Island Princess - library?

[beachbum6264]

DH would like to know if there is a library on Island. Or should he just load up the Kindle?  

[Thrak]

I don't even know if there is a library on Island. It's not on the deck plans. Even if there is one though the selection would most likely be abysmal. I haven't seen any kind of decent selection in a Princess library. I take a ton of books on my tablet and phone. Much easier and not heavy for flights. Island is missing a few things - such as Vines and IC. No reason it shouldn't be missing a library as well.

Edited March 6, 2020 by Thrak

[sunny88]

1 hour ago, beachbum6264 said:

DH would like to know if there is a library on Island. Or should he just load up the Kindle?  

We were on Island last summer, she did have a nice library on deck 8, same lay out as the one on Coral.   I do not know their books selections, but its a very pleasant place to sit and read, the chairs were always occupied every time I went by the Library.

I go there to pick Sudoku every day.

[Colo Cruiser]

Yes 1 of the best (views/location) on Princess with nice easy chairs/windows over looking the sea.

[Thrak]

My bad. I forgot that Island and Coral have public areas on Dolphin Deck. I only sailed Island once - for 7 days - and we both caught horrendous colds the second day onboard. The whole ship was sick. However, I sailed Coral twice - once for 17 days and once for 19 days - so one would think I would have remembered. Sigh... Must be getting old.

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

My bad. I forgot that Island and Coral have public areas on Dolphin Deck. I only sailed Island once - for 7 days - and we both caught horrendous colds the second day onboard. The whole ship was sick. However, I sailed Coral twice - once for 17 days and once for 19 days - so one would think I would have remembered. Sigh... Must be getting old.

Emerald Deck - mid-ship.

[flamomo]

With the exception of the Pacific Princess, I always load up the Kindle, because the libraries, as a source of a books from an  exchange shelf, let alone books for borrowing, on the other ships is iffy. We were on the Regal recently, and there were many empty shelves and more table games on the shelves than books.

 

In contrast, the Pacific's library is cozily gorgeous, very inviting, plenty of comfortable seating, and has an enormous selection of all sorts of topics that can be borrowed, and several shelves of exchange books which is very popular, and heavily used. Even if one is not looking for a book to read, that library deserves to be visited. It's a treasure!

[pilgrimduke]

I'd load up the Kindle.  We were on the Island Princess in October.  My impression was that if I needed something to read, I could find something that would be OK, but it wouldn't have been my first choice.  My wife was less impressed than I was.  It depends on what your interests are, of course.  The selection seemed more geared to fiction and there were some more literary selections--as well as popular fiction.

 

[beachbum6264]

Thanks to all who replied - I will load up his Kindle, just in case. He likes 'real books' better, but the Kindle will be ready if needed. My Kindle is always ready to go!

[bookmama22]

Was on the Regal Princess at the beginning of Feb. The library can only be described as "library without books" and that became a joke among the passengers. It looked as if the books that had been left behind by passengers were thrown into the cabinets, no order or organization. I found one book that was readable so glad I had my Kindle loaded with good books. There were lots of puzzles and board games and I think on about 5 days they had Suduko. My husband always likes to stop and pick that up. 

 

Spoke to another passenger and she told me that this seems to be a trend and that the new ship, the Sky has no library at all.  i can only compare that to the incredible library from our HAL cruise in 2009 and more recently the Norwegian Breakaway which had a nice selection of books for both adults and picture books for the youngest passengers. Very charming to watch young families come in and read to their toddlers for an hour or so.

 

 

[Waynetor]

Just off the Island yesterday - as reported in my live from thread the library is quite large and includes table to play games.  Around half the cupboards were bare of books.  

 

There are more reference books than regular books.  the reference books are not to be taken from the library.   There is a section for guest to donate books and for other guest to take them.  I noticed a couple days before the end of our 58-day cruise a lot of books had been donated. 

 

There are daily puzzles /trivia sheets to take.

[flamomo]

8 hours ago, Waynetor said:

Just off the Island yesterday - as reported in my live from thread the library is quite large and includes table to play games.  Around half the cupboards were bare of books.  

 

There are more reference books than regular books.  the reference books are not to be taken from the library.   There is a section for guest to donate books and for other guest to take them.  I noticed a couple days before the end of our 58-day cruise a lot of books had been donated. 

 

There are daily puzzles /trivia sheets to take.

I have found that embarkation day can be a good time to look for books on the exchange shelf ….. books that were left behind by departing cruisers at the end of their cruise.

[Scorpio41]

15 minutes ago, flamomo said:

I have found that embarkation day can be a good time to look for books on the exchange shelf ….. books that were left behind by departing cruisers at the end of their cruise.

 

I agree. I have picked up a few books over time I would never have considered reading and thoroughly enjoyed them. I often take books I've finished to leave on board.

 

I won't be doing this during the current health concerns.

 

Edited March 9, 2020 by Scorpio41
add info

[Markanddonna]

I was on a cruise in mid-Feb and the ship had removed all the books and games from the cases "due to health considerations."  They still had self serve in the buffets, but took out books...

 

I suspect most books from ship's libraries are used to hold loungers for chair hogs anyway.