Island Princess Holiday Cruise Review...

[Taters]

[quote name='Mr.Lucky']Hi Anne and the rest of the CC gang,

We had a great time on the cruise, meeting you guys really made the cruise a lot of fun.
Jackie has been busy setting up another vacation for Memorial Day....she just called to tell me what WE will be doing......back to Hawaii for a week in Waikiki. Funny that was what we were going to do before switching to the Island Princess or one of the Carnival cruises.......I should have said yes to Waikiki the first time!
So, she should be back on line very soon....try to keep her busy.

I saw your posting and thought I should say Hi and we miss you guys.

Mr .Lucky[/QUOTE]

Mr. Lucky!!! How the heck are ya? I hope that everything in your life is WONDERFUL! Things are going well here, but "It's freakin' freezing in here!". LOL

Jessie and I were talking about going on that shopping spree this weekend - You know, for those SPECIAL Alaskan items we promised to y'all... Watch your mailbox!

Kevin is good, and as always, working a lot.

xoxo,

Annie

[Mr.Lucky]

Good Austin reference....the USS Shagadelic will live forever.
Jackie has cleared out a spot in her jewelry drawer for her Alaskan treasures.

We are having a HEAT WAVE here, it's in the 80's and will be warm the rest of the week.

Tell Jessie I took the top off my car this week.

[Taters]

[quote name='Mr.Lucky']Good Austin reference....the USS Shagadelic will live forever.
Jackie has cleared out a spot in her jewelry drawer for her Alaskan treasures.

We are having a HEAT WAVE here, it's in the 80's and will be warm the rest of the week.

Tell Jessie I took the top off my car this week.[/QUOTE]

Frank:

I'll tell Jess about the car - She'll go nuts!

I forgot to mention the following...

Congrats on making those Waikiki plans! Wow! I would love to be planning another vacation so soon... Oh yeah - now I remember - We have my brother's wedding in Seattle in the Fall. (I'm rolling my eyes.) My family's crazy.

Glad it's warm there, Frank. I have to warm my car up for thirty minutes before trying to go anywhere, then drive slowly the first couple of blocks so that the tires can "round out" again. Aren't you jealous?

Take care and don't forget the sunscreen!

Annie

[Cruisin' Chick]

Just came back online after taking a break from the computer yesterday. Somehow missed the explanation about the priest between starting to type the question and actually finishing (sometimes I multi-surf on several websites at the same time). Maybe the priest had a bit too much to drink? So they kick him off but not these rowdy kids. I guess being rich has its privileges. :rolleyes: Unfortunately you folks had to suffer because these people didn't to act like inconsiderent people.

[Aloha_Jackie]

Aloha Taters - I read you review on cruise addicts and didnt remember that it was here until today when Mister Lucky told me about getting online. It was great! I think I told you that already via email right?!?!?!
.
We had a great time and I am missing you all so much!!!
.
What Mister Lucky failed to mention was that I havent had a day off since we returned until this weekend. I had been busy working long and strange hours on a special proposal and didnt have any time to get back online except for a few threads here and there and just really wanted to devote the time to a review of the IP - and didnt want to rush it since it was so important to so many. There are hardly any reviews of IP.

Let me say that all of the things expressed here seem quite accurate, fun and unruly kids and Shagadelic ships and all!

Annie and Kevin and Jessie were really fun to hang out with and we ran out of time to hang out with everyone for any length of time, but met many wonderful new friends and cant wait to head out again!

Yes, its official, I did book another Hawaii trip - we already have one for two weeks in July, but I couldnt wait that long and decided to do the Palace and Hanauma and a few other things in May - it should be great! Who else is going to be there then?
.

[Taters]

[quote name='Aloha_Jackie']Aloha Taters - I read you review on cruise addicts and didnt remember that it was here until today when Mister Lucky told me about getting online. It was great! I think I told you that already via email right?!?!?!
.
We had a great time and I am missing you all so much!!!
.
What Mister Lucky failed to mention was that I havent had a day off since we returned until this weekend. I had been busy working long and strange hours on a special proposal and didnt have any time to get back online except for a few threads here and there and just really wanted to devote the time to a review of the IP - and didnt want to rush it since it was so important to so many. There are hardly any reviews of IP.

Let me say that all of the things expressed here seem quite accurate, fun and unruly kids and Shagadelic ships and all!

Annie and Kevin and Jessie were really fun to hang out with and we ran out of time to hang out with everyone for any length of time, but met many wonderful new friends and cant wait to head out again!

Yes, its official, I did book another Hawaii trip - we already have one for two weeks in July, but I couldnt wait that long and decided to do the Palace and Hanauma and a few other things in May - it should be great! Who else is going to be there then?
.[/QUOTE]

Jackie:

We would all love to go, but alas, I have to completely remodel my family room and 2 bathrooms. Sigh.

So good to see you on line again!

Annie

[Franknca]

[quote name='cruisingfreak']Frank

Glad you were able to have the FCC's, assigned to those cruises.

Will you be doing the Grand Caribbean Islander itinerary, on your March cruise, or the other?

If they alternate the itinerary in 2006, I'm going to book the Sea Princess again, for that Dec.


Minette[/QUOTE]
Yes, that's the one we are doing. It embarks 3/11/06.
Frank

[Franknca]

[quote name='Aloha_Jackie']

Let me say that all of the things expressed here seem quite accurate, fun and unruly kids and Shagadelic ships and all!

.[/QUOTE]
I'll quote part of the response I received from Princess. I was surprised to get a reply so quickly but not thrilled with the answer:

While we are confident that you found many aspects of your recent ISLAND PRINCESS cruise enjoyable, we regret to learn that you observed a large number of apparently unsupervised children during your cruise. We try to make our underage passengers and their parents. or guardians aware of the guidelines for acceptable shipboard behavior. Although senior shipboard personnel will intervene to resolve a specific problem, we must ultimately rely upon our guests to exercise proper control over the minors in their charge. However, as we are certain you will agree, and as was demonstrated on your sailing, all families do not impose the same standards of discipline on their children. Unfortunately, during holiday periods, spring breaks, etc., when the number of minor passengers is higher, the situation is exacerbated. We are sorry that this was the situation you experienced and we will forward your comments and suggestions to the appropriate senior management for theIr review and future 'planning. .
---------------------------------------------------------
I'm not going to hold my breath for the "appropriate senior management" to do anything. Reading between the lines, they have this situation during holidays and spring breaks. That being the case, they need to do something about it. They know when the number of kids on board exceeds their capacity to take care of them. If they accept that many youngsters on board, I feel they are also obligated to have the appropriate facilities and security so that everyone enjoys the cruise as much as is physically possible, including the youngsters. There will always be some cranky people that don't like even the best behaved kids on board while at the same time there will also be some brats that, as Princess noted, have parents that "do not impose the same standards of discipline on their children".
Frank-in-CA

[Aloha_Jackie]

mahalo for the update Frank. I am surprised at Princess' genuine lack of concern/sympathy and unfortunate circumstances that we all endured.

There was a gal who was the sister of a producer (both from Beverly Hills, and their mother - all aboard - sorry I cant remember their names) who sat with Taters, Spudly, Mr. Lucky, and I at the Crooners bar for martinis, who stated that there was a cabin who was taking names of those passengers who wished to seek legal action against Princess. Apparently there was quite the petition/list of names of interested parties.

I had one altercation at the pool/hot tub when asking small children to stop what they were doing, no in either language is no - these kids didnt care - their parents claimed they didnt understand, blah blah blah - it was ka ka de vaca!

The ka ka part I am sure you get - vaca means cow in espanol

[suzyluvs2cruise]

Thanks for the great review. We'll be on Island Princess 10/23/05.

[Taters]

Frank:

Seems as though Princess' reaction was total blah, blah, blah... Meaning the they gave you words in return for your complaint, but that their words didn't really mean anything. That's too bad. They are saying that they've accepted this bad behavior as something that always happens during the holidays and spring break and that is that. Wow... I'm a little bit taken aback at thier lackadaisical attitude.

Annie

[Franknca]

[quote name='Taters']
Congrats on making those Waikiki plans! Wow! I would love to be planning another vacation so soon...
[/QUOTE]

Annie:
We will be back in Hawaii next year but when we stay for a while, we only do that on Kauai. Waikiki is too Miami Beach for us. We will be in Princeville for the last week of January and then probably in the Kapaa area for a week or so after. That will fit in right between our New England cruise and our Caribbean cruise. (G)

A lot of people from Canada and Alaska vacation in Hawaii during the Jan-March time frame. I wonder why? (BG)
Frank-in-CA

[cruisingfreak]

[quote name='Franknca']Annie:
We will be back in Hawaii next year but when we stay for a while, we only do that on Kauai. Waikiki is too Miami Beach for us. We will be in Princeville for the last week of January and then probably in the Kapaa area for a week or so after. That will fit in right between our New England cruise and our Caribbean cruise. (G)

A lot of people from Canada and Alaska vacation in Hawaii during the Jan-March time frame. I wonder why? (BG)
Frank-in-CA[/QUOTE]

Frank

When we were in Kauai, we went over to the Princeville Hotel, overlooking Bali Hai. All I can say, it was truly magnificent.

Is that where you stay or in those Condos nearby?


Minette

[Taters]

[quote name='Franknca']Annie:
We will be back in Hawaii next year but when we stay for a while, we only do that on Kauai. Waikiki is too Miami Beach for us. We will be in Princeville for the last week of January and then probably in the Kapaa area for a week or so after. That will fit in right between our New England cruise and our Caribbean cruise. (G)

A lot of people from Canada and Alaska vacation in Hawaii during the Jan-March time frame. I wonder why? (BG)
Frank-in-CA[/QUOTE]

Hi again Frank:

I think that reference to Waikiki was to Jackie and Franks' plans for their Memorial Day jaunt back to the islands.

Here in Alaska there is a company called Hawaiian Vacations. They fly non-stop Anchorage/ Honolulu a couple of times per week. For about $700 per person, you can fly to Hawaii in 5 1/2 hours. A one week hotel stay and rental car are included, and you can spend a little more connect to another island when you get to Honolulu. Lots of people take advantage of this. Did I tell you I ran into my friend/neighbor/realtor while on Kauai? He said that he'd flown in the night before and had run into another friend of ours that day. Small world!

The temps dipped down to 55 below a few days after we got home.

There are your reasons that so many Alaskans go to Hawaii in the wintertime! LOL

Annie

[Franknca]

[quote name='cruisingfreak']Frank

When we were in Kauai, we went over to the Princeville Hotel, overlooking Bali Hai. All I can say, it was truly magnificent.

Is that where you stay or in those Condos nearby?


Minette[/QUOTE]

Minette:
We always stay in condos although once I'd like to spend a few days at the Princeville Hotel. That place is fabulous. We have breakfast at least once on that outside area that overlooks the Napili Cliffs. It is one of the most beautiful spots on this planet. The rooms are pretty neat too, with electronic windows that turn opaque instead of shades or curtains. The hotel itself is quite ornate. Although we've been there many times, we always go back again on each trip.
Frank

[Franknca]

[quote name='Taters']Hi again Frank:

Here in Alaska there is a company called Hawaiian Vacations. They fly non-stop Anchorage/ Honolulu a couple of times per week. For about $700 per person, you can fly to Hawaii in 5 1/2 hours. A one week hotel stay and rental car are included, and you can spend a little more connect to another island when you get to Honolulu. Lots of people take advantage of this. Did I tell you I ran into my friend/neighbor/realtor while on Kauai? He said that he'd flown in the night before and had run into another friend of ours that day. Small world!

The temps dipped down to 55 below a few days after we got home.

There are your reasons that so many Alaskans go to Hawaii in the wintertime! LOL

Annie[/QUOTE]

Annie:
That sounds like a great deal. When are you booked? (G)

We had friends that lived in Anchorage for a while. Every February, they'd come to the Big Island for a month. We rented a home with them a few times. They would arrive with one suitcase that just contained frozen meat.

Hmmm, let's see Hawaii at 80 degrees or Alaska at minus 55 degrees. You have only one guess. (BG)
Frank

[cruisingfreak]

[quote name='Franknca']Minette:
We always stay in condos although once I'd like to spend a few days at the Princeville Hotel. That place is fabulous. We have breakfast at least once on that outside area that overlooks the Napili Cliffs. It is one of the most beautiful spots on this planet. The rooms are pretty neat too, with electronic windows that turn opaque instead of shades or curtains. The hotel itself is quite ornate. Although we've been there many times, we always go back again on each trip.
Frank[/QUOTE]

That hotel is so unbelievable.

You are so lucky, to be able to go back each trip.


Minette

[Taters]

[quote name='Franknca']Annie:
That sounds like a great deal. When are you booked? (G)

We had friends that lived in Anchorage for a while. Every February, they'd come to the Big Island for a month. We rented a home with them a few times. They would arrive with one suitcase that just contained frozen meat.

Hmmm, let's see Hawaii at 80 degrees or Alaska at minus 55 degrees. You have only one guess. (BG)
Frank[/QUOTE]

Actually, we've never taken advantage of Hawaiian Vacations package deals because cruising is my vacation of choice.

Since I've had the opportunity to go there now, though, I think I'd like to go back and spend time around Kona, Maui and Kauai. And yes, I don't think I'd pack much more than cut-offs and frozen meat products!~

Annie

[Aloha_Jackie]

Frozen meat products, you guys are kiling me!

[Aloha_Jackie]

[quote name='Franknca']Annie:
We will be back in Hawaii next year but when we stay for a while, we only do that on Kauai. Waikiki is too Miami Beach for us. We will be in Princeville for the last week of January and then probably in the Kapaa area for a week or so after. That will fit in right between our New England cruise and our Caribbean cruise. (G)

A lot of people from Canada and Alaska vacation in Hawaii during the Jan-March time frame. I wonder why? (BG)
Frank-in-CA[/QUOTE]We are going to be in Kauai for two weeks in July for a wedding and staying in Princeville, we just dont like to wait too long between vacations and planned to go to Loreto, Mexico, but decided to go back and spend some time in Waikiki at the Palace, snorkeling, and North Shore area, around Haleiwa - on and on - we never have enough time to see everything - we are staying at Moana Surfrider - I HAVE TO TELLL YOU ABPOUT THAT ONE!

[Aloha_Jackie]

"As the "First Lady of Waikiki", the Moana Hotel introduced the world to Hawaiian hospitality in 1901. Today, this legendary landmark offers a step back into yesteryear with all the contemporary amenities and unique services to make your visit to paradise both memorable and enjoyable. "

They also have recently completed an 18-month, $16.7 million project to renovate the tower wing of the “First Lady of Waikiki,” - which is where we will be staying. They have a great website where you can view IPIX images and read about the historic hotel. They have a wonderful buffet for Christmas and the chefs there build an extravagant full size gingerbread house/neighborhood - it seems like it goes on and on - really incredible! We love to be in Hawaii at Christmas!

The hotel is elegant and close to everything and across from International Marketplace, which we love. It is going to be grat to go there for a Memorial
day weekend escape, but then we thought "why just stay the long weekend"?, and decided to stay for a week- it should be fun and I want to explore Ko 'olina and some snorkel spots nearby...

[Taters]

Jackie - I'll trade Memorial Day weekend AND July 4th with ya... I envision myself scraping the paint off my house around Mem Day and maybe replacing a few windows over the 4th.

I know you're thinkin' about it.

I know you're tempted...


Annie

[Franknca]

[quote name='Aloha_Jackie']"As the "First Lady of Waikiki", the Moana Hotel introduced the world to Hawaiian hospitality in 1901. Today, this legendary landmark offers a step back into yesteryear with all the contemporary amenities and unique services to make your visit to paradise both memorable and enjoyable. "

They also have recently completed an 18-month, $16.7 million project to renovate the tower wing of the “First Lady of Waikiki,” - which is where we will be staying. They have a great website where you can view IPIX images and read about the historic hotel. They have a wonderful buffet for Christmas and the chefs there build an extravagant full size gingerbread house/neighborhood - it seems like it goes on and on - really incredible! We love to be in Hawaii at Christmas!

The hotel is elegant and close to everything and across from International Marketplace, which we love. It is going to be grat to go there for a Memorial
day weekend escape, but then we thought "why just stay the long weekend"?, and decided to stay for a week- it should be fun and I want to explore Ko 'olina and some snorkel spots nearby...[/QUOTE]

Different strokes. We don't like the hustle and bustle of Waikiki but there are some other very scenic spots on Oahu. I wonder if they'll still be filming "Lost" when you go? The North Shore is interesting too. We've stayed at that Hilton over there. In fact, I have a funny story about it. We were returning from our car and a group of Japanese tourists motioned that they'd like us to take their picturer with their camera for them. They had all huddled around a sign at the Hilton that had this butterfly symbol the hotel used there. So I took it. Hopefully none of their friends can read English when they get home as the sign read "Bus Parking Only".
Frank-in-CA

[Taters]

LOL Frank!

[Aloha_Jackie]

funny Frank! And Taters, you crack me up! mmm, lets see scraping paint off - uhhh gee, I dont even know if that is possible on stucco?! so I will say no


Frank, we agree - Waikiki is like NY with a beach, but for a long spurt I didnt want to go there, and so we didnt - its just that when we pop by I never have enough time to finish seeing what I want to see - so thats why we are going back, North Shore and Haleiwa and the Palace etc

by then way - does anyone know what happened to the list of names at the bottom of the page where you could see who was logged in?