The Rotterdam is a beautiful, classic ship. The interior decoration is elegant and tasteful, with gorgeous fabrics used throughout. Food was about on par with other lines- dishes that don't mind overcooking, like lamb shanks, were great, but fish is understandably overdone. Yes, the line does lean strongly toward the over 60 (heck, over 80) crowd- one person in 10 had a cane or a walker. We were on a long trip, with many sea days, during the school period, so there were very few children. I wondered why there had been talk of HAL abandoning this age group to court the under 50 crowd, but it was obvious on the trip. My impression was that these people don't drink or gamble much, expect to be waited on like royalty, and plan to squeeze every penny out of the cruise humanly possible. There were more crotchety and downright rude cruisers on this trip than I have run across on other lines- including the woman who stood over my shoulder at the slot machine even when I asked her not to, because it was HER machine.

I am the first one to condemn seat saving abuse, but when 4 of us went to the show, and the women got up to use the ladies room, the men nearly had to come to blows to keep our places from being squatted upon- "NO seat saving allowed!" Service was hit and miss. Our steward did a nice job, but liked to stay and chat, and couldn't seem to remember that we wanted ice at 5 daily. THe neptune lounge concierge couldn't have been sweeter, but when I asked if alcohol was included in the cabanas at half moon cay, she assured me it was. When we got there the cabana girl said soft drinks and chips and dip only. After we walked down the beach for lunch we were told we could have lunch in the cabana. We didn't think it was worth $219 for 6 sodas and a bag of chips in a plywood hut.

Bottom line-this cruise was everything I expected after reading the HAL message board comments. Many people love it, but it is not the line for us- we don't like regimented meal times, being told what to wear, and the constant nickle and diming. We are going back to Windstar, Silversea, or even NCL.