Just back from the Island

[lois1112]

I am just off the Island princess. It was a wonderful but short 3 day cruise.

Any Questions?

[Tom O.]

What's the latest news on paying for coffee? Is regular coffee still for free in the dining room, buffet, and for room service? I am not interested in "gourmet" coffee.

[teachergal29]

We will be going on the Island to Hawaii on Oct. 21. Interested to know if the ship has the new beds and bedding in the mini-suites and above. Also want to know if the Island has had their balcony furniture redone replacing the plastic with the metal.We are in C728.

 

Also interested in the quality of coffee like Tom O

 

Hope you had a wonderful time. Can't wait!!!

[Fisical1]

Leaving Dec 27th. Any helpful information, tips would be appreciated!

[MLBFan24]

I was on the Island Princess in August (Northbound Alaska)

 

I really enjoyed that ship - best architecture on a ship I've been on.

 

Excellent food, excellent shows, cruise staff was ok (they didn't seem too upbeat. Though Kasey was cool...I had a mad crush on her...haha). But the overall cruise staff didn't seem too knowledgeable.

 

However, I did have a great time. And I'm glad you did too!

 

I should have joined these forums earlier, instead of just being a lurker :/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leaving Dec 27th. Any helpful information, tips would be appreciated!

 

The theatre for the main shows doesn't get crowded for the 10PM showing. You can walk in with 5 minutes left until showtime and find a great seat. So you don't have to rush. Only tip I can think of for now...I'll think of more later

[llandaff]

We will be doing a 3 night cruise on the Coral starting on Monday.

Can you tell roughly what menus you had each night? I'm assuming the middle night will be formal night, but are either of the other two "Italian" night as far as the menu goes?

 

Thanks.

[BarbaraP]

Hi lois1112,

Leaving for Hawaii on Oct.6th on the Island. Questions!!! Sure, tell all you know:

What was your stateroom like?

Coffee, good, bad, expensive?

Menus??

Dining type, early, late, anytime?

Thanks, Barb;)

[MLBFan24]

I don't really want to hijack lois1112's thread, but I would still love to help:

 

What was your stateroom like?

Mole hole stateroom. One bathroom (as opposed to Disney Magic's one shower/one toilet split rooms - which is brilliant). Standard 2 regular beds and 2 bunks.

 

Coffee, good, bad, expensive?

Don't drink coffee, sorry:(

 

 

Menus??

Lots of excellent pasta each night. Lots of great hot soups (I hate cold soups). Prime rib has surprisingly little fat. Stay away from the sirloin steak on the "every night" section of the menu - too dry and tough. I believe only water, iced tea, coffee, and tea are free at dinner (I went on a major soda detox..haha). The breakfast and lunch menus are the same in the dining room and the buffet.

 

Dining type, early, late, anytime?

My family originally had the late dining (7:45), but switched after one night to anytime dining. We changed because we didn't want to waste a whole night by eating late. So we usually ate early (5:45), just so we can finish by 7:45, attend the main show at 8, and have LOTS of free time by 9PM. As opposed to eating at 7:45, finishing at 9:45, watching the show at 10PM, and having little free time at 11PM. And we asked for the same table and waiter each night for anytime dining...so the experience was the same.

[critterchick]

The new bedding for minis & suites was on the ship in May.

 

Unless they've totally revamped the coffee situations in the Horizon Court, vile isn't a strong enough word to use for it. Even DH, who spent 23 years drinking Navy coffee, thought it was awful. Room service coffee was better, but usually tepid. Dining room coffee was pretty good (and both were free).

 

We bought a specialty coffee card, but don't recall the guy selling it mentioning that it was good for free regular coffee in any of the bars. I'd be interested to know if that's the case as has been reported on other Princess threads.

[lois1112]

TOM O- I thought the coffee was drinkable! (not much better than that) regular coffee is still free in the dinning room and Horizon court.

 

llandaff- the first night menu had prime rib on it which was excellent

formal night was the Italian menu (I had the swordfish which

was excellent). the last night menu was ?able...they had a

rock fish chowder I really enjoyed...and Hallibut that was really

good) I had mine with a side of fettucine and was in heaven.

They make fresh cookies daily for Horizon court...usually had

thoes instead of desert.

A for the room. I had D510 mini suite...loved the room and location. yes we had the new linen. very nice. (down comforter) and half of the furniture on the balconies had changed half had not.

[MLBFan24]

o yea, the pizza is EXCELLENT. Have one of those for lunch

[FredS]

Was on the Island for the Van to LA trip. Had a C230 a mini. We found the linen was new but the bed was very bad. They two beds were pushed together as always but, the center was higher than the center of the bed and it felt like there was a metal ridge running the length of the bed but, only in the middle of the bed. Our balcony had the plastic furniture. Food was OK but not a lot of flavor we felt. We had anytime dining. One night had the Red Snapper and two of the people at the table sent theirs back as it was like rubber, mine was OK. My wife said the ice cream at dinner and lunch did not have much flavor of what it was suppose to be. Except for the one night did not hear anyone complain about the food at the meals we ate with a variety of different people. One of two others we talked to said they thought the food was good. There was one formal night and I counted 3 tux wearers. Most had sport coats of various colors and some with no coats. Women wore from nice to fancy. Best part of trip was there was a big sale on all the Alaska items.

[lois1112]

I 100% agree with FredS about the bed. hard ridge in the center. I had to sleep on one side or the other!

 

As I said the food for us was very good. The food in Horizon court for dinner was not the same menu as what was being served in the dinning rooms. (first time I've seen that). Deserts especially. Home made cookies were great.

[teachergal29]

Thanks so much for the info above. Seeing the beds are not wonderful still, can we immediately ask our steward for an eggcrate topper??

 

Also, since the coffee is not wonderful, any problem with bringing onboard one of those 4-cup Cuisinart stainless steel auto shut-off??

[Hornet]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise. As you know, we'll be on the Island again in May. I'm also interested in the beds. Since we also have a mini with the new bedding, I wondered if the egg crate topper would help the ridge or just make the whole bed too high.

 

How was the Wheelhouse Lounge? Did it get busy?

[lois1112]

Hi Gail...the Island was exactally like we left her...beautiful. The wheeelhouse was pretty empty...lots of kids on this cruise (only 3 days so I was not supprised)

I think an eggcrate would help the ridge. The new sheets and comforter were really nice.

[Sandytoes]

Tell us about the entertainment....

Did you see the shows?

[MLBFan24]

 

How was the Wheelhouse Lounge? Did it get busy?

 

I'll agree with lois1112, Wheelhouse was empty for the most part.

 

 

 

 

The shows were GOOD. I am curious as to what they showed on a 3-day cruise (I was on a 7-day). But Piano Man and Let's Rock were good. Magic is OK. The comedian we saw (forgot his name) was EXCELLENT.

 

We also saw a juggling/circus type act, which was pretty boring. And they got fired later in the week :eek: (the reason wasn't related to the quality of the show)