Review 9/23 Island Princess Hawaii E626

[suziehmkr]

Tina' date=' I'm planning on bringing leis we got from Party City so the family could wear them in our embarkation photo (hopefully I'll remember to pack them in my purse).[/quote']

Patty - that's a good idea. I was hoping they sold them onboard so we could get some on one of the formal nights. I did order some nice silk one's from Hawaii to wear on one formal night, but thought it would be great to have some fresh one's also. Plan to buy an arrangement in Hilo for the cabin on the way back and may just end up picking them up there for whatever formal night we have heading back.

 

I was thinking they would have a formal night on Christmas since it is a sea day and was hoping for New Year's Eve, but that is our last port day. Will be interesting to see how they plan our formal nights around the holidays.

[Debi_D]

Did any of you do a helicopter tour? We are booked on Safari Tours in Kauai, I have read some really great review about them so thought I would try'em out...The price was good 150.00 pp for 1 hour...

 

Also did anybody play golf? DH wants to know how was the Ocean Course in Kona?

 

Deb

[Joy_K]

Hornet: I have a question for you reguarding Kauai. I saw where you did the Kipu Ranch waterfall and ATV adventure. The listed times with the Princess excursion is from 9am till 1:30pm. Do you remember what time you arrived back at port? Kauai is the toughest island for us to decide what to do. We really want to do the ATV and a helicopter tour, just don't know what time to try and schedule the helicopter. If we do a helicopter, we will book it independantly with a company that doesn't have a surcharge for being over 250 pounds. My DH weighs 260 and with the holidays coming up........ I have read that morning helicopter flights are better, but would really hate to miss the ATV adventure, so if anyone did a helicopter tour, please give details. We are sailing on January 6, 2006.

[Hornet]

Joy - We arrived back at port right on time at 1:30. Another couple on our tour had the helicopter tour scheduled right after ATV and made it in time. Both were booked thru Princess. I would not miss the ATV since it was such an adventure. We did the helicopter our last time in Kauai and that was nice too. You will see more beautiful scenery with the helicopter - but, you will have much more fun with the ATV. You could do both.

[Joy_K]

Hornet,

Thanks so very much for such a quick reply. I am so glad that we will not have to choose which one:cool:

[jsiegel]

Yeah, figured out how to attach my file, had to clear my cache. Here's the lotus pool, picture taken by my sister last November. Can't wait to try it out myself.

 

Jackie

[Katiekakes]

Thanks, Hornet, for the schedule of sea days and formal dinners. It will help in planning. I love the idea of a fresh lei. Who doesn't like fresh flowers. I am checking everyday for shore excursions, but nothing yet. Glad to hear that it isn't just me, and I will have to be patient. Thanks everybody for all the comments and info.

[lgarner]

Did anyone take a tour in Ensenada? I could just skip it if it meant a smooth disembarkation but since they are stopping for several hours, it sounds like most people get off and shop. I saw three tours in the princess excursion book for Ensenada but they are not available on line.

 

Thanks for the reviews!!

[suziehmkr]

I just checked my personalizer and they are not offering excursions for Ensenada for the 4 hours that we are there.

[sashas_mom]

Most of us would agree there was nothing to see in Ensanada. My DH and I had been there before and decided to stay on the ship. Hornet (Hi there Hornet) got off to do some shopping and when we saw each other that night she agreed, you might as well stay on the ship.

sasha'smom

[suziehmkr]

The only reason we plan to get off is so DD's can say they went to Mexico! :) But, we do plan to go look for a taco restaurant that we went to on our honeymoon cruise and see if they are still there!

[lois1112]

No shore excursions were offered in Ensenda. We got off the ship and took a walk around the pier area (it was quite nice).........otherwise stay on the ship.(the area with the shopping was crowded and not very nice)

Hi Sasha's mom and Hornet. Hope you are all back to normal. I got a cold (someone around us in the disembarkation area was sneezing and I thought oh no)but otherwise doing fine.

[emmilu]

I respectfully have to disagree with shopping in Ensenada. It was great! We were there last month during a trip to San Diego and I can't wait to get back.

I found the shopping area clean and the low prices on leather purses were excellent. I figure in 4 hours I can load up on a few more!

[Cruisin' Chick]

The last couple of times we were in Ensenada we just hopped off long enough to go to that little tourist trap on the pier and buy something for the MIL. I don't suppose we're going to bother this time. Frankly, I can do without going into town anyway. Too much in-your-face "buy this" and I'm not into drinking so the bars hold no interest for me.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I'm just wondering if the formal nights during the holiday cruise get moved to the holiday eves or is consistent with the other cruises. Maybe it's formal for NYE as we'll be leaving Kona at 4pm anyway. It sounds as if there's a party that night. Still waiting to hear from Princess about the holiday perks (champaigne, photos, babysitting) -- if that's for the whole ship or for Captain's Circle members only. I copied the pages from the magazine and sent them to customer service over a month ago.

[sashas_mom]

Has anyone ever stayed in one of these cabins in Island Or Coral? E703 is accross from laundry room and I am booked in it for Alaska and now worrying about the noise level based on some posts. Do you know how I can search for info to answer this?

Hi to Lois1112. Sorry you have a cold. I think the cd and his assistants all had it by the time we got off. Fortunately, Mark & I are still well. Thanks.sasha'smom

[suziehmkr]

I have not stayed in one... but the original cabin that we had booked for this cruise was near the laundry room - so I did read some older posts. I think every post that I have read said that noise was NOT a problem at all. Enjoy!!

[suziehmkr]

I am hoping that someone from this sailing is reading this thread and took their kids with them. I am hoping to get an idea of what kind of activities my 11 yo and 16 yo can look forward two on this long voyage. Do they have activities that are Hawaiian related, is there much structure for the younger kids... anything you can share would be great!

 

Thanksl!

[cruiser mom2]

Husband and i took island helicopter tour in kauia just call the day we dock and they had room for us my dh is over the weight limt and they didn't charge us any more then the reg price which we payed 188.00. Lucky for us it rain the day before and it was the most awesome thing we did. we where on the 9/23/05 island cruise.had a good time. and we thought the food was fair at best.we have cruise carnival in the past and thought there food was better. Eat in the byou one night the steak was great think they cut back in the dinning room on Qaulity of the meat that what it seem to us.

[CheapCharlie]

Sorry we did not meet up with the CC members, that is another story. We would have to agree with cruiser mom2 that the food was not near as good as on past cruises and I guess it is going to the specialty restaurants. We had two sisters at a table next to ours that had never been on Princess before and said it would be their last because of the food. We also talked to others that expressed the same feelings. Complaints were meat tough, fish tough and eggs not cooked to order in the dining rooms to name a few.

However we would like to say that the cruise in general was wonderful and so were our tours. All of the cruise staff were great and we had a wonderful time. Hope to cruise again. Actually we would do this one again.

The disembarkation was really bad, what a way to end a cruise.

[RvrCrzr]

I'm worried about embark/debark now. There are 3 ships scheduled in port the day we sail! :eek:

 

Yea...anyone have kids onboard? Review on that?

 

Anyone do Capt. Zodiac in Kona? Anything cool within walking distance of the ship in KONA?

 

What sort of band plays on deck near pool? Any Sailaway parties? Rate the nightclubs! :)

[cruiser mom2]

Emmilu ,Just wanted to say hi I grew up in white bear in cali now just a shout out to good old white bear. love it ps lived on cook ave and 8th st

[Cruisin' Chick]

I too was hoping to hear about Hawaiian-based activities for the kids. On our Alaskan cruise the kids made models of glaciers, among the other activities. I'm guessing there weren't a lot of kids on this cruise, but it can't hurt to ask.

[Hornet]

You won't see many kids on this cruise because it's long. During the school holidays I'm sure they'll be more. My husband made friends with some of the kids in the pool - two little girls 2 and 4 and their brother age 14 and a friend the brother met on the ship around the same age. I talked to the mother and she said she thought there were about 12 kids on the ship. I did see others.

 

She said her kids loved the programs for their age groups and the kids zone where they played. The boys were very happy too. Sorry I can't give you more details.

 

My comment about the food on this cruise ~ I agree some of the meals and quality of meat and fish were not that great - but...I just didn't eat those meals and ordered something else that was good. So many things were excellent like - rack of lamb, veal chops, lobster, crab legs, wonderful pasta dishes. The new meals or extra portions were brought back pretty fast.

 

Sometimes I wanted to try the pasta entree and the meat entree so I'd order the appetizer portion of the pasta and eat the meat. We really liked the soups and my DH especially loved the cold soups.

 

I would hope with all the complaints Princess had on this last disembarkation, they'll have it corrected for this next one. We'll soon hear.

 

Explorers in the late evening is very loud DJ music. Wheelhouse stays open till about 12:30 and they had great live dance music.

 

Sorry we didn't meet you CheapCharlie. Stop back at our roll call and tell us what happened.

[Cruisin' Chick]

My hubby was wondering about the entertainment aboard. Are there variety acts (comedians, magic, etc). Any good bands? We've seen Piano Man before but heard there's the other shows are more new: Tribute and Curtains Up. Did anyone seen those? How were they? Just basic dancing and singing with a corny theme?