Island Princess to Hawaii

[DMorris]

I hope we make it, for our 1:30PM flight home.

 

We'll be the only ship in port that day, so I would think that should help.

 

 

Minette

Let us know how it goes. We are looking at booking a 1:00pm flight home from LAX...

[cruisingfreak]

Let us know how it goes. We are looking at booking a 1:00pm flight home from LAX...

 

 

I will let you know if we make it in time.

 

 

Minette

[Tallcruiser]

HI Ho,

I am sailing with you all 4/4/05. Good choice flying out of OC. There is less traffic going south to John Wayne. It is a Straight shot down the 405 from the ship. And the Airport is smaller and well organized.

We took this cruise last year. I am a local, so we have a car drop off and pick us up. You will be asked on your debarkation paper if you have an early flight or car picking you up. These are the people who have their "colors" called early to get off the ship. People with flights are first. You should have no problems making your flight. LAX is a nightmare. Locals don't even like to pick up and drop off there. You will like John Wayne.

[slgjhg]

Hi All,

 

This has been a very interesting thread to read. We have a dear friend who was on this cruise and had similar comments about the em/dis situation. He said it was really terrible.

 

Those of you on the cruise, were any of you bridge players? Did you hear anything about the bridge players?

 

There is another thread going which was started by (I believe) the current CD of the Island. It is an interesting thread because so many people know this fellow. It is unclear to me though whether he was your CD or the 2nd team was in place.

 

Do those of you who were on the cruise, remember the CD's name and what were your impressions?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Regards,

 

Shannon

[dobie]

What is the name of the thread you are talking about? Thanks...

[slgjhg]

Hi There,

 

If this works, this is the thread I was referring to. ISLAND PRINCESS Cruise Director? (That was not what I ment to do.) It's now on the 2nd page of threads.

 

Regards,

 

Shannon

[dobie]

Thanks!

[raven22355]

Minette,

How did you go about finding out that you would be the only ship in port on this day?

We will be cruising Jan 4, 05! SOOOON!

 

Thanks

[Cruisin' Chick]

Thank you for the review!!! We're going to be on the Island exactly a year from now so I'm watching this posts closely to get a clue on the weather enroute to the Islands and back. Sorry you had such problems.

When we disembarked on the Sapphire last August it was a royal mess. Pouring rain in Seattle and a mob scene to get to the land transportation. I checked the Princess website last week and couldn't find a customer service email address, just snail mail. I plan to write and suggest maybe a number system (like in bakeries): when your color is called you can get a number while still on ship if you need a taxi. Then by the time you go thru customs and get your baggage, you can go straight to a taxi line and wait for your number to be called. More civilized, I think.

We won't need that for the Island Princess. We'll either use our car or have a shuttle service pick us up. But it would be nice if the cruiseline makes things easier for their passengers to get off the ship.

[twocats]

Try this for port schedules:

 

 

http://www.cruisecal.com/dnn/

 

 

 

Have a great cruise!!

[tony europe]

hello cruisemate,

 

try this link as well

 

http://www.pcsterminals.com/

 

we will be cruising jan 04

 

hope to see on board

[raven22355]

Thank you for the link fellow cruisemate. Looks like we are the only ship in that day, hopefully less congestion! Faster to get on the ship and start "maxin & relaxin"!

 

See you Jan 4

[NorcalGuy]

OK, I'm probably missing something here, but I'll ask. Why do passengers on a ship that originates in LA, goes to Hawaii, and returns to LA, need to go through immigration? Did you ever leave the US?

[pringle]

OK, I'm probably missing something here, but I'll ask. Why do passengers on a ship that originates in LA, goes to Hawaii, and returns to LA, need to go through immigration? Did you ever leave the US?

Because due to this little rule called the "Jones Act", any ship that does not have the staff totally made up from Americans have to visit a foreign port, which in our case on the Island Princess was Ensenada in Mexico for a whole two hours! We were allowed to get off if we wanted but many cruises just sit offshore for an hour & that is enough to qualify as a visit to a foreign port.

[LARGIN]

Because due to this little rule called the "Jones Act", any ship that does not have the staff totally made up from Americans have to visit a foreign port, which in our case on the Island Princess was Ensenada in Mexico for a whole two hours! We were allowed to get off if we wanted but many cruises just sit offshore for an hour & that is enough to qualify as a visit to a foreign port.

It is called the Passenger Service Act. I think the Jones act relates to cargo...

[wka_orlando]

The Island seems doomed to the over 65 set (nothing personal)... We took it from San Fran to Ft. Lauderdale last year and the ship was a morge by 10pm and had the same problem in the shows with people leaving early.

The comedians had it correct however... the rush was to get up to the buffet line and get a good spot!!! :-) Say buffet around that crowd and it is like shooting a gun in an airport. Just drop down and hold on until the flood goes by... :-)

Had to get Allister to make an announcement on the morning show for all under 40 couples to meet someplace so we could find people to hang out with from our peer group. Ended up with a grand total of four couples and a few 'came along to keep my mother/father company' stringers....

It was 15 days and the ride was nice and the ports fun. Really think they need to re-evaluate the idea of taking 'scooters' on tenders. No offense but do not think it is fair to hold everyone up while they try to load/unload those things in bouncy water...

During the trip, I was given to understand that five people left in 'the bag' and twice that evacuated... Think they need to give stronger warning to the folks who are just not up to walking on shifting floors and who no longer have an immune system that is up to less than perfect conditions...

In any event, whenever the ride is longer than 7 days, the age group gains 20 years. Look forward to a retirment when I can take 20+ days rides to interesting places.

[bobbyd6363]

wka_orlando - thanks for the post but I have a question. Since the age range is so much older for 7+ day cruises, do you think it is worth it to take this cruise on the Island Princess?

[ho]

I sure hope so. We are going in April on the Island and we are in our early 50's. It might be nice to be the young ones for a change. ;) With the kid's back from college break we both feel old right now.

[bobbyd6363]

Ho - I agree with you, I too hope the cruise is worth it!
I actually liked this cruise and the cruise line because I thought that with school starting rite before our cruise date (23 Oct 05) that there wouldnt be many kids because I know as a parent it would be a cold day in hell before I took my kids out of school for over 2 weeks!! Not to mention how much it would cost to bring them! Also I agree that being 41 now and soon to turn 42 (on our upcoming Island Princess cruise next year), that we will be damn near the youngest people on board!! Call me a SPRING CHICKEN!:D

[Cruisin' Chick]

What do you mean by "scooters"? Was this on the Hawaii trip?

[Mrbp1]

We were on the 12/5/2004 - 12/20/2004 Hawaii trip on Island Princess. I have to say I was impressed EXCEPT for room service and the front desk.

Room service on one day just threw away our order but could not bother to let us know. Another time they just did not show. Finally, we gave up trying to contact room service after 45 rings. The majority of passengers we spoke with had the same problems. A case of champange was not delivered to a suite for over 3 days even though it was ordered prior to boarding the Island Princess.

The front desk staff was of no help. They just kept on putting your phone call over to another front desk staff person. We never did receive a final bill because someone that was suppose to deliver them to everyone on deck 11 the morning of departure just decided not to do their job. The front desk again did not care or offer any solutions.


We did speak with the officer over room service and the front desk but nothing changed at all.

We will be sending a letter to Princess but I doubt it will make any difference. It really is sad that room service was so poor on this cruise because everyone else and everything else was excellent!

[Splinter]

I agree. We had horrible room service in November too. Ordered tea, got coffee. Ordered miso soup, got matzo ball! It took 2 hours to get lunch one day. We finally stopped using it and just ran up to the Horizon Court and brought food back to our room. We saw lots of others doing the same thing.

[Oregon81]

[url="http://boards.cruisecritic.com/member.php?u=108497"]Mrbp1[/url]: How was the weather on your 12/5 cruise?

[Mrbp1]

:mad: Oh man the weather was not good the first couple of days. Over 50% of the passengers and crew was sick the 1st day. Dramamine did not work for my partner as it just made him sicker. After being sick all night and all day we did see the doctor at 5:00 pm.

Wow, what a difference. One shot and some pills and he was better in 1 hour. The cost for the doctor visit, on board, the shot and pills was $93 which was not bad at all. After that the weather kept on getting better. It was beautiful in Hawaii and remained that way for the trip home. Yes, it was windy and the temperature did drop as we got closer to LA but not bad. :cool:

I would recommend you wear the wrist bands or ear patches and do take dramamine along if you need it. If the dramamine does not work go see the doctor right away.

[wka_orlando]

You folks are hitting my typical experience with Princess as a whole. The desk staff is almost always usless.... Just the culture I guess. Room service has also been less than expected. The food options are few, it is usually cold and takes a long time to arrive.

We gave up on it on the Island about half way through with the exception of getting juice and cerial for breakfast which did always arrive on schedule...

The Grand was just as bad in Jan.

Strange thing is they have a really nice dinning experience in the main dinning rooms. Room service is probably something they do not want to encourage due to time and trouble. Easier for them to drive you to the buffet. :-)

The rest of our experiences on the Island were very good and would sail on her again. It is just a fact of life that Princess is not a very responsive company in the customer relations area even reaching the point of total indifference to customers regardless of the seriousness of the problem.

As long as you do not need them for anything, the rest of the staff were very nice and proffesional. Good entertainment (not what is was in years past but still good) and with one very stinky exception (B.O. extreme) all of our stewards have been cool.

The ship had issues when first launched last year do to poor construction in France but they fixed most of the problems at sea during the first months.

Go and have fun!!!