LittleMissMagic's 17-Day ~Pacific Princess~ Panama Canal **PHOTO REVIEW**

Hello, Cruise Critics! Welcome to my Pacific Princess Panama Canal Trip Report!!!

I'm Victoria (aka "LittleMissMagic", aka "LMM")! I'm an alumni of Clemson University, and I'm currently pursuing my Master of Architecture at UCLA. In addition to architecture, I enjoy photography, traveling, and sharing my experiences with others. This is my tenth review on Cruise Critic, my third on the Princess boards! And if you enjoy my review, please check out my travel blog, Victoria on Vacation, or keep up with me on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

WARNING: This review will contain a large quantity of photos. It may also contain a lot of bad jokes. And it may take me over a month to complete (especially considering that it took me nearly a month to get started).

I have a strange sense of humor, and I probably make myself laugh more than anyone else. But I don't take myself too seriously, and you shouldn't, either. There will be a bit of fun-poking and perhaps some sarcasm, but you're all invited to join in on the fun! I encourage you to post comments to share your thoughts and experiences, or just to tell me who you are!

Checking off the Bucket List

I didn’t go home over Christmas break. After missing my flight and almost my Christmas cruise last year, my family decided to fly to me, instead. We embarked in San Pedro and spent 17 (!!!) days on the charming Pacific Princess, sailing through the Panama Canal, and disembarking in Fort Lauderdale.

After we sailed the Panama Canal Partial Transit on the Island Princess back in 2012, the full transit was added to our bucket list. And it turned out that this Christmas was the perfect time to take our dream cruise. For starters, my dad was required to take off 30 days from work (the man loves to work – he was not happy about this). My winter break at UCLA aligned almost perfectly with Rachel’s break from Clemson. Also, this is Rachel’s last year at Clemson, so it’s probably the last time we’ll be able to take such a long vacation. Our options for Panama Canal cruises over Christmas were limited to a 14-day itinerary on the Island Princess or a 17-day itinerary on the Pacific Princess. Honestly, 17 days on a ship seemed like an awful long time, and I had seen the Pacific Princess in port a few times before, so I knew how small she was. My vote was for the Island Princess…. But the Island Princess returned to port a day later than the Pacific Princess, which would mean that I wouldn’t get back in time for the first day of winter quarter. So the Pacific Princess it was.

Pacific Princess by Victoria Shingleton, on Flickr

Like I said, the Panama Canal was a “bucket list” cruise, which meant we spent a bit more on it (in time and money) than we typically do our quickly-planned Caribbean cruises. 17 days on a cruise ship isn’t inexpensive, but where the cost can really add up is in the one-way flights to get to the port of embarkation and to get back home. My family traveled from Atlanta to Los Angeles and took one-way flights on Southwest (2 free bags each!). They also had to book one-way flights on Southwest from Fort Lauderdale back to Atlanta. Since I live in Los Angeles, I only needed a return flight home, a one-way on Spirit (no free bags, paid checked bags, upcharge for everything).

I was excited to go through the Panama Canal, again, but I was really nervous about the length of the cruise and the size of the ship…. As well as how that affects the demographics onboard. Would it get boring? Would we get sick of being on a cruise ship? We had sailed on larger, newer ships the past few cruises – which I had for the most part really enjoyed – so I wasn’t sure if small ship cruising was for us anymore.

When I say “small ship”, I mean really, really small. Pacific Princess is 593 feet long with a 672 passenger capacity. The smallest ship we had sailed before was Royal Caribbean’s Monarch of the Seas (which was far from one of our favorite cruises) at 880 feet long with a 2,744 passenger capacity, though our first Christmas cruise was on the Grandeur of the Seas, and it was one of our favorite and most memorable cruises.

Of course, Pacific Princess is not the original Love Boat (which made her final voyage with Princess Cruises in 2002 and was dismantled for parts in 2013). The name was recycled in 2002 when Princess purchased the ship from Renaissance Cruises. Because Pacific Princess was built for another cruise line, she’s different from other Princess ships, noticeably in décor. I found the smaller lobby of Pacific Princess to be fitting for the size of the ship, and the more traditional décor to be quite elegant and charming.

So here we go... 17 days on Pacific Princess, coming at you slowly but surely!

My parents and Rachel flew from Atlanta into LAX which is about ten miles away from my home in Los Angeles. They would then be going to Long Beach to spend the night at the Marriott Residence Inn before the cruise. When I lived in South Carolina, I would describe distance in time – “Oh, it’s just a two hour drive.” “About 40 minutes away.” This doesn’t work in LA because ten miles could take 15 minutes or an hour and a half depending on time of day and traffic. Since their plane was scheduled to land at 3:30, that would put them in LA right before rush hour, so ten miles would mean about an hour.

I don’t think my dad initially realized how complicated it was going to be for me to meet up with them. He was contemplating two scenarios – one in which I take an Uber from my house to their hotel in Long Beach. In the other, I go to the airport and pick them up and take them to my house… but because of all of their luggage, I wouldn’t be able to take them all in my sedan in one trip, so it would be two trips to and from the airport. In rush hour.

Then, the day before the cruise, he texted me to bring two cases of water. And I lost it. I was NOT going to take two cases of water, along with my two suitcases and backpack, in an Uber. Had he ever even taken an Uber before?? Did he understand that it was just normal people driving their cars which may or may not have room for all of my crap? And that first I would have to haul it all out onto a curb by myself to wait for the Uber? And that I’m a tiny person, and this is a lot of stuff for me to keep up with by myself??? No. No. No!

So I stopped responding to his text messages until he told me to forget the water, and I thought of a third scenario in which I meet them at the airport and ride with them to Long Beach. My best friend gave me a ride to LAX, so I avoided awkwardly cramming a bunch of luggage into an Uber, as well as the surge rush hour fees, with the added benefit of familiarity and great conversation. And I even brought one case of water.

The Shingletons Arrive in Los Angeles!

We roll up to Southwest baggage claim and there is Mom, Dad, and Rachel with about eight suitcases. “The next time someone asks us if we’re moving, just say yes!”

Dad had arranged for a limo service to pick us up from the airport (but I think limos might be out of fashion because everyone rolls around in black Suburbans in LA nowadays). We timed it perfectly to hit rush hour. The drive to the hotel took over an hour, and it was rather miserable. The windows on the ‘burb were heavily tinted, so I couldn’t really see out of them and felt completely disoriented as we sat in stop-and-go traffic the entire way.

We were quite excited to finally arrive at the Marriott Residence Inn, and we were hungry. It was food truck night, so we were able to get tacos without even leaving the hotel. And they were serving complementary beer and wine in the lobby. So we really lucked out.

Residence Inn - Long Beach by Victoria Shingleton, on Flickr

Our room at the Residence Inn was spacious and nicely furnished. I've stayed at several Residence Inns lately since Dad is a Marriott Rewards member, and I'm really impressed with the quality. The rooms are meant for long-term stay, so they are a suite set-up with a kitchenette, king bed, and living room with a pull-out couch. Marriott also provides really nice soaps - travel-sized Paul Mitchell - I'm very picky about shampoo and conditioner, so it's nice to know that I can stay at a Marriott hotel and be able to rely on using the provided soaps. I traveled to Arizona for the National Championship (Clemson played a good game; congrats, Bama) with just a backpack because I knew the Marriott would have good shampoo.

Residence Inn - Long Beach by Victoria Shingleton, on Flickr

 



Residence Inn - Long Beach by Victoria Shingleton, on Flickr

 



Residence Inn - Long Beach by Victoria Shingleton, on Flickr

Dad is a big Survivor fan (I was surprised to learn that the show is still running… I watched it as a kid), so we watched the three hour Survivor finale. In the beginning of the third hour, I happened to look under the television where I had placed my camera and realized that I had forgotten to pack my camera battery charger.

I HAD FORGOTTEN MY CAMERA BATTERY CHARGER!!!!!!!!! FOR A SEVENTEEN DAY CRUISE!!!!!!!! Ugh!!! No. No. No!!!

It was already 10:00, so nowhere in Long Beach was open. I didn’t want to have to deal with the stress of finding a store to sell me a Nikon D7100 camera battery charger before boarding the ship in the morning. And I would not go on a cruise without a charger for my camera. Taking photos is something that I enjoy. It’s my hobby… my fun. I had packed all of my gear (minus the charger), and it was not going to be for nothing.

So I made a big fuss, swore loudly, then left my jet-lagged family at the Residence Inn and took an hour long roundtrip Uber to my apartment in Westwood to retrieve my battery charger (I grabbed a few other things while I was there) for $95. My dad, of course, wasn’t too happy with me, but my mom was quick to point out that at least this mistake was $900 cheaper than last year’s.

[Day 1] Embarkation in San Pedro

My east coast family had no problem getting up early in the morning. My dad was up, had made up his bed, gotten us breakfast from downstairs (another Residence Inn perk - complimentary continental breakfast buffet), and walked the the Queen Mary and back before I had even gotten out of bed.

Port of Long Beach by Victoria Shingleton, on Flickr

 



Port of Long Beach by Victoria Shingleton, on Flickr

 



Residence Inn by Victoria Shingleton, on Flickr

We arranged for the limo service to pick us up at 12:15. We weren't in a hurry to board the ship since we were going to be on it for 17 days. The drive to the pier in San Pedro took around ten minutes, but it was excruciatingly long with our very talkative driver. I much preferred the guy who picked us up from LAX because he laughed at our conversations and was friendly but didn't talk too much about himself.

Pacific Princess was the only cruise ship in port. I had been docked next to her in port before, so it wasn’t a surprise – but boy, is she tiny! Because of this, check-in was an absolute breeze. It was backwards than how we typically board the ship, as we checked in first, then went through security. Passengers are allowed one 750 mL bottle of wine each (additional for $15 corkage fee), and I had brought two, which I had to register after check-in. This is more strict than Princess has been in the past, as I remember being able to bring on additional wine and beer on the Island Princess at different ports of call with no problem.

We boarded in no time and were directed straight to our cabins. Rachel and I were in 7001, and our parents were directly beneath us in 6001.

Room 7001 by Victoria Shingleton, on Flickr

Both are forward-facing cabins that we had been "upgraded" to by our travel agent. I put upgrade in quotations because both Rachel and I were skeptical about whether or not this was actually an upgrade. I had searched the CruiseCritic forums for more information on forward-facing balconies on Pacific Princess and most people had a love-hate relationship with them. There were horror stories about the balconies getting swamped with water which soaked into the stateroom and the balcony being unusable because of the high winds. We were nervous.

Forward Balcony by Victoria Shingleton, on Flickr

I'm happy to report that we had no issues with water soaking into our room. Even on days of high winds, we were able to open the balcony door and stand or sit outside. The white walls (which, along with the bow of the ship, classify this cabin as "obstructed view") were actually very helpful in blocking wind when seated. The only issue that we had with the room wasn't with the balcony itself, but with the forward position on the ship. We had several rough sea days later in our cruise, and we could really feel the motion of the ocean at the bow of the ship.

Room 7001 by Victoria Shingleton, on Flickr

We had no issue with storage space, even though we had packed for 17 days and had a lot of luggage. I think this is perhaps the cleanest that Rachel and I have been able to keep a stateroom. Rachel is one to normally toss her clothes and leave them, but we designated laundry bags and kept the room very tidy.

The television is a flat-screen, and though not nearly as large as our television on Royal Princess, was a fine size for watching from in bed or on the sofa. Unfortunately, there was no on-demand TV, but the television line-up for the week was pretty good.

See the telephone in the next photograph? Curse that thing! The ringer sounded like a siren on a toy firetruck, so every time the phone rang, my first instinct was to pick the thing up and throw it across the room. This is why instead of answering, "Hello?" I usually picked up the phone to my dad, "WHAT DO YOU WANT???" Poor guy.

Room 7001 by Victoria Shingleton, on Flickr

Brace yourself for a controversial bathroom photo. The hairdryer on the wall is really old-school and looks frightening as heck. Rachel brought a hairdryer, so we never touched the thing except to play around. But my mom decided to leave her hairdryer at home and was happy to find that the dryer worked perfectly fine.

Bathroom by Victoria Shingleton, on Flickr

The shower is super small, to be expected, but the water pressure was good which is what is really important. Also, the shower curtain was absolutely pointless because instead of tucking behind the rim of the shower, it hovered half an inch above it, allowing water to spray out onto the floor. One time our cabin steward forgot to leave a bathmat, and I almost busted it getting out of the shower during 13-foot swells. Also, I noticed that whenever I was in the shower and our neighbor flushed the toilet, the water would turn scorching hot for a split second.

Shower by Victoria Shingleton, on Flickr

We liked the traditional decor of the room. Rachel pointed out the nice dark woods. It's done well so that it remains classic, rather than looking dated (something that Disney Cruise Line also does really well).

Rachel and I lucked out with the better cabin with 7001. Because we were a deck higher, we were able to see further over the bow of the ship than our parents in 6001. Also, our parents were directly above the Cabaret Lounge and could hear them practicing for shows in the middle of the day, as well as the actual shows at night. We had no issues with noise, besides hearing our neighbor's toilet flush occasionally.

Room 7001 by Victoria Shingleton, on Flickr

Wasting no time, we headed upstairs to the Panorama Buffet for lunch. That’s when we received our confirmation of just how young we were in comparison to the other passengers.

See, it wasn’t a complete surprise to us. We had been questioning – who goes on a 17 day cruise? Who can go on a 17 day cruise? That’s a lot of days to take off work! Maybe university employees or students like us. Or retired people. There were lots of retired people.

Pool Deck by Victoria Shingleton, on Flickr

We decided to take a walk around the ship, but ended up taking a walk to the pool bar where we purchased one, then two buckets of beer (buy 4/get 1 free - available on the pool deck and through room service). LA was having a cold spell, and so for the first time ever, we boarded our Christmas cruise wearing jeans and sweaters.

Bucket of Beer by Victoria Shingleton, on Flickr

 



Bucket of beer by Victoria Shingleton, on Flickr

 



Sail Away by Victoria Shingleton, on Flickr

Port of Los Angeles by Victoria Shingleton, on Flickr

 



Pacific Princess Pool Deck by Victoria Shingleton, on Flickr

I took a photo of the public restroom on the 9th deck (aft) because I really liked the dark wood and how elegant it felt (counter tops not so much).

Public Bathroom by Victoria Shingleton, on Flickr

 



Wavin' Flag by Victoria Shingleton, on Flickr

Another first day “woah” moment was during the Muster drill. Our muster station was in the Cabaret Lounge at the bow of the ship. We were all seated inside when the assistant cruise director, Jen, told us that the other muster station was located in the Club Restaurant in the aft of the ship. That meant that we were in the same room as half of the passengers on the ship!

The hairdryer on the wall is really old-school and looks frightening as heck.

Hi,

I have read all your reviews and the photos and details are fantastic. Looking forward to this one too

Enjoying your trip report.

Keith

It's been way too long since Victoria's been on Vacation! So good to see you back with one of your powerhouse reviews! (We were worried LA had eaten you up!) Looking forward to some great (and hilarious} cruise stories!

Very nice photos, thanks!

Happy to follow along! I can't wait to see the rest of your photos and your opinion on cruising a tiny ship. Even though we're only an hour away from Baltimore, I can't convince DH to cruise on Grandeur. Too small!! He wants nothing smaller than 3,000 pax. [emoji53]

Looking forward to more!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Welcome back. I always enjoy your reviews:)

I love your review. I'm boarding the Pacific in Sydney on the 12th so I really appreciate seeing your pictures. I expect that I'll be in an inside cabin (no assignment yet), but your pictures show how nice even an older ship can look.

So happy to see another wonderful review from you, Victoria.

We LOVE the little ships and hope to find out that you did, also.

Your balcony is in a perfect position for going through the Canal - like a private tour.

I really enjoy following your blog. We are taking our first Disney cruise next year and your reviews are always fantastic. I wish you could cruise more so we could read more! Thanks for another great review!

So wonderful to see LMM and her fun family back on the high seas again! Looking forward to reading :)

I absolutely love your reviews, you should become a writer.

Cannot wait to read the rest!

Hi Victoria!! Good to see you back on a Princess cruise and giving us this fantastic as usual review!! :)

Yay! You're back! I am SO looking forward to your amazing photos, and 17 days worth no less.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

Yay! Another LMM report!

Excellent review. Terrific photos. Looking forward to the rest.

Welcome Back to Princess Victoria!! Always enjoy your reviews tremendously and am curious to read your impressions of the Pacific. We were just on her in December right before your voyage (for the '50th Anniversary Love Boat Throwback Cruise') and are booked on her again in November for 29 days. We're almost 3 times your age but your comments are consistently cogent and insightful, and your photos are definitely 3 times better than mine! I love to cruise with you through younger eyes. Keep it coming LMM

I'm so happy to see you back with another review, Victoria. :) Great pictures so far and I'm really looking forward to the Panama Canal ones. This is a bucket list cruise for me for sure.

Heather