Do not sail on the Island Princess

[MsTabbyKats]

8 minutes ago, Treasure Hunter said:

I did well on Lucky Larry Fisherman and they had four machines ( packed every night) that had the four games ( Buffalo, Miss Kitty, Panda, etc.) that I hit the Grand on the bonus wheel.

Thanks....I'm an early morning player (DH sleeps late) so I shouldn't have a problem.  I miss those classics!

[555]

2 hours ago, Treasure Hunter said:

I am the original poster. We were in a large aft suite ( added in the retrofit) and did not want to move. The bulk of the problems occurred aft from deck 7 thru 14. There was no hot water ( except one morning briefly) for half of a 10 day cruise and no toilet one day and no a/c one day.  I showered in cold water twice by standing outside the shower. Hysterical  to watch. Once I was sent to the spa but they had no hot water and once our Steward’s supervisor took me to a Dolphin deck mini suite to shower. All guest services people were lovely and tried their best to make the situation better but they agreed that the dry dock should have been moved up. The cowardly Hotel Director refused to meet with us. Everyone one affected received $25 pp OBC. The last day of the cruise we received $600 future cruise credit. I still had a great time, but I wouldn’t go on the Island again. The whole guts of the ship is rotten. 

You've learned a valuable lesson. 

[Mike07]

3 hours ago, Treasure Hunter said:

I am the original poster. We were in a large aft suite ( added in the retrofit) and did not want to move. The bulk of the problems occurred aft from deck 7 thru 14. There was no hot water ( except one morning briefly) for half of a 10 day cruise and no toilet one day and no a/c one day.  I showered in cold water twice by standing outside the shower. Hysterical  to watch. Once I was sent to the spa but they had no hot water and once our Steward’s supervisor took me to a Dolphin deck mini suite to shower. All guest services people were lovely and tried their best to make the situation better but they agreed that the dry dock should have been moved up. The cowardly Hotel Director refused to meet with us. Everyone one affected received $25 pp OBC. The last day of the cruise we received $600 future cruise credit. I still had a great time, but I wouldn’t go on the Island again. The whole guts of the ship is rotten. 

 

 

Are you going to sail with Princess ever again?

[Treasure Hunter]

Yes we are booked on the Enchanted for January and after my casino play, I hope to receive a nice offer for the fall. I wish Princess sailed year round from NY. 35 cruises on Princess since 1990. I’m not giving up after one turkey. 

[HMSDingy]

On 6/11/2024 at 2:50 PM, sultan_sfo said:

We also like Island Princess. We have also experienced "inconveniences" on Island Princess but we did not let them impact our enjoyment of the cruise. For us, Princess was "wonderful" in dealing with these inconveniences. And for those with weak bladders, the Guest Service, (NOT HGM), who have a list of open cabins, will move them to another cabin. BTW, I never believe all the postings on cruise critic.

I agree with your last sentence. That's my post.

[555]

2 hours ago, Treasure Hunter said:

Yes we are booked on the Enchanted for January and after my casino play, I hope to receive a nice offer for the fall. I wish Princess sailed year round from NY. 35 cruises on Princess since 1990. I’m not giving up after one turkey. 

You'll find the Enchanted so much different.

I'm sure you'll be pleased. 

 

[Treasure Hunter]

We love the Regal so I am looking forward to the Enchanted. 

[rbelshaw]

On 6/12/2024 at 2:38 PM, Mike07 said:

would pay to see the Princess clientele, or any cruise line clientele, have no flushable toilets and make ranger cakes all day.

 "Ranger Cakes"? 

[geoherb]

On 6/17/2024 at 9:10 AM, Treasure Hunter said:

Hahaha. Go to the casino ( I know it’s small and dark with old machines ) but I hit a grand jackpot which was one of the reasons I enjoyed the cruise. Nick, Cynthia and the other young asst cruise directors do a great trivia.

 

Trivia was a bit of fun, but having to play against professionals sort of spoiled it on this cruise. The team that usually won was made up of the first, third, and fourth place couples (2,000+ days, 1,200+ days, and 1,000+ days on Princess cruises). They keep notebooks of all the trivia questions and answers. The one time they did poorly, they admitted to not having seen those questions before.

[JamieLogical]

8 hours ago, geoherb said:

 

Trivia was a bit of fun, but having to play against professionals sort of spoiled it on this cruise. The team that usually won was made up of the first, third, and fourth place couples (2,000+ days, 1,200+ days, and 1,000+ days on Princess cruises). They keep notebooks of all the trivia questions and answers. The one time they did poorly, they admitted to not having seen those questions before.

 

I don't even know what the fun would be in going to trivia on so many sailings just to hear the same questions over and over. When I have done B2Bs and questions were repeated on the later sailings, I would just not participate because it's not fun to basically win by cheating.

[Treasure Hunter]

I had no idea! I just thought they were smart. But 20 right answers every time ! Duh. 

[vjmatty]

48 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I don't even know what the fun would be in going to trivia on so many sailings just to hear the same questions over and over. When I have done B2Bs and questions were repeated on the later sailings, I would just not participate because it's not fun to basically win by cheating.

The last cruise I was on, where people were getting a little testy about the right answers at trivia, the entertainment staff had to remind everyone that they were playing for a key chain. Everybody calmed down immediately, realizing how ridiculous they were being. Maybe these frequent flyers are making money on eBay selling cruise line swag.

 

The most competitive and aggressive trivia I’ve ever seen is on Cunard ships. Their prizes are vouchers, and on the last day of the cruise you can use them to shop for some higher quality items like an umbrella, wooden jewelry box and pretty glassware. Even the T-shirts were decent. I currently have three umbrellas, two boxes and I don’t know how many shirts. I don’t know if they still use that system but those sure were the good old days. 
 

 

[geoherb]

13 minutes ago, Treasure Hunter said:

I had no idea! I just thought they were smart. But 20 right answers every time ! Duh. 

 

It's laziness on the cruise director's staff. They reuse trivias over and over. They borrow questions and whole trivias from others. Jeopardy manages to come up with 61 questions per episode (plus 12 not shown during the show). It would be simple for them to consult the Jeopardy archive to come up with plenty of trivias without reusing the same questions over and over. 

 

My team did really well on the cruise-long trivia two years ago because the assistant cruise director who ran it came up with original questions instead of reusing ones from previous trivias. It helped that the internet on that cruise sucked as well, so people couldn't cheat on their phones.

[555]

8 minutes ago, vjmatty said:

The most competitive and aggressive trivia I’ve ever seen is on Cunard ships. Their prizes are vouchers, and on the last day of the cruise you can use them to shop for some higher quality items like an umbrella, wooden jewelry box and pretty glassware. Even the T-shirts were decent. I currently have three umbrellas, two boxes and I don’t know how many shirts. I don’t know if they still use that system but those sure were the good old days. 
 

 

Maybe that's one of the main reasons why Princess reduced their prizes to only coasters. 😄 

[HotRoot]

18 minutes ago, vjmatty said:

The most competitive and aggressive trivia I’ve ever seen is on Cunard ships. Their prizes are vouchers, and on the last day of the cruise you can use them to shop for some higher quality items like an umbrella, wooden jewelry box and pretty glassware. Even the T-shirts were decent. I currently have three umbrellas, two boxes and I don’t know how many shirts. I don’t know if they still use that system but those sure were the good old days. 
 

 

Regent does the same.  They also give points (voucher) for games and karaoke, 

[Treasure Hunter]

So did Oceania where it is a blood sport. My sons mother-in-law carries a list of animal group names in her purse. I have a nice umbrella from that cruise!

[memoak]

3 hours ago, vjmatty said:

The last cruise I was on, where people were getting a little testy about the right answers at trivia, the entertainment staff had to remind everyone that they were playing for a key chain. Everybody calmed down immediately, realizing how ridiculous they were being. Maybe these frequent flyers are making money on eBay selling cruise line swag.

 

The most competitive and aggressive trivia I’ve ever seen is on Cunard ships. Their prizes are vouchers, and on the last day of the cruise you can use them to shop for some higher quality items like an umbrella, wooden jewelry box and pretty glassware. Even the T-shirts were decent. I currently have three umbrellas, two boxes and I don’t know how many shirts. I don’t know if they still use that system but those sure were the good old days. 
 

 

We gave up on trivia years ago due to the aggressive teams

[azbirdmom]

13 hours ago, geoherb said:

 

Trivia was a bit of fun, but having to play against professionals sort of spoiled it on this cruise. The team that usually won was made up of the first, third, and fourth place couples (2,000+ days, 1,200+ days, and 1,000+ days on Princess cruises). They keep notebooks of all the trivia questions and answers. The one time they did poorly, they admitted to not having seen those questions before.

We used to enjoy trivia but have experienced what you did and don't go much any more.  It's really not much fun when people are so driven to win that they go to these lengths.  We were on a South America cruise 10+ years ago and joined with two other couples we had met on CC to play.  We were always coming in second to a specific team and then all of a sudden we started winning.  Turns out there was a woman who was on B2B2B2B on the winning team and she disembarked early.  They had the exact same questions in the exact same order on each leg so she knew all of the answers.  She hadn't written down the answers so after her departure the team didn't do well at all.  Talk about a lazy CD staff!

[JGmf]

On 6/17/2024 at 8:58 AM, Stuart Suss said:

I am disappointed. I was looking forward to kayak service between the staterooms and the dining rooms based upon the posts in this thread. 

 

Please clarify if you get a chance....thanks.

[BDevilCruiser]

16 hours ago, geoherb said:

 

Trivia was a bit of fun, but having to play against professionals sort of spoiled it on this cruise. The team that usually won was made up of the first, third, and fourth place couples (2,000+ days, 1,200+ days, and 1,000+ days on Princess cruises). They keep notebooks of all the trivia questions and answers. The one time they did poorly, they admitted to not having seen those questions before.

Was on the Sapphire last month.  We had one team (that was on the ship for the past ~40 days) that was recording answers, but were not super competitive and were doing it more for their knowledge.  So the sessions were pretty fun.

 

Last night on the cruise, I was solo (my usual partners were doing something else) and I tied for first.  I had enough coasters and stuff, so I "tanked" the tie-breaker.  The cruise staffer gave me a prize bag anyway.  It was a Princess string bag with a drink bottle and coaster inside (so I thought.)  Since my checked bag was already gone, I just threw the bag into my carry-on backpack.

 

Next day going through security at the Anchorage airport, they pulled the backpack and kept checking various pockets.  Finally, they came to me and asked if I knew what they were looking for.  I didn't so they described a pointed item with a circular top.  I realized that the prize bag also included a Princess wine stopper!  Fortunately, the TSA staff had a good laugh about it (I don't think I would have gotten the same response from the TSA agents in, say, Newark, or as you experienced, Philly!)

 

[Eleanor Rigby 14]

I guess we got away from the topic! But I absolutely love trivia! I have no idea why someone would get any joy in playing a game where they know the questions/answers ahead of time from a previous sailing. True trivia enthusiasts are not in it for the physical prize, no matter how big or small…we’re in it for the GLORY of winning…knowing a lot of stuff most people might not know or remember, because it’s really not that important anyway probably. We’re your Jeopardy fans…who maybe aren’t quite at that level.

 

i have experienced a few interesting incidents at cruise trivia over the years.

 

1) Did you ever go to morning trivia and then also go to afternoon trivia except this time it’s a different host and somehow they ask a few of the same questions from the morning trivia? And then how embarrassed you are when you don’t remember the correct answers from those same questions from the morning session? It’s gotten worse as the years go by. Still fun though.

 

2) On one two week cruise I heard of someone who formed their trivia team in advance (nothing wrong with that) with each person selected representing various fields they excel at. These were most likely random CC members with special emphasis on having a few citizens from different countries on the team…it makes sense I guess. Unfortunately when certain people on the team did not follow through early on with correct answers in their areas of expertise, they got “fired” and replaced! How sad it must be to tell your family and friends back home that you got let go while on vacation. 

3) I was on a two week cruise where I was part of a team playing progressive trivia where scores continue to be added up until the last night of the cruise. We had a team organizer who was very aggressive at wanting to win. My team did very well…we were consistently in second place. Two days before the end of the cruise we were made aware that the trivia topic the next day would be World Flags, my worst possible subject matter. Our team leader started pointing at each one of us, giving us a certain continent to study that evening (I got Africa…I should have volunteered for North America now that I think back on it). One woman put her foot down and refused to study on holiday. Then others refused. Mutiny broke out. Our team disbanded. It’s a sad tale. We probably wouldn’t have won anyway.