Recently returned from Island Princess Panama Canal Feb 3-18

Hello all,

Between backed up work, recovering from the cold and injuries that occurred while traveling, and normal life (like taking care of my own food, towels, etc), I am having a hard time putting together a cohesive review, but I want to "Pay it forward", so I wanted to post and offer to answer any questions people may have. I will also post photos and individual pieces of information as I get them organized.

A little background on us. DH and I are 51, but lately, I've had some knee and other health problems that have me feeling a lot older. I love cruising and visiting new places and DH enjoys cruising enough to humor me. ;) We mix sailing alone and taking our children (23 and 25) on cruises with us.

Although we had really enjoyed our Sapphire Princess cruise to Alaska, we hadn't been back to Princess, mostly due to pricing and the fact that we felt other cruise lines fit our personal style a little better.

Originally, we hadplanned on taking a river cruise up the Danube in the Fall of 2017, but thetrip was very expensive, became non-refundable very early, and overall wasn't"feeling" right. Last year when we were cruising I looked at what NCLhad to offer for the Panama Canal. Wewere not thrilled with the itinerariesthat NCL was offering during the cold winter months when we wanted to sail, sowhen we came home, we looked at other options.

We knew we wanted togo in February and get away from the snow and cold for a while. Of all the offerings in February, Princesshad the best itinerary (by far), allowing us to visit 4 new places along with aday transiting the canal. Additionally, most of the ports included nice longstops. The only shorter stop {and still decent from 7-4 with tenders} was GrandCayman and we had just been there. Going the full way through the canal was oneof my requirements. We officially bookedthe cruise about a year out. We wereable to get a nice balcony cabin for a 15 day cruise and pay for our airfarefor less than the 7 day cruise was going to cost us in Europe, not to mentionthe airfare to Europe.

Not long after webooked, I started seeing complaints about the post dry dock changes to theIsland Princess, but decided this was the cruise we wanted and we would stickwith it. There were several very helpfulreviews with photos and all. I alwaysstart off well writing my own reviews, but I never seem to finish. This time was no different.

First Topic - since I was talking to someone cruising soon yesterday, I've been thinking about the $99 unlimited photo package that I purchased before boarding the ship.

Although we have purchased a couple of photos on a few cruises, most of the time we simply try to avoid the photographers. When DH and I sail alone, we rarely get any pictures of each other and even fewer pictures of us together. I thought for the price, the unlimited photo package would give us the opportunity to get some nice photos of us as a couple.

Overall, I think it was worth purchasing it because we got a couple of really nice photos that we wouldn't have otherwise purchased. Also, the package also included some "free" items from Shutterfly. They don't advertise this when they are trying to sell you on the package onboard for $199, but all of the free items require you to pay shipping and handling which can be significant. I love Shutterfly products, so I will be using most if not all of these coupons. They included a free small luggage tag (I had previously ordered one and it is a very nice metal tag with a leather strap), an 8x8 20 page book (or you can apply to 8x8 price to a larger sized book - I personally really like the 10x10 books), a reusable shopping bag (probably my least favorite item I have ever gotten from Shutterfly), and a deck of playing cards.

The other nice addition that I didn't know about when I originally ordered it in my cruise personalizer was that it provided me with a $20 discount off of the $99 cruise in review DVDs. I have never purchased one of these before, but they filmed the ship going through the canal and we saw the videographer several times during the day. I thought this would be a nice memento. Also, they send their people on several of the excursions (disguised as tourists - OK they have name tags on, but so did some of the other crew members taking tours). The videographer was actually on our tour in Guatemala and when we saw some of the video on the TV, we noticed that it was our tour. We didn't even know he was filming during the day. He did a great job. Also, in Costa Rica, even though we did a privately booked tour, we saw many of the same things as they were showing on the tour the videographer went on, so again, a nice memento for us.

On the canal day, the photographers did a great job of getting photos of people all over the ship watching the canal experience.

There were also a few negatives to this. One was that we saw fewer photographers out and about on this cruise than ever before. Even looking at the pictures, there didn't seem to be very many candid shots or shots other than at the formal nights and some of the ports. In fact, they didn't even have a photographer taking pictures when we got off of the ship in Costa Rica. I thought that maybe we were too early, but that evening, they did green screen photos and put your favorite Costa Rica site on the photo for you. We had a very long hot day, so the last thing I wanted to do in the evening was pose for a picture.

They didn't take any pictures at all on the last day of the cruise because they were "too busy" with other things.

We went out on deck at the designated time for one of the sunset photo sessions, but no one was there. These were on the daily several times, but I didn't see very many pictures taken out on the deck at sunset of anyone when looking through what was out and available for purchase.

The lines on formal night were so long that unless you wanted to spend your entire evening there, you could only get in 1 or at most 2 backgrounds.

They only took pictures in one location on some of the non-formal evenings. It would have been nice to have more options.

I think the photographers went through the same training as most of the Target photographers. You get the same 3 or 4 poses for everyone with little to no imagination. I'm guessing if we had done the Platinum Studio photographer we would have seen more imagination, but those photos aren't included in the package.

Please let me know if you have any questions or if you want me to hit a particular topic or port next. We went to Panama City, Guatemala, Columbia, Grand Cayman, and Cost Rica.

Thanks for the comments. :)

We loved our Panama cruise on the Island and I must admit there were loads of photographers everywhere However the special offer was not available then so perhaps they needed to try to get people to buy more shots. At the normal price we never purchase any

I'd love to hear more about the ship as I am considering it for Alaska next year.

Thanks for the info on the Photo package. We don't normally buy any photos, we are just super critical of how we look in pics. But the package sounds pretty good, so maybe we will consider it.

Could you share some info on the ship itself, the staff and the ports.

I have heard there is a lot of vibration in the cabins toward the back of the ship? Condition of the ship/cabins/common areas? Food and service? Cruise director crew?

Thanks in advance!

The Island Princess is a beautiful ship, but she is a long way from my favorite ship. Unless there was an amazing itinerary, I would not sail on the Island Princess again.

The Panama Canal, itinerary, staff, and main theater entertainment were amazing. The food was very good, but that is so subjective. We are not foodies.

Our cabin was E736, the very last cabin on the port side. It was an amazing location for going through the canal and overall. We could see both off to the side and the wake behind us.

To me, the gym feltquite cramped. This is where our muster station was, but I didn't grabany pictures. It is buried down on deck 6. They seemed to have a widevariety of equipment including a seated stepping machine that I have only seenin my physical therapy office. Although I had good intentions, I nevermade it to the gym during "business" hours, so I don't know howcrowded it got.

The Explorers Lounge is not a good secondary show location. Both the violinist and juggler has problems with how low the lights and other items were set above the stage.

My tablet is dying. I will try and post more tomorrow, along with some pictures.

The Island Princess is a beautiful ship, but she is a long way from my favorite ship. Unless there was an amazing itinerary, I would not sail on the Island Princess again. Can you give examples of why?

 

The Explorers Lounge is not a good secondary show location. Both the violinist and juggler has problems with how low the lights and other items were set above the stage. That was one of the dry dock changes. They eliminated the aft Universe Lounge which is where those performances would have been previously.

see above in red

The Panama Canal, itinerary, staff, and main theater entertainment were amazing. The food was very good, but that is so subjective. We are not foodies. Our cabin was E736, the very last cabin on the port side. It was an amazing location for going through the canal and overall. We could see both off to the side and the wake behind us. To me, the gym felt quite cramped. It is buried down on deck 6. I will try and post more tomorrow, along with some pictures.

Great to be reading and appreciate ALL of these details from Ann, our "neighbor" in Central Ohio. Friday, Ann was kind enough to get together in person for breakfast with my wife and me to answer lots of questions on this ship, these cruise port stops, seeing the canal, etc. Very helpful!!!

Received Ann's e-mail about getting some pictures related to their cabin, E736, the very last cabin on the port side. Will try to remember, but it might good to remind and "jab" me via an e-mail part way into the cruise. I will do a live/blog on our 15-day Ft. Lauderdale to San Francisco sailing that goes through the Panama Canal. This will give us our first visits in Colombia, Central America and Mexico. This will also be our first sailing with Princess. Looking forward to sampling this line and I won't be "shy" with my opinions, observations and pictures.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 171,921 views for this posting.

Originally posted by alwalaska The Island Princess is a beautiful ship, but she is a long way from my favorite ship. Unless there was an amazing itinerary, I would not sail on the Island Princess again. Can you give examples of why?

To me, the ship felt crowded some of the time, especially in the buffet. To us, eating is not a big part of our day, so we don't typically go to the dining rooms for breakfast or lunch. It seemed like the buffet was crowded for breakfast and it was frequently hard to find seat. If you were there before 7 or after 10 or so, it was OK. Otherwise, it was quite crowded most days. One morning, I had taken my plate and egg order and asked a couple sitting at the end of a table for 6 if they were alone and if we could share. They graciously said yes. I left my food and order there to go and get a drink and to tell my husband where our table was. When I came back, people had filled in the 2 other seats (not waiting to ask if I was alone or only needed 2 seats) and I couldn't even get to my seat and my husband couldn't even put his plate down because they were taking their time ordering juices and coffees and the server had the tray in my husbands spot, the coffee pot on top of my egg paper and blocking my seat. I had forgotten about my egg paper since there was stuff on top of it, I simply picked up my food and went to find another table to share with someone. Luckily, by the time I remembered my egg order and was heading back to my original table, someone had said something and the waiter was walking around with my omelet looking for me.

I missed being able to walk around the promenade deck.

The anytime dining wasn't anywhere close to anytime. It was more like anytime after 8pm unless you wanted to stand in line, wait, and possibly share a table for 10 after waiting.

The theater is poorly designed for getting in and out. Just two side isles and doors only at the back, so it takes a long time to get out of the theater. Plus, if you happen to like going to the 7:30 show after early seating for dinner, forget it. The theater was full many nights by 7 or 7:15 at the latest and sharing a table at dinner seems to take at least 2 hours, if not longer.

There aren't very many open decks for taking pictures at sail-away or other times, especially up high. The only aft location outside that is available to any guest (without paying extra) is deck 8. There was one night we were trying to walk and had to either take a very short loop, or cut through the interior because we ran into the sanctuary.

The Explorers Lounge is not a good secondary show location. Both the violinist and juggler has problems with how low the lights and other items were set above the stage. That was one of the dry dock changes. They eliminated the aft Universe Lounge which is where those performances would have been previously.

see above in red

Yes, this is another reason it wasn't a favorite ship. Plus, the number of decent seats here to see a show were extremely limited.

Here are some photos. The album where I will eventually put all of my ship photos once I find and organize them all is here.

Also, over time, all of my photos will be added to my Shutterfly share site here.

Full panoramic view from our balcony at the end of the cruise in Port Everglades.

Our balcony

Was the Ultimate Ship Tour offered on the Island Princess?

Was the Ultimate Ship Tour offered on the Island Princess?

I don't remember seeing it, but it may have been. On the last sea day, there was a kitchen demonstration followed by a galley tour and a behind the scenes of the theater.

As soon as I find my patters, I will do a quick scan and see if it was there.

I was on that cruise. I thought it was a great ship (one of my favorites and we've been on 47 cruises...15th Princess cruise). Liked the smaller venues with a small boat feel. Didn't have a problem finding a place to eat in the Horizon for breakfast or lunch, but it was a little noisy in there during "rush hour". The staff was great and the Cruise Director, Simone, was very helpful in us being able to play pickleball. The staff moral and guest seemed to be very positive with hardly a complaint heard throughout the cruise. Really enjoyed the lotus covered pool area. It was always very peaceful in there. Would go back on the Island Princess in a second.

I was on that cruise, my 13th with Princess.

Agree to above. That CD Simone Smith was outstanding, I don't think she ever slept. She was out and about from 9 am to midnight, she was also one of the zumba instructors. Agree to everything Sailaweigh has stated

Our cabin was E736, the very last cabin on the port side. It was an amazing location for going through the canal and overall. We could see both off to the side and the wake behind us.

We did the same cruise in February 2015 in E736 on the Island----loved the cabin & the ship! I think that this was my favorite ship since there was an indoor pool. This was our 7th Princess cruise but first with an indoor pool. We book based on itinerary, but doing more lately on Celebrity since their ships have indoor pools!

I'd love to hear more about the ship as I am considering it for Alaska next year.

As you can see, there are different opinions about this ship.

During the 2015 makeover, the Universal Lounge was ripped out and replaced by cabins. This had the effect of adding passengers and reducing lounge space. If you did not encounter overcrowding, like we did, no big deal.

The International Cafe was ripped out. If you don't care about the cafe, no big deal.

The gym was moved from its sea view place to a stuffy hole on deck 6. If you don't use the gym, no big deal.

The former rap around promenade deck was cut at the aft quarter with an ugly steel barrier to create ersatz balconies for some of the new cabins. If you don't care about the promenade, no big deal.

There is no sports bar, but then there never was. There are two tvs and five seats at the casino bar if you are interested, otherwise watch in your cabin.

I would note, a similar makeover for sister ship Coral Princess was cancelled. I wonder why?

A crew member told us everyone involved in the makeover was fired. I doubt that unless the makeover was done without the knowledge of senior management.

I missed a question earlier about vibrations. For our cabin, we did not notice any vibrations except one day when they were using the thrusters a lot very early in the morning as we were coming into port.

On the other hand, there were a lot of vibrations walking down the port side hallway on deck 8 near the 500 to 600 range of cabins. We didn't walk all the way down the hall all the time, but it seemed to be most prevalent on the beginning and last sea days when we were sailing long distances.

Entertainment

Overall, the entertainment was good to amazing. I realized when I was reading some of the reviews recently posted for the Island Princess that Entertainment is as personal as dining and people's opinions vary just as greatly on them.

I enjoyed Simone as the cruise director and enjoyed her nightly dumb dad jokes. I was impressed that Princess offered Zumba classes, great port talks, and a lot of other offerings during the days.

Someone in their review was upset about the heavy sales from the jewelry store Effy, art, and photo packages and dvd. I didn't notice more sales pitches here than I have on other cruises, even on other lines. It seemed pretty standard. Even though there was a ton of selling happening in the seminars, I learned quite a bit as well.

I'm sure it was perception, but it seemed like there was a lot more to do during the first couple of days than later in the cruise. There were several things competing with our meet and greet and also during the gold level party, etc.

They had line dancing lessons every day as well as ballroom dance classes. Due to my knees acting up, I didn't take any of the classes, but they offered a nice variety.

I totally loved Encore. The funny thing is, I'm not into opera and I would much rather listen to a tenor than a soprano when I do listen to opera style music. I almost went back for the 9:45 show. We did go back the following night to see the guest soprano, Miss Jennifer Fair's show.

All of the shows with the singers and dancers were enjoyable. I thought they were all very talented. We did not see the comedian the first night or the one with the dog, but we also enjoyed the guest violinist, improv comedian, juggling comedian, singer, and maybe more that I forgot. I was impressed with the quality and variety that they provided us with over the 15 days.

We didn't really "gel" with any other of the small lounge groups. Purple Haze was our favorite, but the others were not for us. Usually we have a piano or guitar player that we love to sit and listen to, but not this trip. Shiboan was pretty good, but she wasn't really in any comfortable locations.

I kept my Princess Patters if anyone has any questions.

We were also on this cruise, our 4th Princess, 5th overall, 1st time on Island. I agree with OP about the photography. We did pre-purchase the photo package so were eager to have our pictures taken rather than avoiding the photographers. We also went looking for photographers at sunset when the Patter said pictures would be taken and never found them.

Horizon Court was very full for breakfast on port days, but the crew did a great job of taking care of us and fellow passengers were very willing to share tables. Evening hours were full unless you were there late, but again we were taken care of and shared tables.

Simone was amazing but I've heard she left Island after this cruise.

We were in Baja 630, pretty far aft and pretty far up. We did notice a lot of creaking and some vibration but also thought the seas were a little rough for 14 of the 15 days we were out. Another poster mentioned several times in her review that the seas were completely calm the entire time but our perception was of a lot of wind and rough-ish seas.

Excellent trip over-all.

Thanks MammaJamma2013. Again, I guess everyone's perceptions are different. I thought we had several days of very high winds and waves and we did hear quite a bit of creaking during those times, but I just consider that part of cruising and didn't think to mention it. I would not say we had calm seas the whole time, but I have experienced much worse as well.

We frequently moved our ice tongs, hangers, and anything else that could rattle or clang at night.

One more thing I forgot to mention earlier. Our steward was amazing. We called him our ninja steward. He came in while we were gone and quickly and efficiently set everything to right. He hit that happy medium between respecting our privacy and making sure that we never needed anything.

Hi we are doing Ft Lauderdale to San Francisco in October through the Panama. You mentioned you did a private tour? Where and who with please..and tour info would be great.

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Hi we are doing Ft Lauderdale to San Francisco in October through the Panama. You mentioned you did a private tour? Where and who with please..and tour info would be great.

 

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General Info on our Ports:

Puerto Quetzal, Guatamala - Ship tour to Antigua. Loved Antigua, very good lunch, nice sites to see and interesting museums, but, overall, forced march of 43 people. Hurry up and wait. Sometimes hard to hear the guide. A lot more walking than I was expecting. The cobblestones were unlike anything I have ever experienced before. Super uneven and even on the side walks in many places.

Puntarenas, Costa Rica - did a private tour for just the 4 of us with Odyssey Tours. It was their 10 in 1 tour. Overall - good to great experience. Lunch was disappointing, but the view was amazing. This was the first day they were trying a new restaurant for lunch. Luckily we were the first ones there because later groups didn't have seating in the shade or had to sit at the bar overlooking the wonderful vista, but not comfortable for short people. Our guide wanted our honest opinions of the lunch and said that they would be talking to the owner to make sure that things were improved, or they wouldn't continue going there. We had both a driver and a guide and a nice sized van for the 4 of us. The one disappointment was that the crocodile river cruise was not well organized and we ended up standing around in the heat for quite some time before our cruise. A French speaking group arrived at about the same time as us, so they went and we had to wait for an English speaking cruise. Additionally, some larger tour groups came and seemed to be able to go while we were still waiting.

Panama City we did the Hop On Hop Off bus. I talked with Jessica at City Tours Hop On Hop Off before the trip and made sure that they would have a bus a Fuerte Amador before their normal 10:25. They said they would send a us at 9:25 for us, but we took an early tender any way, and there was already a bus there waiting. That bus left at 8:30. I had put a walking tour of Casco Viejo together and you can check it out in the OneNote document in my signature. I'm not sure how long that document with be out there, so if you are interested, make a local copy now. We caught the noon bus at about 12:15 and decided to finish the full circuit without getting off again. It was a great day and we really enjoyed it. We would have had time to jump off at the locks for an hour, but because we were warm from our walking tour AND we could not miss the next bus since it was the last one that would get us back in time for tendering, we didn't do it. Someone else did get off at that stop and we saw him the next day, so obviously he got back OK.

Cartagena, Colombia. I found the name of a tour guide on a site I can't mention here with his email address. He offered a 2 1/2 hour tour through the new and old city, going to La Popa, the fortress, and more for a total of $75. We ended up being with him well over 3 hours and were thrilled. Finding a private tour here is difficult because there are so many people inside the cruise port trying to sell tours and all.

Grand Cayman. We just walked around. We had been planning on snorkeling, but my knee problems stopped that, so we decided to just hang out. It was a tender port and a fairly short day as well.

I hope this helps. I don't know how many ports we will overlap with you.

As you can see, there are different opinions about this ship.

During the 2015 makeover, the Universal Lounge was ripped out and replaced by cabins. This had the effect of adding passengers and reducing lounge space. If you did not encounter overcrowding, like we did, no big deal.

 

The International Cafe was ripped out. If you don't care about the cafe, no big deal.

 

There never was an IC on the Island, so there was not one to rip out.

What a number of people have wondered is why was one not added during the makeover.

Was your time in port at Costa Rica changed at all due to tides? The March 15th sailing out of SF to FLL will arrive in Costa Rica to 11:45 AM and depart at 11:30 PM. The change is due to the tides. We have also booked a private tour for 4 with Odyssey Tours (10 in 1) but I'm sure we will miss a lot and be rushed because of our late start. So disappointing but I guess I cannot control the tides.

In all of my reading about port reviews of Costa Rica, I don't recall ever reading about a change due to tides.

Entertainment

 

Overall, the entertainment was good to amazing. I realized when I was reading some of the reviews recently posted for the Island Princess that Entertainment is as personal as dining and people's opinions vary just as greatly on them.

 

I enjoyed Simone as the cruise director and enjoyed her nightly dumb dad jokes. I was impressed that Princess offered Zumba classes, great port talks, and a lot of other offerings during the days.

 

Someone in their review was upset about the heavy sales from the jewelry store Effy, art, and photo packages and dvd. I didn't notice more sales pitches here than I have on other cruises, even on other lines. It seemed pretty standard. Even though there was a ton of selling happening in the seminars, I learned quite a bit as well.

 

I'm sure it was perception, but it seemed like there was a lot more to do during the first couple of days than later in the cruise. There were several things competing with our meet and greet and also during the gold level party, etc.

 

They had line dancing lessons every day as well as ballroom dance classes. Due to my knees acting up, I didn't take any of the classes, but they offered a nice variety.

 

I totally loved Encore. The funny thing is, I'm not into opera and I would much rather listen to a tenor than a soprano when I do listen to opera style music. I almost went back for the 9:45 show. We did go back the following night to see the guest soprano, Miss Jennifer Fair's show.

 

All of the shows with the singers and dancers were enjoyable. I thought they were all very talented. We did not see the comedian the first night or the one with the dog, but we also enjoyed the guest violinist, improv comedian, juggling comedian, singer, and maybe more that I forgot. I was impressed with the quality and variety that they provided us with over the 15 days.

 

We didn't really "gel" with any other of the small lounge groups. Purple Haze was our favorite, but the others were not for us. Usually we have a piano or guitar player that we love to sit and listen to, but not this trip. Shiboan was pretty good, but she wasn't really in any comfortable locations.

 

I kept my Princess Patters if anyone has any questions.

Can you tell us what nights were Formal nights, please? 3 nights, correct?

And they seriously took out the International Cafe???? Did they replace it with anything else? Is there still a place to purchase specialty coffees?

Thanks in advance!