Short review of Island Princess 10 day Panama

[Nebr.cruiser]

We've cruised about 40 times and can honestly say we've never had a bad cruise.  I can say the same thing about our Island Princess 10 day Partial Panama Canal cruise that we just got off of.  Some good, some bad, some so-so.  

 

We've sailed the island before, before they added the cabins, so I did miss the all-around Promenade and the adult pool; otherwise didn't notice much difference.

 

The ports and routes were good; have been to all before except Limon.  We did private tours every day except for the Panama Canal, where you have to either do a Princess tour or stlay on the ship.

 

All of our private tours were good and the Embera Indian Village tour with Princess was very, very good (first ship tour we've taken in over 10 years).  My sisters, who had not been through the canal before, took the ferry through the whole canal, through Princess.  They enjoyed the tour a lot, but due to slow passage in the western locks, did not get back to the ship until 9 PM.

 

This was their 2nd Princess cruise (first was way back in 1995) and our 13th.  It was just average for us; they liked our recent NCL Getaway cruise better!

 

No tub chair in our balcony room, which we did not miss.  We had soap and lotion at our sink.  Still the same awful shampoo/conditioner combo, so I just bring extra conditioner.

 

My sisters upgraded to a suite, which they loved.

 

The staff was great as usual.  We noticed a definite decline in food quality, especially beef (I actually couldn't chew some of the cuts) and in buffet offerings.  Of course, still plenty to eat!  Did not come home hungry.:)  

 

Entertainment was average; the last two production shows, On the Bayou and The Secret Silk were great, the others so-so.  Guest stars average.  Noticed that there were no lecturers on this cruise.  Also no movies in the Princess Theater.  I also really missed movies on demand in the stateroom; they had a good selection of movies, just hard to catch the beginning of one.  I know not important to many people, but we like movies!

 

The timing of Movies Under the Stars made it difficult to eat, go to a show and watch a movie, since the movies mostly started at 9:30 on MUTS.

 

The ship was strangely uncrowded, which is not a bad thing, of course.  We could always find tables in the buffet easily, never once had to wait for a table in Anytime dining, and many venues were just really bare--I enjoyed all the extra space!  We could always find a deck chair, too.  I've actually never been on such an uncrowded ship.

 

Very old crowd (we're 74) as expected for a Princess cruise in early December.  Weather was good, port hours were good, all in all a nice time.  But, step up the food quality, Princess!  Noticeable cut backs there!

 

 

 

 

[dog]

Thanks for sharing. I'm booked on this ship/cruise for March 2020. Very few on our roll call.