If I am passengering in the back in uniform, and experience a firm landing, the passengers next to me usually ask about it. My response is usually:
"As far as pilots are concerned, it is where the aircraft lands that is important. Too short, too long, too far left or right etc. Smooth is nice, but not necessary." That usually satisfies them.
Remember that, at the moment, you can only judge your performance against the person in the left seat - who should be experienced enough to consistently beat your performance! If you ask them to judge you against your peers (who they get the chance to see, as you don't.) you may get a better opinion of your performance than you think!
As an aside (sorry for the thread drift):
it is necessary to make a firm landing in order to make good contact through the surface water and prevent aqua-planing
I just want to point out that that is an old wife's tale. Manuals talk about
"not extending the flare for a smooth contact" simply to point out that you must not waste runway!
Aquaplaning takes place purely when the pressure of the water against and under the tyre exceeds the pressure of the tyre, and that pressure is dependant on having:
- A water depth greater than the depth of the tyre tread, (i.e. a flooded runway.), and
- a speed greater than 7.7 times the square root of the tyre pressure (for a non-rotating tyre to spin up).
How firm or soft the touch down was, however many meters behind the aircraft, is completely irrelevant.