Quick thoughts: Island Princess coastal repo, May 10-13 2013

[Vexorg]

Me and two friends just got off the Island Princess' 3-day northbound coastal repo cruise yesterday, and I'm currently in the process of getting back into the usual routine. Overall it was an enjoyable trip, although it would have been nice if the weather had cooperated a bit more (then again, that seems to be pretty much the norm for these Coastal cruises.) A few thoughts on the trip:

 

- As noted, the weather wasn't particularly great. Temperatures were OK and the seas were actually pretty reasonable, but much of the trip was spent in fog, which means that the ship's horn was sounding every few minutes, making it hard to spend too much time above decks. It didn't rain much, but it did rain some, especially as we got into Vancouver. This seems to be pretty much par for the course on these coastal repos. I never even made it into the swimming pools on this trip.

 

- I've been on a number of the various Grand-class ships over the years, but this was my first trip on one of the Panamax ships. I found that being familiar with the other Princess ships can in this case actually work to one's disadvantage, since things tend to be in different spots than you might be expecting them to be in (especially on the Lido deck.) I did manage to end up turned around a few times as a result of this.

 

- I managed to avoid spending money in the casino this time around. The spa, the art gallery and a couple of future cruise credits pretty much made up for it though.

 

- After taking an early flight out from Seattle to LAX, we arrived at the port about an hour before boarding started (Yes, I know about and usually follow the "Don't fly in the day of the cruise" rule, but early flights from SEA to LAX are rarely delayed so I figured the risk was pretty low.) Once it started, boarding was handled quickly and efficiently, although I suspect the fact that over a third of the ship (over 700) was in-transit passengers helped with that.

 

- Then again, even if the ship was full, it never felt overly crowded. We had no problems getting a table in the MDR or getting seats in the theater on this trip.

 

- This was my first trip with the updated MDR menus, but I have to say I'm not a big fan. I guess I'd have to see the menus on a 7-day or longer cruise to get a better idea of how these work in the long run, but a number of the dishes I enjoyed from the old menus don't seem to be around anymore.

 

- After booking an obstructed oceanview cabin on Emerald deck, we ended up instead in a Caribe deck balcony, which was quite a nice upgrade, even if we didn't get to use the balcony much due to the weather. I was a little concerned with the amount of space since we had three people in one room, but it seemed OK for the most part.

 

All in all, I enjoyed the cruise, and it was a nice little getaway from work, but I'm pretty sure I'm going somewhere warm for the next one (I'm thinking Caribbean this Winter again.) We're also looking into doing a Mediterranean cruise on the Regal next year when it debuts, although I suspect there's a good chance we'll end up doing that on Norwegian instead because the Regal currently costs twice as much for virtually the same 12-day itinerary.

[Jasperdo]

- I've been on a number of the various Grand-class ships over the years, but this was my first trip on one of the Panamax ships. I found that being familiar with the other Princess ships can in this case actually work to one's disadvantage, since things tend to be in different spots than you might be expecting them to be in (especially on the Lido deck.) I did manage to end up turned around a few times as a result of this.

I felt the same way on the Coral Princess last year. It seemed like a "bizarro" version of the Golden Princess ... similar and yet very different.

[paul929207]

Thanks for the comments. We will be on the Island P next March for two Panama Canal cruises. Can't wait.

[AKman2495]

As for the new menus, there is no happy medium. Many of the dishes you like have been replaced.....but then many people on these boards have complained about having the same old dishes all the time....

 

Glad you had a good trip in spite of the conditions.

[VibeGuy]

On last week's Star and Golden, the menus were not pulled from the normal rotation but were special for the Coastals, so I wouldn't be too quick to judge these as representative of the normal ones.

[Vexorg]

I guess I'm not sure what menus they used for this particular trip, since all seemed to be marked as "Princess Dinner". The first one bore some resemblance to the old sailaway dinner menu and I'm guessing was the replacement for that, and the other two had various items I recognized from other menus on other cruises, but I haven't sailed in nearly a year and a half before this cruise so I can't tell for sure.

[rdsqrl]

When I was on the Coral, every day I was down at the Patisserie getting my mocha, I would look out the window and think the ship was sailing backwards -- because I was so used to the IC/Patisserie being on the portside of the ship and not the starboard. And there were a few times I walked down Plaza deck from the atrium to the "forward" elevators, only of course to find out they were the aft elevators. So I know what you mean about the confusion! However, I just loved the Coral and happily endured my 15 days of occasional befuddlement.

[Vexorg]

Yeah, the elevators definitely got me a few times. While trying to get away from some of the crowds after some event I decided to take the glass elevators in the atrium up to the Lido deck, at which point I learned they only went up to deck 8. The forward elevators that only go down to deck 7 confused me a few times as well, especially since I've had forward cabins on Plaza deck several times on the other ships.)

 

Even if it is confusing every once in a while, the Island is still quite a nice ship, and the Lotus Spa pool might be the nicest looking one I've seen on a ship (even if I didn't get to swim on this trip.) All in all, I think I still have to choose the Sapphire as my favorite Princess ship I've been on though.

[jnc411]

I agree it can get you turned around alright, We were on the Coral for the Panama Canal transit this past year and it took me a couple days to get my bearings , but after that I enjoyed the cruise, it is just different locations for things that gets you messed up. My husband kept wanting to go to the back of the ship for the horizon court : ). But we did find it to be plenty spacious .

Cori