HimAndMeGoCruising

Ship - Island Princess

Class - Panamax

Deck - Emerald 8

Cabin #E737

Category - Balcony BE

Port/Starboard/Bow/Stern - Starboard Stern

Connects With Cabin # N/A

Accessible - No

Quiet - Yes

Balcony Size - Larger than standard for the category due to cabin extending to back of ship

View - Excellent, side and aft

Privacy Issues - None, very private, covered balcony, no visibility from balcony to/from aft open deck.

Wind - Yes

Soot - Occasionally

Problems - some vibrations in the evening

Comments - excellent balcony view to the side and aft, easy access to aft deck for viewing

Captain Marvin. Google him. Top notch.

 

 

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Agree. We just did Capt Marvin's stingray and snorkeling and it was excellent. Note - we went to stingray city first and they did a photo session with every guest holding the stingrays. Their photos were excellent, so be ready to smile and don't get wet until after you have your pictures taken.

We just got off the Island Princess on Sunday from the Panama Canal Partial Transit and found magnificent viewing options for the canal transit:

Forward Deck 10 and Deck 11 open decks - excellent for the approach to the canals and entering the locks. The decks are open with no glass for clear viewing over the front of the ship. Very few passengers used these decks.

Aft Deck 8 - spectacular for watching the lock doors close behind the ship and the working of the mule operators and cabling system. Again very few passengers used this deck.

These open deck viewing locations forward and aft were mentioned by the commentator during the transits but it didn't seem many people understood or were willing to walk down to see the view. We took it upon ourselves to convince the fellow passengers we met on transit day to give it a try and they were all so thankful to have the opportunity to experience the locks up close.

Balconies Aft Deck 8 - while exiting the canal through the Gatun Locks to the Atlantic, this section of the ship falls below the canal walls. From the last 3 or 4 balconies you have a view looking up the walls less than 2 feet in front of you. The walls are just an arms reach away.

Gwen,

Thank You so much for the reply! That is perfect, since we will be staying in one of those balconies so that is great news!

We are enjoying your reviews and look forward to the updates.

Gwen,

Thanks for your reviews and offer to answer a specific question.

If you have a chance to look around the ship, I am curious about the aft Emerald Deck after the remodel.

If you are standing on the open aft Emerald Deck, can you look into the balcony of the last cabins? I know before the remodel, that last balcony was very open to the deck and not at all private. It looks to me like there is now more of a steel wall there, making the deck and balcony a little more private.

Thanks and hope you are having a great trip!

Was on the Dream in Cove Balcony first week of January 2014. We skipped two ports due to weather and high winds (Belize and Roatan). They never closed the weather doors. We were out on the balcony at all times day and night and enjoyed seeing the wake from the bigger waves. I assume it was never anywhere close to needing the weather doors closed.

On another note, I picked the Cove Balcony originally. My husband commented after the cruise that he loved being that close to the water and he might not be interested in ever staying in a higher balcony.

Your pictures are amazing. We are doing this cruise April 2015 and I am even more excited seeing your pictures. Thank You!

When choosing, consult your family.

On our recent cruise I tried to get an opinion out of my husband and 19 year old daughter ahead of time, but no one would pay attention. I signed up for Your Time Dining thinking it would be convenient.

Well my husband and daughter nearly threw a fit the first night when they figured out what we were doing. Little did I know how much they liked having the same waiters and seeing the same people every night for dinner.

We were able to put in a request to be switched to a fixed mealtime starting the 2nd night and we got along fine after that. But it might have ruined dinner time for me for the entire week had we not been able to change and I would have been the bad guy for making such a dumb choice. I barely escaped being the worst vacation planner, travel agent, trip organizer, etc, ever.