Island Priincess review Part 2

[W5KAP]

Service: Superb. I can’t say it any more clearly. Everyone of the crew with whom we ever interacted was friendly and went out of their way to make our trip very special. And they succeeded admirably. Kudos to our Steward, Jimmy, who as great. Also, to our Waiter Jerome and his companion Rick. They we friendly, personable and they bonded with our grandson (2 year old) and had him laughing. Thanks guys!! You made the trip really special. Another positive call out to Pietro, the Head Waiter, who made the time to stop by our table each and every day.

Food: I am sure there is better but it was fine to us. We ate at the early seating in the Provence Dining room. Clean and functional. Nothing special but it worked for us. The food was great. We had the lobster (double helping, thank you) and the Crab legs were super too. All in all we felt it compared very closely to Carnival. The Baked Alaska was awesome!! We were able to attend one meal in the Bordeaux dining room when eating with our friends Mark and Trudy (Ladyleo84). Also superb.

Specialty Dining: We did use Sabatini’s one night and it was good. I must confess it was not what we were expecting. It was true Italian fare not the Americanized food we are used to. You order off the menu and then you get each and every appetizer on the menu. Come hungry! It was good but not great. Our server was fantastic. Friendly and helpful. We did not try the Bayou Café.

Horizon Court Buffet: OK, here is my second negative and it too is a small one4. I don’t think the layout of this place was ever even considered when it was being designed and built. Everyone is funneled into two lines as you come through the door. But you have to double back against the traffic flow to get to some of the food and this causes general chaos. Very poorly designed. Carnival has it head and shoulders over at least this Princess ship. The food was very good. Varied fare and tasty. If you went hungry, you weren’t trying hard enough. It would have been helpful to have more seating areas but it was sufficient. The only time we had problems finding seating was during the busiest of times and that is to be expected. One note; on a day late in the cruise, the bayou Café served fresh Fish and Chips for lunch. Fantastic stuff.

General Food Info: The burgers are great and the Pizza is as well. The ice cream is now free out by the pool and it was good as well.

Pools/stuff to do: We did not use the pools but many folks did. It seemed to be used primarily by children. The pool was heated and inside so this worked out fine. The stores on the ship were Ok. About what you would expect on any cruise. We didn’t do the gym (and we should have!!) but it looked nice. Our daughter-in-law used the spa and she enjoyed it very much. Didn’t use a laptop so I can’t comment on connectivity but we saw a lot of people on-line! AT&T is our cell provider and we had great signal in all ports. Don’t know about at sea as I turned our phone off.

Vow Renewal: My lovely bride and I renewed our vows during a special and moving ceremony on the first formal evening (at sea). The Captain came down and performed the ceremony and it was wonderful. Thanks to Lady Leo84 (Trudy and her hubby Mark) for attending and making It that much more special. Oh, and thanks again to them for letting us take part in their 40th renewal as well!!

Entertainment: It was OK. It is my feeling that entertainment has been going downhill for several years on cruise ships and the shows here validated that feeling. Our CD was OK. A little hokey but OK. They did have a comedian who was hilarious. We caught two of his shows and he never repeated a joke. He was really, really good. We saw two of the show style productions and they were good.

Ports:

Ketchikan: we arrived very early in the morning to cloudy skies and very cool temperatures. We ate a leisurely breakfast and disembarked around 9:30. We cruised around the town and hit all the jewelry stores for our free goodies. The only tour we took was the Duck tour and it was fun. We cruised through town and got a lot of bad joke and a lot of good history. We then hit the water and cruised through the harbor. All in all, a fun tour and worth what we paid. I might add, no rain!!! And Eagles. Tons of eagles. They tell you to look for golf balls in the trees and that is eacatly what they looks like

Juneau: Again, cool and cloudy when we arrived though the sun came out by late in the afternoon. Once again we cruised the town. A kudo to the folks t Majestic Gems. We did some serious shopping here and they were great. I don’t think they are on Princess’ list but they should be. In the afternoon we took the Princess sponsored Whale Watch and Mendenhall Glacier tour. This one was incredible. The boat used was clean and not crowded. We sailed out into the bay and in the next few hours saw more whaled then we had any right to expect. More Humpbacks that we could count. And we saw Orca’s!! Did we ever see Orca’s. We ran into at least two transient pods and had them within 100 feet of the boat at times. We also got to see bald eagles and some were fishing in the sea. Plenty of Otter and sea lions as well. When we went to Mendenhall Glacier by bus afterwards, things got really interesting. After walking out to take pictures of the Glacier, we walked back to the visitor center. There we were unexpectedly treated to Black Bear!! One brown colored bear was walking around the pond right in front of the building maybe 200 feet away but another Black bear was walking right on the paved path! He scared the heck out of two hikers and then proceeded up the hill until he was right in front of the window. Amazing. I highly recommend this tour!

Skagway: Not much here really. This is one stop we could have passed up if not for one thing. The view when sailing out of the Lynn Canal at sunset is simply breathtaking! The sun was setting at around 1100 PM and glowing pink in the sky. It highlighted the mountains and the glaciers. The view from the aft deck was incredible. This is a view I will never forget. Temperatures here were once again cool but no rain.

Glacier Bay: All I can say is WOW! The scenery here is beyond description. Margerie glacier was calving in the cool air and it sounded like heavy thunder. The grand Pacific glacier is really dirty but it too was calving and making noise. Hope for an overcast day as it accentuates the beautiful blue color of the ice!!. We also were able to see the Lamplugh glacier which has a huge ice cave that is spewing water at a tremendous rate. Wonderful to see. This is a place we will not soon forget.

College Fjord: Also breathtaking. As you eat dinner, you can count the 16 glaciers going by the window. Another fantastic overcast but non-rainy day.

Whittier: Not much to say about this port as you are leaving the ship. Disembarkation was super. We got tags for our luggage and we were of the ship right at the appointed time. This was the smoothest disembarkation we have ever done. Trust me when I tell you Princess has their act together on this! We walked about 100 feet to the train. The night before we disembarked, Princess gave us packet with our luggage tags, and train car seating and car assignments. This was a theme to be repeated throughout the cruise. Everything was so well planned out!

[jacketwatch]

Thanks for the review and let me give a shout out about Pietro. we met him in Feb. while on the Island for a Panama canal cruise. He is awesome!! :)

[Alaska0799]

Service: Superb. I can’t say it any more clearly. Everyone of the crew with whom we ever interacted was friendly and went out of their way to make our trip very special. And they succeeded admirably. Kudos to our Steward, Jimmy, who as great. Also, to our Waiter Jerome and his companion Rick. They we friendly, personable and they bonded with our grandson (2 year old) and had him laughing. Thanks guys!! You made the trip really special. Another positive call out to Pietro, the Head Waiter, who made the time to stop by our table each and every day.

Food: I am sure there is better but it was fine to us. We ate at the early seating in the Provence Dining room. Clean and functional. Nothing special but it worked for us. The food was great. We had the lobster (double helping, thank you) and the Crab legs were super too. All in all we felt it compared very closely to Carnival. The Baked Alaska was awesome!! We were able to attend one meal in the Bordeaux dining room when eating with our friends Mark and Trudy (Ladyleo84). Also superb.

Specialty Dining: We did use Sabatini’s one night and it was good. I must confess it was not what we were expecting. It was true Italian fare not the Americanized food we are used to. You order off the menu and then you get each and every appetizer on the menu. Come hungry! It was good but not great. Our server was fantastic. Friendly and helpful. We did not try the Bayou Café.

Horizon Court Buffet: OK, here is my second negative and it too is a small one4. I don’t think the layout of this place was ever even considered when it was being designed and built. Everyone is funneled into two lines as you come through the door. But you have to double back against the traffic flow to get to some of the food and this causes general chaos. Very poorly designed. Carnival has it head and shoulders over at least this Princess ship. The food was very good. Varied fare and tasty. If you went hungry, you weren’t trying hard enough. It would have been helpful to have more seating areas but it was sufficient. The only time we had problems finding seating was during the busiest of times and that is to be expected. One note; on a day late in the cruise, the bayou Café served fresh Fish and Chips for lunch. Fantastic stuff.

General Food Info: The burgers are great and the Pizza is as well. The ice cream is now free out by the pool and it was good as well.

Pools/stuff to do: We did not use the pools but many folks did. It seemed to be used primarily by children. The pool was heated and inside so this worked out fine. The stores on the ship were Ok. About what you would expect on any cruise. We didn’t do the gym (and we should have!!) but it looked nice. Our daughter-in-law used the spa and she enjoyed it very much. Didn’t use a laptop so I can’t comment on connectivity but we saw a lot of people on-line! AT&T is our cell provider and we had great signal in all ports. Don’t know about at sea as I turned our phone off.

Vow Renewal: My lovely bride and I renewed our vows during a special and moving ceremony on the first formal evening (at sea). The Captain came down and performed the ceremony and it was wonderful. Thanks to Lady Leo84 (Trudy and her hubby Mark) for attending and making It that much more special. Oh, and thanks again to them for letting us take part in their 40th renewal as well!!

Entertainment: It was OK. It is my feeling that entertainment has been going downhill for several years on cruise ships and the shows here validated that feeling. Our CD was OK. A little hokey but OK. They did have a comedian who was hilarious. We caught two of his shows and he never repeated a joke. He was really, really good. We saw two of the show style productions and they were good.

Ports:

Ketchikan: we arrived very early in the morning to cloudy skies and very cool temperatures. We ate a leisurely breakfast and disembarked around 9:30. We cruised around the town and hit all the jewelry stores for our free goodies. The only tour we took was the Duck tour and it was fun. We cruised through town and got a lot of bad joke and a lot of good history. We then hit the water and cruised through the harbor. All in all, a fun tour and worth what we paid. I might add, no rain!!! And Eagles. Tons of eagles. They tell you to look for golf balls in the trees and that is eacatly what they looks like

Juneau: Again, cool and cloudy when we arrived though the sun came out by late in the afternoon. Once again we cruised the town. A kudo to the folks t Majestic Gems. We did some serious shopping here and they were great. I don’t think they are on Princess’ list but they should be. In the afternoon we took the Princess sponsored Whale Watch and Mendenhall Glacier tour. This one was incredible. The boat used was clean and not crowded. We sailed out into the bay and in the next few hours saw more whaled then we had any right to expect. More Humpbacks that we could count. And we saw Orca’s!! Did we ever see Orca’s. We ran into at least two transient pods and had them within 100 feet of the boat at times. We also got to see bald eagles and some were fishing in the sea. Plenty of Otter and sea lions as well. When we went to Mendenhall Glacier by bus afterwards, things got really interesting. After walking out to take pictures of the Glacier, we walked back to the visitor center. There we were unexpectedly treated to Black Bear!! One brown colored bear was walking around the pond right in front of the building maybe 200 feet away but another Black bear was walking right on the paved path! He scared the heck out of two hikers and then proceeded up the hill until he was right in front of the window. Amazing. I highly recommend this tour!

Skagway: Not much here really. This is one stop we could have passed up if not for one thing. The view when sailing out of the Lynn Canal at sunset is simply breathtaking! The sun was setting at around 1100 PM and glowing pink in the sky. It highlighted the mountains and the glaciers. The view from the aft deck was incredible. This is a view I will never forget. Temperatures here were once again cool but no rain.

Glacier Bay: All I can say is WOW! The scenery here is beyond description. Margerie glacier was calving in the cool air and it sounded like heavy thunder. The grand Pacific glacier is really dirty but it too was calving and making noise. Hope for an overcast day as it accentuates the beautiful blue color of the ice!!. We also were able to see the Lamplugh glacier which has a huge ice cave that is spewing water at a tremendous rate. Wonderful to see. This is a place we will not soon forget.

College Fjord: Also breathtaking. As you eat dinner, you can count the 16 glaciers going by the window. Another fantastic overcast but non-rainy day.

Whittier: Not much to say about this port as you are leaving the ship. Disembarkation was super. We got tags for our luggage and we were of the ship right at the appointed time. This was the smoothest disembarkation we have ever done. Trust me when I tell you Princess has their act together on this! We walked about 100 feet to the train. The night before we disembarked, Princess gave us packet with our luggage tags, and train car seating and car assignments. This was a theme to be repeated throughout the cruise. Everything was so well planned out!

So, did you guys make sure D718 has the new mattresses? Loved the review--very helpful! How did I miss Part 1?!

[W5KAP]

So, did you guys make sure D718 has the new mattresses? Loved the review--very helpful! How did I miss Part 1?!

 

Nah, I sure wish it had the new matress though. Part one is there as Island Princess Review 22 June. For some reason they did not post in order. Wow, what a trip!!

 

Cheers, Kenn

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks fo the review. :)

[Pacificlander]

Kenn,

 

Are all the beds being replaced on the Island while she is in Alaska?

[W5KAP]

Kenn,

 

Are all the beds being replaced on the Island while she is in Alaska?

 

I am not entirely sure. It is my understanding (from a post here on CC) that they are replacing a certain percentage of the beds during each stop in Whittier. I sincerely hope they are as the beds are really bad.

 

Cheers, Kenn

[Alaska0799]

Nah, I sure wish it had the new matress though. Part one is there as Island Princess Review 22 June. For some reason they did not post in order. Wow, what a trip!!

 

Cheers, Kenn

Thanks! Did find Parts 1 and 3. Sounds like your family made an abundance of wonderful memories on the trip. Can't wait for "our turn"!

[Colo Cruiser]

Bed replacement on any ship is an ongoing process. :)

[cruzzers]

Thanks so much for the review. We can't wait to get onboard in August!