Review: Island Princess Christmas Cruise Panama Canal Dec 20-30, 2018!!

[runnersuzy]

On island in March and best review I have seen, thanks.

[gusmom]

I know this is older but TY! (apparently I can’t send messages) We are taking this cruise w our 12 yr old over Thanksgiving (& week following). 

 

Did your grandson do any of the kids club activities or stick with the adults? One thing we were trying to sort out at his age (& I know there probably aren’t many kids onboard to start) 

[BoopTennis]

Hi. Our grandson hung with adults part of the time but also found kids his age on the ship to swim and play ping pong etc. he did not do kids club activities this time although he has in the past. I think that was because he was at the very upper age of one group and just a month or so too young to be in the next age group 

[gusmom]

7 hours ago, BoopTennis said:

Hi. Our grandson hung with adults part of the time but also found kids his age on the ship to swim and play ping pong etc. he did not do kids club activities this time although he has in the past. I think that was because he was at the very upper age of one group and just a month or so too young to be in the next age group 

 

This is exactly what I wondered about.  He will be almost 13. He likes the appeal of the kids space and I like that he might meet other kids there but he’s between ages. He’ll be 2 mos shy of 13.  I was surprised as there is a BIG difference between 8 & 12. I’d think 7-10 and 11-13ish would be better breakdowns even if they are in the same space. I’m guessing from your post that they aren’t really flexible about that (off to the family section to post next lol)

[teacher1977]

Since you were on the Island Princess for a Panama Canal cruise recently could you answer a few questions for me as we will be doing the Panama Canal in October 2019?  

1.  How were the mosquitoes?  Were they problematic?  Lots of other insects/bugs? Did you have to use a lot of insect repellent?

2.  Did you get any shots/vaccinations prior to this trip?

3.  Did the Library have very many books?  How about board games?

3.  I keep reading that the Casino was made smaller when they added more state rooms. Were there many slot machines or were a lot of them removed?

Thanks for answering.

[metairiegal]

Interested in this info, too!

[cheride]

1 hour ago, teacher1977 said:

Since you were on the Island Princess for a Panama Canal cruise recently could you answer a few questions for me as we will be doing the Panama Canal in October 2019?  

1.  How were the mosquitoes?  Were they problematic?  Lots of other insects/bugs? Did you have to use a lot of insect repellent?

2.  Did you get any shots/vaccinations prior to this trip?

3.  Did the Library have very many books?  How about board games?

3.  I keep reading that the Casino was made smaller when they added more state rooms. Were there many slot machines or were a lot of them removed?

Thanks for answering.

I'm not the OP, but took this voyage late Jan/early Feb, so I'll give  you what info I can.

 

1:  No bug problems for me, at all, and I'm a mosquito magnet. I had some repellant with me, but the only place I even applied it was in Limon, but I didn't see even mosquitoes there.  Not sure if this varies by time of year.

2:  No shots. I did check the CDC website and didn't see any recommended. 

3.  Didn't really notice the games, but I would say the library had a fair assortment of books, nothing spectacular. But, to be fair, I typically travel with my books on a tablet, so don't really pay much attention to the libraries other than browsing through just when wandering the ship, so my comparison is certainly skewed.

4. This was the first time I've ever spent much time in the casino; again, I usually just walked through to look around or maybe drop a couple bucks in the quarter drop machines or something. But, I'd say this casino was significantly smaller. I'm going to speculate maybe ~50 machines.

[BoopTennis]

I’m the OP but would agree with cheride.  We did not run into mosquitoes anywhere. 

No shots required 

We spent time in the library to play cards. There were several board games and books but I didn’t really pay attention to the selection 

 

casino as said above was small but had enough tables and slots for my husband lol. 

We had a great time

[Jsim2011]

Thank you so much for this review.

 

We booked this cruise for New Year 2019 but having read some negative reviews about the Island I was having doubts.

 

Your review has totally reassured me and I am now excited and looking forward to this cruise.

[Seacreature101]

Glad I found this and thanks for all the time it took to do it.  Thoroughly enjoyed.

[LoriPhil]

Great review and I could almost smell the suntan lotion - thanks!  I have avoided booking cruises on the island based on prior posters, but won’t hesitate now if there is an itinerary I’d like.  Yay!