Live from the Island Princess--Panama Canal Eastbound

[PunkiC]

Live from the Island Princess--Panama Canal Eastbound--Day One

 

Boarding day in San Pedro was the kind of gorgeous day that causes folks from the Midwest to move to California--especially when it is snowing back East in Mid-April.

 

Last night when we arrived, we got our rental car at the Long Beach airport, stopped to pick up our pre-ordered case of wine on our way down to the Double Tree Inn in San Pedro, where we planned to just leave the car. The Double Tree has a rental car return agreement with Enterprise which we love.

We had a great water-front room at the Double Tree where we could watch our ship sail into the harbor.

 

After we ate and dressed this morning in hotel, we tied up the case of wine with rope we had brought from home, stapled on a luggage tag, packed up the bags we needed to check, and then ran into San Pedro to pick up the last minute items we wanted from town, before we drove by the ship and checked our wine and big bags. We then drove back to the hotel, got our carry-on stuff together, finished up our internet work, and took the hotel shuttle back to the ship. Although it was only 1:15 pm when we grabbed the shuttle, the driver said we must be the smartest people in the world to wait and board after the crowds were gone. He said that the crowds and lines both at the hotel and the dock had been horrible earlier in the day. We just breezed right through!

 

After boarding and unpacking our carry-on stuff we went to the Horizon Court and had a bite to eat. The Island was the first ship on which we had ever sailed and still one of our favorites. We like the Horizon Court in the bow, the smaller ship size, and the great dance floor.

 

Newsflash: The giant oval plates in the buffet are gone, replaced by normal-sized dinner plates. I wonder if that will save Princess money on food. I wonder if this will save passengers a few pounds. Maybe you already knew that but this is our first cruise for 2014 and the first time we have seen this.

 

Following our late lunch, we grabbed our life vests and went to muster. By the time we returned, all of our bags, including our case of wine, were in our room. That was a surprise. In the past they have kept our case of wine until the next day and then delivered it with a receipt stating that we agreed to pay the corkage fee on 10 of the bottles. We will see how that ends up. I guess it doesn't really matter as we will either pay the corkage fee upfront or when we take the wine to dinner.

 

We unpacked and then did more wandering around the ship and both got a quick demonstration massage in the spa. Neither of us were winners in the spa drawings. Too bad. After that demo, I was ready for a nice long massage. I may get one anyway, depending on how much OBC we have left as the cruise progresses.

 

Not all of the gifts I knew we were supposed to receive had arrived by the time we had finished unpacking so I stopped by the purser's desk when we went down to check our original OBC credit balances and had them contact headquarters to check it out. A few hours later the gift vouchers were slipped under our door.

 

Neither of us was really up for a serious dinner so we just grabbed another bite in the Horizon Court and chatted with some very nice couples, wandered around a bit more after dinner, completing all of the stamps on our Treasure Hunt cards, and then hung out in The Wheelhouse listening to the end of the band's first set. The Wheelhouse band is CJS and they are quite good and very danceable. When they took their break we decided to go up to put on our dance shoes, but then realized we were too tired to dance and just watched a movie and went to bed. That is probably a good thing as we lose an hour on the way to Cabo.

[silverbird]

We are looking forward to your postings as this is next year's trip. Hope you have lots of wonderful adventures for us to follow and pick up a few hints.

 

Most of all, we wish you a great cruise with calm seas and following winds.

[Grammyluvs]

Thanks for the review. I have never read one on Panama Canal Eastbound. Looking forward to it. Interesting about your case of wine...I’m curious to see how that plays out.

Edited April 17, 2014 by Grammyluvs

[Colo Cruiser]

Its finally here! Belated Bon Voyage!

 

Thanks for checking in. :)

[Pia1913]

Hi Punkie (sorry, I forgot your names)

 

Our friends Gloria & Lew are on there with you (I think you already know them), as is one of our all time favorite CD's, Richard Joseph. Sending hugs (if you are so inclined) to all of them.

 

I'll be following along with you as you customarily do with me. Have a great cruise and keep dancing. :D

 

P.S. Got off the sister ship Coral on the 6th. They still had the large plates

Edited April 17, 2014 by Pia1913

[Colo Cruiser]

[nunuc2000]

Love these "live from" reviews... and yours in particular. We were supposed to be on the Island for the Mar 17 and April 1 B2B, but medical issues forced us to cancel, and I've been torturing myself ever since with the "Oh today we would have been in this port", and "Oh that's what it would have been like going through the canal" type thoughts... I'm a glutton for punishment, it seems. :D

 

Hope you have a lovely cruise and are able to post often. :)

 

Celine

[IECalCruiser]

Boarding day in San Pedro was the kind of gorgeous day that causes folks from the Midwest to move to California--especially when it is snowing back East in Mid-April.

We live in South California and the weather yesterday was almost perfect.

 

Thanks for taking us along and enjoy the Island and Richard Joseph. As Pia said, he is the best.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Edited April 17, 2014 by IECalCruiser

[CruzinNoony]

Thank you, Punkie, for taking the time to take us along on your cruise. Gloria and Lew are friends of ours also (along with Pia!), so it will be fun to read about what is going on onboard the ship.:D

[partybarbie]

DH and I just got off an Island Princess Eastbound Panama cruise on 4/1/14. I loved it so much that I am going back in November with my dad and my aunt.

 

Our cruise director was Neil Rose. You will also have a new group of singers and dancers, as they have finished their current contract and disembarked the ship the day that you got on.

 

Hope you have a great time and wonderful weather. Looking forward to reading your "live from".

[Nancyquilts]

Thanks so much for the "live from". We have been waiting for a b2b on Island or Coral for a while, and will get to take one on Island next February so will be following you along. Please go see "On the Bayou" for us. It is our all-time favorite Princess production show.

[caribill]

Newsflash: The giant oval plates in the buffet are gone, replaced by normal-sized dinner plates. I wonder if that will save Princess money on food. I wonder if this will save passengers a few pounds. Maybe you already knew that but this is our first cruise for 2014 and the first time we have seen this.

 

It has been posted that all the Royal has is the normal-sized plates.

 

I hope that is not going fleet-wide.

[sfo2008]

Thanks for posting. Ruby in Jan 2014 had oval plates.

[lone_stranger]

My girl Joy and I are doing this cruise starting from San Francisco in September. I look forward to reading about all your adventures, particularly the experiences you have with the excursions.

[sfo2008]

My girl Joy and I are doing this cruise starting from San Francisco in September. I look forward to reading about all your adventures, particularly the experiences you have with the excursions.

 

 

Make sure to join the roll call if you haven't already. We are on the sept 27 sfo island to fll cruise ourselves.

[mytime53]

We'll be on the Island in a little over a month, cruising to Alaska. We were on her once before, on a Panama Canal cruise. I'll be following your posts eagerly! With all the talk on the boards right now about the $49 all you can drink package, I'm curious as to whether or not passengers on the Island are allowed to buy it independently of others in there cabin, or if all in a cabin must purchase it for one to get it. I think DH could get his $ worth, but there's no way I could!

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[Woobstr112G]

Bon Voyage and have a wonderful cruise.....:):):)

 

Bob

[PunkiC]

Live from the Island Princess--Panama Canal Eastbound--Day Two

 

DH got up early and did an abs class at 7:00 and a stretch class at 7:30—a turnaround from the normal schedule. I was a bum and had a very lazy morning. The skies are still overcast and dreary, but we don’t care, we are staying inside today.

 

After breakfast we went down to The Wheelhouse for our Meet and Greet and it was great—the best one ever. We had at least 10 officers in attendance (the most I have ever seen), representing all areas of service, including the Captain, Staff Captain, Cruise Director, Assistant Cruise Director, Maître ‘hotel, Food and Beverage Director, Customer Service Director, Tour Director, a Comedian, and other people we didn’t get to meet. The officers mingled with the 50+ passengers for at least a half an hour and then we moved on to a discussion of OBC and the gift exchange. Kudos to our M&G Organizer, Doug, for getting so many officers out to join us and doing such a great job of organization. The most popular and most frequently stolen gifts were an apron sporting a picture of Michael Angelo’s David, multi plugs, wine, and a travel scale. Stealing is so much fun and this crew was pretty brutal. It was a truly wonderful Meet & Greet.

 

Yes, Pia, Gloria and Lew were there. We will also be joining them for a private wine tasting on Sunday and I will tell them “hello” from you.

 

I don’t really know what happened to the rest of the day—time goes by so quickly. I think our problem is that we always spend so much time blabbing with people. Meeting new people and listening to their stories is our favorite part of cruising. We also spend a lot more time napping and watching movies in bed, which we never do at home.

 

Today we had lunch in the Horizon Court with a lovely English couple and, since they were sailors, we had a lot to gab about and lunch took almost two hours.

 

In the afternoon they held the Treasure Hunt drawing in the Universal Lounge and DH won a $20 gambling certificate which is interesting because we don’t gamble. I guess they are tempting us to try. I was still hoping and praying to win a massage but had no luck there. I guess I will just have to break down and buy one.

 

Our dinner group of eight was an absolute stitch. We ate and talked and talked and talked and were one of the very last groups to leave. Only one other couple at dinner had been part of the M&G, so we met two new couples. We had so much fun together that I was thinking of asking them if they wanted to eat together every night, but I want to meet even more people.

 

After dinner we danced in The Wheelhouse. I love dancing in The Wheelhouse and the band really does want to please. We chatted with the leader and 4 other dancers during a break and it was obvious from his conversation that he pays close attention to what the passengers are thinking while he is playing. It was interesting that just about the time I thought a song was going on too long, he would end it. Ship bands have a tendency to want to get into long instrumental rifts which is fine for the band, but really boring for dancers.

 

We finally crashed, tired and happy, looking forward to Catholic Good Friday

services at 8:00 a.m.

 

P.S. A couple more new things I forgot to mention are that they now start broadcasting the Wake Show at 10:00 PM the night before. I guess that helps you plan the next day. Another new thing is an activity called "Where on the Ship" where they show a picture of something on the ship and then you have to submit an answer to win a prize.

 

I did talk to the Food and Beverage Director and he confirmed that the smaller plates really do reduce waste. People who really want more food (like my skinny DH) go back and get more, but the smaller plates keep people from loading up on lots of stuff they don't end up eating.

 

Thanks for all of the responses. If anybody has any specific questions about the ship, please let me know and I will try to find answers.

Edited April 18, 2014 by PunkiC

[Pia1913]

Thanks, Punkie.

 

They started doing the Wake Show at night sometime in 2013. I for one don't care for that, but others do.

 

We will see Gloria and Lew in FLL when you guys disembark since they have a late flight home.

 

I can almost see you dancing. Happy Easter.

[JimAOk1945]

We are looking forward to our cruise on the IP in December. :D

 

I have a couple of questions. What type of stateroom do you have? Do you plan to post pictures of the ship and excursions?

[The CRuIseLLS]

Many thanks for the daily posting, a great read. I can't wait to see how the rest of the trip goes.

We'll be going "eastbound" in September so this will definitely give us a good idea about what we can expect on our cruise.

 

I'm really intrigued....... What is 'stealing gifts' all about?

 

Regards

 

Sue 😊

[Pia1913]

Many thanks for the daily posting, a great read. I can't wait to see how the rest of the trip goes.

We'll be going "eastbound" in September so this will definitely give us a good idea about what we can expect on our cruise.

 

I'm really intrigued....... What is 'stealing gifts' all about?

 

Regards

 

Sue 😊

 

It's part of the gift exchange, where if you see something you want, when it's your turn to select a gift you can steal from someone else. This is set up by someone on the roll call to occur during or just after the M & G. Very few roll calls bother with it, but when it's done correctly can be a lot of fun.

[lrm]

It's part of the gift exchange, where if you see something you want, when it's your turn to select a gift you can steal from someone else. This is set up by someone on the roll call to occur during or just after the M & G. Very few roll calls bother with it, but when it's done correctly can be a lot of fun.

 

Thank you for taking the time to inform us all. I am looking forward to your posts.

We have done the gift "stealing" at work parties and it can be very fun! I just wondered...do you bring extra gifts for the crew that come to the M&G?

Edited April 18, 2014 by lrm

[Tedferg]

DW and I got off the West Bound Panama cruise on April 16th and really enjoyed it. We are reliving our cruise with your live posts, thanks.

 

Hey, as we read the cruise backwards is there a chance our extra pounds will come off ????:D

Edited April 18, 2014 by Tedferg

[Pia1913]

Thank you for taking the time to inform us all. I am looking forward to your posts.

We have done the gift "stealing" at work parties and it can be very fun! I just wondered...do you bring extra gifts for the crew that come to the M&G?

 

No. The gift exchange is done only with the roll call people who elect to do it. And the gift is usually something in the vicinity of $10 and represented sometimes by your home state, country, province, etc.