Live from the island princess -sept 27 to oct 12

One day to go and we all board the Island Princess in San Francisco. First stop is Manzanillo, Mexico. I will report on anything and everything of interest. Questions? just ask!

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Looking forward to experiencing this live and in person with you.

Tom

Great!

Have a fabulous cruise.

 

One day to go and we all board the Island Princess in San Francisco. First stop is Manzanillo, Mexico. I will report on anything and everything of interest. Questions? just ask!

 

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What time are you arriving? :D

What time are you arriving? :D

Hi, (long time since dinner on the Sapphire) at the terminal? We are meeting family that's doing the BVE, at the terminal around 10:30. I confirmed that they let us in at 11am, How about you? Anyone in your group doing the same?

I am looking forward to reading your live from thread.:):)

We so enjoyed Island! Looking forward to your "LIVE"! :)

LuLu

Have a fantastic cruise. The pics are great I enjoyed them and looking forward to seeing more.

 

One day to go and we all board the Island Princess in San Francisco. First stop is Manzanillo, Mexico. I will report on anything and everything of interest. Questions? just ask!

 

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Is Manzanillo instead of Cabo ? We are booked on the Island in October, so are interested in where we will go instead of Cabo.

Would you please check with your steward and see whether or not they are allowed to keep individual tips from passengers who remove their Auto-tip?

I would really appreciate hearing what they say.

Would you please check with your steward and see whether or not they are allowed to keep individual tips from passengers who remove their Auto-tip?

 

I would really appreciate hearing what they say.

I will ask, I am curious too. Mark

KENMERLOO: Manzanillo was substituted for Cabo San Lucas. Since the hurricane did so much damage, we would of had only cleanup help as our shore excursion. (which might have been rewarding)

Looking forward to following your journey. I'll be boarding the Island on 10/23 for the first time.

DH and I are doing the partial transit in two weeks on the Island. Am looking forward to "traveling" with you during the next two weeks!

 

One day to go and we all board the Island Princess in San Francisco. First stop is Manzanillo, Mexico. I will report on anything and everything of interest. Questions? just ask!

 

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We are doing this trip next year - please send lots of details - ENJOY the trip!

Edie

We will be boarding the Star October 1st in San Francisco. Would you please report on how embarkation went. When did they allow you in the builiding? Thanks.

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

Have a wonderful cruise.....:):):)

Bob

Would you mind checking your folio to see if any of the OBC is marked NR for non-refundable?

Thank you

Hello all, today was embarkation day. This is my first time on the Island Princess. First impression? I’d say very clean but it can use a dry dock and the upcoming in February 2015 will be critical and in time. I do like the layout and love the view from the Horizon Court. Additionally this was the new San Francisco cruise terminals second or third (not sure) opportunity to process passengers for disembarkation and embarkation. I suspect that overall things went well as I’ve heard no complaints. We arrived at 10:30 as we were joining BVE guests to see us off. The staff at the new terminal were very ready to process BVE guests and in fact we were whisked right in at eleven. Once inside and processed, it was just a few minutes wait and off we went. All other passengers were told that doors would open at 1pm. As a result, we seemed to have the whole ship to ourselves for quite awhile before seeing anyone else onboard. If that was the case, then I think making all those people wait till one o'clock was senseless, as staff inside the ship were just waiting.

The new and improved muster drill procedures were in effect for this cruise. Its nice not having to lug that big orange sofa cushion of a life vest down to your muster and back. Shortly after the drill, they threw the ropes and off we sailed……about 50 feet and bam. Stuck in the mud! Yep, you heard me right. For some crazy weird reason (maybe the local union demanding it) we were pushed away from the dock by tug boats. The island was pulled straight away from the dock, apparently far enough out of the terminals dredged zone that we ended up in the mud. At that point we didn’t move for about 20 minutes. One tug was pushing the bow port to starboard and another tug was pulling starboard to starboard plus the aft port thrusters were at full power? and boy did that kick up the muddy water. Finally we moved enough that were able to head out towards open water. The sailing out and under the Golden Gate bridge was spectacular as usual.

We are now off the coast of California heading south. Water conditions are mild. Rolling a bit but I think everyones meals will stay down tonight!

Captain is Mariano Manfuso

Cruise Director is Bob Leininger

Executive Chef is Guido Horst Jendrytzki

Tonights Dinner menu “Princess Dinner”

Dress Code was smart casual. Several passengers however did not get the memo as shorts and poor fitting T-shirts made an appearance.

Movies on Muts tonight at 6pm: “Tom Jones Live From Cardiff Castle” and at 8pm: “Divergent”

The ship tonight feels empty. Casino is quiet and the dinning room was only half full.

To answer a question placed on this thread by punKiC. I asked our room steward, what happens when a passenger takes off the auto tip and then tips directly instead, does he/she get to keep all the money? The answer was yes!

I will check my folio for NR, and we were already onboard at 11 so not sure if they let anyone into the building, but I will ask around.

Out for now

Thank you very much for posting this information. That is also what our steward told us. I would never remove the Auto-tip because it covers so many people we never even see but it is nice to know that the steward gets to keep the money given him/her by folks who do remove it.

Enjoy your cruise. The Island was the first ship we ever sailed and is still our favorite Princess ship. We sailed her earlier this year through the Panama Canal with Richard Joseph as the cruise director. Is he your Cruise Director as well? I hope so, as he is one of the very best.

After I posted previously, I see that you had posted the name of your Cruise Director, who is not Richard Joseph. I hope, however, that he is just as good.

We also had Captain Manfuso for our Panama Canal trip and we liked him very much.

Thank you so much for taking us along on one of our favorite itineraries! We look forward to your adventure. Enjoy!

Hello again, The weather is very warm in the sun and comfortable in the shade. We just came back from visiting the forward Caribe (secret door) lookout area. While enjoying the view and conversation with fellow CC members from Canada, whales were spotted on both side of the ship. Not sure the species, but they are here.

Interesting note, according to our Patter, Princess thinks we are in the “American North West” With lots of glaciers and wildlife. And thats with us off the coast of California/Baja. Additionally the “Welcome Back” Captains Circle card in our cabin, has the collector stamp for Alaska. I suppose I will have to sail again, to get the Panama Canal stamp.

Our Meet and Greet was today at 1pm. Tom and Eric did a great job. Love the T-Shirts! Tom had invited numerous staff members, but only the Cruise Director Bob Leininger made an appearance.

The demographics are interesting on this cruise. We keep running into folks from either

Australia or Canada and in fact our table mates are auzzies. The age range is more 50/60 than it is 60/80. Only a couple small children and maybe four teens. The scooter count is three so far. This adventurous itinerary, must naturally limit the number of people with disabilities from trying it?

Tonights Dinner menu “Captains Welcome Dinner”

Dress Code was Formal.

Today on Muts at 10am: “NFL Football-Packers VS “Bears, 2pm: San Francisco vs Philadelphia ” at 6:15 New Orleans vs Dallas and at 10pm: “Draftday”

The ship still feels very empty, or we have a lot of cabin dwellers. You can walk the halls by the Bayou Cafe or Wheelhouse Bar and no body is there, chairs by the windows are empty. It just feels odd having always sailed the Grand class ships and people use those areas to read and relax.

The seas are smooth as glass right now, its starting to feel warmer/muggy already. Ships staff are very friendly as usual. There are two birds traveling with us in the covered pool area. I wonder if the crew if feeding them as they seem like seasoned travelers and very healthy

Out for now

Mark, there is still a lot of discussion on the two port forums re lines and seating prior to embarkation. One other cruiser has posted that they didn't encounter any problems but didn't say what time they boarded. Please ask around to find out what it was like from about noon to 1:30.

 

Additionally the “Welcome Back” Captains Circle card in our cabin, has the collector stamp for Alaska. I suppose I will have to sail again, to get the Panama Canal stamp.

 

If you stop by the Captain's Circle Desk on Deck 5, you can pick up the correct sticker for your Panama cruise.

 

 

The new and improved muster drill procedures were in effect for this cruise. Its nice not having to lug that big orange sofa cushion of a life vest down to your muster and back. Shortly after the drill, they threw the ropes and off we sailed……about 50 feet and bam. Stuck in the mud! Yep, you heard me right. For some crazy weird reason (maybe the local union demanding it) we were pushed away from the dock by tug boats. The island was pulled straight away from the dock, apparently far enough out of the terminals dredged zone that we ended up in the mud. At that point we didn’t move for about 20 minutes. One tug was pushing the bow port to starboard and another tug was pulling starboard to starboard plus the aft port thrusters were at full power? and boy did that kick up the muddy water. Finally we moved enough that were able to head out towards open water. The sailing out and under the Golden Gate bridge was spectacular as usual.

 

 

I will check my folio for NR, and we were already onboard at 11 so not sure if they let anyone into the building, but I will ask around.

 

Out for now

We have friends on board who are new to Princess. I can't wait to hear what they have to say about that unusual sail away. Sounds like you are having a great time so far.