We chose this cruise because of the 7 night land tour of Peru that can be taken at the start or end of the cruise. The Land Tour was fabulous, great hotels, lovely people and lovely food, magnificent scenery. The Cruise from Valpraiso to Beunos Aires started on the wrong foot, the port workers were on strike, so boarding was a fiasco, huge long queues, nowhere to sit down and temperatures in the low 80's, no complimentary drinks. It propably took us 2hrs to get to the front of our 'Priority' queue. Friends travelling with us [6] took longer, as they weren't in 'Priority'.

All of the dining, including the Speciality restaurants, were disappointing. Cold plates = cold food, orders taken but cutlery not changed for choices made, therefore when food was delivered, waiter did not know who was having what, and cutlery came after, but not always straight away - food even colder. Service in the restaurants was very poor, were we on a 'training' ship? Every opportunity was taken to try and sell us something we didn't need or want - training waiters to be waiters is paramount. Wine selection was particularly poor, Sauvignon Blanc had run out by day 6/14 and the coffee was foul.

We didn't get to go on our first excursion as the port strike had followed us down the coast, and the coaches were not allowed to leave with passengers on them. Read more