I went on this cruise as a precursor to going on the Grand Princess to Alaska. I am taking some friends with us to Alaska and wanted to see how these older ships compare to the newest ones, and the Diamond happens be in the older category. I was pleasantly surprised to see how well maintained the Diamond is. My last Princess cruise was on the Royal 3 years ago and though it was one of the newer ships at the time I was just as impressed with the Diamond. We loved the fact that this cruise went to 2 new ports that we had not yet been to. We loved Loreto. We might have enjoyed La Paz more if the town had not been 20 minutes away by bus from the port. We prefer walking right out of the ship into town and this port was not one of them. There was nothing close to the Port of La Paz. We had a great vacation! It was relaxing and just what we needed. I am hoping to have a good experience on the Grand in spite of her being the oldest ship in the Princess fleet.