I have travelled twice before with this company on different ships and been very satisfied. This trip was appalling. . The cabin was adequate but water in my cabin frequently ran brown and on one occasion full of black oily bits requiring the assistance of housekeeping. My cabin steward was delightful and hardworking. I did not expect Rain inside the Captains club (burst pipe I presume) and other areas, also in cabins. Stops were at container ports with no way off the ship except by their excursions which were poorly managed. A total lack of good information and maps, particularly of the transit of the Suez canal which was a disappointment to me as that was one of the reasons I chose this trip and on my previous trip on the Astor the transit of the Panama canal had been so well presented. Excursions were either rushed with an inadequate amount of time at the destination, which was a safety risk as one of the visits was to a temple with 263 steps plus further steps inside and only half an hour allowed, and too much time at the pewter factory shop' leading me to the conclusion that Cruise and Maritime are no longer about customer service but making money. The entertainment was mostly amateur and the comedians did not deserve the name. the food was good in the main but tended towards the bland, probably to suit the extreme age of the majority of passengers, into which category I do not yet fall! The saving grace was the service staff, particularly in the dining room but unfortunately the same cannot be said of most of the reception staff and the ShoreEx personnel were uninformed, unhelpful and occasionally downright rude. In short, this trip failed to live up to my expectations on many levels. My daughter joined me for 10 days of the trip and has informed me she will never cruise again.