Jsim2011

On 4/1/2022 at 9:14 PM, TeaBag said:

Are there any other available cabins in the category you have been assigned to that are not obstructed?  You can ask to be reassigned if there are.  Which ship and sailing is this?

We were told there wasn't anything in the category so we have paid for an upgrade.

We sailed on Equinox over New Year about 3 years ago,  it   It was wonderful.  New Year's Eve was a lot of fun.

We just recently booked a cruise and chose the verandah guarantee and were disappointed to discover we had been allocated an obstructed view.  😞

Disney,  by far.

Thank you so much for this review.

We booked this cruise for New Year 2019 but having read some negative reviews about the Island I was having doubts.

Your review has totally reassured me and I am now excited and looking forward to this cruise.

Thank you for so many positive replies,  I am feeling better after reading through them.      

4 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

OP: did you see the Pacific Princess Panama Canal on 1/5/20? FLL to San Pedro, CA.

The Pacific is a great ship. Absolutely NOT crowded.

No,   I didn't see that one but we want to be on a ship on New Year's Eve.  

We booked Island Princess Panama Canal,  Dec 30th and I am having second thoughts.

We looked for a cruise over New Year with an interesting itinerary and Island Princess Panama Canal seemed to fit the bill.

However,  I have read such mixed reviews that I am now having second thoughts and wondering if we should cancel.   The itinerary still interest us,   and while we are not looking for 24 hour party atmosphere,  we are hoping for a fun and lively ship, especially on New Year's Eve.

ps:   I had some doubts before booking having read some reviews,  but husband convinced me,  but have now read far more reviews while researching ports etc, and the doubts are back.

thanks for the replies.  

We are thinking of booking Island Princess Panama Canal Dec 30 2019 Cruise.      We have only sailed Princess once before and that was on Royal.   Island Princess is a much older ship and we are wondering if we might be disappointed.

Would love to hear from anyone that has sailed on here, especially this itinerary and also anyone who has sailed on her over the holidays.

thanks

I use Clarins skin care, cleanser, toner, and moisturiser.

Do Disney Cruise Line offer excursions in Galveston pre/post cruise?

thanks - hope so.

To be honest, I had heard that Princess was a step up from Royal Caribbean (as someone else mentioned in this thread), I think that is why my expectations were so high.

I don't think that one is higher than the other, just different.

HAL's food was better than either Princess or Royal Caribbean, but HAL lost in other areas (for us).

I am sure that there is good and not so good with each line, some people love Carnival, but it isn't a cruiseline I am interested in trying.

I do want to stress again, the crew were lovely.

exactly :)

oh for crying our loud, it is light hearted, tongue in cheek post.

Cappriccio - I did see that thread, and I recognize how subjective it all is.

We sat at a table of 8, we didn't know the other people at the start of the cruise only one of the couple's at our table was happy with the food every night. On each of the nights, food was sent back by at least one person at the table.

Not all of the food was bad all of the time, but overall it was disappointing. Again, maybe it was because I had high expectations from some of the reviews I had read.

We are fortunate to live in city with lots of good/great restaurants - it's all relative and subjective.

I am not trying to offend or upset anyone, if someone else enjoyed the food - that's great!! Couldn;t be happier for that person. I am not here to tell them they are wrong.

Af-1 - The ship didn;t "wow" me - and I felt a lot of vibration and more movement than I have on other ships, maybe that is because of the flat hull, not sure.

One of my favourite things to do is to take photographs, and I couldn't find many good vantage points for taking photos from on this ship - that said, I am quite short so that didn't help. We did have a balcony and obviously I could take photos from there, but that is limited by where the cabin is.

The plaza area was very nice, and I loved the seawalk. The retreat area was also very nice. The spa.enclave was great.

Thanks, I probably will. No need for snark. I tried to give an honest and fair opinion. As I said, we all have different tastes.

Dear Royal,

A couple of years ago I confessed on this board to cheating on you, with HAL, and although I promised not to do it again, I am sorry to say temptation got the better of me once more.

To be completely honest, I took a break from cruising for a couple of years - took other vacations, but the sea called again, and although I heard the call, this time a Princess lured me away, to be specific a Royal Princess.

Once again it was the promise of an interesting itinerary, and it was interesting, I loved the beautiful islands we visited.

However Royal Princess let herself down in the culinary department. and although she was younger she was not as beautiful as you, or as entertaining. In fact, if truth be told, I found her a little dull.

Others warned me after my last confession, that I would probably cheat again - oh Royal, will I ever learn?

I want to be faithful Royal, I really do, but can you try a little harder with your itineraries? Please :D

So far we have sailed with three, Royal Caribbean, Holland America and Princess.

Royal Caribbean is our favorite, and we have sailed 5 times with them, one each with the other two lines (hmm, maybe 6 times with Royal Caribbean).

We prefer Royal Caribbean because it seems to have a broader mix of passengers, more families and because of that, we have found to the entertainment better suited to our tastes.

In general the food has been very good on Royal Caribbean too, although on the one HAL ship (Oosterdam), the food was also very good. the worse cruise food we have had was on Princess (Royal Princess).

We are thinking of trying Norwegian as they have a couple of itineraries that interest us.

Just back from our first cruise with Princess, (Royal Princess).

Have to say we were disappointed, maybe our expectations were too high as I had previously heard and read good things about Princess.

The food wasn't as good as I was expecting, although I realize that tastes are different. My husband and I both enjoy cooking, and we enjoy good food. We did have one or two really good entrees (we both liked the Curtis Stone fish stew), but there were more dishes that just didn't pass the taste test. Desserts were especially disappointing, not much choice, in fact most nights I passed on dessert. I did try the soufflé as it is a favorite of mine, but on two occasions it was almost scrambled egg, the third time on the menu though, it was good.

We were surprised to find that the dining room closed for breakfast by 9am, we turned up at 8.55am and told we had to go to the buffet. The bacon at the buffet was cold each day I tried it so I opted for freshly made omelet and that was good.

We did enjoy the food in Alfedo's

We tried the pub lunch one day, opting or fish and chips, it was without doubt the worse fish and chips we have ever tried. The fish was gray and rubbery instead of white and flakey.

I know that there will be people that disagree, to each their own.

The crew were lovely, nothing but praise for just about everyone we encountered.

The photographers were great, paid a lot of attention to detail when taking photos (not all cruise photographers do).

The entertainment was hit and miss (again, like food, this is subjective). What we enjoy, others might not.

We did like the Movies under the Stars,

We enjoyed the itinerary, especially Dominica, Grenada, Bonaire and Curacao.

Overall, we enjoyed our vacation (after all, we were on vacation, and whatever the circumstance, we make the best of it). Met some lovely people, saw some beautiful places, and had some great experiences.

Princess though is not for us.

This is not to say there is anything drastically wrong, just different strokes for different folks as the saying goes.

Thanks again for all of the tips, sailing in one month :D:D:D

mini fruit pavlova's

Be still my beating heart!!

Oh you have no idea what those words just did to me.

Thanks for all the replies so far, I am getting more excited after reading these, it sounds as though we have a lot to look forward to and explore.

Thanks! That sounds like a good deal :)

Will check out the grill too.