Best Balcony Mini Suite

[wally8]

We will be sailing the partial Panama trip in Feb on the Island Princess and was wondering which mini suite has the best balcony for both the canal and the rest of the trip. Thanks, Bob from TX

[cruiserdru]

This is considered the definitive site for information on balconies on the Island/Coral ships. It shows which are covered, which are private, discusses the ability to see forward and aft and has deck plans as well as pictures.

 

 

http://mysite.verizon.net/res76zxu/princessbalconies/index.html

 

Enjoy the Island Princess. She and the Coral are great ships.

[MSN-Travelers]

We will be sailing the partial Panama trip in Feb on the Island Princess and was wondering which mini suite has the best balcony for both the canal and the rest of the trip. Thanks, Bob from TX

 

We had a mini on our full transit. There is too much to see during the short time you will actually be in the canal to spend it in you cabin. You will likely spend all of that time moving about the ship taking advantage of one view or the other. Your cabin choice shouldn't be based on the canal portion of the cruise. We did a full transit and spent nearly the entire day moving about the ship.

 

As indicated above, look at the deck plans, evaluate the info available at the link provided above and make your choice based on the rest of the itinerary.

 

Enjoy!

[wally8]

Thanks for your advice, it will help. If a balcony is important for us except for the canal, then do any of the mini's have a larger balcony. We are now in B416 a corner hump facing forward and after reading many of the comments about cabins and the canal, I might change cabins based on a better balcony for all other times on the ship. Any comments? Bob

[aikensbest]

We are taking our 2nd partial transit to the P.Canal on the Island in Dec. Our mini is A429. We had this same cabin 4 years ago and loved it. Not sure if it directly compares to the one you have reserved, but we really enjoyed the bump out . The day in the canal, like most everyone we were all over the ship trying to see everything., but for the rest of the cruise it was a great balcony for us.. I "can" guarantee you will enjoy your time on the island princess.

[margeg]

This is considered the definitive site for information on balconies on the Island/Coral ships. It shows which are covered, which are private, discusses the ability to see forward and aft and has deck plans as well as pictures.

 

 

http://mysite.verizon.net/res76zxu/princessbalconies/index.html

 

Enjoy the Island Princess. She and the Coral are great ships.

 

I can't believe the work this man did to produce this excellent report. It is really amazing.

[DiRon]

Thanks for your advice, it will help. If a balcony is important for us except for the canal, then do any of the mini's have a larger balcony. We are now in B416 a corner hump facing forward and after reading many of the comments about cabins and the canal, I might change cabins based on a better balcony for all other times on the ship. Any comments? Bob

 

We love the AD mini-suites on the Island and the Coral - the ones that are on the Dolphin Deck - aft, port or starboard. We have one of them (D716) for our 15 day Panama Canal trip next April. The balconies are bigger than Aloha or Baja balconies and they are completely covered - so not too much sun and protection from the rain (just in case).

[gliles]

I can't believe the work this man did to produce this excellent report. It is really amazing.

 

No kidding, my thoughts exactly.

[KruzPrincess]

Yes, it's a great website. I've used it soooooo many times.

 

Personally, I like the Dolphin mini's which have nice size balconies and mostly covered. If you plan on being on your balcony in the AM on a westbound transit I would choose a cabin on the starboard side. Starboard is the shady side and doesn't get so brutally hot so fast. Of course, you'll have sun when you go back through the locks later, but you'll probably be out of your cabin by then. I went on a partial transit on the Island last year and our canal day was Thanksgiving Day. I really enjoyed it.

[Loonbeam]

We had B416 for this exact itinerary. IF you are a party of 2 DO NOT CHANGE it is my suggestion.

 

Yes, it is a smaller balcony but the incredibly wide field of view is well worth it.

 

(for example this link

is the transit through the initial locks in timelapse - unfortunately we were on the port side and port lock so the content is not great but it shows you how far you can see..)

 

The balcony is covered but does pick up a little wind when the ship is in motion and may do the same with rain.

 

You can't beat the location either. I'll attach a couple of photos showing the balcony and us doing the UBD on it..

 

 

 

 

Now, I will give the caveat that our plans from day 1 included booking the sanctuary for the entire cruise for the private pool, so a large balcony was not critical for us, it was primarily a place to see things, do the UBD and read at night. For the two of us it was fine, for any more it would have been CROWDED.

 

Thanks for your advice, it will help. If a balcony is important for us except for the canal, then do any of the mini's have a larger balcony. We are now in B416 a corner hump facing forward and after reading many of the comments about cabins and the canal, I might change cabins based on a better balcony for all other times on the ship. Any comments? Bob

[Loonbeam]

A429 is a similar cabin to B416 but on the starboard side and of course one deck up. We checked it out, it does get a tiny bit more wind than the baja deck one and you may pick up a little MUTS noise if they crank it.

 

We are taking our 2nd partial transit to the P.Canal on the Island in Dec. Our mini is A429. We had this same cabin 4 years ago and loved it. Not sure if it directly compares to the one you have reserved, but we really enjoyed the bump out . The day in the canal, like most everyone we were all over the ship trying to see everything., but for the rest of the cruise it was a great balcony for us.. I "can" guarantee you will enjoy your time on the island princess.

[biker1972]

One of the interesting things about the canal and port or starboard cabin choice is that there is no way of knowing which lock the ship will enter. And we even switched sides from one set of locks to the next. I had an aft cabin and found I spent a lot of time there rather than going from side to side or trying to find a forward observation point. Did see everything in reverse order however.

[5326jan]

We also like the dolphin aft minis that are covered. We've chosen d705 for our pc full transit. Nice to have some shade when you do sit out on your balcony.