Day by Day review of Island Princess 12/29/2011

[Love.II.Cruise]

If you noted the big wooden locker on the upper deck port side? They have a few spare cushions in there, but not enough to replace all if a unexpected storm hits. They do try to cover them ASAP, but that's one reason if the cabanas were booked I would select where you did..

 

I meant to ask, were Eka and Johjana (forgive spelling) your Stewards? I know Johjana was trying to move to MDR staff (If you weren't aware, the Sanctuary staff goes from there to work in the buffet at night)

 

I actually miss quite a few of the crew from the Island.. That's rare.

 

 

I asked my DH and neither one of us could recall. And I never took a picture of them. They were very nice though.

 

They did seem a little exhausted dealing with so many people that were disappointed with being unable to reserve a lounger. They told us they tell people they need to get there at 6:30am to discourage people. Instead they told us the line just started earlier and it backfired on them. :eek:

 

And yes we did see them in the buffet at night a few times. Since they new us they took even more care of us if we went to the buffet.

[Love.II.Cruise]

If you noted the big wooden locker on the upper deck port side? They have a few spare cushions in there, but not enough to replace all if a unexpected storm hits. They do try to cover them ASAP, but that's one reason if the cabanas were booked I would select where you did..

 

Oh and I almost forgot... you are right about that locker. But I do recall a rainstorm where we asked about the cabana's above and they told us they were all soaked and no one was there. I guess you never know what nature will bring you. The three days I recall that we had with rain were Aruba, Panama Canal, and Costa Rica.

[Love.II.Cruise]

Ditto your thoughts on this. Wonderful pastry chef and staff on the Island. A real treat.

 

To the OP, thanks. I was on the Island over Thanksgiving. It was a nice cruise.

 

You're welcome. I remember you asking questions before your cruise about MUTS and wanting a true cruise to relax. ;)

[stunnedinva]

I asked my DH and neither one of us could recall. And I never took a picture of them. They were very nice though.

 

They did seem a little exhausted dealing with so many people that were disappointed with being unable to reserve a lounger. They told us they tell people they need to get there at 6:30am to discourage people. Instead they told us the line just started earlier and it backfired on them. :eek:

 

And yes we did see them in the buffet at night a few times. Since they new us they took even more care of us if we went to the buffet.

 

Your stewards (we were on the same cruise) were Paola, and 3 nice boys whose names I can't remember. :o They were all great!

[Love.II.Cruise]

Your stewards (we were on the same cruise) were Paola, and 3 nice boys whose names I can't remember. :o They were all great!

 

I remember Paola! She sprained her ankle during our cruise and was still working and limping around.

[Love.II.Cruise]

Jan. 2, 2012 , Day 5: Cartagena, Colombia

 

 

fter some research on cruise critic, we discovered tours offered by Claudia Vidal and then found that there was someone on our roll call that was organizing this tour. This was already the second group being formed with Claudia Vidal. The only thing, and I mean only thing, we knew about Colombia before this trip was drugs. We figured it was time to branch out. So onward with a city tour we did!

 

First, the Princess Patter said the high would be 86 degrees F and Sunny. Well it felt like it was 100% humidity and let’s just say this is not enough water for two people...:p

 

 

On the first part of our tour we went up to Monastery of our Lady of the Candle. There were many bugs up there, so I recommend bringing some bug spray wipes. From there you can see the new modern part of the city...

 

 

And of course our cruise ship...

 

 

And the poorer part of the city...

 

 

This Monastery was built in the spanish colonial style. There is a well in the middle of the courtyard and it is open to nature. When it rains, everything is on a downward slope towards the well.

 

[Love.II.Cruise]

This is the Chapel of the Lady of the Candle.

 

 

Next we went to the San Felipe Fort. Completion of this fort was in 1789 and was designed to protect the city against pirates. Although later on, additions were made due to others trying to invade.

 

 

 

We also saw several other parts of the city on a walking tour. We were told that these streets were designed as to get the best breezes off the ocean. The breezes would run through the streets (of course not today :rolleyes:).

 

 

 

The tour ended at a Emerald Museum and Shop. A couple with us did purchase some emerald earrings. They said they did their homework in the US on emeralds and said these were a good deal and worth it.

[Love.II.Cruise]

This tour was not with Claudia herself, but with someone else that works for her when they have more than one tour group in a day. We were told before our tour (when we were making the arrangements in our meet and greet) that we would stop for refreshments, but this never happened. We saw the other group in the Emerald Museum and they had drinks and did stop somewhere.

 

On our tour we did not go see the dungeons and I think some people on our tour felt there was something missing. When they asked our tour guide, she said we did even more by not going to the dungeons. Note: I did not share everything we did in this review of this tour.

 

This tour came with a DVD of your tour. I thought that was great... until I watched it. :( It’s about a 9 minute video and is the exact same thing you can watch on youtube and on the tour website, http://www.toursclaudiavidal.com/en/video.htm.

 

When we got back to the ship, we hit the first place we could to get some water and cool down. We also had some stuffed olives... if you haven’t had them you have to try them! They are great.

 

Tonight we did something we haven't done in quite awhile on Princess. We’ve sailed Princess many times and have gotten burned out on the shows, mainly because they repeat and because I grew up in an entertainment city and so I’m a little tough to please. However, we went to go see On the Bayou. Okay, WOW! Princess really impressed us with this show. We both thought it was the best show we have ever seen on any Princess cruise. It’s a must see! :D

[cibaygirls]

I recently did this cruise and posted a review which was fun to relive the trip. Now reading your review I am getting to experience it all over. I look forward to more review!

[cruisenuts4life]

Very nice reveiw ,We are planning to do this in 2014 so I am just in the planning phase.

[Love.II.Cruise]

I recently did this cruise and posted a review which was fun to relive the trip. Now reading your review I am getting to experience it all over. I look forward to more review!

 

I'm glad you are enjoying it! There is more to come. ;)

[Love.II.Cruise]

Very nice reveiw ,We are planning to do this in 2014 so I am just in the planning phase.

 

Thank you. We really enjoyed this itinerary. It had a good amount of sea days mixed in with ports.

[cormike1]

Keep those posts coming....I am really enjoying them and getting some ideas of what to do and see in the ports so far that you have covered. I love your pictures with your write-ups. We are doing the partial on the Island for our 30th in November and are really looking forward to this cruise and seeing the Panama Canal up close and personal lol. Thanks.

 

Corinne (and Mike)

[Love.II.Cruise]

Keep those posts coming....I am really enjoying them and getting some ideas of what to do and see in the ports so far that you have covered. I love your pictures with your write-ups. We are doing the partial on the Island for our 30th in November and are really looking forward to this cruise and seeing the Panama Canal up close and personal lol. Thanks.

 

Corinne (and Mike)

 

Thank you so much for your kind words. I thought I was doing this too late. I had a bit of a learning curve to get over. I had a new camera for this trip plus needed to research websites that I could use to host pictures on that was also compatible with my Mac (also new last year). I've been enjoying learning new things that are not work related. :)

 

More to come soon... up next, Panama Canal Day!!! :D

[Love.II.Cruise]

Jan. 3, 2012 , Day 6: Panama Canal

 

The moment we've all been waiting for... drum roll please!!! ;)

 

This was the first time we had been to the Panama Canal and we were very much looking forward to it. If you booked the sanctuary for the cruise, this day was not included. If you wanted the sanctuary on this day, you had to pay extra. We opted to not do the sanctuary this day, nor did we do any other tour. The only way one could do a tour on this day was if it was through Princess and you would tender off once through the locks and in Gautum Lake. As the ship went through the canal we walked around the ship to try to get every angle we could going through the canal.

 

The captain talked throughout the passage of the canal. But most of the time his accent was hard to decipher for us. Occasionally you would hear something that stunned you. There were 43 ships (basically freighters) waiting to pass through the canal and they could wait over a week to get through. :eek: Since this trip it has prompted me to do a lot of research about the Panama Canal and the expansion that is taking place.

 

The approach to the Canal reminded us of an airline runway. There are lights on either side as you approach. We were up and outside at by 5:30am. We went to the front of the ship on deck 10 (which was about 10 feet from our stateroom) and there are doors that open up right to the front of the ship.

 

These two pictures below are taken as we approach the first lock. I took several of these pictures, but these two show clearly the Princess Flag eager to be in the pictures. :p

 

 

[Love.II.Cruise]

During the approach we could see a fire off to the South. It was amazing to see, but the pictures didn't turn out. I need to practice more with my camera. :o

 

It was an overcast day and below are pictures approaching the first lock and it opening.

 

 

 

 

Once those locks were open we proceeded through.

 

 

[Love.II.Cruise]

Then we approached the second lock.

 

 

You can also see a mule off to the right.

 

 

And then the downpour of rain hit! And surprisingly not one person including us had their raincoats. Instead we all stood back under the overhang and took pictures. :D

 

 

After this we decided it was time to go exploring in other areas of the ship. We went down to deck 5 to the Patisserie. From here we were able to observe how close we really were to the canal wall and actually see the wall through the windows while waiting for some specialty coffees. ;)

 

[Love.II.Cruise]

Here is another picture from deck 5.

 

 

With our coffees in hand we went back up to deck 10 and went to the back of the ship. From this vantage, it seemed the ship was sooooo high and kinda scary. :eek:

 

 

 

The Princess photographers were everywhere! They were doing everything they could to get your attention and to take your picture.

 

Who's taking a picture of who now?!? Gotcha back! :D

 

[Love.II.Cruise]

It was neat to see the lock close behind us and then to see workers crossing over it.

 

 

 

 

 

[Love.II.Cruise]

And now our Princess Photographers taking a bow! :D

 

 

 

Back to the front of the ship for one last view of us going into Gautum Lake...

 

 

From the fire, you can really see how hazy it was towards the South.

 

[Love.II.Cruise]

Going back out we decided to relax a bit. We saw that they were airing all of this on the MUTS. Nice touch. ;)

 

 

And then... holy cow! A huge crane going in as we are going out the other lane! :eek:

 

 

 

[Love.II.Cruise]

Today there was a lovely fresh fruit buffet outside on deck 14. We shared a plate of fresh fruit. This cruise had some of the best fruit we've enjoyed on a cruise.

 

 

 

 

And now time to relax in the Lotus pool area as we continue back out to the Atlantic... :)

 

 

We also see the smoke from the fire we saw early in the morning.

 

[cibaygirls]

Keep those posts coming....I am really enjoying them and getting some ideas of what to do and see in the ports so far that you have covered. I love your pictures with your write-ups. We are doing the partial on the Island for our 30th in November and are really looking forward to this cruise and seeing the Panama Canal up close and personal lol. Thanks.

 

Corinne (and Mike)

 

 

It is always so nice to see people enjoying reviews whether it is for upcoming cruises they are taking, or having taken the same cruise in the past. I too did a partial transit and after reading so many great reviews posted my own. It is a nice way to give back. There was also one really stand out, specific review done by "sweetangel" years ago that if you are interested should check out! (I will put a plug for mine in as well).

 

Suitelive...keep it coming, I love it especially with photos installed, I could not figure out how to do that!!

[indigosails]

Fun reliving the Panama Canal. What a marvel it is. Many thanks!!

 

Indigo

[goldens4ever]

We leave in 3 weeks for this cruise...thanks for all your hard work in sharing your amazing cruise! It is so nice to hear about your trip....what was good and get some ideas of what we should do...

 

We have never tried the Sanctuary before....but maybe for this trip...as it is Spring Break...

 

Looking forward to more posts!!!