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Island Princess-Hawaii

Irene cruiser

By Irene cruiser,
in Princess Cruises

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Irene cruiser

Irene cruiser

Posted
Posted

My husband and I just returned from an Hawaiian cruise (12/7). The tours were excellent

The entertainment was the best we've seen on any cruise ship. Very updated routines, scenery and costumes. The singers and comics were very good. Our waiter and assistant waiter were excellent. No request was too difficult. Food in the Horizon room was pretty good. The pizza was great. However, the food in the dining room, during dinner, was disappointing most of the cruise. The food seemed warmed over with sauce or gravy on top of almost everything. We've cruised with Princess about 8 times and this is the first time we've had this experience. We would like to know if anyone else had a similar experience on this cruise.

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jsiegel

jsiegel

Posted
Posted

I'm sorry to hear that the food on the Island is disappointing. But, in looking for the positive in anticipation of my upcoming Island cruise in February, that means I'll be able to get by with less exercising to keep my weight stable. ;)

 

Irene, What tours did you go on? All I've planned so far is the whale watching on Maui.

 

Was disembarkation bad, or has immigration/customs finally gotten their act together.

 

Thanks for the warning.

 

Jackie

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Irene cruiser

Irene cruiser

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Dear Jackie,

 

We went on the following tours: (We only wanted half day tours, if possible)

Kauai(Nawiliwili)- -LIH-B Wailua River Cruise, Fern Grotto

 

Honolulu-HNL-AB USS Arizona Memoria City Tour (Excellent)

 

Kona-KOA-A Highlights of KonaPuuhonaua O' Honaunau National Park, The Painted Church, Coffee Factory

 

Lahaina-Maui-JHM-AB Haleakala National Park and Crater Rim(Excellent)

 

Hilo-ITO-AA Kilauea Volcano, Macadamia Nut Factory, Lunch, Tour of Town(Excellent)

Hawaii is just beautiful!

Have a wonderful cruise.

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Splinter

Splinter

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It is unlikely. We have done this trip twice, and both times they were still doing disembarkation at noon. We got on the first time (after arriving at 1100) at 1:30 (a long wait in a hot sun!). The last time we arrived at 2PM and were in our cabin by 2:20.

 

I would suggest planning on checking your luggage and then doing something else. Consider taking the Red Line Trolley (on the far side of the parking lot) to the Maritime museum and spend an hour or two there, then return to the ship after the first crush is over.

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CheapCharlie

CheapCharlie

Posted
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In reply to your opinion of the food on the Island Princess. On our cruise the food was not that good. I had fish that I had to cut with a knife and had no taste. When I complained I was asked if I wanted it extremely overdone to which I said, what ever, and then it was not too bad. Steak was tough and no matter how it was ordered it was well-done when served. I guess the good meat goes to the specialty restaurants. Two ladies at the next table stated that they probably would not cruise Princess again and they had been on several other cruises. Several other passengers we talked to also stated their dissatisfaction. I will say that the food in the buffet was good. I know a person that cruised on the Island two cruises after ours had the same opinion. She stated that one night they brought her 4 different dinners. The pizza was great and lunch in the dinning room was better than at night.

In the past on other Princess ships I thought the food was excellent. I have been asked by our cruise mates to look into another cruise, but are not sure they want Princess because of the food.

Other than that the cruise was great.

By the way I also eat at Taco Bell and Burger King.

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suzyluvs2cruise

suzyluvs2cruise

Posted
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Embarkation starts around 12:30...............if debarkation is on time.

We got off the Island Princess 11/7 and both embarkation and debarkation were delayed. Don't know why either. We received an email from Princess pre-cruise suggesting we arrive after 1:30 pm (which we did). Long lines and didn't get into our cabin until around 2:45 pm. Debarkation was awful. Immigration came onto the ship around 6:30 am. Everone had color tags and a time to go to immigration. Our time was 8:30 am. We were called a little before 9:00 am. Cleared immigration and then waited in a lounge until 11:30 a.m. before we were called to disembark. No one was allowed off the ship until all passengers had cleared immigration. No explanation why.................................This was the 1st time is over 20+ cruises that this happened so it's not the norm. But from previous posts it seems to happen frequently with the Island Princess. There was one other ship on port (Vision of the Seas) and they did not appear to be delayed in getting off the ship as we could see passengers and luggage heading to cars starting about 8:30 am.

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GreenValleyDogWalker

GreenValleyDogWalker

Posted
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My husband and I just returned from an Hawaiian cruise (12/7). The tours were excellent

The entertainment was the best we've seen on any cruise ship. Very updated routines, scenery and costumes. The singers and comics were very good. Our waiter and assistant waiter were excellent. No request was too difficult. Food in the Horizon room was pretty good. The pizza was great. However, the food in the dining room, during dinner, was disappointing most of the cruise. The food seemed warmed over with sauce or gravy on top of almost everything. We've cruised with Princess about 8 times and this is the first time we've had this experience. We would like to know if anyone else had a similar experience on this cruise.

 

 

Hello - we cruised the Island Princess - Hawaii - January 2005 - I have to agree with what you said about the dining room food - very, very disappointing - the Lido Buffet - omlet bar is where you found us each morning it was wonderful

- also agree about entertainment - very good -

oh - almost forgot - another disapppointment was the "champagne Breakfast served on your balcony" - the food was absolutely awful - we could only take a few bites of some of the fruit -

still was a GREAT cruise - we took our golf clubs - and played golf at each stop on the way !!

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sashas_mom

sashas_mom

Posted
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Hi John,

 

We cruised the Island in September to Hawaii and the disembarkation was terrible. No order. Color coded tags were not used as planned, just long lines circling around of people waiting to get off. We didn't get off until 11 a.m. You would think they would have let people off first who had flights to catch. But that wasn't even addressed. People did miss their flights. The problem was there was another ship that got to port before us and we couldn't dock. Immigration couldn't board the ship until later than expected. I would say you should expect that anything can happen and would definitely get a later flight to cover yourself. I wrote a letter to Princess about it but they completely missed my point in the answer I received.

sasha'smom

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JohnL1935

JohnL1935

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Hi Sasha's Mom: Thanks for the heads up on other ship's in port problem. Our cruise leaves Friday and comes back Saturday so we might have problems with the 7 dayers returning. I originally had a US Air non-stop back to PHL at 1 pm and they eliminated that flight about a month ago and moved me up an hour earlier. I finally got back to 1 but had to stop at Phoenix to change planes and that doesn't get me to PHL until 11 at night. Any later and it'll be a red eye!! Seems none of the recent IP returnees aren't commenting on their time off the ship.

 

John L.

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jsiegel

jsiegel

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You can find out what other ships will be in the port in San Pedro at the port's website: http://www.sanpedro.com/spcom/cruiscal.htm Scroll down to the calendar and select your month. Once you are on the monthly calendar, the ships are hotlinked to the cruise line's page about the ship, where you'll be able to find out how many passengers.

 

When I leave for my Island Princess cruise on February 5th, there will be two other ships in the port, each with over 2200 passengers. When I return on the 20th only one other ship, but it's a biggie with over 2700 passengers, so I'm anticipating delays.

 

Jackie

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gunnywife

gunnywife

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We sailed on the Island 11/22-12/7. We loved the cruise. Embarkation was very easy. We took the first shuttle from our hotel so we arrived at the dock very early. After checking in we waited in a lounge until our number was called and were on the ship by noon. Disembarkation proceeded with no problems and we were off the ship by 9:45, picked up our luggage (receiving some help from a nice porter in finding the last piece of luggage), he got us right to our shuttle bus and after a short wait we were on our way to the airport.

There were eight in our party and there were very few complaints about any of the food in the Bordeaux dining room. We had excellent waiters. The only problem I noticed is that the waiters don't seem to have the assistants they used to have. The pizza up on the deck was excellent. I'm not a real pizza fan, but I managed to have pizza 3 times on this trip. I'm not partial to buffet food so we didn't eat in the Horizon too often, but when we did I found the food to be cold sometimes.

My husband and I both agreed that the entertainment on the Island was the best we have ever seen on a cruise. The four singers and the dancers were great. We enjoyed every single show that we saw.

We had a very nice, efficient room steward. It seemed as soon as we left the room he was there to clean it. All the crew seemed very friendly. Everyone you would meet in the halls or down in the common areas would always smile and greet you.

We enjoyed our tours. We just took the 1/2 day tours, but found them worthwhile.

The one thing that we looked forward to and missed on this cruise (I don't know why) was the lava flow at night from the ship. I guess they don't go that way on every cruise. I wish we had known that ahead of time so we wouldn't have been disappointed.

The bottom line is: this was one of our favorite cruises and we have cruised many times.

Lynn

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DonahCBrown

DonahCBrown

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Did you see any lava flow from Kilauea when you were passing the island at night? What side of ship is best for viewing, and what time of night did you view it?

 

You can check for current conditions at the volcano at http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/update/

 

Assuming you are going from Hilo to Kona, you will be able to see some glow, usually, with the naked eye, from the Starboard side of the ship, as you pass by the eruption site, assuming that Madam Pele is being cooperative. You'll need strong binoculars, generally, to see anything else, as the ships tend to pass a good bit off shore, as getting to close can be dangerous - fumes, sudden breaking off of lava benches, etc.

 

You could get lucky and see a major surface flow or breakout, but they are pretty rare and don't last very long, and the probability of seeing anything really spectacular, like lava fountains is very remote. Most of the time, what you can observe is a reddish orange reflection in the steam clouds around the ocean entry, if the lava is flowing into the sea, and/or some reddish orange spots along the slopes where the lava tubes have breaks in them - called skylights - and the lava "rivers" that flow through the tube systems under the hardened surface lava are visible.

 

Sometimes the lava flows shift into new areas and there are brush and/or forest fires, and sometimes there are plugs in the lava tubes that cause "breakouts" or surface flows that can be pretty visible and spectacular, but I wouldn't count on it.

 

Obviously, if you are going from Kona to Hilo, you'll pass by the volcano much later -- I'd guess in the early morning hours, actually, and to the Port side.

 

Donna (living on the Big Island, but at the opposite end!)

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jagmanss1

jagmanss1

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I will Agree with gunnywife on the Pizza, I never thought that on A cruise with all the great food I would care about pizza or burgers, But can tell you all this.... The Island Princess had the best pizza I have ever had on A cruise ship..... Matter of fact I'm drooling for it as I type this.... It is Awesome and could not get my fill, Had it every day as well as the burgers and awesome fries cooked to order just above the pizza 1 deck above and bratwust and knockwurst...... I prefered it over the horizon court most of the time.... Yeah!!! I know strange But true.........

 

Note...... You will not get the same pizza or burgers for room service... For some reason it is different and not good at all, But does in A Pinch....

 

Entertainment: Subject to your taste and opinion..... We found it to be mediocre at best, Comedy shows with outdated material that most in there 20's to 40's will have heard already, And not very funny... guess you need to be in your 70's....... Kinda G rated...... A bit boring and left most of them Waaaay before they ended..... Worst we have ever seen.... We are in our mid 40's

 

Staff: Awesome..... Very helpfull......Always with a smile and willing to please and help and give direction.......

 

Lava Flow: Depends on your Itinerary..... But we did go from Hilo to Kona and had late dinner seating and finished at about 10:00pm and wondered why all were going to the window..... Well, We found out.... The captain must have been booking and got there early and the flow was AWESOME.... It was also, I think called, Island night on the ship pool deck , But the cool thing is that the captain stopped the ship on our cruise for all to see and we were as close as you could get..... We saw the red glow and did not need binoculars you could see the lava as plain as day.... They made an Announcement that if you want to take pictures that A camera with A night sceen option would be the best and to also not try and take A photo through the glass... Best view was starboard and on deck 6 or 7 Away from the ship lights.... I left my camera for some stupid reason in the cabin this night as I had no idea we would get there that early.... Didn't feel like making the trek to the cabin and now regret it.... Oh!! Well, But I saw it and even if I took pictures most people would say.... What is that.... Hey I saw it in person..... Priceless......

 

Food: We all thought it was awesome group of at least 21...... Never been on A cruise yet where the food was inedible in the dining room as others have indicated on these boards..... Food is not the reason to go on a cruise anyway.... The cruise itself is the vacation destinion for some, for others it is the itineray and still for others it is just to be pampered and others who want 5 star dining should stay home..... Some people will never be pleased with the food or service.... Can't have 5 star food when they are trying to serve over 3,000 people or there of...... But IMHO comes damn close......

 

Your cruise may differ.... Never have high expectations to see the flow... Or great food...... You may or may not..... But you can be assured to have A blast..... It is what you make of it anyway...... Have A great cruise all

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BBQ Bill

BBQ Bill

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It is my understanding that Princess uses the same menus and same food suppliers through out the entire fleet. A question for those who have sailed Princess before is how you would rate the IP's food. We sail Princess almost exclusively however the food quailty changes from ship to ship how do rate the IP from 1-10. Thanks

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