What will Island Princess look like after May 2015?

[tequilasunrise]

I would never book a ship where I can not see the wake. I can't believe what they are doing to the promenade. I wish we had done our panama canal cruise already; but since we have not, I will be looking for another ship----or another line. So disappointing!!!

[BJS]

Sad to see but am assuming it has something to do with wanting to accommodate more passengers cruising into Venice since the larger ships are being restricted.

 

Now we can just hope that they don't change the Coral but with the "new" Panama Canal coming into focus and the larger ships being able to transit only time will tell.

 

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[sunsetbeachgal]

The aft third of the Promenade deck is history, along with the aft viewing areas. This is probably enough to cancel our Med cruise next year. :(

 

So sad...it has been a number of years since we sailed on the Coral or the Island, but I remember a much wider promenade deck than the larger ships, one that was a delight to stroll on. I also remember those aft viewing areas at the back of the ship, through the door. And I also remember that the aft pool was only available to those who paid for the Sanctuary which I did not care for (correct me if I am wrong on this ship).

 

What an unfortunate direction for the Island, and assume the Coral will be next up..

Edited December 7, 2014 by sunsetbeachgal

[shepp]

And I also remember that the aft pool was only available to those who paid for the Sanctuary which I did not care for (correct me if I am wrong on this ship).

 

No, you're right. It was due to the placement of the Sanctuary and the unique design of the Island/Coral. It did piss me off that after the Sanctuary was officially closed for the day, there was no access to that aft area. Now the revenue-producing Sanctuary is being expanded, while some of those pesky places where passengers weren't paying out have been downsized or axed altogether. And so it goes...

[Colo Cruiser]

While on the Regal we were told the Coral is next. Most likely next year. :mad:

[crystalspin]

@ sunsetbeachgal

 

caribill posted the link to the Princess site/page -- you'll need to click as if planning a cruise before drydock, and then after, to see both versions.

 

I did that, in two windows, and then went back and forth by sections of each deck. I listed all the changes I saw, in THIS message to a Roll Call I started for the Canal in Feb/March 2016:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=44715456&postcount=2

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

Another sad customer here. :( We live in Florida & book ships that usually leave only from Florida and after eliminating the ships which have disagreeable features, the list is getting smaller each year. Although the loss of the sanctuary pool doesn't bother us all that much the addition of the extra aft cabins will only make the Lotus pool that much more crowded.

Just having sailed the Royal we weren't thrilled with many of it's new innovative features either and now it won't be long to add the Island to the list.

[CruisinFinsUp]

Please don't blame the accountants. Top management lays out the scenario, "us" accountants compute the numbers, prepare the proposals and then present the studies to the brass. THE BRASS makes the final decisions.

 

I'm an accountant too. Proposals of this type come from operations not accounting. Accounting will do a cost benefit analysis on the proposals. The idea of adding 120 - 200 cabins ( there are a couple numbers in the thread ) should never have made it past the minion that suggested it, accountant or other department. Maybe 20 - 30 fine but over 100? Up to 200? Nuts.

 

Ridiculous that it even made it to middle management, let alone to the "brass" for them to vote on, in my opinion. Someone in operations should have said "no - too much pax load increase on the infrastructure". There also needs to be significant changes to the underlying infrastructure to support this increase in number of pax and supporting crew within the fixed confines of an existing ship!!

 

For example - the publicly released deck plans will not show the following: Will the water and "sewage" and laundry and food storage / prep areas and tables in the dining rooms and lifeboats etc etc be upgraded? Where will the additional cabin stewards and waiters live?

 

Can't wait to read the reviews of cruises with poor weather where everyone is jammed below decks. :eek:

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

For example - the publicly released deck plans will not show the following: Will the water and "sewage" and laundry and food storage / prep areas and tables in the dining rooms and lifeboats etc etc be upgraded?Where will the additional cabin stewards and waiters live?

 

Good point. I hadn't though about that. On the Royal it recently too till 11:00 before they mad the announcement that tender tickets weren't needed for Princess Cays. I'm thinking the Island will now follow suite. ;)

[Love.II.Cruise]

Does anyone have drawings/renderings of how Island Princess will look from the back after the unfortunate drydock in April-May 2015? Will it lose its aft curves and appear more like a floating squarish brick (with all those aft cabins added and the open decks removed)?

 

Looking at the new deck plans, with all the cabins added where they simply do not belong based on the original design, I expect the ship will become so aesthetically unappealing that Venice should just ban it from entering its port, to protect the city view. Would serve Princess right.

 

Oh my gosh! We didn't particularly like her originally, but then fell in love with her after the sanctuary was added and the cafe. But now? We just did a deck by deck comparison... and no thank you. :(

[hllwdcruiser]

While on the Regal we were told the Coral is next. Most likely next year. :mad:

 

Next year, as in 2015?!? Or 2016?

[OCruisers]

http://www.princess.com/deckPlans.do?shipCode=IP

 

Thanks for this ... but have to admit we liked Island the way she was better. :o

LuLu

[bachcruise]

I'm really disappointed in these changes after enjoying the Coral so much. I had been planning to do a full transit on the Island next December but now I have very little desire to go on this ship. What a shame.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Was looking at doing the full transit in February 2016 but guess I need to look at another ship :(

[jewelsea21]

In a word, cropped.

[Woobstr112G]

I was just looking at the deckplans. While I've never sailed on the Island, all I have to say is holy cow. What was Princess thinking???? Take out a show lounge and a pool? I think I will have to add the Island and (based on what Colo said) the Coral to the Royal/Regal as my Princess ships of last resort.....

 

Bob

[donaldsc]

I'm pretty curious too, after the conflicting information we have received and the new deck plans shown on the website. It looks to me like Princess has completely forgotten a very critical part of the whole cruise aggregate - satisfied paying guests - without whom there will be NO RETURN WHATSOEVER on their investment. Their dry dock plans do nothing to enhance or even maintain the passenger experience on the Island, and I think there are too many people out there who have seen and enjoyed her as she was originally designed for them to put this one over on us. I really don't want to cruise with 250 additional passengers accommodated in space converted from enjoyable public venues into additional revenue producers for the money grubbing pencil pushers in the head office.

 

.

 

Here is the problem. The average cruiser is either too stupid to realize that the ship has been butchered or else they have never been on her before so they do not care. The only thing that they care about is the cost of the cabin and they will pick their cruise based solely on price and how cheap the booze is.

 

How many members does CC have as compared to the cruisers who know nothing about CC?

 

Unfortunately, the accountants are probably right and will in the end rule the world.

 

DON

[Bill B]

If they could get rid of the life boats and replace them with balcony staterooms, they would.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

If they could get rid of the life boats and replace them with balcony staterooms, they would.

 

They sure would. Just look what they did on the Royal and Regal to some of the balconies... Some of them have almost totally obscured views.

[Colo Cruiser]

next year, as in 2015?!? Or 2016?

 

2016

[2pbears]

WOW! They are really going to butcher her! We were just on the Island a couple of months ago and I'm glad we had a chance to say goodbye. We have booked Azamara for 2016. I felt a little like a traitor when we booked as we have sailed only Princess in recent years, but I am beginning to see the handwriting on the wall and we are going to have to find smaller ship alternatives as we were not too happy with the size of the Royal.

 

When we crunched the numbers and compared (apples to apples) our upcoming cruise on Azamara (at the sale price) it actually worked out to be slightly less $ per day than the Royal Princess Baltic cruise that we did in July. We shall see how it works out.

[Thumper69]

OK so don't kill me.

 

I booked L721 for a Panama Canal 15 days in Feb 16. I have never sailed on the Island so I figure that if I don't like the reviews after the changes I can always cancel. I also think they could have achieved what they wanted without loosing so many popular venues and places.

 

Does anyone know where I can find out what the layouts of the new suites will be?

[OCruisers]

WOW! They are really going to butcher her! .

 

:( Sadly, seems so. Hate what they are going to do to her. :(

LuLu

[caribill]

Does anyone know where I can find out what the layouts of the new suites will be?

 

Only what you see when you go through the booking process and go to the suite you are interested in. However, it may be a generic schematic.

[wickedwitchofthewest]

After looking at the changes really glad I did the Panama transit last year. Can't imagine what it would have been like not being able to get to the stern as we went through the locks. The views were so different back there.

Wish princess had just built new shops to do the Venice thing not butchered two lovely ladies.