How odd

[yyjguy]

Princess had mailed out an 18 page promotion on World Cruise 2025.   No where in the flashy pages is there a single mention of the ship’s name.   A picture or two but even there the name is blanked out.  Is Princess embarrassed by the ruined Island Princess?   If not, they should be!

[startedwithamouse]

13 minutes ago, yyjguy said:

Princess had mailed out an 18 page promotion on World Cruise 2025.   No where in the flashy pages is there a single mention of the ship’s name.   A picture or two but even there the name is blanked out.  Is Princess embarrassed by the ruined Island Princess?   If not, they should be!

Maybe they don't know which ship will be sailing?

 

Why is the Island ruined?

[Idratherbeatsea]

Love the Island, perfect size, the promenade deck.

[Teechur]

28 minutes ago, yyjguy said:

Princess had mailed out an 18 page promotion on World Cruise 2025.   No where in the flashy pages is there a single mention of the ship’s name.   A picture or two but even there the name is blanked out.  Is Princess embarrassed by the ruined Island Princess?   If not, they should be!

In September, we sailed around the British Isles and Iceland on the "ruined" Island Princess. We had a great time, and while the ship could be described as "tired", it's far from ruined.

Chances are, they will choose a ship depending on the number of people who sign up.

[Rick&Jeannie]

I am curious as well as to why the Island is "ruined".  We did an "Oktoberfest" cruise in Europe with no issues at all.

[reedprincess]

16 minutes ago, Idratherbeatsea said:

Love the Island, perfect size, the promenade deck.

You mean, the promenade deck where you have to cross through the ship to complete a circuit, cuz they cut it off with added cabins? That promenade?  Yeah, lovely. Lol..  and somehow, people complain about Royal class ships without a wraparound promenade, yet love Island's, which isn't wraparound and hasn't been for 9 years. 

[Thrak]

14 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I am curious as well as to why the Island is "ruined".  We did an "Oktoberfest" cruise in Europe with no issues at all.

 

The reference was to the remodel where they removed the Universe Lounge and replaced it with cabins. Lots of new cabins and less public space. They moved the gym downstairs to a windowless room. The Promenade can no longer be traversed all around the ship as it is blocked off when you get to the beginning of the aft cabins.

[Rick&Jeannie]

Just now, Thrak said:

 

The reference was to the remodel where they removed the Universe Lounge and replaced it with cabins. Lots of new cabins and less public space. They moved the gym downstairs to a windowless room. The Promenade can no longer be traversed all around the ship as it is blocked off when you get to the beginning of the aft cabins.

Ah, OK!  I guess we sailed her *after* the "ruination" took effect 😄...so we had nothing to compare to!

[57eric]

Gym in the basement?  No International Cafe?  Totally agree with the OP.

[antsp]

It officially the worst ship in the fleet, as voted by the ' we hate the Island Princess committee' 

[Idratherbeatsea]

20 minutes ago, reedprincess said:

You mean, the promenade deck where you have to cross through the ship to complete a circuit, cuz they cut it off with added cabins? That promenade?  Yeah, lovely. Lol..  and somehow, people complain about Royal class ships without a wraparound promenade, yet love Island's, which isn't wraparound and hasn't been for 9 years. 

lol, busted. It has been 12 years. And to be honest wasn’t aware of the change.

 

21 minutes ago, reedprincess said:

You mean, the promenade deck where you have to cross through the ship to complete a circuit, cuz they cut it off with added cabins? That promenade?  Yeah, lovely. Lol..  and somehow, people complain about Royal class ships without a wraparound promenade, yet love Island's, which isn't wraparound and hasn't been for 9 years. 

 

[Thrak]

49 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Ah, OK!  I guess we sailed her *after* the "ruination" took effect 😄...so we had nothing to compare to!

 

We sailed Island as the next cruise after sailing Coral. Loved Coral but didn't care at all for Island. Why they never added IC to Island is a mystery. IC is small on Coral and was an addition but it works much better than not having any IC at all. On The Bayou is a good show and was developed specifically to take advantage of the rotating stage in the Universe Lounge. I saw a "version" of it on Island but it was in the main theater and just not at all the same. Our favorite cabin on Coral ceased to exist on Island when they redid that ship. It used to be the same as Coral (aside from the lack of IC) but when we sailed on Island we kept "running out of ship" when we headed aft. It was definitely weird after having been on Coral the trip before.Coral Princess list 2,000 guests. Island Princess lists 2,200 guests. 200 more people and a large public venue removed. The aft viewing decks on Baja and Caribe deck are no longer there as they have been replaced with cabins. Island Princess wins the "worst ship in the fleet" award from me.

[mtnesterz]

To the original question, according to the Princess website, both Island and Crown are doing World Cruise itineraries in '25. Don't like the Island, you have options.

Edited February 23 by mtnesterz

[cruzsnooze]

I just sailed 28 nights on the Island and liked her very much. I did miss the international cafe but her size and friendliness made up for it.

[yyjguy]

mtnesterz -you are incorrect.  The voyage the mail out deals with is for WINTER 2025 and at that time Coral is doing back to back Panama Canal transits, and Island is doing the World.   So no choice.  Australia based world cruises operate in North American summer and are operated by two excellent vessels;  Coral 2024 and Crown 2025. 

[Thrak]

I can't imagine doing a World Cruise. We did 63 days on Grand Princess last year and that was tooooooooooo dang long on one ship. We got really tired of the same food, the same CD jokes, the same Trivia, etc. It was nice being treated a bit like "one of the family" by the crew though. 😉

[capriccio]

5 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

The reference was to the remodel where they removed the Universe Lounge and replaced it with cabins. Lots of new cabins and less public space. They moved the gym downstairs to a windowless room. The Promenade can no longer be traversed all around the ship as it is blocked off when you get to the beginning of the aft cabins.

The addition of the aft cabins also meant the removal of all the aft viewing areas, at least one of which (Caribe deck IIRC) had lounges on it. 

[Teechur]

We were on the Emerald deck in balcony cabins near the laundromat. About 10 cabins further aft is a door which leads to an outdoor deck that runs the full width of the back of the ship and offers great views. We strolled out there for pictures and viewing several times each day.

[capriccio]

8 minutes ago, Teechur said:

We were on the Emerald deck in balcony cabins near the laundromat. About 10 cabins further aft is a door which leads to an outdoor deck that runs the full width of the back of the ship and offers great views. We strolled out there for pictures and viewing several times each day.

Good to know.  I love those decks - we were on the Coral for 28 days last spring only 3 doors away from that viewing area.

[ldubs]

6 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Ah, OK!  I guess we sailed her *after* the "ruination" took effect 😄...so we had nothing to compare to!

 

Same here on a Northern Capitals cruise.  We have been on Coral so know the difference.  We enjoyed the Island.  While not our favorite Princess ship, we would go again.  

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, capriccio said:

The addition of the aft cabins also meant the removal of all the aft viewing areas, at least one of which (Caribe deck IIRC) had lounges on it. 

 

It was Baja that had the loungers. Our favorite cabin is the window nearest to the door. (There is an identical cabin near the far door but, for some weird reason, we've booked the Starboard side both times we sailed Coral.

 

[AnyMajorCruiseDude]

Nothing wrong with the Island.  And even less wrong with it if you are on a world cruise.

[mrstmaxx]

We are currently on the 2024 world cruise on the Island and it’s a great ship!!  We really are liking it.   We would sail in it again anytime 

[MissP22]

9 hours ago, Thrak said:

I can't imagine doing a World Cruise. We did 63 days on Grand Princess last year and that was tooooooooooo dang long on one ship. We got really tired of the same food, the same CD jokes, the same Trivia, etc. It was nice being treated a bit like "one of the family" by the crew though. 😉

I know the feeling although we hit the boring point much sooner as around 20 to 30 days on any ship.

[capriccio]

11 hours ago, Teechur said:

We were on the Emerald deck in balcony cabins near the laundromat. About 10 cabins further aft is a door which leads to an outdoor deck that runs the full width of the back of the ship and offers great views. We strolled out there for pictures and viewing several times each day.

 

11 hours ago, capriccio said:

Good to know.  I love those decks - we were on the Coral for 28 days last spring only 3 doors away from that viewing area.

 

I was curious and went to look at the Island's deck plans on the Princess website.  the Emerald deck is the only one that still has an aft viewing area.  All the other decks had aft facing cabins added where the viewing areas were.