What will Island Princess look like after May 2015?

[dmwnc1959]

Thanks for the new pictures! :)

 

Happy Cruising!

 

Mark

 

 

Maybe it'll help resolve a few unanswered questions.

 

:D

[shipfriend_max]

We've got some new pictures of Island Princess after dry-docking:

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/search.php?search_imo=9230402

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2260157

 

Looks still quite appealing and balanced, at least from profile perspective.

But IMHO prior to dry-docking, the space was not "wasted", since the passengers had some quite nice viewing spaces and it was not filled by staterooms to increase revenue... :rolleyes:

[dmwnc1959]

We've got some new pictures of Island Princess after dry-docking....

 

 

That first link are the same pictures posted above - just the full-sized images - and focused on the new cabins aft, since that's what most all of the questions are arising from.

 

;)

[cubfan63]

They were not making money before??? :confused:

 

 

Corporations are evaluated by many financial numbers. One of them is Revenue Growth.

[MacGuffin]

I know I'm setting myself up to get flamed here, but really folks, I don't think the new aft looks any worse than this:

 

 

And to call this a pool is really ludicrous:

 

 

In my humble opinion, the aft of Island Princess was nothing but underutilized and wasted space and that goes for the Universe Lounge as well; it was an ugly and uncomfortable cavern of a room. I have avoided Island Princess, primarily because it had no aft-facing balcony cabins; and now that it does, I'm back onboard.

 

That pool is actually bigger than the aft pool on the Regal!! And I agree with others that all that under utilized space was actually utilized by paying passengers for Canal and Alaska viewing. Now to get a view like that you have to pay extra for the Sanctuary.

[MacGuffin]

Oddly enough, this is exactly how I feel about Royal and Regal Princess.

 

Ditto. We just came back from the Regal and while it is definitely beautiful on the inside, what we missed from the Grand class far outweighs a glittery interior: 5 pools on tiered top decks, Skywalkers, a wrap around promenade, decent sized stateroom balconies and a main show lounge that isn't claustrophobic (the Grand class are small, but Regal's was tight!) We'd never say never to Regal, but if we have an option we'll go Ruby. Same with Island/Coral: still a beautiful ship on the inside, but they're no longer unique, and that means we now have options with other ships, and so the Island/Coral now have competition.

[FawnRiver]

They were not making money before??? :confused:

 

 

Yes, but bear in mind that while inflation and other economic factors drive prices up in other sectors, prices in the travel industry haven't kept pace, simply because if they did, fewer people would travel. Prices are kept artificially low to entice people to travel, that's one of the reasons why you see so much "nickel & diming". You could end up spending more, but how much you spend is under your control and therefore, gives the illusion that you're getting a "deal". All the extras is profit for them, the base fare covers costs only and sometimes, not even that.

In the Med, they had no choice but to increase capacity without violating the voluntary limit on the Venice harbour, or skip Venice altogether, or shell out millions to build a facility outside Venice but still close enough to get there (assuming there is an actual physical location with a deep enough harbour to allow for such a facility).

At the end of the day, they are a business. The only part of this that I was really disappointed with is that they didn't do a video blog or other updates for the refit. We would have loved to see it, even if we may not be 100% happy with the end result.

[jpj39]

Have had no wait for anytime dining except The 1st cruise day beause of the open seating late departure & muster

I was on the Panama Canal cruise & everything seems the same, well organized

So all you naysayers either get on the train or get off and pick another ship

When I get home I will give you a full report

Frankly I don't think 2000 + passenger give a rat's A-- about the new design

[ocean fanatic]

Couldn't have said it better! The previous large Sanctuary and the lounge on deck 6 were underutilized so I can't blame Princess for modifying the layout for better use. Just wish all of Carnival Corp. would get off their duff and buy more internet bandwidth for ALL their ships. Service in this modern world is getting worse rather than improving. Anyway - happy cruising on Island Princess!!

[Cruzin-K]

I just noticed that if you try to do a mock booking on the Coral for 2017, they've yanked the new deck plans and are showing the old ones. The new one is still out there when you just view the deck plans outside the booking engine, but to go and book a cabin, you can't choose a new cabin. My TA told me that they are revising the deck plans. I was ticked because I wanted one of the new aft balconies on Baja, and now there's no telling when they'll come out with new plans so I can get that booked.

[rdsqrl]

Have had no wait for anytime dining except The 1st cruise day beause of the open seating late departure & muster

I was on the Panama Canal cruise & everything seems the same, well organized

So all you naysayers either get on the train or get off and pick another ship

When I get home I will give you a full report

Frankly I don't think 2000 + passenger give a rat's A-- about the new design

Charming.

[Kennykat]

Have had no wait for anytime dining except The 1st cruise day beause of the open seating late departure & muster

I was on the Panama Canal cruise & everything seems the same, well organized

So all you naysayers either get on the train or get off and pick another ship

When I get home I will give you a full report

Frankly I don't think 2000 + passenger give a rat's A-- about the new design

 

Oohh, yesterday I didn't know what a metaphor was, now I can mix them...nice to see civility isn't dead.

[f-mattox]

I just noticed that if you try to do a mock booking on the Coral for 2017, they've yanked the new deck plans and are showing the old ones. The new one is still out there when you just view the deck plans outside the booking engine, but to go and book a cabin, you can't choose a new cabin. My TA told me that they are revising the deck plans. I was ticked because I wanted one of the new aft balconies on Baja, and now there's no telling when they'll come out with new plans so I can get that booked.

 

I went through the same thing. I finally found an itinerary on Island Princess I liked in 2017 and booked one of the new cabins. At least now I know I have it locked in.

[lovey1103]

It was very crowded for bingo as it was held in the lounge at the same time as the two for one drinks! Since they no longer have the vista lounge it does impact some of the events. The elevators were not working properly at the start of the trip but they seemed to have cleared that up by the end of the trip and no issues with crowding. I didn't notice any significant crowding at dinner or by the pool. They had workers working installing carpeting, painting, etc. during the cruisee had ceiling tiles hanging (safely) in our hallway the whole cruise.

Now that would make me mad:mad::mad:

IMO they should not sail until the work is complete as this would negatively impact my experience.[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]

Edited June 8, 2015 by lovey1103

[Colo Cruiser]

Now that would make me mad:mad::mad:

IMO they should not sail until the work is complete as this would negatively impact my experience.[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]

 

 

You can count on pretty much after any dry dock work is still going on during the first sailing. Never book a cruise before or after a dry dock, especially one of the magnitude of the Island Princess changes. :mad:

[Rwethereyet2]

A few observations from these pictures:

 

- that little 'house' parked at the end of The Sanctuary on Sun Deck port side reminds me of those Spa-related massage cabanas on Royal Princess

 

- the last mini-suites on Caribe Deck aft (C728 and C731) and Dolphin Deck (D727 and D725) looks to have a slightly larger balcony than the new aft mini-suites on the same deck. Same goes for the last standard balcony cabins on Emerald Deck (E736 and E737), which appear to have a slightly larger balcony.

 

- the 'balcony' on the new aft-corner Promenade Deck suites (PR726 and PR727) looks like they have a divider in the middle of them to where it may also not be a wrap-around as shown on the deck plan. Look at the third picture and you'll see it.

 

:D

If you look at the deck plans for PR726 and PR727 the area you are talking about is blank white space and doesn't look like it's part of the suites. I don't know what those areas are but they aren't marked as part of any cabin so that divider separates the balconies from that dead zone.

[dmwnc1959]

If you look at the deck plans for PR726 and PR727 the area you are talking about is blank white space and doesn't look like it's part of the suites. I don't know what those areas are but they aren't marked as part of any cabin so that divider separates the balconies from that dead zone.

 

 

I guess that I'm not sure what I was expecting for those Promendade Deck aft suites. On the deck plan all that white-space reminds me of an add-on back-deck for your house where it fits the odd angles of the various rooms, nooks, and crannies. I knew it wasn't going to be a giant, full, enclosed patio, but I wasn't expecting it to be divided into segments, or just that tiny aft-facing portion. I know there was a member here booked in one - I think it was for later this year in the Panama Canal - so I'm hoping they'll post pictures.

 

:D

Edited June 8, 2015 by dmwnc1959

[caribill]

 

IMO they should not sail until the work is complete as this would negatively impact my experience.

 

Cancelling the cruise at the last minute when the work was not complete would impact you more negatively.

[Pushka]

Cancelling the cruise at the last minute when the work was not complete would impact you more negatively.

 

 

Ok. How about not selling cruises the week after a refurb because they know the refurb wont be finished during dry dock?

[Starry Eyes]

Ok. How about not selling cruises the week after a refurb because they know the refurb wont be finished during dry dock?

 

Perhaps they really believe they will be done in time and the contractors have contractually committed to be done on time. If the schedule goes awry, how many weeks should the cruiseline allow for overage? And what if after that allowance some smaller item still need to be completed? Is that acceptable or not? Completing some work in route seems to be common in the industry, even away for dry dock. I recall work being done during the cruise on many ships on many lines. Things like carpet, paint, varnish, plumbing and electrical seem very common. Sometimes sections of important areas (like part of the buffet) are closed for a portion of cruise for work (like re-tiling). Such work may inconvenience passengers to variable degrees yet they must be attended to. How much is too much?

Edited June 8, 2015 by Starry Eyes

[Pushka]

Perhaps they really believe they will be done in time and the contractors have contractually committed to be done on time. If the schedule goes awry, how many weeks should the cruiseline allow for overage? And what if after that allowance some smaller item still need to be completed? Is that acceptable or not? Completing some work in route seems to be common in the industry, even away for dry dock. I recall work being done during the cruise on many ships on many lines. Things like carpet, paint, varnish, plumbing and electrical seem very common. Sometimes sections of important areas (like part of the buffet) are closed for a portion of cruise for work (like re-tiling). Such work may inconvenience passengers to variable degrees yet they must be attended to. How much is too much?

 

It generally seems like a week finishes everything off. If there were electrical cables hanging down in the corridor then that suggests they didn't allow enough time..

[EmpressofPurple]

No matter how it looked, this ship was originally designed for going through the Panama Canal.

 

Before the renovations there were five decks where any passenger could see the view behind the ship and watch the gates close and the water rise.

 

After the renovations, there is no place for these passengers to have this view. Only those few who book the rear facing cabins with balconies and those who pay extra to use the Sanctuary that day will have the view that everyone used to expect to be able to have when going through the Canal.

 

This. Ditto Alaska glacier viewing. Well stated.

 

Sent from my SM-G900P using Forums mobile app

[Starry Eyes]

It generally seems like a week finishes everything off. If there were electrical cables hanging down in the corridor then that suggests they didn't allow enough time..

 

Perhaps that indicates they did not allow enough time. Or perhaps the time should have been adequate but the electrical contractor encountered a problem that delayed the work. Or perhaps the contractor did the work but some issue or another was detected, so cables were pulled. Or perhaps the cables were part of some upgrade or maintance that would have been required without regard to the dry dock (with 50+ cruises under my belt, I have seen plenty of electrical or communication cable work in corridors). Certainly the line might be at fault for allowing insufficient time for dry dock, but I think other explanations might exist.

[caribill]

It generally seems like a week finishes everything off. If there were electrical cables hanging down in the corridor then that suggests they didn't allow enough time..

 

Have you ever had a home improvement contractor finish a job on schedule?

[holomuku]

I often say we have several time zones in our lives- Hawaii Standard Time, Pacific Standard Time, Mountain and Central Standard Time, Eastern Standard Time and Contractor Standard Time. The later being "whenever they finish"!