Review of the Island Princess Jan 19 - 29th Panama Canal

This was our first Princess Cruise and we are in upper 40’s . The Island Princess is a beautiful ship. We stayed in cabin E625. We have previously sailed on the NCL Spirit. I much prefer the layout of the balcony cabins on the Island. I thought there was very adequate closet/shelf space and I loved the size of the balcony. I didn't think it was possible but the shower was much smaller than on NCL. I do not like cement hard beds and was very nervous that I wasn’t going to sleep for 10 days after reading so much on here about how hard the beds were. I slept just fine. I asked our room steward for a topper, which by the way was about 1 ½ inches thick and not paper thin like described on here either.

Food-

We chose anytime dining and dined at various times. We never had to wait once for a table, we were always seated immediately. One night we chose to sit with others and had a great time with the people we sat with. The tables for 2 are really tables for 4 with a slight separation in them. That wasn’t a problem for us, we enjoyed talking to everyone and met quite a few nice people. The food in the main dining rooms was delicious. I loved the chilled fruit soups most nights.

We usually went to Horizon court for breakfast and lunch also. The food in Horizon Court was usually good but I thought NCL had a much better variety in their buffet. I loved their bread selection everyday. Especially the hard crusty rolls and Dh loved the soft dinner rolls. They were always very fresh. One thing I love about eating on a cruise ship is I get to try so many different foods that I have never tried before. We did see a lot of people piling their plates high and then only eating a portion of what they took. That is so wasteful. I enjoyed trying small portions of different things and if there was something I really liked then I went back for more. A couple of times we ate at the grill or had pizza and they were both good. Princess has fantastic desserts! DH will only eat sugar free desserts and they always had a yummy sugar free one also.

Sabatinis –

We went to Sabitinis one night and the food and experience were well worth it. More food than you could ever imagine eating at one meal. It was fun trying all the different dishes. I didn’t think I would eat again for a couple of days after eating that much food, I still managed to force myself to eat plenty the next day☺ The crème brulee for dessert was to die for!

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Entertainment:

I went without high hopes for the entertainment being very good after reading all the reviews on here. We were pleasantly surprised and enjoyed every show we went to. I thought the Island Princess Singers and Dancers did a fantastic job with all of the productions. They worked very good together as a team. We saw most of the shows, Piano Man, Tribute, MotorCity, Do you Wanna Dance and enjoyed everyone of them. We also saw the hypnotist that I thought was just ok and we really enjoyed both of the comedians Lorenzo Clark and Scott Wyler. Scott was much better than Lorenzo was. We also saw Adrien Zmed and while he was ok it was really a “This is My Life” show ☺

We also very much enjoyed watching several of the MUTS shows. Never once saw Tina Turner played contrary to popular belief ☺

Ports:

We did Princess excursions in all of the ports except Cartagena

Aruba- Sail and Snorkel - This was only our 2nd time ever snorkeling. I loved snorkeling over the reef. It was very good. Saw a lot of fish and brain coral also saw a few eels and a sea turtle. DH thought this was best excursion we did.

Cartagena – We did a private tour with Claudia for 10 people. This was arranged by someone on our roll call. Claudia was a very knowledgable guide and spoke excellent English. We visited the La Poppa Monastery and saw some amazing views of the city, the Fort for a quick photo op, walked through the Old City. The only down side of this tour was too much shopping time. I would have rather had time to walk on the Fort or visit the Inquisition Palace.

Panama – We had spectacular vantage point going through the canal on the front (secret) decks. Perfect for pictures and seeing a different perspective than from our balcony. I thought the lecturer did a great job explaining what you were seeing. I wish we could have heard it from our balcony and never realized that we could have turned the TV on and listened to it.

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We did the Authentic Embera Village tour. It was like stepping into a National Geographic magazine. If you are thinking of doing this tour I highly recommend it.

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Limon – We took the Highlights of Costa Rica tour and this was by far the highlight of the whole cruise for me. We saw so much wild life and beautiful scenery between the rainforest and the Tortuguero Canal. It was a long day but well worth it.

Ocho Rios – By far my least favorite port. We did the River Raft Ride on the Martha Brae River. The excursion was good, it was a lazy river raft ride down a beautiful river the downside was the road right next to the river with all of the noisy traffic on it. Saw quite a few parrots and parakeets on the raft ride so that made up for it ☺

last one :)

Ship Staff – I cant say enough about the friendly outgoing staff on the Island from the Cruise Staff to the cabin Stewards. They always had a smile on their faces and were very friendly. Rich was a great CD and he had a wonderful staff that was very good. I especially liked Collette the deputy cruise director. She just boarded the Island on this cruise and I think she will be a huge asset to Rich’s staff. We participated a few of the Trivia games and they were tough but our team managed to win one of the Brain Buster Trivias!

For those interested in seeing more pics here is a link to a slideshow of a small portion of the pics I took

Great Review and beautiful pictures!

Thanks for the review and pics! I went to your video/slide show and really enjoyed all of your pictures. We are leaving in two weeks for the same cruise, and I have been reading up all I can about it. Your review has helped get me even more excited about our trip. It looks like you guys had a great time!

Bernadette

Great pics and video!

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did Bernadette! It really was an awesome trip.

Thanks for the pics of the room. Just looking at the furniture put a big smile on my face tonight at work. 8-D

Thanks for the review. DH and I are onboard now and will post our synopsis when we return.

Totally agree about the friendly staff. We rarely see our stateroom steward, but everyone else is always smiling and very accommodating.

Island Princess is one very happy ship!

Chris

Hi

Fabulous pictures; was on same cruise with you and I totally agree with all that you said; it was a wonderful cruise and the staff and crew, passengers were all great

Deanna

Thanks for your review and your pictures. We are doing the Panama Canal in 2012. I have just a few questions, if you can answer them for me:

1. The Sail and Snorkle - did you snorkle off the boat or did they drop you off at the beach and you entered the water from the beach.

2. We would like to do the Embera Village, but I wasn't sure about getting in and out of the dug out canoe - I have arthritis in my knees so I'm not sure if this would be a problem.

Thanks for your review and your pictures. We are doing the Panama Canal in 2012. I have just a few questions, if you can answer them for me:

1. The Sail and Snorkle - did you snorkle off the boat or did they drop you off at the beach and you entered the water from the beach.

2. We would like to do the Embera Village, but I wasn't sure about getting in and out of the dug out canoe - I have arthritis in my knees so I'm not sure if this would be a problem.

1. There were steps off the back of the catamaran or if you were adventurous you could just jump off the boat :) It was really rather easy getting in and out off of the back of the boat.

2. it wasnt real bad getting in and out of the dug out canoe. They also are standing there to help you out. It is so worth going there. They are amazing people. Like I said it was like walking into a National Geographic magazine.

1. There were steps off the back of the catamaran or if you were adventurous you could just jump off the boat :) It was really rather easy getting in and out off of the back of the boat.

Was the water choppy when you went? I found it extremely difficult to get back on the boat due to the water being choppy.

We absolutely love the Island, and your review hit it right on the head.

Thanks for sharing

Srpilo

1. There were steps off the back of the catamaran or if you were adventurous you could just jump off the boat :) It was really rather easy getting in and out off of the back of the boat.

 

2. it wasnt real bad getting in and out of the dug out canoe. They also are standing there to help you out. It is so worth going there. They are amazing people. Like I said it was like walking into a National Geographic magazine.

Thanks for answering my questions. We are really looking forward to this cruise and I was hoping I would be able to go to the Indian Village as well.

Was the water choppy when you went? I found it extremely difficult to get back on the boat due to the water being choppy.

At the first stop on the coral reef it was just fine. The water was pretty rough at the sunken ship and most of us didnt stay in very long. It was a lot more difficult getting back on there. They had a rope for you to grab onto to pull your self over to the steps. The guys working on the boat also were in the water helping people.

How was the weather? Was it as hot and humid as I heard? I was hoping to sail at a time of year when it's not quite so stifling, but I am not sure there is such a time of the year...

Thanks for the great review and pix! Katherine

We had really beautiful weather. Cartagena was very hot and humid the rest of the ports it was warm but I didnt think it was excessively warm or to humid.

Thanks for your review of the Island Princess and for the pictures of your cabin and around the ship. Enjoyed your video and pictures. Outstanding. Looking forward to my cruise on the Island Princess next month.

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Limon – We took the Highlights of Costa Rica tour and this was by far the highlight of the whole cruise for me. We saw so much wild life and beautiful scenery between the rainforest and the Tortuguero Canal. It was a long day but well worth it. [/img]

Was the tour in Costa Rica the 10 hour tour with the canal ride plus the aerial tram ride with lunch? I am thinking of booking that for my cruise in April.

Gracias for the review and slide show. Took me back to my Panama Canal cruise. Your pics are way better though !!! :)

Was the tour in Costa Rica the 10 hour tour with the canal ride plus the aerial tram ride with lunch? I am thinking of booking that for my cruise in April.

Yes that is the tour we took. It was by far my favorite of the cruise. Well worth the money and long day.

Yes that is the tour we took. It was by far my favorite of the cruise. Well worth the money and long day.

We also took this tour while on the Coral Princess last month and it was excellent, we also thought it was well worth the cost. I have a couple of pics in my review - http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1350036 - and also in the video link in my signature.

itzmered - nice review, thanks for sharing!