Island Princess

[lovetotraveltx]

We are not traveling until June, 2015. Any rumors about the Island being refurbished by them?

 

Thank you!

[satxdiver]

The Island is scheduled for drydock in October 2014. It will be refurbished then something like its sister ship Coral Princess.

[cruisehappy001]

We just got off of the Island a few days ago and did hear that they are planning the refurb that was mentioned above. Also the changes will be similar to the Coral, but not exact. They will do a few thing different that should be even better.

 

Wonderful ship and a great crew! Can't wait to sail her again, especially after the planned changes!!!

 

Happy Cruising!

 

 

Mark

[jackieo]

Hi there Mark. We sail on the Island in February and are hoping she still looks good and not desperate for the refurb. I am a bit concerned that there is no international cafe. But assume you get real coffees from the pastry shop on deck 5.

 

We have not sailed in the island or coral so a new ship for us. We are looking forward to it. A full transit from LAX to FLL

 

Jackie

[IECalCruiser]

We just got off of the Island a few days ago and did hear that they are planning the refurb that was mentioned above. Also the changes will be similar to the Coral, but not exact. They will do a few thing different that should be even better.

 

Wonderful ship and a great crew! Can't wait to sail her again, especially after the planned changes!!!

 

Happy Cruising!

 

 

Mark

Do you have any specifics? The Island's drydock is scheduled for a significantly longer period of time than the Coral's.

[Nan_Sea]

We were on the Island last month. There were pastries in the Atrium near the Coffee the first few morning, but the after that they were kept in a back room and you had to ask for them. A Patisserie without pastry. We had a great time and found the ship to be in good shape. They changed some carpeting while we were on. Very friendly crew.

[KruzPrincess]

The Island was originally scheduled for drydock last month and then it was postponed until next year. My friends just got off the Island and said she does need some refreshing, but they still had a great time. The Island and Coral are great ships.

[8pawz]

And now the question everyone asks about Princess ships- does the Island have new mattresses? I can't sleep well on the old ones and we are going on a Panama Canal cruise in February. Thanks!

[Nan_Sea]

I asked for, and received, an egg crate topper.. It was very comfortable and I think it may have been okay without the topper. I play it safe.

[Pam in CA]

And now the question everyone asks about Princess ships- does the Island have new mattresses? I can't sleep well on the old ones and we are going on a Panama Canal cruise in February. Thanks!

I had an oceanview cabin on the Island a year ago for my Vancouver-to-FLL cruise and had a pillowtop mattress. Very comfortable.

[8pawz]

Thank you for the info Pam. A good nights sleep will certainly add to the enjoyment of the cruise.

[Nan_Sea]

Does anyone know if the Ruby has the new mattresses?

[Astro Flyer]

Does anyone know if the Ruby has the new mattresses?

Based on posts I've read they're gradually being replaced & not a complete ship at one time. So we may have to get 'lucky' to get a pillow-top until the replacement program is complete. The only ship I'm aware of having all pillow-tops is the new Royal Princess which also has supportive pillows & both were very comfortable to me.

[cruisehappy001]

First off, sorry that it took so long to reply... Still catching up with life after our WONDERFUL CRUISE!!!

 

"Hi there Mark. We sail on the Island in February and are hoping she still looks good and not desperate for the refurb. I am a bit concerned that there is no international cafe. But assume you get real coffees from the pastry shop on deck 5.

We have not sailed in the island or coral so a new ship for us. We are looking forward to it. A full transit from LAX to FLL

Jackie"

 

"The Island was originally scheduled for drydock last month and then it was postponed until next year. My friends just got off the Island and said she does need some refreshing, but they still had a great time. The Island and Coral are great ships. KruzPrincess"

 

Lana, We missed you on this cruise, I hope that you are doing much better now! We will meet you some other time I am sure.

 

Jackie, I would not say that the ship is desperate for the refurb, they have good upkeep, but the refurb will be welcome of course... more for the big changes that are coming that I will describe below. We did miss the International Cafe quite a bit, but could still get specialty coffees from the Patisserie just like the IC on other ships. What I really missed was the "food" portion of the IC as we love to get a quick snack or dessert instead of a big meal, or as a 3am snack! LOL:) The Island Princess was our favorite of all of the ships we have travelled on so far. We just did the Full Transit from FLL to LA. It was a great crew with awesome customer service! I am sure that you will have a great time!

 

 

Do you have any specifics? The Island's drydock is scheduled for a significantly longer period of time than the Coral's.

 

Here is what I found out on the ship about the upcoming 6 week refurb, I hope that I got it all and correctly for all of you interested parties. No Warranty, HA HA!

 

It is supposed to leave FLL on Oct 12, 2014 and sail to Freeport, Bahamas for this major drydock period.

 

1. Redo Horizon Court Area similar to how the Coral has had done. That will be a nice change.

 

2. Adding an International Cafe, but not in the casino area as they did on the Coral!!! They will put it in the ATRIUM where the Patisserie is now!!! The IC on the Coral was not well received in the awkward location that they put it in, so having it in the Atrium will be a vast improvement.

 

3. They will be adding more passenger cabins to help revenues, but it will be a small passenger count increase of about 200 passengers. New capacity will be around 2150 max... Still very manageble in my opinion as we never felt crowding on the Island as it is now. New cabins in the rear sides of Universe Lounge, not sure if they will also add some by the casino or not as happened on the Coral?

 

4. Shows in the Theatre will go from two performances a night to three per night as has happened on most of the rest of the fleet. They feel that this will relieve some of the added passenger capacity.

 

5. The Universe Lounge in the rear as is will be going away. Balcony and sight lines not considered good for some shows. Some of the area on the sides of the ship will be used for more cabins, and the middle area will be a new entertainment venue. Also supposed to be a conference room added in this area as well.

 

6. Adding a new efficient diesel engine in the bottom of the ship. Up near the stacks atop the ship they already have an extra engine which is a gas turbine engine. Problem with this is that it operates on gasoline which is more expensive than the maritime diesel fuel used by the other engines.

 

7. Finally the Bayou Cafe is being replaced with a Crown Grille.

 

I hope that I covered it all and reported it accurately!:D

 

Based on posts I've read they're gradually being replaced & not a complete ship at one time. So we may have to get 'lucky' to get a pillow-top until the replacement program is complete. The only ship I'm aware of having all pillow-tops is the new Royal Princess which also has supportive pillows & both were very comfortable to me.

 

Sounds like Pam got lucky with a room with a Pillow Top, but we were not as lucky! We were in a far forward Balcony Cabin on the Dolphin Deck with a standard mattress.

 

Happy Cruising everyone, I hope that I answered everyone's questions, if not ask way!

 

Mark

[IECalCruiser]

Thanks for the info. Interesting changes.

Here is what I found out on the ship about the upcoming 6 week refurb, I hope that I got it all and correctly for all of you interested parties. No Warranty, HA HA!

 

It is supposed to leave FLL on Oct 12, 2014 and sail to Freeport, Bahamas for this major drydock period.

 

1. Redo Horizon Court Area similar to how the Coral has had done. That will be a nice change. Yes it will.

2. Adding an International Cafe, but not in the casino area as they did on the Coral!!! They will put it in the ATRIUM where the Patisserie is now!!! The IC on the Coral was not well received in the awkward location that they put it in, so having it in the Atrium will be a vast improvement. The Casino area seemed like a strange location. Wonder how much seating there will be in the area? The area around La Patisserie had some very nice seating.

 

3. They will be adding more passenger cabins to help revenues, but it will be a small passenger count increase of about 200 passengers. New capacity will be around 2150 max... Still very manageble in my opinion as we never felt crowding on the Island as it is now. New cabins in the rear sides of Universe Lounge, not sure if they will also add some by the casino or not as happened on the Coral?

 

4. Shows in the Theatre will go from two performances a night to three per night as has happened on most of the rest of the fleet. They feel that this will relieve some of the added passenger capacity. They were already doing On the Bayou 3 times in January.

 

5. The Universe Lounge in the rear as is will be going away. Balcony and sight lines not considered good for some shows. Some of the area on the sides of the ship will be used for more cabins, and the middle area will be a new entertainment venue. Also supposed to be a conference room added in this area as well. Sight lines in the balcony were bad in many areas and there were many obstructions. Wonder if they will keep the three rotating stages and unique shows?

 

6. Adding a new efficient diesel engine in the bottom of the ship. Up near the stacks atop the ship they already have an extra engine which is a gas turbine engine. Problem with this is that it operates on gasoline which is more expensive than the maritime diesel fuel used by the other engines.

 

7. Finally the Bayou Cafe is being replaced with a Crown Grille. Doubt they need to do much here except change the menu.

 

I hope that I covered it all and reported it accurately!:D

[Astro Flyer]

'cruisehappy001'...thanks for the great info which was worth the wait. :)

 

'IECalCruiser' the Coral's location in the old casino bar to me had more seating than the Patisserie/Lobby Bar area. Due to it's location it never seemed to be as crowded as when the IC is in the Atrium. Another reason could be the limited food options including the one time we went after 11:00PM when they only offered cheese platters. :(

Edited November 25, 2013 by Astro Flyer

[caribill]

4. Shows in the Theatre will go from two performances a night to three per night as has happened on most of the rest of the fleet. They feel that this will relieve some of the added passenger capacity. They were already doing On the Bayou 3 times in January.

 

When we were on the Island in the summer of 2012, they were doing "On The Bayou" three times and the show was an hour long. This is before Princess cut show times to about 30 minutes.

 

When you saw it in January was it still about an hour long or was it reduced to about 30 minutes?

 

I suspect with the announced changes to the Universe Lounge that "On The Bayou" will be going away. It appears that the seating capacity will be greatly reduced making it a poor venue for a popular production show.

Edited November 25, 2013 by caribill

[IECalCruiser]

When we were on the Island in the summer of 2012, they were doing "On The Bayou" three times and the show was an hour long. This is before Princess cut show times to about 30 minutes.

 

When you saw it in January was it still about an hour long or was it reduced to about 30 minutes?

 

I suspect with the announced changes to the Universe Lounge that "On The Bayou" will be going away. It appears that the seating capacity will be greatly reduced making it a poor venue for a popular production show.

We have been on the Coral three times and the Island once. We liked the unique shows in the Universe Lounge. It seemed that On the Bayou was longer than 30 minutes. We were stuck behind a column in the Balcony,

[caribill]

It seemed that On the Bayou was longer than 30 minutes. We were stuck behind a column in the Balcony,

 

Looking at the times on pictures I took, the show was 75 minutes long when we saw it in the Island last year, every minute bof it enjoyable.

 

So when they performed it three times that evening, they were performing 225 minutes.

[mkcruise]

First off, sorry that it took so long to reply... Still catching up with life after our WONDERFUL CRUISE!!!

 

"Hi there Mark. We sail on the Island in February and are hoping she still looks good and not desperate for the refurb. I am a bit concerned that there is no international cafe. But assume you get real coffees from the pastry shop on deck 5.

We have not sailed in the island or coral so a new ship for us. We are looking forward to it. A full transit from LAX to FLL

Jackie"

 

"The Island was originally scheduled for drydock last month and then it was postponed until next year. My friends just got off the Island and said she does need some refreshing, but they still had a great time. The Island and Coral are great ships. KruzPrincess"

 

Lana, We missed you on this cruise, I hope that you are doing much better now! We will meet you some other time I am sure.

 

Jackie, I would not say that the ship is desperate for the refurb, they have good upkeep, but the refurb will be welcome of course... more for the big changes that are coming that I will describe below. We did miss the International Cafe quite a bit, but could still get specialty coffees from the Patisserie just like the IC on other ships. What I really missed was the "food" portion of the IC as we love to get a quick snack or dessert instead of a big meal, or as a 3am snack! LOL:) The Island Princess was our favorite of all of the ships we have travelled on so far. We just did the Full Transit from FLL to LA. It was a great crew with awesome customer service! I am sure that you will have a great time!

 

 

 

 

Here is what I found out on the ship about the upcoming 6 week refurb, I hope that I got it all and correctly for all of you interested parties. No Warranty, HA HA!

 

It is supposed to leave FLL on Oct 12, 2014 and sail to Freeport, Bahamas for this major drydock period.

 

1. Redo Horizon Court Area similar to how the Coral has had done. That will be a nice change.

 

2. Adding an International Cafe, but not in the casino area as they did on the Coral!!! They will put it in the ATRIUM where the Patisserie is now!!! The IC on the Coral was not well received in the awkward location that they put it in, so having it in the Atrium will be a vast improvement.

 

3. They will be adding more passenger cabins to help revenues, but it will be a small passenger count increase of about 200 passengers. New capacity will be around 2150 max... Still very manageble in my opinion as we never felt crowding on the Island as it is now. New cabins in the rear sides of Universe Lounge, not sure if they will also add some by the casino or not as happened on the Coral?

 

4. Shows in the Theatre will go from two performances a night to three per night as has happened on most of the rest of the fleet. They feel that this will relieve some of the added passenger capacity.

 

5. The Universe Lounge in the rear as is will be going away. Balcony and sight lines not considered good for some shows. Some of the area on the sides of the ship will be used for more cabins, and the middle area will be a new entertainment venue. Also supposed to be a conference room added in this area as well.

 

6. Adding a new efficient diesel engine in the bottom of the ship. Up near the stacks atop the ship they already have an extra engine which is a gas turbine engine. Problem with this is that it operates on gasoline which is more expensive than the maritime diesel fuel used by the other engines.

 

7. Finally the Bayou Cafe is being replaced with a Crown Grille.

 

I hope that I covered it all and reported it accurately!:D

 

 

 

Sounds like Pam got lucky with a room with a Pillow Top, but we were not as lucky! We were in a far forward Balcony Cabin on the Dolphin Deck with a standard mattress.

 

Happy Cruising everyone, I hope that I answered everyone's questions, if not ask way!

 

Mark

 

Is there an update on the drydock for the Island? I was looking at a Panama Canal cruise, and the Princess website lists the Island doing a partial that leaves FLL on October 12, followed by a 4 day Caribbean on October 23, and then a full transit leaving on October 27, which seems to account for the ship during the extended drydock - there doesn't seem to be any gaps in the schedule after that prior to the end of 2014. Any thoughts?

[billbo_nuclear_baggins]

Is there an update on the drydock for the Island? I was looking at a Panama Canal cruise, and the Princess website lists the Island doing a partial that leaves FLL on October 12, followed by a 4 day Caribbean on October 23, and then a full transit leaving on October 27, which seems to account for the ship during the extended drydock - there doesn't seem to be any gaps in the schedule after that prior to the end of 2014. Any thoughts?

 

I booked the 15 day full transit in April 2015 assuming the Island was being refurbished in 2014. Princess recently released cruises for those 45 days later this year. I don't see any gaps in the schedule. I recently purchased some FCD's on my last cruise. I was going to cancel my cruise and rebook using my FCD. I may rebook on the Coral since it has been upgraded.

[UpcountryTravelers]

.......

 

7. Finally the Bayou Cafe is being replaced with a Crown Grille.

 

 

HATE that!! Loved music and dancing in the Bayou. One of my favorite venues.

[ChiefBoats]

We have sailed on her five times. She is our favorite Princess ship.

[Astro Flyer]

HATE that!! Loved music and dancing in the Bayou. One of my favorite venues.

They didn't have the jazz trio on the Coral last July & the headwaiter said there are only two trios & thus one is not always onboard. :( He was tasked with doing a survey about the effects on reservations when having a jazz trio which increased 40% when they performed.

Edited January 7, 2014 by Astro Flyer

[cruisehappy001]

Is there an update on the drydock for the Island? I was looking at a Panama Canal cruise, and the Princess website lists the Island doing a partial that leaves FLL on October 12, followed by a 4 day Caribbean on October 23, and then a full transit leaving on October 27, which seems to account for the ship during the extended drydock - there doesn't seem to be any gaps in the schedule after that prior to the end of 2014. Any thoughts?

 

It looks like they must have changed their plans for the drydock looking at the scheduled cruises on princess.com. They look like they are planned with cruises from October 12, 2014, all the way through May 8, 2015. (BTW, I did not take the time to look for gaps before 10/12/14.)

 

The information that I shared was what I learned while onboard the Island Princess October/November of 2013, so it has changed relatively recently. Not sure why they changed again as originally the drydock was supposed to be in October of 2013 from what I had read previously... Maybe they had too much demand, or not enough money (LOL) right now, or maybe it has to do with the new canal locks opening that will allow the bigger ships going through??? Too hard to read their minds or understand what they are planning until it actually happens!

 

Happy Cruising!

 

Mark