This program was good but not great. The Panama Canal is absolutely fascinating. We should have had more time in Panama City and at the Visitor Center. There are not enough off-ship trips. There was too much free time. Especially after the Panama Canal, we had about 2 hours in Cartagena, not enough to see much, and then nothing more for 2 1/2 days until we reached Ft. Lauderdale. There should have been a stop in the Caribbean, but there was nothing. I don't know why we had to sail for more than 2 days past Baja California and never stop. The evening entertainments on the ship were very pedestrian. Many people seemed to love the shows, but I see so much better at my home in Cincinnati! The best thing is the Panama Canal - just fascinating and beautiful in its own way. The ship was also very nice, - clean and neat and wonderful service at all levels.

Of all the RS programs in which I have participated, this one disappointed me the most. Because I've taught Latin American history, I did not attend the on-board lectures but they did seem to include a wealth of information for the average American. Our RS tour guide did a wonderful job of coordinating. It was the land tours that disappointed. The significant attractions of Meso-America are on the east coasts and the west coast of Mexico offered very little. The three stops in Mexico offered next to nothing for serious travelers. Sitting in a "cultural center" and listening to a young man sing "I Did It My Way" was hardly an enlightening experience. Antigua, Guatemala, is a fascinating city and the limited tour was the best of the trip. The stop at Cartagena, Colombia, was the worst. Cartagena was the most fantastic city we visited, but our guide walked us thru the old city and the Palace of the Inquisition without stopping in any other buildings. We spent an hour listening to a lecture on constitutions of Colombia without any context when we could have been exploring the old city. The worst part of the tour was a quick photo stop outside of one of the largest fortifications in colonial America -- no tour, just photos of the exterior.

The Holland American ship's crew provided wonderful service and they obviously liked their jobs and working with each other. The entertainment on board was much better than I've seen on other cruises. However, the passengers were much older than me (65) and I had very little in common with most of them. Thankfully a small group of passengers and the entertainers gathered for parties each evening in the "Crow's Nest." Baby Boomers should avoid these kinds of cruises.

Compared to my cruise around Sicily with RS, this trip had little to recommend it other than the Panama Canal itself. A very big disappointment. Sorry.

PS I did win $500 in the ship's bingo game.