Mini-rant here. What's up with cruise lines (and companies in general) describing luxurious things as "European". I lived in Europe for three years, my husband for seven, and with the exception of the food, neither of us found European service or amenities better than what is available in major US cities, usually at better prices.

Which left me puzzled by these recent examples of Euro-philia in marketing:

"European-style service". This month's Celebrated Living magazine praised Holland America Line with that phrase. Which struck me as odd. My experience of service in Europe included:

• Fine Parisian restaurants REFUSING to serve my coffee at the same time as my dessert.
• Most shops closed all of Sunday in Italy, Germany and France.
• British trains that rarely run on time, and Parisian ones that are often on strike.

By contrast, I agree with Celebrated Living that HAL has very good service -- attentive, accommodating, pretty much the opposite of service in Europe. And of course most of the crewmembers are Indonesian and Filipino. But I suppose "Southeast Asian colonial style service" doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

"European style bedding". Azamara touts this. What they mean here is that they have duvets ... in some cabin categories. The first night, my cabin had nothing but sheets, not even a blanket. When I requested the purported duvet, I got a mattress pad stuffed into a duvet cover (!).

Hmm... over-promise, under-deliver, and inadequate facilities. On second thought, maybe Azamara does offer an authentic European experience.