Just off Island Princess- Fantastic Experience

[luvthec]

After following these boards for many months, reading everything I could find about the Island Princess (both good and bad), I am happy to say my experience was beyond fantastic. Briefly, here are some highlights:

• Suite Life - They always say there's no going back, they're right! Even my DH, not a big cruise fan, said we'll go again if we can stay in a suite. We were treated like royalty. Anything we needed was there in a flash. Yes, the makeup mirror lights up and magnifies! We were in C704, tiny bit of vibration but not annoying. Slept like babies for the first time in years. The most comfortable bed I've ever slept on. Being able to order dinner from the MDR was huge. Nights we didn't get back from a port until late we just had our friends over for dinner and watched a movie. So fun.
  
• Food in the MDR was excellent. We chose late seating and it was great. Gave plenty of time for wine before dinner without any waiting. Only once did I have an entree that I wouldn't have ordered again.
  
• Horizon Buffet, although it could get crowed at times, was well laid out and people were never tripping over each other trying to get their food.
  
• Crab Shack - I've never seen my DH not be able to finish all of the crab on his plate. He couldn't, delicious. The most attentive service we had. Watch the Patters for the nights offered.
  
• Bayou Cafe - never thought I'd eat an alligator rib but I did, tasted like pork ribs. Steaks were excellent as were the fried green tomatoes.
  
• Show not to miss "On The Bayou". Fantastic. My expectations were high about this show, so much better than I thought it would be.
  

Things I'm glad I did, thanks to CC recommendations:

• Buy the photo package before you go for $99. Over 15 days, we accumulated 25+ photos that I wouldn't have purchased but I'm glad I have them. They give you a thumb drive (shaped like a ship so you never forget which photos are on it) that has all of the soft copies on it so you can share with travelling companions and use for photo albums.
  
• Ordered a case of water for $6.90. Came in handy and we shared with friends.
  
• Buy that CCL stock and request the benefit.
  

Things to keep an eye on:

 

• If you purchase the wine package (we did, silver package) keep an eye on your bill especially if you purchase bottles anywhere other than the MDR. We purchased 2 bottles at Bayou Cafe and the $29 credit never appeared. It was taken care of no questions asked, but watch for it.
  

Port excursions:

 

• Cabo - Cabo Flyboard. Not for the weak at heart, or the weak of knee. Most fun I ever had in the water. Looks easier than it was.
  
• Nicaragua - Ziplining with Da Flying Frogs. Most fun I ever had hanging from a tree.
  
• Costa Rica - Day tour with Odyssey Tours. Probably 4 stars, but still good.
  
• Cartagena - Taxi to the walled city, shopped, wandered. Loved the Aviary at the port. Yes, there were lots of folks selling their wares. A simple "no gracias" and they were on their way. These guys were rookies compared to Mazatlan.
  
• Aruba - Ship excursion on Jolly Pirates snorkel trip. We are all still laughing about this trip. Definite 5 star. Great price, great time. These folks know how to entertain.
  

Transit of the Panama Canal was great, we had so much fun before and after that the main reason we went kinda became a "we also did" event.

 

 

As I had never been on the Island Princess before, I didn't have any comparisons to make to the old ship layout. The Casino is small and the fitness room is small, other than that, I didn't notice crowding any worse than any other mass market ship I've been.

 

 

I would book this ship and itinerary again in a heartbeat.

[Sackat60]

Hi Kim,

 

We just finished the same cruise. I've been writing my "hits and misses" list for two days (between loads of laundry and calming down anxious pets!) and plan to post mine today as well. Overall great time, but it's good to see the different kinds of experiences people can have on the same cruise!

 

-Kathy

[Posaune]

I was also on the March 15 SFO to FLL cruise. Great experience and great service. The entertainment was very good, especially the string quartet. Had a great dinner at Sabatini's! I do miss being able to walk fully around the ship on Promenade Deck. I plan on doing a full review soon!

[Selion]

Glad to hear you all had a great cruise! We were originally booked on the 3/15 cruise on the Island, but can't manage to get the time off because new job and had to make a change. One of these days, will go to Panama Canal.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[NeptuneSeas]

Do you recall who the Maitre d' is please?

Thanx for your review. Cheers.

[lovevacadays]

Thank you for your review. Looks like you had a fabulous time.

[TLCOhio]

After following these boards for many months, reading everything I could find about the Island Princess (both good and bad), I am happy to say my experience was beyond fantastic. Briefly, here are some highlights:

• Food in the MDR was excellent. We chose late seating and it was great. Gave plenty of time for wine before dinner without any waiting. Only once did I have an entree that I wouldn't have ordered again.
  
• Horizon Buffet, although it could get crowed at times, was well laid out and people were never tripping over each other trying to get their food.
  
• Costa Rica - Day tour with Odyssey Tours. Probably 4 stars, but still good.
  

• Aruba - Ship excursion on Jolly Pirates snorkel trip. We are all still laughing about this trip. Definite 5 star. Great price, great time. These folks know how to entertain.
  

Transit of the Panama Canal was great, we had so much fun before and after that the main reason we went kinda became a "we also did" event. As I had never been on the Island Princess before, I didn't have any comparisons to make to the old ship layout. .

 

Appreciate this very nice review by our "neighbor" in Virginia. As I note below, we were on the Island Princess just before you, going FLL to SFO. We were also doing our first cruise with Princess. Enjoyed several common experiences, including successfully using Odyssey Tours in Costa Rica and doing the Jolly Pirate in Aruba. Agree that the food worked well in the MDR, Horizon Court. Glad your stop in Nicaragua worked out. Ours got scrubbed by high winds in the tendered port. If anyone needs to see added background/pictures for the Panama Canal transit, check out my live/blog connected below.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Panama Canal? Just completed Feb. 28-Mar. 15, 2017, Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco adventure through the Panama Canal with our first stops in Colombia, Central America and Mexico, plus added time in the great Golden Gate City. Lots of fun pictures!! Those pictures start on the second page, post #26. See more at:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2465580

[luvthec]

Do you recall who the Maitre d' is please?

Thanx for your review. Cheers.

 

The Maitre D' was Ig****o D'Agostino - He and the Executive Chef did a great culinary demonstration prior to the galley tour. It was more like a comedy skit they were so funny.

[luvthec]

Hi Kim,

 

We just finished the same cruise. I've been writing my "hits and misses" list for two days (between loads of laundry and calming down anxious pets!) and plan to post mine today as well. Overall great time, but it's good to see the different kinds of experiences people can have on the same cruise!

 

-Kathy

I thought there were way more hits than misses. And the few things that weren't right, they made right. Except for the internet, that really was painful to use.

[luvthec]

I was also on the March 15 SFO to FLL cruise. Great experience and great service. The entertainment was very good, especially the string quartet. Had a great dinner at Sabatini's! I do miss being able to walk fully around the ship on Promenade Deck. I plan on doing a full review soon!

 

 

I agree about the string quartet. They were lovely. I also liked how they used the Atrium for lots of demonstrations, like making martinis, or chocolate desserts. You were able to watch for a few minutes, then wander off without feeling like you were getting up in the middle of a presentation. Loved their use of this space.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for your comments. Glad you had a great cruise. :)

[Colo Cruiser]

The Maitre D' was Ig****o D'Agostino - He and the Executive Chef did a great culinary demonstration prior to the galley tour. It was more like a comedy skit they were so funny.

 

 

Iggy is a hoot!! In a prior or future life I think he was/will be a comedian. :)

[NeptuneSeas]

The Maitre D' was Ig****o D'Agostino - He and the Executive Chef did a great culinary demonstration prior to the galley tour. It was more like a comedy skit they were so funny.

Thanks for post, yes we too enjoy the culinary demos and this MDH is indeed part comedian!

[Posaune]

I thought there were way more hits than misses. And the few things that weren't right, they made right. Except for the internet, that really was painful to use.

 

Strange, I found the internet to be the best from any of our cruises. Great signal in the cabin on our laptop. Used wifi to make quite a few phone calls. I even complemented the internet guru about how good the service was on this cruise.

[Sackat60]

I too actually thought there were way more hits than misses.

 

The internet experience probably varied with where you are using it from, as well as time of day and kinds of things you're trying to do. We were on Deck 5 aft and there were times that it worked wonderfully and other times when it just wasn't available. Maybe our cabin was further away from the nearest Access Point, or maybe some of the times that AP or internet bandwidth in general was just saturated. We also noticed a problem with several of us being unable to get a wifi connection in the MDR when we were trying to check our schedules and messages. I've been working in IT a really long time (still working....sigh) and realize that the ship's wifi is a different thing than the internet access, but you need wifi to get to internet. There were times that wifi worked fine, but internet either was slow or unavailable (especially mid-day).

 

Personally, I don't have any other experience using ships wifi or internet, so can't say if this ship is any better or worse than other ships. I am assuming that the overall internal network will be upgraded in order to support the Medallions (which sound really cool!).

 

All in all, the internet wasn't nearly my biggest worry on this cruise :-). Mostly it was how to cram as much fun as possible into the limited time we had on board.

[Lucky TGO]

Thanks for sharing. Happy you had a great time.

Tony