Island Princess v. Royal-class (Sky)

My family is considering a 14 night holiday cruise to the Caribbean in 2019 on either the Island Princess or the new Sky Princess coming in 2019. We are a family of 4 with two teens (who will be 17 and 14) and two 40 somethings who enjoy on board activities such as evening music and dancing.

We like the itinerary of the Island Princess better as it will be sailing to more ports that we have not seen, but we are concerned that there might not be as much to do on board as there will be on the Sky. We are especially concerned about teen activities or the like, as we don't want them to be bored. It would be a holiday cruise, so we expect a fair number of families on board.

Can anyone who has been on the Island or Coral Princess and a Royal class ship provide a comparison of the activities and entertainment on each, especially what may be of interest to teens?

My family is considering a 14 night holiday cruise to the Caribbean in 2019 on either the Island Princess or the new Sky Princess coming in 2019. We are a family of 4 with two teens (who will be 17 and 14) and two 40 somethings who enjoy on board activities such as evening music and dancing.

 

 

 

We like the itinerary of the Island Princess better as it will be sailing to more ports that we have not seen, but we are concerned that there might not be as much to do on board as there will be on the Sky. We are especially concerned about teen activities or the like, as we don't want them to be bored. It would be a holiday cruise, so we expect a fair number of families on board.

 

 

 

Can anyone who has been on the Island or Coral Princess and a Royal class ship provide a comparison of the activities and entertainment on each, especially what may be of interest to teens?

Unfortunately you can not compare the Island and the Coral anymore. The Island had a major hack job done to her in a major dry dock in mid 2015 adding 152 cabins (200-300 additional passengers) and taking away a major 2 deck high show lounge and 1/3 of the wrap around promenade deck.

No additional dining or entertainment space was added. Do a search for the Island Princess here on the Princess board and you will see some detailed threads and reviews on her.

The same changes for the Coral were canceled.

As much as we love the Coral I think the Sky would be a good choice for your family.

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Which two itineraries are you comparing?

Island Princess is sailing 10 night (not 14 night??) partial transit Panama Canal cruises in December 2019.

Sky Princess is sailing 7 night Caribbean cruises which can also be booked as 14 night B2B East/West Adventurer.

If you have sailed the Caribbean before but never the Panama Canal certainly that should be a priority. All things considered I would rather sail a 10 night single cruise than two 7 nights with the deja vu turnaround day in Ft Lauderdale in the middle.

Which ship will teens prefer? Well Sky will be brand new and have nearly 1500 more passengers than Island so odds are there will be a few more members of their peer group onboard, especially as the majority of passengers turn over in the middle of the 14 nights.

But if you, the parents, prefer the Panama Canal itinerary of Island--well, who's in charge here?

No one has any idea yet what the late night dancing venues will be on Sky; the tentative deck plans are very vague on bars and lounges. I have sailed Island Princess to Alaska and there was plenty of both live music and the DJs taking over later at night. Royal Princess, by comparison, uses mainly the Piazza atrium for dancing but does have late-night disco in a very boxy lounge with a tiny dance floor (Club 6). And every Princess ship over Christmas and New Year's will have enough teens to run evening activities just for them.

You are correct, I think I was mistaken. The two ships are actually the Sky and the Caribbean Princess.

I agree with what you are saying: the adults are in charge and will make the final decision. That being said, my wife and I are kind of torn between the two ourselves, so we want to get as much information as possible before we actually make the decision. Activities for the teens is one of those factors.

Perhaps the CP after its 2017 dry dock will not be as significantly different from Sky as Island would have been?

Take a look at the thread I posted here - asking for opinions of the Regal (Royal class - but a little different than Sky)vs the Caribbean (CB) - I have gotten a lot of feedback so far -

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2668727

IMHO - if I were taking teens I would most likely go with the Sky.

For what it is worth, DH and I have 6 children between us who were still in their teens and early twenties when we started sailing on Princess - we liked the laid back atmosphere and the fact that it wasn't geared towards young families, teens and young adults. We both had stressful jobs and were happy for the limited activities and older passenger demographic. We left all the kids at home and just wanted to get away from it all, to sleep, eat, drink and catch an occasional show. We relished the peace and quiet.

I think the Royal class ships are more designed for families but are still nowhere near RCCL for that demographic.

Take a look at the thread I posted here - asking for opinions of the Regal (Royal class - but a little different than Sky)vs the Caribbean (CB) - I have gotten a lot of feedback so far -

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2668727

 

IMHO - if I were taking teens I would most likely go with the Sky.

 

For what it is worth, DH and I have 6 children between us who were still in their teens and early twenties when we started sailing on Princess - we liked the laid back atmosphere and the fact that it wasn't geared towards young families, teens and young adults. We both had stressful jobs and were happy for the limited activities and older passenger demographic. We left all the kids at home and just wanted to get away from it all, to sleep, eat, drink and catch an occasional show. We relished the peace and quiet.

 

I think the Royal class ships are more designed for families but are still nowhere near RCCL for that demographic.

Thanks! That's really helpful. (I wish I could edit my original post and title).

Perhaps the CP after its 2017 dry dock will not be as significantly different from Sky as Island would have been?

The CB (not CP) will be just as different from Sky (or any of the Royal class) after dry dock as it is today.