Island Princess Deck 8 question

[TessieTravels]

I noticed that there are no chairs on this small "secret" deck as it is a very small area, anyone know about bringing our own portable chairs or bringing chairs from our cabins and would either be an issue? We have booked an aft cabin on Deck 8 very close to the deck and we will be inquiring with our cabin steward, but wanting to know if anyone had any prior experience or suggestions with bringing chairs (your own or your cabin's chairs) to enjoy this deck? We have some camping chairs the pack-up very compactly that we are considering bringing.  Thank you so much for your input.

[vjmatty]

I was going to look into that as well because I’d booked us the last port side balcony on Emerald deck but unfortunately that became the quarantine section, then I had to change our cruise anyway so I never found out. I’m curious to know as well for the future so I’m hoping someone knows. 

[TessieTravels]

vjmatty, that is what we have booked, but my mother is also traveling with us as a solo so she is booked with an inside cabin a few cabins away from us and I thought it was a good option as I heard it is not widely used except on rare occasions. Our camping chairs fit in a really compact little bag, so worst case scenario, I will post what I find out when we return.  P.S. I love your emoji, is that a greyhound?

[milolii]

Hi Tessie, have you cruised on the Island before?  We are looking at a cruise for next year and wondering.  
 

Edited September 11, 2022 by milolii

[TessieTravels]

milolii, no, this will be our first Princess cruise.  We have sailed primarily with the Celebrity, but were wanting to find a ship that went through the old locks and so we booked with Princess's Island Princess.  We are cruising in Dec, I have never done a review, but maybe that is something I can consider doing when we take this cruise. I have gone to YouTube to watch some Island Princess ship tours (which is how I learned about the deck on deck 😎 to get a bit familiar with this ship and they have been helpful. 

[Sea Hag]

3 hours ago, TessieTravels said:

vjmatty, that is what we have booked, but my mother is also traveling with us as a solo so she is booked with an inside cabin a few cabins away from us and I thought it was a good option as I heard it is not widely used except on rare occasions. Our camping chairs fit in a really compact little bag, so worst case scenario, I will post what I find out when we return.  P.S. I love your emoji, is that a greyhound?

I hope you'll come back and let us know if/how that worked out for you. It looks like a great idea to me.

[vjmatty]

4 hours ago, TessieTravels said:

vjmatty, that is what we have booked, but my mother is also traveling with us as a solo so she is booked with an inside cabin a few cabins away from us and I thought it was a good option as I heard it is not widely used except on rare occasions. Our camping chairs fit in a really compact little bag, so worst case scenario, I will post what I find out when we return.  P.S. I love your emoji, is that a greyhound?

Yes, actually it’s an Italian Greyhound which is like a miniature version with slightly different ears and body shape. We have three of them 🙂

[vjmatty]

1 hour ago, TessieTravels said:

milolii, no, this will be our first Princess cruise.  We have sailed primarily with the Celebrity, but were wanting to find a ship that went through the old locks and so we booked with Princess's Island Princess.  We are cruising in Dec, I have never done a review, but maybe that is something I can consider doing when we take this cruise. I have gone to YouTube to watch some Island Princess ship tours (which is how I learned about the deck on deck 😎 to get a bit familiar with this ship and they have been helpful. 

Please do….the Island get a bad rap because of some modifications about 5 years ago so I’d be interested to hear from someone who is new to sailing Princess. I sailed on her to Alaska in 2013 before the changes and loved the midsize ship, but it m not sure how the changes have affected the cruise experience. I see you’ve sailed Celebrity regularly… I loved Equinox and I’ve got us booked for Summit next year to Bermuda and Charleston in Aqua class, and Infinity in 2024 to Israel and Egypt. One thing I’ve noticed lately is a lot of people cruising outside their usual box of familiar cruise lines, and we are no exception. 

[KreinKrunker]

7 hours ago, TessieTravels said:

but wanting to know if anyone had any prior experience or suggestions with bringing chairs (your own or your cabin's chairs) to enjoy this deck? 

A number of years ago we went to Alaska on either Coral or Island.  There used to be lounges on some of those decks.  There were none on that trip.  First stop in Ketchikan we went ashore and purchased some very inexpensive "bag chairs" and used them on the back deck. As I said it was years ago, and it was a higher deck.  Those decks no longer are on the Island.  The Coral now is one of our favorite ships, with 88 days on her and Island (before the ruining of the Island).

[TessieTravels]

On 9/11/2022 at 4:03 PM, Sea Hag said:

I hope you'll come back and let us know if/how that worked out for you. It looks like a great idea to me.

yes, I will definitely report back. It seems like such a great little deck to hang out on without the crowds.

[TessieTravels]

23 hours ago, vjmatty said:

Please do….the Island get a bad rap because of some modifications about 5 years ago so I’d be interested to hear from someone who is new to sailing Princess. I sailed on her to Alaska in 2013 before the changes and loved the midsize ship, but it m not sure how the changes have affected the cruise experience. I see you’ve sailed Celebrity regularly… I loved Equinox and I’ve got us booked for Summit next year to Bermuda and Charleston in Aqua class, and Infinity in 2024 to Israel and Egypt. One thing I’ve noticed lately is a lot of people cruising outside their usual box of familiar cruise lines, and we are no exception. 

I promise to do my best to take notes and do a review when we return and maybe it will inspire me to do other reviews as I do appreciate all those other cruisers when they do one.

On the Celebrity topic, we really enjoyed our Aqua Class experience on Celebrity which we have done once when we cruised to Alaska, it was such a treat. The allocated dining room was a great hit with us, we had the majority of our meals there and had no desire to eat anywhere else since the food and service were so enjoyable.

We haven't done a really large ship yet as we tend to like the smaller feel, but maybe we will try the Equinox in a few years just to see what a mega cruise ship experience is like.   

Give those puppers extra cuddles!

 

23 hours ago, vjmatty said:

Yes, actually it’s an Italian Greyhound which is like a miniature version with slightly different ears and body shape. We have three of them 🙂

[TessieTravels]

22 hours ago, KreinKrunker said:

A number of years ago we went to Alaska on either Coral or Island.  There used to be lounges on some of those decks.  There were none on that trip.  First stop in Ketchikan we went ashore and purchased some very inexpensive "bag chairs" and used them on the back deck. As I said it was years ago, and it was a higher deck.  Those decks no longer are on the Island.  The Coral now is one of our favorite ships, with 88 days on her and Island (before the ruining of the Island).

KreinKrunker, I noticed that the Coral had what looked like a number of aft open decks, we love the aft, we probably miss a lot, but watching and listening to the wake is so relaxing to us.  That's a really good idea, instead of adding the weight to our suitcases and possibly not evening needing the extra items, maybe we won't bring our compact camping chairs, maybe we will just buy some in Cartagena if the room stewards don't recommend us bringing out our cabin chairs.  Thanks for the suggestion!

[Loveh2ofl]

On 9/11/2022 at 1:42 PM, TessieTravels said:

I noticed that there are no chairs on this small "secret" deck as it is a very small area, anyone know about bringing our own portable chairs or bringing chairs from our cabins and would either be an issue? We have booked an aft cabin on Deck 8 very close to the deck and we will be inquiring with our cabin steward, but wanting to know if anyone had any prior experience or suggestions with bringing chairs (your own or your cabin's chairs) to enjoy this deck? We have some camping chairs the pack-up very compactly that we are considering bringing.  Thank you so much for your input.

There were no chairs of any kind when we were on the IP in May - as others have mentioned one side is quarantine deck so could only enter the area from the starboard (right) side.

[TessieTravels]

On 9/13/2022 at 9:15 AM, Loveh2ofl said:

There were no chairs of any kind when we were on the IP in May - as others have mentioned one side is quarantine deck so could only enter the area from the starboard (right) side.

Loveh2ofl, thank you for that information, I have been wondering why all the aft balcony cabins on both sides are still available (aside from the one we booked on the starboard side), I even was automatically upgraded, but I called Princess back and said that I did not want to be upgraded, I wanted that specific aft balcony cabin and they reinstated that cabin for me.  But, your info will prepare me in case they do move our cabins, I will understand why. 

[TessieTravels]

Well, it happened again (thank you again Loveh2ofl for your insight on the isolation deck as it prepared me).  Princess kicked us out of our cabin and relocated us to a cabin near the elevators vs moving us the same cabin location but on the port side vs the starboard side (as it was available).  A call to the TA whom reported that Princess decided to make the starboard side of that aft deck the isolation hallway vs the port side (which, by the way ALL the cabins showed available when I went looking for another possible cabin.  A bit disappointed, but at least we still have the very aft cabin on deck 8...for now.  I have a feeling that something is going on with Princess and relocating or "upgrading" cabins with no notice.  When I checked the cabin availability, most of the "available" cabins are forward or aft and the midship, aft-midship, forward-midshipe are nearly all occupied.  I'm not sure if it is due to staffing issues or something else, but I am becoming more concerned that Princess will be making both hallways isolation cabins over the next couple of weeks or months and then possibly showing the cabins as available to entice new bookings?   Or, maybe I'm being to cynical.  But, I am concerned that they will decide to close access to the aft deck on deck 8 to everyone during our sailing and that makes me very sad.

[Loveh2ofl]

@TessieTravels

"But, I am concerned that they will decide to close access to the aft deck on deck 8 to everyone during our sailing and that makes me very sad."

 

Don't fret - you'll be on a beautiful ship and the 'secret' aft deck 8, while there, wasn't a place we hung out because my husband was leery of all the covid cabins nearby to get there.  I  went there frequently but since there were no chairs, I didn't spend much time and never saw anyone else - except while transiting the Panama Canal.  You can get aft views from the sports deck if all else fails 😉 

 

If you're in the very aft cabin then don't you have a 'window' facing aft?

 

[yapmom]

On 9/13/2022 at 12:15 PM, Loveh2ofl said:

There were no chairs of any kind when we were on the IP in May - as others have mentioned one side is quarantine deck so could only enter the area from the starboard (right) side.

Is Emerald deck always the COVID isolation area😳?

[Loveh2ofl]

28 minutes ago, yapmom said:

Is Emerald deck always the COVID isolation area😳?

It was in May when we were on Island Princess and seems to be now - but one can't say 'always'

[Expo67]

Just got off the Island after 60 nights which were all spent in the aft section of deck 8 starboard side. As mentioned there are no deck chairs on the aft which makes no sense. Not quite sure why they relocated isolation from port to starboard. 🤔 
 

Had a nice time onboard mainly because of the crew. In our opinion the refurb of this ship was always a question for us but we held out hope and reservation until we experienced it ourselves. We can say in our opinion the removal of the aft showroom and international cafe were a huge disappointment.

 

We expected some issues but by adding 200+ passengers to the ship and removing 2 public which leaves the ship with 3 indoor bar areas (Wheelhouse, Explorers, and Crooners) really overcrowds these areas. The internet and issues with the water temp and toilets also was an issue. After multiple maintenance visits the verdict offered was that because our cabin was at the aft end of the line that was the reason for these problems.

 

There were also issues we experienced over the entire 60 days with regards to supply issues with wine, liquor, and fruits. The explanation for the lack of fruits was that to receive fruits like melon and berries one has to book club class cabins. Not sure about that explanation as even folks we had conversations with that were in club class stated they also experienced the same issues. Even some area dining room management were confused as to the lack of fruits when we were in areas that had abundant supplies of fruits while were were there. 
 

So while we will continue to cruise Princess we will most likely stay away from the Island sadly. Hopefully they will bring the Coral back for future cruise in Europe and hopefully a future World Cruise as well.

[Expo67]

6 hours ago, Loveh2ofl said:

It was in May when we were on Island Princess and seems to be now - but one can't say 'always'

There were several decks … all on the port side that were closed for isolation while we were onboard. All Thea’s on those decks were located on the port side and in the mid section of the deck from the aft elevator forward.

[Expo67]

10 hours ago, Loveh2ofl said:

@TessieTravels

"But, I am concerned that they will decide to close access to the aft deck on deck 8 to everyone during our sailing and that makes me very sad."

 

Don't fret - you'll be on a beautiful ship and the 'secret' aft deck 8, while there, wasn't a place we hung out because my husband was leery of all the covid cabins nearby to get there.  I  went there frequently but since there were no chairs, I didn't spend much time and never saw anyone else - except while transiting the Panama Canal.  You can get aft views from the sports deck if all else fails 😉 

 

If you're in the very aft cabin then don't you have a 'window' facing aft?

 

On deck 8 the 2 cabins E732 & E733 are aft facing and have windows the look out on the aft deck area on the Emerald Deck.

[TessieTravels]

10 hours ago, Loveh2ofl said:

@TessieTravels

"But, I am concerned that they will decide to close access to the aft deck on deck 8 to everyone during our sailing and that makes me very sad."

 

Don't fret - you'll be on a beautiful ship and the 'secret' aft deck 8, while there, wasn't a place we hung out because my husband was leery of all the covid cabins nearby to get there.  I  went there frequently but since there were no chairs, I didn't spend much time and never saw anyone else - except while transiting the Panama Canal.  You can get aft views from the sports deck if all else fails 😉 

 

If you're in the very aft cabin then don't you have a 'window' facing aft?

 

Loveh2ofl, what a wonderful and accurate perspective.  I started focusing on the wrong area, you are so right, we will be on a wonderful ship, on a bucket list adventure and so privileged to be able to afford this opportunity.  Thank you for the reminder, I sometimes need help seeing the forest through the trees.  🙂

[TessieTravels]

54 minutes ago, Expo67 said:

Just got off the Island after 60 nights which were all spent in the aft section of deck 8 starboard side...

 

49 minutes ago, Expo67 said:

There were several decks … all on the port side that were closed for isolation while we were onboard. All Thea’s on those decks were located on the port side and in the mid section of the deck from the aft elevator forward.

Expo67, holy smokes, I turned a little green with envy...60 days!!! Wow, an adventure I hope to experience in the years to come.  Thank you so much for your information and experience on the Island.  I have been hearing about the refurb, so maybe while we are onboard we will look at booking on the Coral next just to get an idea of the difference.  We do enjoy the smaller ships so far.  Again, thank you for your information!

[Expo67]

1 minute ago, TessieTravels said:

 

Expo67, holy smokes, I turned a little green with envy...60 days!!! Wow, an adventure I hope to experience in the years to come.  Thank you so much for your information and experience on the Island.  I have been hearing about the refurb, so maybe while we are onboard we will look at booking on the Coral next just to get an idea of the difference.  We do enjoy the smaller ships so far.  Again, thank you for your information!

Glad to pass along the info. If the past 5 years are any indication I fear that we may have to move in other directions for cruising as Princess seems to be hell bent on these new behemoth sized ships of the Royal Class. As for 60 days … fear not your day will come. 👍

[TessieTravels]

54 minutes ago, Expo67 said:

On deck 8 the 2 cabins E732 & E733 are aft facing and have windows the look out on the aft deck area on the Emerald Deck.

Yes, and we are looking to move my mom from an inside cabin down the hall E716 to the OV E732 (but it is on the starboard side which Princess said was going to be an isolation hallway), so I have been checking Princess's website to see if/when they possibly open E733 since we are now in E737.  My other though is to just to move her to the OV and then hope either E733 becomes available or, maybe if they upgrade her to a balcony, it won't really matter where she is on the ship because at least she is in a balcony and it will be another vantage point we get to experience the canal at.  We haven't been able to find anyone to travel with her, so she tends to prefer the inside cabins and then has been fortunate to get upgraded.  But, if she is in an inside cabin, we prefer to have her close to us so that she can enjoy the balcony with us.