Live Island - Vancouver to Fort Lauderdale via Panama 17 nights

[PeggySand]

Thanks for the blog, I will be following it with much interest as we are boarding when you guys get off in Ft. Lauderdale!! Please leave the Island in good shape after her dry dock, okay? If you get a chance, maybe you can share what upgrades they made to the ship, and also what your shore tour experiences are.

 

Thanks and have a wonderful time,

Peggy

[K-Roo-Zers]

Hey Vickie,

 

Bon Voyage. We are doing the same cruise in Dec, 2010, our first time to the Panama and can't wait.

 

Really looking forward to reading about your adventures!

 

Smooth sailing and keep well.

 

Nicki

[K-Roo-Zers]

We are doing this cruise on the Island starting on December 5th from LA. Really looking forward to it. Will be reading your blog. Did you say you don't stop in Acapulco? Ours does. All our other ports are the same as yours. We don't have Huatulco either.

Bon Voyage and have a great cruise.

 

Hi Cat Lover3,

 

Just noticed we will be on the same cruise. We sure do stop in Acapulco.

 

We depart Sydney, 23rd Oct, 2010, on Sapphire Princess to LA, then meet with friends until our Island cruise on 5th Dec, 2010.

 

Looking forward to Vickie's posts each day and hopefully meeting you on board.

 

Nicki

[u2cruiser]

 

Okay I think we have it all now... just need to throw stuff in a suitcase. Feel a little under the weather, think I may be spreading myself a little too thin, I believe a vacation is in order! Hopefully as soon as I set foot on the ship I will feel 100%, if not I have quite a few sea days to rest up.

 

Looking forward to cruising along with you. Hope you soon feel 100% with the fresh air and sea breezes. Have a great cruise. :)

[vickie_bernie]

I am up - could sleep in was just a little excited :p

 

Thankfully I am feeling better. Looks like rain will just be intermitten showers -- I can live with that.

 

I will try and answer all the questions above but if I forget please repost once I am on board and I will try my best.

 

I will post what tours we take and review them, as well if my friends do a tour I will post their comments.

 

Well off to get my latte

[cruzisme]

Hi Vickie

Looking forward to hearing about your adventures! Any info about the Island, especially pictures of different categories of cabins, would be appreciated!

We did the Canal in 2005 on board the Sun Princess & had a marvellous trip...wishing you all onboard the same!

Will be checking in and reading your Blog too. (BTW, we live in the Valley)

My friend Comquot will be asking you some questions relating to air travel and good prices! Thank you for sharing.

Wishing you some sunshine as you sail away today.:)

[Urban trekker]

Vickie - have a great cruise - will follow your progress on the blog - hope to do another Panama cruise sometime in the future - first one in 2004 was great.

 

Currently raining in downtown Vancouver

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[mississauga]

Guess you're on board now, Vicki. Have a great cruise and thanks for taking us along. You always do a great LIVE.:D

[ceilie1]

Bon Voyage! Vickie,

Thank you for taking us along on your cruise.

Enjoy your Sea Away!

[senior lady]

Vickie............... have a great cruise!!!!! I've got to wait until next Aug for our British Isle cruise:( Looking forward to your updates.

[Putterdude]

We watched the Island slip around Point Grey and disappear over the horizon in the Strait of Jaun de Fuca about 5:30, she looked gorgeous glistening in the late afternoon sun. We were waving to you...but you did not wave back.;)

[Tigger B]

Have a great cruise guys...

[vickie_bernie]

Hi everyone we are here.... sorry for the delay, internet was down last night and was down this morning -- this is the first chance that I have gotten to the internet where it is up. And unfortunately it wouldn't let me buy the Platinum/Elite package, so the attendant said just buy the minutes and you would be credited. So I did and we will see. Tomorrow everything is cleared and we can buy the new package for the 15 days.

 

Putterdude, sorry I missed you I was too busy dancing.

 

Catpain, Nicolo Bommarco

Hotel General Manager Emiliio Mazzi

First Purser Admin Paolo Rellini

F& B Cornelis Van Der Hel

Cruise Director Brett with deputy Cruise director Kim (both from Vancouver)

Maitre D'Hotel Silvio Zampieri

 

We arrived at the port and were on the ship with 15 minutes, much better than the last time we sailed.

 

The ship just spent two weeks in dry dock and so far the only noticeable thing to the passengers are the MUTS installed up at the pool, new carpet in a lot of the common areas, and all rooms have the flat screen tvs. Other than that not much else new.

 

We are in B716 BD Balcony Aft port side. Pedro is our steward, great guy and he has accommodated all our requests. Like wine glasses, ice, extra towels, top sheet. Today I had to ask that our shower curtain be changed as there was ,mold at the bottom, so obviously during dry dock they didn't change things like that. We are still waiting for robes and a tv guide, but i imagine they will come tomorrow.

 

The ship is about 75% filled with people doing the two day repo, the other 25% are staying on for the Panama. This allowed us to get our luggage as soon as we arrived at our room (definately a first).

 

All the two day people must have anytime dining because the line was roaming around the atrium yesterday at 7:30 until around 8 pm. We were a group of six and we went up to traditional and say our favorite maitre d and he said come back at 8 as we have a table in traditional that is empty tonight, so no problems there.

 

Dinner was great.... great laughs. Recognized someone at the next table, a guy we use to work with who retired who is doing the panama. Then walking back to our room we say a woman who called out "vickie" and it was a woman we use to work with who is also doing the panama. Yesterday in Horizon court we recognized another co worker who is on for the two day. Today at trivia we ran into a brother of a relative. Small world or what!

 

Today we slept in and then had a great lunch with the cruise critic roll call - there were 10 of us. I handed out the door signs we made. Great group.

 

Nice weather a little cool but nothing to complain about.

 

Had a good laugh at the Jeopardy game today.

 

Till tomorrow, unless I can get back on here tonight.

[Rockymountainsparky]

Glad you finally got a signal. Heres wishing you a grand voyage.;)

[cruiser boo]

Hi Vickie: I am watching the cruise cam & Marin county cam & no Island.

It's almst 9:00AM are you running late in SF? :confused:

[Woobstr112G]

[quote name='vickie_bernie']I am up - could sleep in was just a little excited :p

Thankfully I am feeling better. Looks like rain will just be intermitten showers -- I can live with that.

I will try and answer all the questions above but if I forget please repost once I am on board and I will try my best.

I will post what tours we take and review them, as well if my friends do a tour I will post their comments.

Well off to get my latte[/quote]

Have a wonderful cruise.....:):):)

Bob

[hansolo]

Vickie it sounds like a great start to a cruise, I look forward to hearing about your adventures.

Looks like you're already a celebrity on the ship. Have fun!!!

[4x4bob]

Vicki;
Much has been posted concerning the Mattress's on Princess ships. So, could you give us a first hand report on your experience with the mattress in your cabin?
We will be on the Island Princess in December 2010 and we have been considering Toto's recommendation on taking a mattress pad with us.
Thanks
Bob

[Tophat4321]

[SIZE=7]Vicki,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=black][FONT=Arial][COLOR=black][FONT=Arial]Would you please do me a favor? We sailed on the Island last April and I forgot to get email addresses from the staff that served us in Sabatini's to send them pics and videos. Would you please get this information for me if they still are on board. I can be emailed [/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=seagreen][FONT=Arial]tophat4321 at yahoo.com .[/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=black][FONT=Arial] The staff member names are George, Sebastian and Vasi. These guys where great. Since we had a suite we had few breakfast and did have dinner there. These guys where practical jokers. Got me twice with the jokes. Once with a fake cappuccino they "spilled on me and the old phone trick with whipped cream on the ear piece.[/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=black][FONT=Arial] I did get Sebastian and Vasi back as they were the ring leaders to the practical joke. Last night of the cruise I left an envelope with a cash tip with a surprise for each in an envelope for Sebastian and Vasi. For George a set up bottler bottle of Courvoisier VSOP, not opened and for the two pranksters a set up bottle of vodka, contents I enjoyed and filled back up with water and tighten real tight to give the impression never opened. I did tell George about the prank so he was aware. If they ask who is asking, just remind them of the vodka bottles filled with water, They may have caught that the lid was twisted off but it was the thought that counted.[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=black][FONT=Arial]

[SIZE=3][COLOR=black][FONT=Arial]I have videos and pictures to share with them. Here is one of the videos. George is in the green jacket. Sebastian is with the very short hair gentleman and Vasi is the dark hair gentleman [URL]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LvDMBgB_Ng&feature=related[/URL][/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][COLOR=black][FONT=Arial]Thanks alot [/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE]


[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT]

[K-Roo-Zers]

Hi vickie,

Thanks for the info. Hope you are slowly setting into "cruise life".

If you have a moment please, can you do me a quick favour please. We are cruising on Island on 5th Dec 2010 also around the Panama and wonder whether our favourite crazy Italian, Maurizio will be playing on board. Have heard he is doing the Panama season on Coral and really hope they got it wrong and meant to say Island, not Coral.

Enjoy your cruise. Looking forward to the next instalment.

Nicki

[Cosmic Rays]

Oh to have been back in San Francisco as we were back in May and where I saw the President as we waited for the ferry to take us over to Alcatraz...................Gwenda is still there!!!!!LOL

[PescadoAmarillo]

Vickie, I don't think anyone enjoys a cruise more than you, and it's pure delight reading your LIVE FROM's. Can't wait till our cruises on the Emerald! Keep enjoying, keep posting please!

[Tophat4321]

[quote name='K-Roo-Zers']Hi vickie,

Thanks for the info. Hope you are slowly setting into "cruise life".

If you have a moment please, can you do me a quick favour please. We are cruising on Island on 5th Dec 2010 also around the Panama and wonder whether our favourite crazy Italian, Maurizio will be playing on board. Have heard he is doing the Panama season on Coral and really hope they got it wrong and meant to say Island, not Coral.

Enjoy your cruise. Looking forward to the next instalment.

Nicki[/quote]

My sister and brother in law are on the Island for the same trip. I mentioned Cruise Critic to them, but they weren't interested. If you run into someone from Cougar, Washington that would be them.

[vickie_bernie]

will try this again.... internet is constantly down, down all day in SF, then was up for a bit at night... this morning I finally logged in and typed a few responses only to have it go down before it posted. So regrettable this live thread could be very sporatic. But very frustrating on my end.

Mattresses are great on this ship, we have had some bad experiences before but love our bed here.

not planning on dining in Sabatinis but will look for your friends, however April was a long time ago and they are probably on a different ship.

will post this before I get bounced off

[vickie_bernie]

We were late getting into SF about 10:30 we docked instead of 10 but the officials were all on the pier with a celebration at pier 27 to celebrate the first ship hooking up to the power on land.

We got off and visited with friends Rose/Jerry and Angelique and Simon for lunch. got our wine supply and champagne and we are good till Fort Lauderdale (hopefully).

last night we found the dining room menu was the sailaway meal again the same as on Monday (very disappointed) and the show that evening was the same as monday, with over 750 people staying onboard from Vancouver you think they would of been more aware and changed it up a bit. It was different meals last year when we did this sailing.

We saw whales from our balcony yesterday about six of them. Got some pics. Today our friends saw sharks and dolphins and we saw some seals yesterday in SF harbour.

Very different crowd now, I think I have seen only one child of about 10 who is a child of one of the officers.

Weather has been great, a little cool leaving SF - colder there than Vancouver sailaway... but we are currently west of San Diego and very nice weather, but I am not going out in a bathing suit yet too cold.

Marizzio is not on this sailing for the person who asked. The piano player is Bruce tilden, the band in Explorers is Reveloution, and the quartet in Wheelhouse is Geraldo Sa Quartet.

tonight's show in Princess theatre is Do You wanna dance. Comedian is Elliott Max (again same guy from two days ago).

Letrue this morning is getting to California Series, and this afternoon is Mayas, The Lords of the Jungle by Dr. Thomas Ryan (bernie loves him).

We are still sucking at triva... prizes have mainly being Princess bags, but today they gave out ball caps.

Lots of errors in the patter today... dress is formal on cover but inside it says Smart Casual, ask someone on board and they say say smart casual, doesn't matter we are not doing formal.

Did get charged for internet two days ago, but the Purser removed it when we showed them.

They are also having the Elite ./ Platinum lounge but our invitation with menu only gave us the second of the two pages so we have to see the circle host for the first page. also we got our wine tasting invite delivered to our cabin but it was addressed to another couple ....

The canape offerrings for Elite passengers on Formal night is showing Chocolate Covered Strawberries, i know some have said they didn't get that offerring but the Island is offerring it.

Our Captain Circle laundry service specifically says same day service not provided, next day for Elites. Also it is not dry cleaning but professionally washed.

Well I will post before I get bounced off. Again sorry if posting is sporatic.