Live from the Island, 12/20 Christmas in Panama

[Bob++]

It could be of course that being British they did not realise the age for drinking on US ships is as high as it is In UK they can drink at 18 years of age.

 

They can legally buy alcohol at age 18 but at 16 they are allowed to have beer wine or cider with a meal so long as they are with an adult.

 

A 19yo British student would find the US laws incomprehensible.

[geoherb]

We started off our sea day with breakfast in the dining room and my favorite breakfast dish on the menu—eggs Florentine. I’ve been walking around the Promenade Deck and managed to get in two and a half miles after breakfast before it was time to get ready for trivia. There were a couple of serious runners out this morning. One was making it around twice for every one of my laps, so he went at least five miles—and was going strong when I finished. But the Promenade Deck has plenty of room except for around the bow and the aft of the ship.

 

Cruise director Rich led the morning “brainbuster” trivia. His theme was the year in review. Our team has evolved. Sam stayed back in the cabin to nap. We picked up Dan at yesterday’s trivia and his sister (who had played with us previously—when we beat his team) joined in as well. We had a great team and tied for first. Everyone contributed to our victory. The only downside to Rich’s trivias is that they take so long. Some of our teammates wanted to do other activities and had to leave during the scoring of the quizzes. I took the prizes to a one of them.

 

I was one of four guys chosen for the “Bar Wars: A Battle of the Sexes” competition. Bar stewards made four different cocktails. One guy and one woman for the two teams then had to make one of the cocktails. Mine was the paradise punch, a combination of amaretto, Southern Comfort, vodka, Rose’s lime juice, grenadine, pineapple juice, and orange juice. The guys won the speed contest by finishing our four cocktails first. Then one of the bar stewards tasted each cocktail. I won the paradise punch head-to-head taste test. But the competition ended up in a tie with two victories for the guys and two for the women.

 

We enjoyed lunch with two of our evening tablemates in the dining room. I had a salad, cod, and fruit. The ladies and I had our cocktails (they had received two of the demo ones from the bar wars) and the cod was exceptionally good with a squeeze of lime juice from my paradise punch garnish.

 

The Princess Pop Choir performed before bingo this afternoon in the Universe Lounge. They sang six songs. The rolling ship led to some interesting choreography. They did a good job. I then headed to the champagne ring toss. On our Alaskan cruise on the Sapphire in August, I was first in line and won a bottle on my first toss. I wasn’t so lucky this afternoon—but I managed to score one on my fifth turn. I managed to be first in line again. Each round the cruise director’s staff member moved the line up about a yard. We started off around 20 feet away from the six bottles. One woman got a ringer that round. And then we went two full rounds without any winners. I won when there were three bottles left. And then everyone behind me missed. They moved the line up again, and the final two bottles were won.

 

I’m getting ready in a few minutes to go to the captain’s cocktail party. I called to cancel Sam’s seat at the Chef’s Table. The rough seas and lack of sleep have caught up with him. According to one report, they’ve closed the pools. The official report on the Princess channel is that seas are still slight—1 to 4 feet. A couple of waves have hit our Plaza Deck window, so I’m guessing they’re closer to at least 12 to 15 feet.

 

The Chef’s Table was great. We could not go into the galley because of the rough seas. The maitre d’ made this decision and charged us $60 per person instead of $75. Everyone drank wine, so I don’t know if he would have made a similar reduction if anyone did not. We had a great group of people at the table—the best I’ve ever had. Just being nine of us helped conversation. Our previous chef’s tables had a dozen and eleven guests.

 

To make up for missing the galley portion of the event, our group will get a private galley tour on the morning of our last sea day. I already knew two of the couples from having eaten breakfast with them the first morning of our cruise.

 

The menu was similar to the other two Chef’s Tables we’ve done on the Crown and the Sapphire. We started with a blue crab margarita with avocado and mango. It was the best of the hors d’ouevres. The three that followed were pizzette with goat cheese and ricotta, braised escargots in vol-au-vent, and roasted new potatoes with sour cream and caviar. They served champagne with all of these. Our risotto course was asparagus and lobster. They served half lobster tails on top of the risotto. The wine with this course was a pinot grigio. The palate cleanser was the bloody mary sorbet with vodka. We had this at our first Chef’s Table on the Crown. People who like bloody marys will like it. I don’t, but I gave it another taste and enjoyed the raspberry garnish.

 

The main course was the trio of beef, veal, and pork tenderloins on medieval spiked flambé roaster. The only twist was that the chef paired it with dirty rice with corn and pine nuts instead of mashed potatoes. We had the same sauces served alongside the meats, but I thought they were good without any sauce and only tried the salsa verde. The others were béarnaise, café de Paris butter, and pork and beef jus. The maitre d’ picked out a merlot to serve with the meats.

 

He served the dessert wine with the cheese course—potted stilton with port wine reduction, walnuts, and rosemary biscotti. The pastry chef came up with a different presentation for the dessert. It was large blue and red sails of sugar rising up from a hockey puck size block of sugar. Each was about a foot tall. The soft-center chocolate fallen cake with whiskey-soaked raspberries and brandy snap tuile was the best tasting dessert I’ve had at a Chef’s Table. We ended the meal with chocolate dipped strawberries, biscotti, cookies, chocolates, and marzipan. Of course no one could eat one of each of these. I had just one strawberry and a piece of marzipan shaped like an apple.

[CTGirl]

Hi Geoherb, I am enjoying your comentaries immensly. I will be doing the same itinerary on the 9th. I am curious, you mentioned the Princess Pop Choir, what is that? We were on the Royal last month and we noticed in the patter that there was choir practice. We decided to go and we had a blast. We ended up performing one night for everyone. I had never seen it before on any other cruise. I thought that maybe it was because we had 5 sea days in a row. Is the Pop Choir something similar? Thanks

[Pia1913]

I too am interested in hearing about the choir, since this is the first time I've heard it mentioned.

[geoherb]

The Princess Choir is based on Glee-style performance. There were about 15 women and five men participants. They performed six songs (abbreviated versions): Waterloo, It's Not Unusual, Sweet Caroline, and three others I don't remember. The cruise staff member who introduced them said it was a new program. They'll have six new songs come out about six months from now. One of the lead singers rehearsed them and led them. I don't remember how many rehearsals they had, but it was several. They did a good job for a group coming together like that.

 

Welcome to Jamaica. We are staying on the ship. We were here in 1989. Ocho Rios is the only port where I’ve felt threatened by the locals. We did not do another western Caribbean cruise from 1989 until 2003 when we took one on the Grand Princess—which replaced Jamaica with Costa Maya for the western Caribbean itinerary.

 

The Island Princess encountered seas that were too rough to dock in the usual place. The captain had to move the ship to another dock. It’s only a few hundred yards away from the regular dock—but it looks like a world of difference in amenities.

 

My plans to enjoy a relaxing morning swim were thwarted by both pools being closed. The Lotus Pool was drained and crew members were painting the interior of it. The other pool was netted closed. My biggest complaint was that no one could tell me why it was closed or when it would open. I asked several deck attendants and finally went to the pursers desk to ask.

 

It’s almost time for morning trivia. There are not a lot of people left on the ship, but our teammate from Stanford did not go ashore. I’m not sure about our other teammates. (One regular one showed up and we played with two of my tablemates.) We placed second with 14 out of 16 points. The main pool finally opened around noon. I had already changed and am getting ready for lunch in the dining room, so I won’t be trying it out until later. I was glad to have a little time in the hot tub this morning, but the cool pool water would have felt good.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Wow...the seas must be really rough. The weather in NC is finally getting closer to normal (or maybe our standards have just slipped). You picked a good time to be gone!

 

Happy and Healthy New Year to you both!

[vickie_bernie]

The Princess Choir is based on Glee-style performance. There were about 15 women and five men participants. They performed six songs (abbreviated versions): Waterloo, It's Not Unusual, Sweet Caroline, and three others I don't remember. The cruise staff member who introduced them said it was a new program. They'll have six new songs come out about six months from now. One of the lead singers rehearsed them and led them. I don't remember how many rehearsals they had, but it was several. They did a good job for a group coming together like that.

 

Welcome to Jamaica. We are staying on the ship. We were here in 1989. Ocho Rios is the only port where I’ve felt threatened by the locals. We did not do another western Caribbean cruise from 1989 until 2003 when we took one on the Grand Princess—which replaced Jamaica with Costa Maya for the western Caribbean itinerary.

 

.

 

so is this Princess Choir made up of passengers? That sounds really cool, but will stay clear as my vocal abilities leave something to be desired.

 

I would agree with Jamaica, I have been concerned about their issues regarding LGBT members and refuse to support the island until they clear this up.

[spyro1952]

Geoherb, thanks again for the live thread. We leave for FLL tomorrow to board the Island on Thurs. :D

[satxdiver]

We will be staying on the ship as well in Jamaica for the same reason. I would prefer not even to stop there but wanted to do this cruise and see the canal. We have been on one cruise so far that did stop in Jamaica and we stayed on the ship. That was several years ago on the Voyager. The surprise was all the pax who stayed on the ship. It was almost like a sea day that time. It sounds like geoherb's experience was different. We board the Island in a little over four weeks.

[geoherb]

Limited vocal abilities did not keep anyone from joining in the fun. There were some very good singers in the group, but some quiet ones as well.

 

The other snafu yesterday morning was that our toilet would not flush. It wasn’t working at 6 a.m., but sometime after that, flushed on its own. But then it did not work again. According to one of our trivia buddies, it was a widespread outage. Ours started working again a couple of hours later.

 

The people we met who went ashore in Jamaica gave mixed reviews. Some had a great time. The best ship excursion, according to the enthusiastic reviews of several people, was river rafting. Others enjoyed Dunns River Falls, but a few said it was too crowded and the water was cold. Several people reported being offered drugs and other things. And for some Jamaicans, one “no thanks” was not enough. We were happy we had decided to stay on the ship.

 

One couple almost missed the ship. The passenger services desk paged them repeatedly. The officer had ordered the last gangplank to be raised and the crew members had started pulling it up when a taxi came to the dock and an elderly couple moseyed out. They could not run, so it was a gentle stroll down the dock while people on their balconies and the Promenade Deck shouted words of encouragement (and a few disparaging remarks). I’m glad they were not left behind, because they looked like they would have been totally out of it.

 

The dinner menu last night was the chef’s menu. I enjoyed the goat cheese soufflé, the diver scallops, and the perfectly cooked lamb chops. I was not crazy about the parade of kitchen staff and the singing waiter that came between our appetizers and main course. But I guess I can suffer one night of that as opposed to every night on a Carnival ship (if they still do that).

 

I had gone to the show before dinner in the Universe Lounge. The performers were Willie Tyler and Lester for the first half of the show. They were very funny, once again, doing a new set. Rodney Williams, a singer, performed the second half. He was OK. I was glad that we had missed his full show earlier in the cruise because a small dose of his singing was enough. I overheard the karaoke while enjoying the Platinum/Elite/Suite area. Rodney was better than my fellow passengers.

 

Today is our last day on the Island Princess. We received our disembarkation brochure but haven’t received our luggage tags yet. There are lots of activities scheduled for the day, but we’ll be relaxing. I have the private galley tour this morning with my Chef’s Table group. There is a show before dinner with the juggler and a pianist. After dinner is the Princess Pop Star final in the Universe Lounge. I’ll try to do both.

[cruzinchris]

Thanks, again, geoherb for the "live" thread and to others onboard who have contributed. It's been fun to sail along with you on the first 10-night voyage of the Island Princess. DH and I embark the ship one month from today :)

 

We haven't been to Jamaica for many years and thought that we might like to see Dunns River Falls. I watched several youtube videos and decided that we might not be up to the climb. Alternative is to go to Margaritaville, but even that isn't sounding too enticing at the moment. Maybe we'll just stay on the ship like others have suggested.

 

Enjoy your last day on the Island Princess and a safe homeward journey.

Chris

[OnVacation11]

Hi Geoherb, I am enjoying your comentaries immensly. I will be doing the same itinerary on the 9th. I am curious, you mentioned the Princess Pop Choir, what is that? We were on the Royal last month and we noticed in the patter that there was choir practice. We decided to go and we had a blast. We ended up performing one night for everyone. I had never seen it before on any other cruise. I thought that maybe it was because we had 5 sea days in a row. Is the Pop Choir something similar? Thanks

 

On our Emerald Christmas cruise the Pop Choir performance was cancelled due to lack of interest. The CD announced that only 3 passengers signed up. It must be something new but the only time I saw it mentioned was in the Patter so maybe they should promote it more...

[Pia1913]

On our Emerald Christmas cruise the Pop Choir performance was cancelled due to lack of interest. The CD announced that only 3 passengers signed up. It must be something new but the only time I saw it mentioned was in the Patter so maybe they should promote it more...

 

I wonder if they intend to do this on all cruises, or perhaps this is being done only during the Christmas holiday season. I for one would love to see it on all ships.

[vickie_bernie]

I think that this Princess Choir sounds like fun to watch fellow passengers, but i will probably have to opt out.

 

The toilet issue, whenever they have to work on the toilet system they have to shut down a whole area of cabins down and yes they go off automatically once they get turned back on, it is quite funny to be sitting on the bed and all of a sudden the toilet flushes.

 

Thanks for the live thread, safe travels home.

[Talisker92]

I am surprised at some of the comments about Ocho Rios. On December 12, we had to dock at another pier because of a Celebrity ship taking the main dock. We did the tubing on the White River and loved it. Our driver the dropped us at the Taj Mahal shopping center and picked us up later.

I saw quite a few people from our ship walking from the dock to the shopping center.

We did not feel threatened in any way and were never offered any Ganja.

[yancycruiser]

Thanks again for taking time to post daily and answer any questions. Your thread whetted the appetite for those of us cruising on the Island in the very new future.

Have a safe trip home.

 

Best regards,

[MustangGT]

Thanks for the live thread! We were on the Island in Alaska last year and will board the ship for a full transit of the canal at the end of February. We've done the partial, anxious to enjoy more time onboard! Safe travels home:)

[wateringcan]

Thank you geoherb, and others, for sharing with us the details of your cruise. It has been entertaining and informative. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to write.

[rerepunim]

Thanks .... I had fun following along with you and remembering our PC cruise on the Island ..your posts were great . Happy New Year !!

 

Peace

[geoherb]

Thanks for the live thread! We were on the Island in Alaska last year and will board the ship for a full transit of the canal at the end of February. We've done the partial, anxious to enjoy more time onboard! Safe travels home:)

You'll have a great time--and they'll probably still have some Alaskan souvernirs for sale at one of the big sales in the dining room. I bought a T-shirt. It's one I almost bought for myself on our Sapphire Princess cruise to Alaska this past August. I decided it wasn't worth the $12.99 sale price. It was reduced to $6.99 on this cruise.

 

We had a great relaxing day at sea for our last day. We tried to polish off our box of wine but there's some left for our cabin steward to throw away (or finish off with his friends). I also took two bottles of champagne to dinner to share with our tablemates. The assistant waiter tried to charge me a corkage fee on one of them until I explained it had come from the ship. I guess it was a brand he had not seen before.

 

The menu last night was different from our other last night cruises. I had the beef short ribs and Sam had prime rib. Another entree was perch in a mild curry broth.

 

The juggler was entertaining at the show before dinner. Unfortunately, the pianist sang more than he played the piano. He was the one who plays and sings at Crooners each evening. Princess Pop Idol was a lot of fun. One of our trivia teammates was a friend of one of the singers. He was very energetic. Those who ever saw trivia on this cruise will know who I'm talking about.

 

Breakfast this morning is from 6:30 until 8:30 in the dining room. I'm assuming Horizon Court will have it going on too, but I did not pay attention to the hours. I remember on our Grand Princess cruise several years ago that I was the last one through the breakfast line in the Horizon Court. They were closing down the stations behind me and had roped off the area.

 

We have a 1:45 flight this afternoon, so I got us Brown 4 luggage tags, which are scheduled to be off the ship at 10:15. The last time we left from Fort Lauderdale, our flight was even later in the afternoon and the airport folks would not let us check in until four hours before our flight. I was able to get our boarding passes yesterday. The Internet connection has been bad on this cruise, and it took me 10 minutes to sign on. We're in the first B group on our Southwest flight. I was hoping to get us in the second A group. But there should still be plenty of good seats to choose from even with 67 people getting on ahead of us.

[deborahjo]

Thank you for your reviews. We will be on her the 18th of Feb. I am so excited.

[Pia1913]

You'll have a great time--and they'll probably still have some Alaskan souvernirs for sale at one of the big sales in the dining room. I bought a T-shirt. It's one I almost bought for myself on our Sapphire Princess cruise to Alaska this past August. I decided it wasn't worth the $12.99 sale price. It was reduced to $6.99 on this cruise.

 

We had a great relaxing day at sea for our last day. We tried to polish off our box of wine but there's some left for our cabin steward to throw away (or finish off with his friends). I also took two bottles of champagne to dinner to share with our tablemates. The assistant waiter tried to charge me a corkage fee on one of them until I explained it had come from the ship. I guess it was a brand he had not seen before.

 

The menu last night was different from our other last night cruises. I had the beef short ribs and Sam had prime rib. Another entree was perch in a mild curry broth.

 

The juggler was entertaining at the show before dinner. Unfortunately, the pianist sang more than he played the piano. He was the one who plays and sings at Crooners each evening. Princess Pop Idol was a lot of fun. One of our trivia teammates was a friend of one of the singers. He was very energetic. Those who ever saw trivia on this cruise will know who I'm talking about.

 

Breakfast this morning is from 6:30 until 8:30 in the dining room. I'm assuming Horizon Court will have it going on too, but I did not pay attention to the hours. I remember on our Grand Princess cruise several years ago that I was the last one through the breakfast line in the Horizon Court. They were closing down the stations behind me and had roped off the area.

 

We have a 1:45 flight this afternoon, so I got us Brown 4 luggage tags, which are scheduled to be off the ship at 10:15. The last time we left from Fort Lauderdale, our flight was even later in the afternoon and the airport folks would not let us check in until four hours before our flight. I was able to get our boarding passes yesterday. The Internet connection has been bad on this cruise, and it took me 10 minutes to sign on. We're in the first B group on our Southwest flight. I was hoping to get us in the second A group. But there should still be plenty of good seats to choose from even with 67 people getting on ahead of us.

 

Good luck at the airport. Until yesterday it had been a zoo with all the up North cancelled flights.

[satxdiver]

Thank you geoherb for all your information. Reading your posts has increased my anticipation of boarding the Island in a little over four weeks. Perhaps someone boarding today will continue the posts.

[FamilyGuy1010]

We stayed on the ship in Jamaica too....I don't know why they don't replace that port with another port.

 

Anyway, the cruise ended very well (home already...live 30 minutes from port). Ate in Sabatini's and had an outstanding experience. The Sea Bass was excellent.

 

Overall, a very good cruise. The first 6 days were a little dead, then the action started to pick up a little. The current cast of singers & dancers on this ship are the best i have heard on Princess, and that did not change for any of the shows (my least favorite show was the "Do You Wanna Dance", but they still did an excellent job).

 

The new MUTS was very under used (there was almost never anything on it during the day) and very hard to hear. They need to fix this.

 

Anyone taking this ship in the next few months, with proper expectations (due to older crowd), will have an excellent time. Just keep in mind the sea will be rougher south of Jamaica this time of year. Bring your favorite sea sick remedy!

[texasgirl29]

We sailed on the Island last Christmas. Your thread really brought back memories. Loved every minute -- can't help wondering if our waiter, Alvin, and his supervisor, Nelson, are still on the Island. They were terrific and my daughters still talk about them.

 

We did Dunn River Falls in Jamaica and loved it. I anyone wants to go there I would not discourage them. Just remember to put some bills in your swimsuit to tip the falls guides who help you along and take care of your camera.

 

We are going on the Island to Alaska in July -- can't wait.

 

JoAnn