Which one? Island Princess or Diamond Princess

[henny]

I'm at the point of getting ready to book - comparing dates, ships and prices. We've decided on Princess and August, 7 day and Southbound Whittier to Vancouver (with some land days before). The 2 choices at the top of my list right now are Island Princess sailing on 8/16 or Diamond Princess sailing on 8/21. I think Diamond is a larger ship than Island? Is that a positive or negative thing? How much difference in weather between the 16th and 21st? It's not even a full week so will that make any difference?

[basilseal]

I was on both ships last year. The Island for a Panama Canal cruise and the Diamond for an Alaska cruise. While they are both good ships, I liked the Diamond better mainly for the anytime dining and choice of dining rooms.

[Budget Queen]

It makes no difference, choosing between these two weeks.

[CruisingGoddess]

Make sure you try pricing out airfare for the 2 date ranges. I was also choosing between Island, Diamond, and Coral Princess ships but the difference in airfare for the itineraries was $200/person more so I went with the Island Princess itinerary!

[Putterdude]

We have not been on the Island but have done a couple of cruises on its sister ship the Coral recently and have also been on the Diamond. All are great ships however I would choose the Diamond only because the public spaces are larger and the flow of people within the ship is much superior.

[CruisingGoddess]

I started a thread about Coral/Island vs. Diamond Princess last month and it got a lot of responses:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1099958

 

Hope it helps!

[Coral]

I have been on both sister ships (Sapphire and Coral Princess) and I much prefer the smaller ships. I think it is a better design of a ship and handles people better - it seems less crowded.

 

I would go on the Island Princess.