Rounding back on this, now home from the cruise. Everything I said up-thread and in the Nov 20 roll call still feels valid. I'll add a few points from my last night on the ship.
- Final evening dinner service was EXCELLENT in the dining room. Great food and very fast, efficient service. Helped by the fact it was less crowded than any other night. If they can keep that pace with service going it'll go a long way to solving my biggest frustration onboard.
- Final morning breakfast was available as usual in buffet and dining room. Contrary to my memory of my May cruise on Discovery, they were offering room service (at least coffee/tea) and I saw several waiters tracking people down with coffee orders.
- Disembarkation was horrible. I did Group A walkoff, the first group off the ship. They packed everyone into the Wheelhouse Bar on Deck 7, when the gangway was on Deck 6. This meant everyone had to carry their bags down a flight of stairs or take the elevators. It was incredibly crowded. Use of one of the deck 6 dining rooms would have probably worked better. We were due to disembark at 7:45, but that was when the captain came on to give his goodbye message (5 minutes), followed the cruise director (another 5 minutes). By that time people were beginning to crowd the door. It was just chaos.
- Once off the ship, signage for bag collection was super confusing. We had carried our own bags so we went on our way.
- Consistent with embarkation, general signage in the port was lacking. It wasn't clear where shuttles were operating, where taxi lines were, etc.
All in all, I really enjoyed this cruise. I would rate it a 8 or 9 out of 10. The itinerary was great and hit some ports that were high on our list. The Sea of Cortez is beautiful and a worthwhile trip. We were disappointed that the whale shark excursions were cancelled in La Paz, but understand it was out of their control. The protected whale shark area is not currently open as there are too few of them. Grateful for the experience.