Island Princess Questions

[geoherb]

It's been nine years since we sailed on the Island Princess--before they added the additional cabins. I remember some of the idiosyncrasies of the ship's layout, such as the forward placement of the Horizon Court and aft placement of the Sanctuary. But I don't remember some other details and have some questions raised by the refurbishment. Is the fitness center in the spa area? I don't see it on the deck plans. Does La Patisserie offer the sandwiches and salads that the International Cafes offer on other ships? Do they offer a Stammtisch without a Vines? Do people walk laps on the Promenade Deck by cutting through or do they tend to walk back and forth? Where do they hold the evening cocktail event for Platinum, Elite, and suite passengers? 

 

 

[BabySarge]

Fitness center is on Deck 6 aft with no windows or view. 

 

La Patisserie does not (or at least has not in the recent past) offer sandwiches, salads, or soup.  Only a very limited dome covered tray with small pastries and/or cookies.

 

No Stammtisch.

 

I have seen both walk thru and back and forth so I would say it is peoples choice.

 

Evening cocktail is held in rear corner on the left side of Explorers Lounge.

[geoherb]

Thanks. I did not think to look for the fitness center there. It's fine for me without windows. I'll try to get most of my exercise through walking on the Promenade Deck and up and down the stairs, but I still like to do a little bit of weights on the machines.

 

[jasbo49]

58 minutes ago, BabySarge said:

Fitness center is on Deck 6 aft with no windows or view. 

 

La Patisserie does not (or at least has not in the recent past) offer sandwiches, salads, or soup.  Only a very limited dome covered tray with small pastries and/or cookies.

 

The fitness center is the most dismal I've seen on any ship.

 

And La Patisserie, in addition to being just coffee and pastries, didn't open until 7 a.m. if I recall from our canal cruise shortly after the refurb. As a sometimes early riser, I found that a bummer. Nowhere to get decent coffee until 7.

 

But I did kind of like the Horizon Court being up front with front-facing windows. And the buffet, while not as big as some ships, seemed to be well-tended and well-organized with the food hot. Of course all this is from 3 1/2 years ago.

 

Jim

Edited May 27, 2019 by jasbo49

[RSF Cruiser]

During the day La Patisserie did have small tea-like sandwiches. I often had one or two when returning from an excursion. This was two years ago on a Panama Canal cruise. 

[enfuego4cruising]

We just disembarked the Island Princess on May 8th, 2019. We sailed a B2B 7 day West Coast and a 7 day Alaska. We had previously sailed on the Island on a 15 day Hawaiian in 2006. So I knew going on that I would be comparing and contrasting between original layout and the remodel.

 

To your questions: 

 

The gym is now in a small, windowless space on deck 6. It is a sad space indeed. The pre-remodel location was much nicer (bigger and with windows) and was next to the changing rooms and saunas for a post workout steam and clean up. It is now buried  where the Universal lounge was once located. The Universal lounge was sorely missed. It was very strange to exit the aft elevators on deck 6 or 7 and see passenger cabins rather than the lounge. I found it to be a real shame that Princess did this to the Island.

 

The La Patisserie did not serve any type of food for the entire time that we were on board. When I asked  if they did serve food, they referred me to the buffet, where they sell specialty coffees as well. The La Patisserie  began serving coffee at 6 a.m. I had purchased a coffee package. Without a physical card to track purchase credits, I found that the staff would occasionally charge my card for a brewed coffee or tea. They would correct eventually correct this, but it is an unnecessary hassle. 

 

As mentioned in previous posts, walking the promenade necessitates an aft elevator lobby cut through, and the evening cocktail hour was held in the Explorers lounge.

 

The Horizon Court location is very unique and we enjoyed it. Lots of windows and light. Crowded of course during peak times. The food was good and the service was always prompt and friendly.

 

The pay-to-use Sanctuary is located aft. It is a well shaded and nice space. One curious note however; on Glacier Bay day, folks had paid a premium to reserve spaces and it was sold out. What was seemingly a bummer for them was that when we arrived at Margerie Glacier for our one hour stay, the Captain kept the ships bow and sides  oriented toward the glacier for the majority of the time. Only for the final ten minutes did he slow spin the the ship for ant aft facing view. Until those final minutes, the best views of the glacier's face were the free ones on the open decks.

 

Overall I found the Island Princess remodel to be a disappointment. Adding more cabins while subtracting the Universal lounge = more passengers in less public space. However the cruise was still amazing and I always see the glass half full,  with more on the way!

 

Of course choosing a cruise is primarily itinerary driven. Given choices however, the Island Princess, sad to say,  is firmly at the bottom of my list.

Edited May 27, 2019 by enfuego4cruising

[geoherb]

Thanks for the details. I've just added some weight training to my workouts, so as long as they have a leg press machine and whatever the one is that I use for my arms is that will be fine. I don't need to see outside during my workout.

 

We had the perfect cabin on our last Alaskan cruise--one with a balcony overlooking the bow of the Sapphire Princess. As with your cruise, the captain kept the front of the ship pointed toward the glacier the whole time we were there, gradually turning it so that the port and starboard sides had viewing time--but we could see it the whole time. It was spectacular.

 

Did you have traditional or anytime dining? I'm on the waitlists for traditional. I'm thinking a couple of nights will be anytime dining for all when we have late departures from Icy Strait Point and Juneau. And one of the advantages to sailing solo should be being able to find a seat in the theater.

 

The Island was also on the bottom of my list, but the fares for these cruises make up for the things they took away when they did the refurbishment. The Coral Princess has some great prices for last-minute cruises for couples, but the price for solo cruisers on them is double.

Edited May 27, 2019 by geoherb

[fishywood]

I was on Island Princess northbound Alaska cruise last May, as a solo as well.

I managed to get late traditional dining, but all three port days were open seating for all. I got dinner ashore in Icy Strait Point, went to Sabatini's while in Juneau and just hit the buffet in Skagway. So I can't report on how ATD functioned.

I found no issues with crowding in dining venues or on deck. Nor did I miss not having an International Cafe. Breakfast, sea day/glacier day lunch, and afternoon tea in the MDR were excellent with well paced service every time I went. Just check the back page of the Patter every day as times for lunch and tea did vary.

A corner of Explorer's is admittedly not the best place for the P/E/S lounge each evening. They kept putting out a huge spread of appetizers even though quite sparsely attended. And because there were other activities in the room at the same time the servers (at least the first couple nights) seemed to care more about checking cruise card colors than actually taking your drink order.

The only thing to worry about is finding a seat in the theater and other venues. Even for a 9AM lecture from the naturalist the theater was packed by 8:40. And for the presentations by the park rangers on Glacier Bay day (was 1 PM northbound, 10 AM southbound) you will be shut out if not there a good 45+ minutes early.

 

But as had been already said Alaska is all about the destination not the ship. I did my not-quite-B2B last year on Island and Golden--two ships everyone has something to gripe about. And had a fine time.

[enfuego4cruising]

The gym does have newer and nice equipment. We posted up at the leg press machine during the muster drill.😉

 

We enjoy traditional dining. We always choose the late seating to allow for eating (think Tracy's Crab Shack in Juneau) and staying later in the port. The occasional problem with the late seating is that the entertainment times can be in conflict and you may have to rush out of the MDR. We knew that we needed to arrive at least 20 minutes early to any given venue get a seat. Also on the dining subject, we twice enjoyed the Bayou Cafe & Steakhouse. The "Carpetbagger's trinity smothered filet of beef" was one of the best steaks that I have ever enjoyed...land or sea.

 

Of courser the fare is a strong consideration as well. There are many more positives about any given Princess cruise and they will typically outshine most any potential negative. Unfortunately for us, we are not embarking  again until October (Regal to New England/Canada).

Enjoy your cruise.

 

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, enfuego4cruising said:

We just disembarked the Island Princess on May 8th, 2019. We sailed a B2B 7 day West Coast and a 7 day Alaska. We had previously sailed on the Island on a 15 day Hawaiian in 2006. So I knew going on that I would be comparing and contrasting between original layout and the remodel.

 

To your questions: 

 

.................................

 

The pay-to-use Sanctuary is located aft. It is a well shaded and nice space. One curious note however; on Glacier Bay day, folks had paid a premium to reserve spaces and it was sold out. What was seemingly a bummer for them was that when we arrived at Margerie Glacier for our one hour stay, the Captain kept the ships bow and sides  oriented toward the glacier for the majority of the time. Only for the final ten minutes did he slow spin the the ship for ant aft facing view. Until those final minutes, the best views of the glacier's face were the free ones on the open decks.

 

..................................

On the contrary, when we were on the Around S.A. 60-nighter in Winter 2018, most of the Sanctuary was in the sun and I found the few gauze sails overhead did not provide much real shade at all for most of the time.  Abandoned planned bookings.  Both times I did use it, I took chairs on the port side, around the corner where the ship's structure provided shade.  It was hardly used at all for the entire trip, except people did book it for Panama Canal day.  We didn't use it and took in views from all kinds of other angles during the day.

 

PS - There was bite--food at the Patisserie every day.  Mini-savory items and then mini-sweets in the mid-afternoon.

 

[HaveDogWillTravel]

On 5/27/2019 at 9:49 AM, enfuego4cruising said:

 

 

The pay-to-use Sanctuary is located aft. It is a well shaded and nice space. One curious note however; on Glacier Bay day, folks had paid a premium to reserve spaces and it was sold out. What was seemingly a bummer for them was that when we arrived at Margerie Glacier for our one hour stay, the Captain kept the ships bow and sides  oriented toward the glacier for the majority of the time. Only for the final ten minutes did he slow spin the the ship 

We sailed b2b Vancouver to Whittier and back in an aft suite on the Island, May 8-22, 2019.  On both visits to glacier bay (as well as Hubbard and college fjord) the aft had its fair share of time. One hour, 4 sides, equals 15 minutes per side. The Sanctuary was definitely worth it!  You got 180 degree panoramic views and 45 minutes of front and center views. Plus they pamper you so wonderfully.  The service is exemplary. As you can see the weather is quite variable one cruise to the next. Plus aft views last for hours as you sail away from the glacier. We loved the cabana. The Island has 3. 

 

Edited May 28, 2019 by HaveDogWillTravel

[Steelers36]

57 minutes ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

We sailed b2b Vancouver to Whittier and back in an aft suite on the Island, May 8-22, 2019.  On both visits to glacier bay (as well as Hubbard and college fjord) the aft had its fair share of time. One hour, 4 sides, equals 15 minutes per side. The Sanctuary was definitely worth it!  You got 180 degree panoramic views and 45 minutes of front and center views. Plus they pamper you so wonderfully.  The service is exemplary. As you can see the weather is quite variable one cruise to the next. Plus aft views last for hours as you sail away from the glacier. We loved the cabana. The Island has 3. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the pictures show, not much shade on the open deck loungers.  The center section, with tent-like sails, just has some straight-back chairs.  The cabanas, as clearly shown, offer plenty of shade, or sun outside.  They are up against the aft wall structure which could provide shade, but that is where the cabanas are.  Nice if one wants to spend the big bucks for one.  

 

[Yehootu]

We have 25day b2b in March. We have traditional late dining set up for a 2 top. In a review a disgrunted past cruiser complained that the ATD seating was closer than McDonalds. Any insight to how close the 2 tops for ATD are? We just did a quick getaway on the Carnival Spendor and the 2 tops were VERY close in one area.

 We've sailed the Island both before and after the renovations and picked these 2 cruises as we only have to fly to FLL, then get off in LAX. That and for one of the new mini-suites that were added in the refurb. I do miss the complete promenade deck for walking, but did enjoy pickle ball.

   Mahalo