Island Princess 12-24to1-3 review

[Gabrielle R.]

I finally had time to sit down and think about our trip on the Island Princess 12-24-08 To 1-3-09. I’ll try to make this short/ but I’m known to go long. So, if there are specific questions please ask for clarification!

Pre-cruise: We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Ft. Lauderdale. Had a great time going to the downtown area and went on the River walk. Also took a boat tour- that was fun! We ate while down along the river- an Irish pub- great fun there. Also we ate at Old Heidelberg- which was close to the Hampton Inn. Authentic German food- great atmosphere, Good German food. Grew up on German food, so it was like good home cooking for me and DH.

Embarkation: We got to the pier at noon, we got through everything- check in and boarding stuff, to our room Carib 335, and unpacked our carry on’s by 12:24! WOW!! Was all we could day!

The room: This was the first time we ever had a balcony! We got a good deal- we booked a year in advance. It was nice since we had so many sea days. The room was the Caribbean Deck 335. Mid ship, partially covered. 4 chairs and a small table. The only negative I had was the pipe which drained water seemed to run all the time. It was just odd… not terrible. Also we couldn’t hear any announcements in our room. As I said small problems, nothing that bothered me.

Food/dining: We did anytime dining and ate in the Horizon court. My husband and I were really impressed with the Horizon court. Nice change of food and there were nights that we wandered up after we ate- just to see what was there. We were tempted to eat again! OK, DH DID eat more desserts! No problems with finding food to eat. Anytime dining was fine for us. Always able to get a place to eat- never had to wait. We shared and we ate alone.

The service was excellent! We had wait staff always visiting with us and we always felt special.

We didn’t try the specialty restaurants. I heard many positives on Sabatinis- only complaint- too much food! The Bayou café I heard many mixed reviews- sorry can’t help you out there.

The ship: Probably my biggest question before boarding the ship! What makes this ship so special? I think it is the size. We always felt like there was so much room- we always could find a quiet spot. The back decks were nice to hang out. I liked the Wheel house- check out the entire area- it has a little museum in there. Nice comfy chairs. CLEAN. That’s something that I noticed. We always could find things to do. It often felt like we were around good friends. The staff was so nice. Comfortable, elegant… I guess that describes it. It is a ship that once you go on her, you can’t help but to like it.

The lay out did confuse us at first! We finally got it in our brains that ALL THE FOOD was in front of the ship!

Ports of call:

Jamaica- we were at the James Bond port- what a pit! It is the ugliest spot that any ship can stop! We stayed on board the ship- that was fine- we don’t really care for Jamaica.

Panama Canal- yes, it was the highlight of the trip for me. I enjoyed getting pictures and watching. Once you get the pictures you want for the first locks, I found that I wanted to look around more. We had done a partial transit before, the full one was neat. Go down to deck 5 so you can see the black out when you go through the canal. We didn’t go ashore when we got through the canal- too late, and it sounded like they had a problem with tenders. I heard some feel that we didn’t miss anything.

Costa Rica- WOW! What a nice place. They took good care of us. We did the ship’s excursion Discover Costa Rica. It was the best of everything. We saw a coffee plantation and the orchid farm. That was nice. Everyone I spoke to really enjoyed their choice! So, pick one, I don’t think you can go wrong!

Nicaragua (San Juan del Sur): We did the history and nature of Nicaragua. We went to Reves- to see the cathedral We were there for an hour! Way too long- and I’m a history major. Nothing to do in the little town square. We then went to a hotel on Lake Nicaragua- that was neat- they had fresh fruit and juice to drink. That was a 45 minute stop- that was nice and time just right. I think I would’ve hung out at the little town and swam and had fun there. Many did that and enjoyed that choice.

Guatemala: Nice stop! Most had LONG bus trips- so we hung out there at the port. Hard to do much on January 1. I wanted to do the Mayan museum trip- but that was canceled . The little port area does have a small jade museum. Many did enjoy the bus trip to Antigua. I just couldn’t do a long bus trip.

The only down side: We had a few families that wanted to run areas of the ship. They were often rude and just sort of pushed people out of the area. This happened by the Main pool. They also were pretty rude in the Any time dining- one group made the wait staff run ragged.

There were 400+ kids on board- they weren’t really bad. I’m a high school teacher, so I know bad behavior when I see it. Kids wanting to run- that was the worse. I was naughty once- I went into teacher mode. A group of two boys (about 8) were about to run down the stairs and a lady was coming up with a plate of food and coffee. I stopped the boys and quietly said- just wait ok? A lady with a lot of stuff is coming up…. They stopped and waited. No complaints- just a nod of the head and patiently waited, and the lady smiled at them… it was all good. (And the kids didn’t give the oh what a mean teacher look either!)

That’s about All I can think of about the Island Princess- just fire away with questions. I’ll try to answer. I also know we had a great crew of C.C’ers on board, they can add their two cents too!

[Kirsten T]

Thanks for the review - sounds like a great cruise! We've been on Coral a few times and will be trying Island in March. We love the all the space; Coral's our current favorite ship.

 

Did you check out The Sanctuary, and if so, what did you think? Worth the extra money? I can't think of anything more relaxing than a book and a glass of wine on our own veranda, but maybe it'll be worth a look.

 

Cheers,

Kirsten

[Caribbean Sunsets]

Very nice review. Thanks for posting it. Just one question...did you mean you were on the Caribe Deck?

[scottam]

Hi Gabrielle,

Thanks for the review. We are looking forward to sailing on the Island on Feb. 12 and are very much looking forward to it - especially when reading reviews from happy passengers like you! :)

 

Tammy

[ancldaca]

Just got back home from the flip side of that trip (ACA to FLL: 1/3-1/13). It was fantastic! Will post my own cruise journal in the next couple of days.

 

I LOVED the Island. Instantly became my fav Princess ship. It's like a "baby" Grand with all of the good things and none of the bad. There was so much space it was excellent!!!

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review. :)

[rdsqrl]

Thanks so much for sharing your review with us; what a wonderful trip. I loved your story of stopping the two little boys: sounds like you did it in such a nice way, not admonishing them but sort ofdealing with them as fellow reasonable human beings who would of course understand why they should let the lady with the food go first. No wonder they obyed you without a "mean teacher" look!

[mii]

I have said over and over that the coral/Island ships are the best in the fleet of the ships I have sailed. Will be on the Coral again in april doing aour 2nd full transit. Enjoyed reading your review. Thanks

 

Marilyn

[Don M]

Any chance they have Chef's Table on the Island yet? I heard it had started on the Coral and was hoping that the Island would not be far behind. Thanks in advance for your help and for the review.

[Tralynn]

Thank you so much for taking the time to post a review of your cruise. Could you please tell us what you thought of the entertainment onboard?

[EAGLESLOVER]

Thanks for the review. Was the chefs table offered?

[tootallteacher]

Thanks for your review! We're on the same cruise leaving Feb. 2.

[jacketwatch]

Thanks for the review. :) In Nicaragua hiw are the roads? Bumpy is Ok but are they fairly straight or sort of winding and twisting? For my wife thus is a no no. Causes svere motion sickness. We will be on the Island in one month when she leaves from ACA.

[rez4jc]

Have you went to Princess Roll Calls yet? There is about 42 of us going on Feb. 2nd.

 

Gabrielle, I'm also wondering about the Sanctuary?

[ancldaca]

There was no Chef's Table available last week.

 

In Nicaragua, when we left Puerto Corinto, there was about a 2 minute stretch the bus took a dirt road by a beach because they were repaving or rebuilding a bridge section. The rest of our trip to Leon was smooth. I recall a little twisting as driving through Puerto Corinto and a little once in Leon (in both cases typical small city turns). In between the two, the road was fairly straight from what I can remember but I didn't pay 100% attention to that detail...

[scottam]

ancldaca - Thanks for the incredibly detailed review. It was very helpful. We are going on the same itinerary on Feb 12, so this was a great preview of what we have to look forward to. Thanks again!!! :)

[Gabrielle R.]

Thanks for the review - sounds like a great cruise! We've been on Coral a few times and will be trying Island in March. We love the all the space; Coral's our current favorite ship.

 

Did you check out The Sanctuary, and if so, what did you think? Worth the extra money? I can't think of anything more relaxing than a book and a glass of wine on our own veranda, but maybe it'll be worth a look.

 

Cheers,

Kirsten

 

We didn't try out the Sanctuary. We did wander through it when it wasn't open. If you would use it, I would make sure you were on the top deck not the lower deck- it has two levels... right below the Sanctuary is a Day care/play area for little kids! That surprised me. How loud was it? I don't know. We tended to go back to our room/veranda for quiet, or we went to the back of the ship on our deck- that was always very quiet.

[Gabrielle R.]

Very nice review. Thanks for posting it. Just one question...did you mean you were on the Caribe Deck?

 

Yes, it was Caribe... spell check on my computer.....:rolleyes: Hope it didn't cause too much confusion.... My brain is a bit frozen our high for today is -12. Our wind chills are -50 to -30 School is cancelled for just about every school district. Imagine that.... We've been almost sub zero every day since we got back from our 8-+ degree temps.:eek: Yes, I'm surprised that I haven't curled up in a fetal postion!

[Gabrielle R.]

Any chance they have Chef's Table on the Island yet? I heard it had started on the Coral and was hoping that the Island would not be far behind. Thanks in advance for your help and for the review.

 

I don't know about the Chef's table. I saw where they have it set up to do it in the main dining room. I thought someone ( ancldaca? ) said not yet... I know it wasn't in Any time dining. Sorry I wasn't more helpful! Gabrielle

[Gabrielle R.]

Thank you so much for taking the time to post a review of your cruise. Could you please tell us what you thought of the entertainment onboard?

We did do some of the shows in the evening! Most of the Dance productions/ music ones we have seen before a couple of different times. So we didn't do many of them. The crew talent show was fun!

We did most of the comedians and magice shows. Those were fun. Some didn't like the 'Cool Magic Dude.' He was OK, most were brought in to preform Some of the ones that we had would be ones you wouldn't have.

We watched a few of the movies. Dark Knight was on the Big screen in the Universe lounge. Viewing better in the lower level then the upper level. We also had a number of football games on the big screen in the Universe lounge

We didn't do the casino.... sorry no info there!

We did do some of the trivia games in the Explorers Lounge in the evening. That was fun! The old stand bys were there- the Newlywed game, family fued.... The trivia games (For me) is always fun. I did well with the Motown trivia, not bad with the 50's rock, MISERABLE with country... We didn't stay- just because I am so clueless with Country music- :rolleyes:

During the day we did the trivia games in the Wheel house- loved just sitting in the Wheel house. Super comfortable chairs! We didn't do the wine tasting- they had two opportunities there. (Can't drink red wine- allergic to it. Sulfites YIKES!)

They had a few things up on the pool deck in the evenings- that was fun- we went to bed before things really got going though.

Hope that helped!

GAbrielle

[Gabrielle R.]

Thanks for the review. :) In Nicaragua hiw are the roads? Bumpy is Ok but are they fairly straight or sort of winding and twisting? For my wife thus is a no no. Causes svere motion sickness. We will be on the Island in one month when she leaves from ACA.

 

I understand your wife's problem with roads and buses! I didn't have any problems with Nicaraguan roads. The HWY 1 was actually pretty good.

 

Can't help with Gautamala. I just couldn't stand to be on a bus all the way to Antigua and back.

 

Costa Rica Was very curvey. and bumpy. Though we probably loved our tour in Costa Rica best. Maybe a private tour in a van would be best there for you? Costa Rica takes care of their tourists. We felt like old friends with how the people waved to us. The bus trip we were on did stop about every 40 minutes on the way, trip back to the ship was just under an hour.

Hope that helped? Gabrielle

[CruisinChris]

Gabrielle - just so you know - to hear the announcements in your stateroom you need to have your tv tuned to a specific channel - i think it's usually the bridgecam channel. All the announcements come through the tv so you're not disturbed unless you want to be. Sorry you didn't know that. They usually do some nice commentary during the transit.

[jacketwatch]

I understand your wife's problem with roads and buses! I didn't have any problems with Nicaraguan roads. The HWY 1 was actually pretty good.

 

Can't help with Gautamala. I just couldn't stand to be on a bus all the way to Antigua and back.

 

Costa Rica Was very curvey. and bumpy. Though we probably loved our tour in Costa Rica best. Maybe a private tour in a van would be best there for you? Costa Rica takes care of their tourists. We felt like old friends with how the people waved to us. The bus trip we were on did stop about every 40 minutes on the way, trip back to the ship was just under an hour.

Hope that helped? Gabrielle

It does help. Thank you. I did not know about the roads in Nicaragua and I've heard that the road to Antigua is straight and we do plan to grab a cab to go there. Now what to do about CR. Hmmm. Curvy and bumpy won't work I'm afraid. Is there somewhere close by or a short ride to that is interesting? Thank you. Larry :)

[Gabrielle R.]

Chris, I did know about the TV channel- it was when we were out on the balcony that we couldn't hear... We were in an area where we could hear during the transit! Thanks for your concern! It was hard to catch the announcements- especially since the TV took longer to turn on to catch the announcement....:rolleyes:

 

Larry, Wish I could be more help to you for CR.... I know there was a lot of activity around the port.... I think you might want to look at the ports of call thread- maybe someone there can help you? I do know there are many good private tours- You could check the excursions too. Some aren't as long of bus trips. Sorry I'm not much help!

Gabrielle

[ancldaca]

Yes, all the balcony loudspeakers had their cables cut. The announcements are on the TV but that is pointless. You can't even hear the phone ringing outside...