The Island Princess according to Moi - a mini mini review by Sungirl

[KCSungirl]

Greetings to my FOP's. (Fans of Princess)

 

It had been three years since I had cruised Princess until my 4 day cruise on the Island in October. I had kind of decided I had grown bored on Princess. I was busy enjoying Celebrity, Holland America, and HORRORS!! Carnival and doing lots of international land travel.

 

I booked the Island because I had not sailed that class of ship and wanted to check it out. I had forgotten what it was like to get the VIP treatment on Princess due to my elite status. I had missed that because I don't have status on any other cruise line. I am working on that though.

 

This was the most bland and boring cruise ever. Borderline weird Twilight Zone experience. Everything thing was vanilla - the ship, passengers, activities, cabin etc. It wasn't bad, it just didn't have a pulse. The ship was asleep at 9pm. The crowd was so tame that it gave me no good material to write about. The cabin was blah.

 

The worst part was the food. Everything was cold. I don't get how they can't keep food warm. I started getting paranoid about food borne bacteria. I liked the grill because the food was fresher. The dining room service late seating was painfully slow. We lasted one night. I can't do late dining anymore. I must be getting old.

 

The entire cruise was a bust in most ways, but I did love the day at the Sanctuary on the back of the ship and I loved that mini bar setup for elite passengers. I also love those peanut butter cookies. Glad they were still around. One exciting thing was the Bayou show. I had not seen it before and I thought it was great. Finally a show I hadn't seen a dozen times.

 

I would never recommend a 4 night cruise to a new cruiser. You don't have enough time to get in a routine. People think by taking a short cruise it's a sample of cruising. That is true, but it's really too short to get in a groove.

 

My biggest complaint - They didn't show the World Series outside on the big screen TV or in any public venue. We had to stay in the cabin to watch the games. HUGE disappointment as we booked the cruise to go watch baseball games. The cruise director didn't care either.

 

This cruise won't deter me from cruising Princess. It was a weird week, before Halloween. I was smart enough to buy a future cruise credit on board. I just booked Christmas in Tahiti on the Pacific. It's taken me 15 years to get back to Tahiti. I last cruised Tahiti during the Y2K end of the world crisis. I figured if the world was going to end I wanted to be in Bora Bora.

 

I hope I can post live from Tahiti, not sure about internet issues. You can follow me at Fungirl Across America and Beyond on FB. I post photos and silly videos.

 

Cheers, Sungirl

[KCSungirl]

I forgot to mention that my girlfriend and I wanted to go to the LBGT meetings (even though we aren't LBGT) so we could find some life on the ship. They are my fun people.

[2pbears]

We were on the Island in September for a 3 day repo cruise and my feelings about the Island were very much the same as yours. We thought the ship felt "tired" and the food was the worst we have ever experienced on Princess. I am not a picky eater but there was one day at lunch in the Horizon Court that I had to ditch my plate and start over as the first round of selections was not worth eating IMO. The Bayou Café was no exception and was the first time we have eaten in a Princess specialty restaurant that we felt the food was not worth the upcharge.

 

I agree with you that the Born on the Bayou production was excellent---by far the best we have ever seen on Princess. And the staff on the Island are clearly very proud of their ship. It was evident that they enjoyed being there. Other than that, we would not jump at the chance to board the Island again any time soon.

 

Oh, and by the way, not showing the World Series is unforgivable (although you might not have wanted to watch the outcome)

Edited November 21, 2014 by 2pbears
Added a footnote

[windsor26]

We did a much longer cruise on the Island and could not fault any of it except a noisy cabin which was changed for us after 3 days and we were compensated\

 

The food was good and always hot

 

It is strange and annoying that a change of chef makes a huge difference to the cuisine on a ship and why do they have the bad chefs on their staff at all.

 

The worst meal we have ever had on a cruise ship or any where else was Christmas Day on the Dawn Princess

When I chatted to another cruiser from the Diamond Princess while we were in Dunedin on Boxing Day she enthused at the food they had had on their Christmas Dinner and desciptions were completely different for the same item.

 

Please Princess listen to the cruisers and get rid of the bad chefs or re train them:D:D

Edited November 21, 2014 by windsor26