Cruise Junky
May 16th, 2004, 04:24 PM
We opted for a cruise and stay vacation this year, three nights at the Bellagio in Vegas and then a three night cruise to Vancouver (Home). It was a great vacation, can’t say enough about the Bellagio, but the bus ride to LA is long… 5 hours!
This is our fourth cruise and our second on Princess. The Island Princess is lovely, cannot say a bad thing about her, absolutely gorgeous, tons of glass, views from most public rooms. Our Cabin was a Mini-Suite on Dolphin Deck, D331. Great location, large balcony, totally uncovered, which you get used to.
Embarking was a breeze. We were onboard by noon. We were told our cabin was ready and for the most part it was, but were a little disappointed on opening the bathroom door and seeing it hadn’t been cleaned from the previous occupant – dirty towels on the floor, used soap beside the washbasin. We called the 5000 number provided, but it took about 3 hours to get it cleaned.
The mini suite is definitely the way to go if you can. For us, this mini cruise, it was only $30 pp difference between a Balcony and a Mini-Suite.
Food:
Horizon Court was fine, no difference from any other buffet on a cruise ship that we’ve been on.
Provence Dining Room: We had late seating and had asked for a large table. We were a little dismayed at being seated with two single mothers and four children. We don’t hate kids but were looking forward to meeting some other couples. The food was ok, nothing really to rave about as we did on our previous princess cruise (best food we had on a cruise). But the service was terrible – maybe the waiter wasn’t too happy about 4 kids being at his table either http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif. No conversation, just “What do you Want”. The lady next to me ordered a bottle of wine right at the beginning of dinner and got it half way through her Entrée after repeatedly asking for it. My husband ordered a club soda and we had to wait a good 15 minutes after we had finished dinner for his copy of the bill, when it came, it had a whole bunch of wine on it that we hadn’t ordered. We didn’t go back and also had the tips removed (I’ve never done that before).
Sabatini’s – Amazing…. We ate here on our second night and it was truly an event. They give you the menu, and you start thinking about what you’re going to order then they tell you, no worries, we’re going to bring you the whole thing anyway… and don’t worry if you can’t choose between lobster, scallops, shrimp and seabass for your entrée, because we’ll bring all of those too. For $20 per person, it was an amazing deal, and the service was impeccable.
Weather:
Not bad… it was lovely and warm in LA, lots of people by the pool. Day two was windy as hell and day three was lovely and calm seas. Saw a pod of whales from our deck as well as tons of dolphins.
My favourite Spot… Crooner’s Martini Bar… great location.. the view is wonderful and the martini’s even better. For the regular size they’re only $5 which is damn cheap. On our last day they had all the Bond Martini’s on for $3.95
Misc. – Burgers were good, mini golf was fun, but windy. Mini suites – lovely. Casino – I won $180. Bingo – Hubby won $150. Talked to one woman who had been through the canal on the ship and was staying on to Vancouver, she’d hit over $5,000 on this trip – nice J.
Embarking - nothing out of the ordinary, just lots of lines. Fabulous to take a 20 minute cab ride home!
Any questions about the Island Princess, please don’t hesitate.
Some Ship, Some Itinerary, Somewhere in the Med.
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=008000&cdt=2006;5;12;17;0;00&timezone=GMT+0100
Mexican Riviera - Rhapsody of the Seas
11 Day Circle the Caribbean - Splendour of the Seas
Alaska - Dawn Princess
Coastal - Island Princess
This is our fourth cruise and our second on Princess. The Island Princess is lovely, cannot say a bad thing about her, absolutely gorgeous, tons of glass, views from most public rooms. Our Cabin was a Mini-Suite on Dolphin Deck, D331. Great location, large balcony, totally uncovered, which you get used to.
Embarking was a breeze. We were onboard by noon. We were told our cabin was ready and for the most part it was, but were a little disappointed on opening the bathroom door and seeing it hadn’t been cleaned from the previous occupant – dirty towels on the floor, used soap beside the washbasin. We called the 5000 number provided, but it took about 3 hours to get it cleaned.
The mini suite is definitely the way to go if you can. For us, this mini cruise, it was only $30 pp difference between a Balcony and a Mini-Suite.
Food:
Horizon Court was fine, no difference from any other buffet on a cruise ship that we’ve been on.
Provence Dining Room: We had late seating and had asked for a large table. We were a little dismayed at being seated with two single mothers and four children. We don’t hate kids but were looking forward to meeting some other couples. The food was ok, nothing really to rave about as we did on our previous princess cruise (best food we had on a cruise). But the service was terrible – maybe the waiter wasn’t too happy about 4 kids being at his table either http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif. No conversation, just “What do you Want”. The lady next to me ordered a bottle of wine right at the beginning of dinner and got it half way through her Entrée after repeatedly asking for it. My husband ordered a club soda and we had to wait a good 15 minutes after we had finished dinner for his copy of the bill, when it came, it had a whole bunch of wine on it that we hadn’t ordered. We didn’t go back and also had the tips removed (I’ve never done that before).
Sabatini’s – Amazing…. We ate here on our second night and it was truly an event. They give you the menu, and you start thinking about what you’re going to order then they tell you, no worries, we’re going to bring you the whole thing anyway… and don’t worry if you can’t choose between lobster, scallops, shrimp and seabass for your entrée, because we’ll bring all of those too. For $20 per person, it was an amazing deal, and the service was impeccable.
Weather:
Not bad… it was lovely and warm in LA, lots of people by the pool. Day two was windy as hell and day three was lovely and calm seas. Saw a pod of whales from our deck as well as tons of dolphins.
My favourite Spot… Crooner’s Martini Bar… great location.. the view is wonderful and the martini’s even better. For the regular size they’re only $5 which is damn cheap. On our last day they had all the Bond Martini’s on for $3.95
Misc. – Burgers were good, mini golf was fun, but windy. Mini suites – lovely. Casino – I won $180. Bingo – Hubby won $150. Talked to one woman who had been through the canal on the ship and was staying on to Vancouver, she’d hit over $5,000 on this trip – nice J.
Embarking - nothing out of the ordinary, just lots of lines. Fabulous to take a 20 minute cab ride home!
Any questions about the Island Princess, please don’t hesitate.
Some Ship, Some Itinerary, Somewhere in the Med.
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=008000&cdt=2006;5;12;17;0;00&timezone=GMT+0100
Mexican Riviera - Rhapsody of the Seas
11 Day Circle the Caribbean - Splendour of the Seas
Alaska - Dawn Princess
Coastal - Island Princess