First Time Princess Cruisers - Island Princess

[Jaberwocky]

DH and I, along with another couple, just got home from a very nice cruise on the Island Princess. The ship departed from Ft. Lauderdale and was a partial transit of the Panama Canal, with stops at the ports of Aruba; Cartagena, Columbia; Cristobal, Panama; Limon, Costa Rica; and Jamaica. I hope some of what I write will help someone, as I learned so much reading these boards before our first Princess cruise. We have been on several other cruises, most recently on HAL to Alaska. We are in our mid-50's and retired, and our friends are mid-60's.

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale a day before our cruise departed. We stayed at the Sleep Inn in Dania. The shuttle arrived in about 10 minutes and we were quickly at the hotel. Check in was easy, and the room was clean and fine for a one-night stay. We had dinner at Pancho's Backyard restaurant across the street, and then went to the Walgree's next door to purchase Diet Cokes and water for the cruise.

The hotel's shuttle arrived promptly at 10:45 the next morning, and after dropping someone off at the airport we were on our way to Port Everglades. Embarkation was amazingly simple, and we were on the ship within 15 minutes of arriving. We really liked that we could go directly to our room to drop off carry-ons. Our first stop was to find the grill to try out the hamburgers - we were not disappointed - they were delicious. After exploring for a while, we stopped by the dining room to change our dining reservations from assigned early seating to anytime dining.

Our bags were in our room by 2:30, so we unpacked and were ready for the lifeboat drill. This was handled very easily and it was nice to meet in a lounge rather than standing outside under a lifeboat, sweating to death. We were on the deck for sailaway at 5:30, where we encountered a little surprise. We went to get out our binoculars, only to find that instead of binoculars I had packed our emergency radio, which is in the same size case. That didn't do us much good, but we got a good laugh anyway. Then on to our first dinner in the dining room. We ate in the dining room 4 or 5 evenings, and we never had to wait for a table. We usually ate around 6:00. The first two evenings service was okay, but on the third night we found waiters we really liked, so requested that table the other nights and were able to sit there with no problem. The food was good, with plenty of selections. We thought the fettucine was wonderful, and also enjoyed the steak medallions one night. My DH had fish most evenings and said it was good.

That evening the entertainment in Princess Theater was an overview of the entertainment for the week. We really enjoyed comedian Gary Delana, and the magician Jean Boucher. The production part was okay, although a little cheesy. Called it a night pretty early.

The first two days were sea days, which we totally enjoyed. It was a nice time to relax and find our way around the ship. We thought the buffet food was fine, and really enjoyed the grill for most lunches. We went to the Pub lunch one day, and it was quite tasty. I had the cottage pie, and others had the fish and chips. One afternoon we went to the movie, "Blind Side", which was great. Evenings were spent at whatever production show was on, and most of those were at least entertaining. Our favorites were the comedian and also enjoyed Piano Man. There were plenty of activities to choose from if you wanted to stay busy, and plenty of places to relax if that was your choice. We spent quite a bit of time on our Caribe balcony - this was our first trip with a balcony, and we loved it!

First port was Aruba. This was a short stop, so we took a ship's tour - Ostrich Farm/Aruba tour. It was fine, and feeding the ostriches was fun. Aruba has beautiful beaches, but otherwise is rather desolate. We enjoyed seeing the natural bridge and also the Calabari (sp) rock formations. All of the shops were closed as it was Good Friday. We arrived back at port just in time for the all-aboard, so didn't even have time to shop in the little stalls right at the port. Oh well...I knew we would be a little frustrated waiting to load/unload the big tour bus, but we knew what to expect.

Saturday was our day in Cartagena, Columbia. We had set up a tour through Lee Miles, and it was wonderful. Lots of history there. We especially enjoyed the walled city/old town area. Many people mentioned how aggressive the vendors were. Yes, there were many people trying to sell things, but we never felt afraid and once we said "no thanks" they left us alone. Beautiful city, but be prepared for the heat. Be sure to wear a hat, sunscreen, take bottled water and wear cool clothing.

Sunday we were up early to go through the Canal. We were up at the front of the ship on Caribe Deck by 4:45, and it was so beautiful and relaxing. Lots of ships waiting to go through the Canal, but we seemed to be the first in line. We actually started through the Canal at daybreak - so glad we got to see this wonder. We did not get off the ship in Gatun Lake, as we wanted to relax and also watch our transit back through the locks from a different perspective. It was Easter Sunday, and there was a big Easter egg display set up in the Atrium, and some really good ham for dinner.

Monday we took the ship's Jungle Eco River Tour. It was fun and relaxing - the boat was like a big pontoon and was covered. We had a funny guide and were met at the dock by a band. We saw 2 sloths, lots of birds and a few lizards. We thought that perhaps we might have seen more wildlife, but we understand that Mother Nature doesn't always adhere to our schedule. After docking, we were treated to a fresh fruit buffet and free drinks - fruit punch, beer, water. The beer was really good after being out in the heat! After getting back on the bus, we went to a DelMonte banana farm and processing plant. Surprisingly, this was very interesting to see.

Tuesday was a sea day, so we thankfully had time to rest a bit. Wednesday we docked in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We were disappointed that we docked at an industrial dock - RCL appeared to have the better berth. Oh well - the only really bad part of this was that we could not easily walk to shopping areas. We had arranged a private tour through Marva Shaw, and I can't say enough good things about her and our tour guide Marie. We went to Dunn's River Falls - just walked down the side - did not try to climb the falls. It was beautiful and we enjoyed watching others climb. Did not have any trouble with vendors or pushy sellers here. Next we went to Coyaba Gardens - it was pretty and peaceful, but not particularly impressive. Took a ride through part of the rain forest and then had some time for shopping at the Taj Mahal before going back to the ship.

Thursday was a sea day and the day for packing. This was our first 10 day cruise, and it was a little long for us, as we tend to be home-bodies. We got up early on Friday for breakfast at the buffet, and then at 8:00 were out of our rooms. Disembarkation was very organized and simple - we were off the ship by 9:30, through customs, found the Southwest truck to check our bags and get boarding passes, caught a taxi and were at the airport. If you are flying Southwest, it is certainly worth $10 a bag to check in at the port. When we got to the airport there was a long line outside the terminal waiting to check in, and then another line at security. We were glad not to have to haul all of our luggage and wait in lines.

A few random observations from a first time Princess cruiser: We thought the ship was beautiful - open, airy and easy to find our way around. We spent a lot of time walking the Promenade deck. We never felt crowded even though the ship was full. We liked that the buffet was open 24 hours. One afternoon we enjoyed lemonaide and chips and salsa. The morning show with Peter and Danny was hilarious and very helpful in planning our days.

Except for the last sea day, we thought there was plenty to do around the ship, from playing miniature golf, to card making to movies in the afternoon. The shows were good for the most part, with lots of variety. The food was good, and we thought the buffet was better than HAL.

Service was good for the most part, although some servers and workers seemed rather apathetic. We would give HAL the edge on service. Hamburgers and hotdogs at the grill were great, and we never got around to trying the famous Princess pizza. The hair dryer in our cabin was very weak - I have short hair and had trouble getting it dry. The showers are indeed small, but we managed and didn't get attacked by the shower curtain. We really liked having a refrigerator in our room.

Overall, we had a great trip, and if we cruise again we wouldn't hesitate to go on Princess. I hope this isn't too long and boring, but I wanted to share our experience. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to try to answer them.

[rdsqrl]

Oh, no, not too long or boring at all -- I really enjoyed your review! Glad you had such a good time, although sorry you ran into occasional apathetic service. By the way, I love the burgers on deck, too! I try to restrict myself to only one visit per week, though . . . I do have a question -- that eco river excursion with the banana plantation sounds good but what port was it? Was that Limon?

[clueless2]

Here a a few pics from the same cruise (well I assume it was the same cruise).

 

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/tco0085/PanamaCanalCruise#

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review.

[Jaberwocky]

rdsqrl - Yes, the Jungle River Eco cruise was in Limon, Costa Rica. I would really recommend arranging some kind of tour here, either through the ship or privately. The port is an industrial port and not much close by. We would have been afraid to do much walking in the area. There was a building right at the port with some stalls selling lots of different things, so we did a little shopping there. They accepted American money and gave change back in our money as well.

[Travelrd]

Thank you for your fabulous review. I'm going on the same ship, same destinations on Monday, April 19th so the timing of your reveiw was perfect. I read it twice and really enjoyed your descriptions of everything. I've signed up for three ship's tours. A tour of Cartegena. The excursion which will take me through the rest of the Panama Canal from Gatun Lake and the Dunns River Falls tour in Jamica. I love just being on a ship and I'm not planning on getting off in Aruba nor LImon. I especially like being on the ship when most other passengers are off touring.

 

Thanks again for you review and I'm glad you had a positive experience with Princess.