We chose this cruise for the itinerary and the convenience of round trip San Diego. We did do shore excursions in almost every port and knew we would need to since most ports were in the middle of nowhere and industrial. We enjoyed the majority of the ports. The crew on the ship was great - very helpful and accommodating. The food was good. We had a pipe break in our cabin and that was taken care of promptly. Luckily we were docked in Lima at the time and off the ship most of the time so not too inconvenient. The shipboard entertainment: singers/dancers very good, music in the Ocean bar good as long as they didn't sing, piano bar okay. Guest entertainers average - Lima dance group great. Kianoa was interesting for his port discussions. My husband enjoyed some of the speakers - not my thing. Other than that there was not much to do on the ship but hang out at the pool and go to cooking shows. We did see lots of wildlife as we were cruising including dolphins and whales. Mexican Ambassadors were good but only came onboard the last week - should have been there to start with. What is the point of Spanish lessons when you only have 2 ports left and already visited 13 Spanish speaking ports. We were on the Maasdam a couple years ago - sea days were much more interesting - games, activities, special food events poolside - what happened? We knew the ship is old and it does show it's age but they seemed to be working on it the entire cruise, replacing sections of carpet, painting, replacing the large windows poolside and in the dining rooms. Holland is one of the few lines that provide the long US based round trip cruises. Knowing that and keeping expectations in line this was a great cruise for the Itinerary.