Holiday Aloha on the Island Princess 12/22/05 to 1/6/06: A Review

[Cruisin' Chick]

the times I've seen Leah on the morning show and in person at activities, she seemed very personable.

[Cruisin' Chick]

To finish up, here’s a run down:

 

CABIN

The only real problems were the bug bites and a loose knob in the shower. It took a few requests to get the bathrobes that I had requested in the Cruise Personalizer, and then one of them had a stain on it but we decided to use it anyway (over our wet clothes after using the pool).

 

Also took a few tries to get dry pool towels. I’m guessing that maybe Mario had many cabins to deal with (more than usual????) because he seemed to be working very hard.

 

FOOD

Harvey felt it was okay. At first, he ate a lot of fish (I don’t cook fish at home) but got tired of seafood. As for the much maligned coffee, he made his own anyway as he seems to be allergic to the ship water (he did research into why he may have gotten ill on his first several cruises; once he stopped drinking the ship water/coffee, he stopped getting this respiratory problem). He suggests that maybe a booklet can be offered at the start of the cruise (either for free or at cost) that has color photos of some of the entrees. He often felt unsure of what to order and this would help. This could be a great souvenir passengers can take home and show their friends what delicious food waits for them on a cruise.

 

I usually found something to eat. We’re both eat to live types so we’re easy to please in that regard. On every cruise I ask for lemon slices for my salad at the first dinner. Just about on every cruise, the lemon is delivered with the bread baskets (the slices I don’t use are freely offered to all at the table for their water). This wasn’t the case with this waitstaff. But I didn’t make a big deal about it. I really like the sugar-free desserts as well as the other delectable treats offered at the table and in the Horizon Court.

 

Jen loved the pizza on the IP. She hadn’t liked the pizza on the Sapphire 18 months ago. Her biggest complaint about the food was that the Kid Zones’ Ice Cream Party had only vanilla anc chocolate flavors (at home she only likes vanilla, so go figure).

 

Someone else mentioned the overzealous waiters practically grabbing your plates as you finish it. I figured maybe the waiters have been told not to leave an empty or nearly empty plate sitting.

 

EXCURSIONS

We picked the Sea Life Park because we wanted to do something our daughter would like. It’s a bit of a letdown if you’ve been to Sea World in San Diego. But it was okay.

 

The snorkeling trip was on a rickety ship. Harvey was disappointed in the sea life they found. Maybe if we had made it to Molokini, it would have been better. The whales were unexpected for us. Jen was describing for me some creatures that looked like bees to her, with fake stingers.

 

The Hilo excursion was in a comfy van except for some rough roads. Our guide gave some personal insights and we felt we learned a lot about the Big Island, especially the NE quadrant.

 

ENTERTAINMENT AND ACTIVITIES

It just worked out that we only made two of the nighttime shows this cruise. I would have preferred more shows after ten, rather than at 7, when we’re getting ready for dinner.

 

H’s not really into activities. He played his guitar a few times on the Promenade Deck near Sabitini’s and in the cabin. That’s relaxing for him. I read a few books, did some puzzles, and participated in a few trivia games. I would have like to gone to some more activities, like games. It seemed like a good variety to me. Not really into pool games, many of which seemed to remind me of Carnival’s activities.

 

KIDS’ AREA

Jen gave it an "okay." There was one girl her age who wasn’t nice to her there. We ended up bringing home many of the projects made. The Princess association with the California Science Center is great for her as she attends a math/science school.

 

THE SHIP

Our one real complaint is that the atrium does get smokey. The Churchills should be elsewhere as the smell from there – when the door opens – and Crooner’s gets into the atrium. If there’s a filtration system, it doesn’t do the trick.

 

WEATHER AND SEA CONDITIONS

We lucked out weather-wise. Not a drop of rain. Mostly sunny to a bit of clouds. The seas did get a bit rough the first few days. I got dizzy and relied on ginger to get me through. H & J sailed through without a touch of seasickness.

 

The overall impression:

It was a ship in the holiday mood with close attention to all three holidays (I guess those who celebrate Kwanzaa felt left out). We felt it was a good experience, overall, very relaxing.

 

The one major complaint is that Princess disregarded the majority of the passengers when one group is allowed to act up and get away with it. We’ll probably go on another cruise with Princess but I certainly hope everyone who got mistreated by this family lets the cruiseline know.

[Cruisin' Chick]

when we finally upload our pics from our digital cameras (I'm a newbie at this), I'll put up a link.

[Coolmama_1]

Very informative review. Thanks for taking the time. Sounds like you had a good time overall.

[mii]

A very informative and interesting review. It is unfortunate that your cruise had that problem with the "family". But you made the best of it so thanks for sharing.

 

Marilyn

[the three Cs]

hi we really enjoyed your review. is there any chance you know the names of the asst CDs and cruise staff wo did the daytime activities ?:)

[Immebsmom]

Ok, I had to laugh and shake my head at your review. If my daughter had been pushed by that one boy she would have belted him one. Boy would he have been the one who was surprised. As for the kids pushing all the buttons, I caught a group one time, forced them back in and made them ride the elevator with us until all the lights went off. Everytime we stopped, I explained to the waiting people that since they (the kids) decided to push all the buttons, I thought it was only fair that they got to enjoy the ride. Everyone thought that was funny. Then I got their names and told them they could go to their parents with me or with ship security. Their parents were not happy. The kids and teen clubs also heard about that mean lady who will bust your &^% if she catches you. My daughter thought it was a trip that other teens were afraid of being caught by me. The good news was the elevator games were pretty much over for the rest of the cruise....

Miranda's Mean Ole Mom

[Cruisin' Chick]

We never saw who had pushed the buttons. Whoever did it must have done so on another deck as far as I can guess.

 

I will look through the Patters (I'm such a packrat) and get the names for you. But for the most part, the CD's staff are just listed by their first names only (except for David Cole and the above mentioned Leah).

[paradise4ever]

What a wonderful trip you guys had. I don't usually read the whole review but I totally enjoyed yours. We will be doing this next month. Thank God there are only a few kids on board. I love kids but I am apt to open my mouth when acosted by a rude one. Hope we too have good weather and a great cruise. thanks

[suziehmkr]

In addition to the children pushing the buttons... there was a parallel issue... because the elevators took so long to get to each deck, many people would push the button and wait... and wait.... and wait... and get tired of waiting and take the stairs. About the time they were two decks higher or lower, the elevator would open and no one would be there.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Maybe that's why I didn't gain so much weight on this cruise...taking the stairs a lot when we got tired of waiting for the elevators!;)

[suziehmkr]

I was guilty of that too!! But usually only going downstairs! :)

[Cruisin' Chick]

I want to thank all of you for saying nice things about my very long report. Not even any flaming from the cheerleaders about the few negatives.

 

I went through some of the Patters and found these names (probably most or all of 'em) of the cruise director's staff. Again, only their first names are listed.

 

David, Andy, Drew, Vernoica, James, Dave, Tyler, Kristen.

The CD on this cruise: David Cole. The Deputy CD: Leah Hemsley

 

Also:

ballroom dance class: Jonas Portup

Financial lecturer: Brad Howell

Bridge: Judith Hocher

Arts and Crafts Diane Novak

Health and Wellness lecturer: Arlene Unger

cruise consultant: Natasha

Art auction: chad and Amy

flowers: Manny and Roy

"exclusive onboard qualified trainers/nutitionist": Chinta & Jurgen

Casino: Nykki Giannico

Executive chef: Gunther Deseke

Captain's Circle Rep: Nicky Read

PGA golf pro: Patrick Hanley

computers@sea instructor: Candy

pottery instructor: David Dunk

 

any more questions, I or someone else should be able to help:)

[Cruisin' Chick]

You know you've had an interesting cruise when it makes the cruise junkie event page. I guess one passenger reported what he or she saw. But there seems to be other versions of what people saw (and weren't published there).

[Cruisin' Chick]

It's amazing I keep finding people on other boards too that were talking about the "gang." I haven't written a letter yet to Princess but plan to within the next few weeks, asking them to have some plan for dealing with people like this family. Again, this experience won't keep us from cruising with Princess again. But I do question the lack of action on the part of the ship's management.

[D&L-01]

Yes he was, and so was I... Had a GREAT time!

:)

[NorcalGuy]

Is that very abusive "family" onboard the same group that generated so much discussion on the Island at Christmas last year?? It sounds identical. What a nightmare.

 

Seems incredible that Princess would allow them back. Have some backbone Princess!

 

I know very well that the majority of families with children are well behaved, but the possibility of being with such a group keeps me from booking during holidays...Too bad as Christmas onboard ship could be so magical.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Is that very abusive "family" onboard the same group that generated so much discussion on the Island at Christmas last year?? It sounds identical. What a nightmare.

 

Seems incredible that Princess would allow them back. Have some backbone Princess!

 

I know very well that the majority of families with children are well behaved, but the possibility of being with such a group keeps me from booking during holidays...Too bad as Christmas onboard ship could be so magical.

 

I asked the yellow-shirted youth security guy if he knew if it was the same troublemaking group as the year before. He didn't answer me. But maybe he didn't know as he wasn't on board the ship then. It could just be a coincedence but I still think that in light of what had happened, there would had been some quick action on the part of the crew with our cruise. Instead the captain and others basically threw up their arms and said they couldn't do anything.:(

[Cruisin' Chick]

Finally starting uploading photos. This is just the first of my starter digital card (finally got into the digital age). I have my other card, a disposal and an APS camera with rolls that need to be finished (I was saving some shots for Kona:( ) and my hubby has tons of shots from his digital camera that needs to be installed on the computer.

 

 

Click here to view photos from my Holiday Aloha cruise 12-22-05

[paradise4ever]

Nice pictures so far. Keep it up. Barbara

[chessbriar]

Dave Cole went on vacation in the middle of January and will be taking over the Caribbean Princess on March 18

[suziehmkr]

I few of the staff must have moved around after the holidays, as I believe DJ Drew is now on the Coral Princess.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Our room steward said he was transferring to the Crown. He suggested we try out the new ship (that was right after hubby gave him additional tip).

[Franknca]

I asked the yellow-shirted youth security guy if he knew if it was the same troublemaking group as the year before. He didn't answer me. But maybe he didn't know as he wasn't on board the ship then. It could just be a coincedence but I still think that in light of what had happened' date=' there would had been some quick action on the part of the crew with our cruise. Instead the captain and others basically threw up their arms and said they couldn't do anything.:([/quote']

 

Someone told me about this thread. We were on the 2004 holiday version of this cruise and experienced the well to do family that seemed to have left their nannies back home. We wrote a letter to Princess and I was really not happy with their response. It read like a prescripted letter and inferred that I should expect more children on such voyages and that stuff happens. It sounds like they did make some changes with the youth security people but I think it will take a few more letters about this family if there is any hope of getting any more changes made. Maybe one can build on the 2004 experience, stating that there has been limited improvement and more needs to be done?

 

I don't cruise often with my children and grandchildren but we've done it 3 times and it has been a wonderful experience for all of us. I hope to do this once more before they are too old and gone their separate ways. Unfortunately, we need to do this at times when others have time off from school so there will be a lot of children, which is not a problem if parents do their job and the ship does its job. It is too bad that a few can tarnish it for the many.

Frank

[Cruisin' Chick]

Frank, I remember reading your thread last year after we'd booked this cruise. I thought, surely, that this problem wouldn't happen again. After all, we've been on other cruises with many kids aboard without any problems. Most kids seem to get involved with the kids program so that they could have supervised fun and their parents can take part in what they want to do. These kids seemed to look bored whenever we encountered them just sitting on stairwells.

 

With a school-aged child, we could only go on cruises during school breaks or else try to convince her teacher not to penalize her. She enjoys going on cruises but we want her safe and she was assaulted in the pool by one of these boys. Other passengers were awaken by these kids. Property was thrown overboard both on your cruise and on this one. Fortunately, no one was injured but what about the next cruise these brats go on?????

 

Another thing that irks me about the situation (besides Princess staff members' inaction) is that these kids' actions lends credence to many people's poor attitude about kids on cruiseships in general.