Recently returned from Island Princess Panama Canal Feb 3-18

[alwalaska]

Was your time in port at Costa Rica changed at all due to tides? The March 15th sailing out of SF to FLL will arrive in Costa Rica to 11:45 AM and depart at 11:30 PM. The change is due to the tides. We have also booked a private tour for 4 with Odyssey Tours (10 in 1) but I'm sure we will miss a lot and be rushed because of our late start. So disappointing but I guess I cannot control the tides.

 

In all of my reading about port reviews of Costa Rica, I don't recall ever reading about a change due to tides.

 

 

I'm sorry, but that sounds like a bunch of hooie to me, but who knows, I'm not a captain or anything. There are definitely differences in what you see based on the tides, but we started our tour at low tide and the tide was coming in pretty significantly by the end.

 

I do know there are ports where the tide really matters, like sailing out of NYC. Some of the taller ships can not leave at high tide because there is not enough clearance under the bridge for the safety margins required.

 

I'm betting you will still get a pretty great tour. Email Odyssey now and tell them your concerns. They will help you optimize the daylight that you will have.

[alwalaska]

Can you tell us what nights were Formal nights, please? 3 nights, correct?

 

And they seriously took out the International Cafe???? Did they replace it with anything else? Is there still a place to purchase specialty coffees?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

As someone else said, there never was an International Café. There is the Patisserie with coffee for purchase along with some of the same pastries and cookies that they have available in the buffet. It is on deck 5.

 

There were 3 formal nights. Our cruise was the not very common 15 day LA to FLL with no stops in Mexico, so we had 4 sea days right at the beginning. Formal nights may vary on another itinerary.

 

We embarked on the 3rd. There were formal nights on the 5th, 9th, and 16th.

[alwalaska]

As someone else said, there never was an International Café. There is the Patisserie with coffee for purchase along with some of the same pastries and cookies that they have available in the buffet. It is on deck 5.

 

There were 3 formal nights. Our cruise was the not very common 15 day LA to FLL with no stops in Mexico, so we had 4 sea days right at the beginning. Formal nights may vary on another itinerary.

 

We embarked on the 3rd. There were formal nights on the 5th, 9th, and 16th.

 

 

Sorry, I was wrong. The first formal night was the 4th. Things were so crowded, we decided not to dress up and canceled our 5:30 shared table reservation.

[frugaltravel]

As you can see, there are different opinions about this ship.

During the 2015 makeover, the Universal Lounge was ripped out and replaced by cabins. This had the effect of adding passengers and reducing lounge space. If you did not encounter overcrowding, like we did, no big deal.

 

The International Cafe was ripped out. If you don't care about the cafe, no big deal.

 

The gym was moved from its sea view place to a stuffy hole on deck 6. If you don't use the gym, no big deal.

 

The former rap around promenade deck was cut at the aft quarter with an ugly steel barrier to create ersatz balconies for some of the new cabins. If you don't care about the promenade, no big deal.

 

There is no sports bar, but then there never was. There are two tvs and five seats at the casino bar if you are interested, otherwise watch in your cabin.

 

I would note, a similar makeover for sister ship Coral Princess was cancelled. I wonder why?

 

A crew member told us everyone involved in the makeover was fired. I doubt that unless the makeover was done without the knowledge of senior management.

 

 

I have to agree with the above, as I was also on this cruise. Everything about the ship seemed crowded. Hard to find a place to sit without something going on. Always some sort of game or sales presentation in Wheelhouse or Explorers. Seats in other locations during sea days were often occupied.

 

Theater was a mess - if you didn't arrive at least 30 minutes before the production started, you would not find a seat. But you never knew when the doors would open. One time a bunch of us were lined up outside the theater doors close to 1 hour before the performance and the doors didn't open until 25 minutes before. Even though multiple announcements were made about not reserving seats, people always reserved seats and the cruise staff were of no help in this regard.

 

During Happy Hour in the Wheelhouse, forget finding a seat if you didn't arrive by 2.45pm. Explorers Lounge was also packed well before starting time for any function.

 

Anytime dining was kind of a mess too as mentioned above, but after the first couple of days we found it to be slightly better. Also we started a routine on many days - 5.45pm show, make a reservation for 7.45pm dinner but go to the dining room after the show to see if there was a long line. If we got in fairly soon, we canceled the 7.45pm reservation. If the dining room line was long, we would get a drink or do something else then come back at 7.45pm.

 

 

Horizon Court was often crowded, but usually we could find a seat. The key was bringing something to "reserve" our seats then go through the buffet line then back to our reserved seats.

 

 

I too would never sail on the Island Princess again unless it was free. So many other great ships. The renovation to the Island was a disaster, adding those 100+ rooms and taking out the lounge. I was on the Coral several years ago in Alaska and it never felt as crowded as the Island did earlier this month.

[suzyed]

As someone else said, there never was an International Café. There is the Patisserie with coffee for purchase along with some of the same pastries and cookies that they have available in the buffet. It is on deck 5.

 

There were 3 formal nights. Our cruise was the not very common 15 day LA to FLL with no stops in Mexico, so we had 4 sea days right at the beginning. Formal nights may vary on another itinerary.

 

We embarked on the 3rd. There were formal nights on the 5th, 9th, and 16th.

 

 

Thanks for that info.....We are on the 15 day FLL to LA (opposite of yours). Maybe I will have to post on the boards and ask of those who already sailed our itinerary.

[alwalaska]

Next installment of my "Review" ...

 

Processes that I think Princess does well with ...

 

• Having people order their eggs for breakfast or grill items in the evening and getting a piece of paper to take to the table and the waiter brings you the food is a really great idea. It keeps the buffet lines from clogging up and the chef can concentrate on cooking.
  
• Most of the embarkation process proceeded well in San Pedro. I'm not sure if other ports are the same.
  
  • The only improvements I could see would be to slow down the calling of numbers and watch to see when the gangways are clear. I would much rather wait in the comfortable seats than stand for over 30 minutes on the gangway. Plus, since the aft gangway was so full, they told everyone to go to the forward one. Since we had the very last cabin, that was a lot of extra back and forth.
    
  • Other cruise lines take the security photo when you check in rather than when you board. Having lots of people doing it rather than 1 or 2 speeds things up overall.
    

  [*]I appreciated being able to buy a case of bottled water for a reasonable price up front and not have to lug it on board.

  [*]I appreciated not having the endless bingo announcements from other cruise lines.

  [*]The entertainment was varied and there was a lot of activities.

  [*]In 15 days, I only had one problem with a food and beverage person not being interested in getting my drink once he saw I had the soda and more package. Most were amazing. One guy in the theater even remembered what mocktail I wanted each night after the first time I got one from him. Obviously it helped that we sat in the same seats every night we could.

Processes that need improvement

• Anytime Dining
  
• Stop pushing cold waters in the overly crowded and short staffed buffet on port mornings, Set up at the entrance to the buffet and at the gangways.
  
• Make all of the same information available in both the electronic and paper Patters. Sometimes there was more detailed info about a show or activity in one than the other. At least the electronic should have the full info since it isn't killing trees or limited to one page.
  
• Put a full ship map in the app
  
• Actually have crew show up to everything that is advertised. Once we went to something and there was no one there from the ship staff. Someone else mentioned this happened to them as well once.
  

[alwalaska]

Thanks for that info.....We are on the 15 day FLL to LA (opposite of yours). Maybe I will have to post on the boards and ask of those who already sailed our itinerary.

 

 

There is someone sailing this week FLL to San Francisco and he said he was going to do a live thread while sailing. That is probably closer to your itinerary.

[Colo Cruiser]

The International Cafe was ripped out. If you don't care about the cafe, no big deal.

 

 

Who told you that?

There never was an IC.

[f-mattox]

As you can see, there are different opinions about this ship.

During the 2015 makeover, the Universal Lounge was ripped out and replaced by cabins. This had the effect of adding passengers and reducing lounge space. If you did not encounter overcrowding, like we did, no big deal.

 

The International Cafe was ripped out. If you don't care about the cafe, no big deal.

 

The gym was moved from its sea view place to a stuffy hole on deck 6. If you don't use the gym, no big deal.

 

The former rap around promenade deck was cut at the aft quarter with an ugly steel barrier to create ersatz balconies for some of the new cabins. If you don't care about the promenade, no big deal.

 

There is no sports bar, but then there never was. There are two tvs and five seats at the casino bar if you are interested, otherwise watch in your cabin.

 

I would note, a similar makeover for sister ship Coral Princess was cancelled. I wonder why?

 

A crew member told us everyone involved in the makeover was fired. I doubt that unless the makeover was done without the knowledge of senior management.

 

 

I don't remember the Island Princess ever having an International Cafe (??)

[Sailaweigh]

It's funny that people can be on the same cruise and experience a different cruise.

Except for 1 day and night, I didn't think the boat was rocking at all. We were on the upper deck a lot playing pickleball and there was only one day that the wind (not the ship rocking), made it impossible to play.

Our group dined on second sitting (7:45). Our waiter had us done with dinner and on our way by 9:00 and he was serving 12 from our group plus 2 other tables. We noticed that when we arrived at the dining room at 7:45, some people were already on their main course. Apparently, they would serve you early if you arrived early.

One thing I wish they had done differently was to have the port speaker do each presentation two times. His talks were very good but always very crowded. Yes, we could watch it on our cabin TV later, but we never knew when it was starting, and we always hit the same part of the talk.

I really never saw the crowds and lack of seats that you all are talking about . One of the reasons that we do second sitting is that if gets us off the schedule that the early and anytime dinners are on ( and thus less crowds). We eat lunch a little later and we go to the later shows. We have found that this works on all the cruise ships that we've been on.

Happy Hour was very busy...so we would get our drinks and head to a place that wasn't crowded and enjoyed our own Happy Hour. That was about the only place (other than the theater) that we had trouble getting seats. In all the other venues, it sometimes was difficult to find a place for all 12 of us to sit to together, but there were always places for 4 or 8 of us.

For the people headed out on the Island Princess soon...Enjoy!

[san diego sue]

We were on the Island for 19 days (RT LA) in November.

It did feel a bit more crowded because of the added cabins. However, we had a wonderful cruise.

The Horizon Ct. was a huge improvement over most of the Princess ships. Felt like it was easier to navigate in the buffet area and seating area felt larger.

At noon time it was quite crowded although our group of 5 always found seating.

We had fixed late dining so enjoyed having our table ready for us nightly. I would never take anytime dining anymore.

I have seen awful crowds on the Princess ships lately . Dinner should be a relaxing experience after a full day exploring in ports.Anytime may be impacted now by the Club Class dining. Don't know for sure but since November have seen much bigger lines for anytime (we cruise often).

We enjoyed our cruise on the Island . Our cabin was mid ship on Caribe and loved the location. Never felt any vibrations. Understand that the new added cabins in the aft you do feel vibrations.

We would cruise on this ship again.

[suzyed]

There is someone sailing this week FLL to San Francisco and he said he was going to do a live thread while sailing. That is probably closer to your itinerary.

 

 

I will look for that...thanks.

[easyboy]

Next installment of my "Review" ...

 

Processes that I think Princess does well with ...

 

 

• Having people order their eggs for breakfast or grill items in the evening and getting a piece of paper to take to the table and the waiter brings you the food is a really great idea. It keeps the buffet lines from clogging up and the chef can concentrate on cooking.
  
• Most of the embarkation process proceeded well in San Pedro. I'm not sure if other ports are the same.
  
  • The only improvements I could see would be to slow down the calling of numbers and watch to see when the gangways are clear. I would much rather wait in the comfortable seats than stand for over 30 minutes on the gangway. Plus, since the aft gangway was so full, they told everyone to go to the forward one. Since we had the very last cabin, that was a lot of extra back and forth.
    
  • Other cruise lines take the security photo when you check in rather than when you board. Having lots of people doing it rather than 1 or 2 speeds things up overall.
    

   

  [*]I appreciated being able to buy a case of bottled water for a reasonable price up front and not have to lug it on board.

  [*]I appreciated not having the endless bingo announcements from other cruise lines.

  [*]The entertainment was varied and there was a lot of activities.

  [*]In 15 days, I only had one problem with a food and beverage person not being interested in getting my drink once he saw I had the soda and more package. Most were amazing. One guy in the theater even remembered what mocktail I wanted each night after the first time I got one from him. Obviously it helped that we sat in the same seats every night we could.

Processes that need improvement

• Anytime Dining
  
• Stop pushing cold waters in the overly crowded and short staffed buffet on port mornings, Set up at the entrance to the buffet and at the gangways.
  
• Make all of the same information available in both the electronic and paper Patters. Sometimes there was more detailed info about a show or activity in one than the other. At least the electronic should have the full info since it isn't killing trees or limited to one page.
  
• Put a full ship map in the app
  
• Actually have crew show up to everything that is advertised. Once we went to something and there was no one there from the ship staff. Someone else mentioned this happened to them as well once.
  

Thank you for these observations.

[alwalaska]

We were on the Island for 19 days (RT LA) in November.

It did feel a bit more crowded because of the added cabins. However, we had a wonderful cruise.

The Horizon Ct. was a huge improvement over most of the Princess ships. Felt like it was easier to navigate in the buffet area and seating area felt larger.

At noon time it was quite crowded although our group of 5 always found seating.

We had fixed late dining so enjoyed having our table ready for us nightly. I would never take anytime dining anymore.

I have seen awful crowds on the Princess ships lately . Dinner should be a relaxing experience after a full day exploring in ports.Anytime may be impacted now by the Club Class dining. Don't know for sure but since November have seen much bigger lines for anytime (we cruise often).

We enjoyed our cruise on the Island . Our cabin was mid ship on Caribe and loved the location. Never felt any vibrations. Understand that the new added cabins in the aft you do feel vibrations.

We would cruise on this ship again.

 

 

I definitely agree that the buffet on the Island Princess was one of the best organized buffets I have seen on any ship on the lines I have traveled.

 

Although there were days when there was plenty of room of room to sit, other times, it was quite the challenge. The funny thing was, we couldn't seem to find a pattern to when it was busiest.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.