding, etc. On HAL the perks are fewer and not prominent. We felt the overall operation, except for our cabin steward, who worked long hours, lacked a personal touch.