Island Princess- Good or Bad?

[eclue]

42 minutes ago, Teechur said:

Island has an extensive library. The largest I've seen on a cruise ship. I found many new, popular titles on board, as well as classics. Foot traffic passes through the library, so it is not always a quiet place to read.

Thank you..that is great. I never read in the library anyway. I like to sit out on the deck and read..

[TRLD]

Was on the Island for the Search for the northern lights cruise. Have been on both the Island and her sister ship, Coral Princess. It is unfortunate how the butchered the Island when they took out one public entertainment venue, the stern entertainment lounge), increased passenger count converting that space to more cabins, moved the gym from its previous spot with its great sea views, to a closed in area inside of the added cabins. It is certainly not as good as Coral. The loss of the stern public area was certainly noticeable in the scheduling of events.

 

While it is a smaller ship the changes are a major negative. 

[Fishwife2016]

This question is off topic but...what time are the evening shows?  Getting ready to reserve some dining times and want to make sure I leave enough time between dinner and a show.  Thank you in advance.

[trbarton]

On 2/13/2024 at 6:43 PM, In Toronto said:

We are considering a segment on the Island Princess World Cruise.  I just read a lot of really poor reviews of this ship.  It kind of makes me think no to booking it.  But, on the other hand, surely it can't be that bad if there are guests on it for many, many months.  

Any info on this?

Thanks

I’ve cruised on the Islander several times, plus many of the other Princess ships, l’ve got 35 cruises on Princess, & have never been on any Princess ships that I would never sail on again.
 

You’ll love that ship.
 

Tom😀 

[Nebr.cruiser]

We ;have sailed on it once, 15 times on other ships.  It's our least favorite ship, although we still had a good tim--we've never had a bad cruise on more than 50, some better than others of course.

 

.  I mostly miss the International Cafe and did notice it seemed more crowded.  Unless a great deal or itinerary, we do avoid this ship.

[SargassoPirate]

I'm on the Island now.  I've cruised on the Coral twice, so the Island felt very familiar on boarding day.  I do miss the Vista lounge and the full wraparound promenade - and whoever thought replacing the Vista with cabins was a good idea should be busted back to designing bus benches for a living.

 

That being said, I never have trouble finding a quiet spot to read - something that's disappearing on the larger ships as somebody thinks we need to be blasted with music everywhere.

 

The Plaza is a nice area to relax and listen to some acoustic guitar or strings in the evening and able to actually converse with fellow passengers.

 

The casino is smoke free and this smoke does not migrate from the casino to other areas.

 

The Melanoma Deck is plagued by chair hogs with no enforcement, but I prefer to remain cancer free and leather-skin free, so I avoid that area in favor of the solarium pool.

 

The ship is in good shape and looks better than some younger ships I've been on.  The crew is constantly doing maintenance and cleaning.

 

The food in the MDR is second to none, so much so in fact that I sometimes eat all three meals there rather that compete with the walking dead, zombie apocalypse crowd in the Horizon Court.

 

In a nutshell, it's a wonderful ship and I would rather sail on the Island or the Coral in favor of the newer ships.

 

JMHO

 

 

[PacnGoNow]

7 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

 

The casino is smoke free and this smoke does not migrate from the casino to other areas.

 

Not clear to me.  The Island Casino is no smoking?  TIA

 

[eclue]

1 hour ago, PacnGoNow said:

Not clear to me.  The Island Casino is no smoking?  TIA

 

If that is true, that is wonderful news as we spend a lot of time in the casino and cannot stand all the smoke.

[PacnGoNow]

6 minutes ago, eclue said:

If that is true, that is wonderful news as we spend a lot of time in the casino and cannot stand all the smoke.

IDK.  I thought the slot machine area was still smoking.  But,

did that change?

Thats why I asked @SargassoPirate for clarification.

 

[LACruiser88]

10 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

and whoever thought replacing the Vista with cabins was a good idea should be busted back to designing bus benches for a living.

FWIW, the bone-headed VP that convinced others to butcher the ship was fired about a year after the butchering.  The original plan was to do the same thing to the Coral.  The result was so bad that they nixed that idea and sent the VP packing!

[memoak]

11 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

I'm on the Island now.  I've cruised on the Coral twice, so the Island felt very familiar on boarding day.  I do miss the Vista lounge and the full wraparound promenade - and whoever thought replacing the Vista with cabins was a good idea should be busted back to designing bus benches for a living.

 

That being said, I never have trouble finding a quiet spot to read - something that's disappearing on the larger ships as somebody thinks we need to be blasted with music everywhere.

 

The Plaza is a nice area to relax and listen to some acoustic guitar or strings in the evening and able to actually converse with fellow passengers.

 

The casino is smoke free and this smoke does not migrate from the casino to other areas.

 

The Melanoma Deck is plagued by chair hogs with no enforcement, but I prefer to remain cancer free and leather-skin free, so I avoid that area in favor of the solarium pool.

 

The ship is in good shape and looks better than some younger ships I've been on.  The crew is constantly doing maintenance and cleaning.

 

The food in the MDR is second to none, so much so in fact that I sometimes eat all three meals there rather that compete with the walking dead, zombie apocalypse crowd in the Horizon Court.

 

In a nutshell, it's a wonderful ship and I would rather sail on the Island or the Coral in favor of the newer ships.

 

JMHO

 

 

I have not seen a non smoking casino on any Princess ship. There are always some slots where smoking is allowed unless they are sailing in an area that does not allow it such as Australia 

[SargassoPirate]

On 2/17/2024 at 3:56 AM, PacnGoNow said:

Not clear to me.  The Island Casino is no smoking?  TIA

 

The Island Princess casino is pretty much open to the deck 6 corridor and I have never smelled any smoke migrating from the casino and as open as it is, I would smell it.  Churchill's on deck 7 just off the atrium is a popular smoking spot and usually busy.  The only other place smoking is allowed is an outside area on deck 15 on the starboard side.

 

Seems like the Patter had some information about the smoking venues, but being a non-smoker I don't recall the language.  I'll see if I can get a photo to post.

 

 

 

Edited February 17 by SargassoPirate

[PacnGoNow]

30 minutes ago, SargassoPirate said:

The Island Princess casino is pretty much open to the deck 6 corridor and I have never smelled any smoke migrating from the casino and as open as it is, I would smell it.  Churchill's on deck 7 just off the atrium is a popular smoking spot and usually busy.  The only other place smoking is allowed is an outside area on deck 15 on the starboard side.

 

Seems like the Patter had some information about the smoking venues, but being a non-smoker I don't recall the language.  I'll see if I can get a photo to post.

 

 

 

Good to know.  Thanks for the reply.

[SargassoPirate]

Since I was up early this morning, I went on a quest to investigate the casino smoking issue.  

 

Here's what the Patter said on the first day of the WC.

 

[SargassoPirate]

I walked through the casino and could not find any slots or anywhere else designated for smoking.  There are some slots back in one corner, but I didn't see any signs.  There was a faint odor of old cigarette smoke in that area.  I didn't see any ash trays either, so I don't know how they handle smokers there.  Maybe I'll check it out some afternoon or evening and see what I can observe.

 

Here's a pic of that corner area with slots.

 

 

[SargassoPirate]

The casino is adjacent to the Explorer's Lounge where the P&E event is held every night.  I've never caught even a whiff of smoke when walking by the casino and  that's at least twice each evening.

 

Here's a pic to show how open the casino is to the deck 6 corridor.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 17 by SargassoPirate

[Clek]

19 hours ago, Fishwife2016 said:

This question is off topic but...what time are the evening shows?  Getting ready to reserve some dining times and want to make sure I leave enough time between dinner and a show.  Thank you in advance.

The shows are at 7:30 and 9:30. We are on the Island now and we get to the theater before 7 to get good seats. The 7:30 show is always packed. The 9:30 show is not as packed. I think half the ship is in bed by 9:00 so that is why the late show has more empty seats.

[Fishwife2016]

1 minute ago, Clek said:

The shows are at 7:30 and 9:30. We are on the Island now and we get to the theater before 7 to get good seats. The 7:30 show is always packed. The 9:30 show is not as packed. I think half the ship is in bed by 9:00 so that is why the late show has more empty seats.

Thank you so much for this information, greatly appreciated.  I hope you are enjoying your cruise!

[PacnGoNow]

22 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

The casino is adjacent to the Explorer's Lounge where the P&E event is held every night.  I've never caught even a whiff of smoke when walking by the casino and  that's at least twice each evening.

 

Here's a pic to show how open the casino is to the deck 6 corridor.

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much for your super sleuth investigation!  🥸

 

Appreciate it!

[SargassoPirate]

22 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Thank you so much for your super sleuth investigation!  🥸

 

Appreciate it!

I dropped by the slots in the backroom area twice yesterday - a sea day - once in the afternoon and again in the evening.   Each time there were maybe three to four people at the slots actively playing and smoking.  They each had a ash tray, but there were no other ash trays visible.  And, there was nobody just sitting around smoking and not playing.

 

So much better than other Princess ships where smoke from the Casino drifts into the Piazza and Crooners and the staff refuse to close the doors to prevent it.  We enjoy Crooners, but not when it may as well be a smoking venue.

[M5M]

Wondering if there is a Suite Lounge on the Island Princess? Or any controlled-access lounge?  We enjoyed the concierge lounge on the Royal Princess, but don't see any mention of it on Island....?

[Nodakboiler]

We are doing a TA on the Island and wondering if they have any of the casual dining restaurants listed in the PLUS package. We couldn't seem to find any of the names listed. 

Also are the laundromats self-serve with detergent or do we bring some. What is the cost to use? TIA for any help.

[SargassoPirate]

On 2/18/2024 at 1:33 PM, M5M said:

Wondering if there is a Suite Lounge on the Island Princess? Or any controlled-access lounge?  We enjoyed the concierge lounge on the Royal Princess, but don't see any mention of it on Island....?

No separate suite lounge, but Elite, Platinums, and Suite guests have a dedicatedly "lounge" event from 4:30 to 6:30 in the Explorers Lounge on deck 6.  They setup a small buffet with some excellent nibbles and often have a piano player.  

 

Suites also have an exclusive breakfast in Sabatini's each morning.