World Cruise 2023 - Occasionally Live from the Island Princess

[Fa-Li]

loving this report!  Thanks for taking the time to post.  

[SargassoPirate]

I'm following along and appreciate the time it takes to post the updates.

 

Question - where is the Elite lounge gathering in the evenings.

 

With no International Cafe, where does one get some nibbles and chi chi coffee drinks?

 

Thanks

[polmcs]

On 1/18/2023 at 5:35 PM, Dan Tanna said:

You get 5

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my question.

 

Here’s hoping that it means 5 mini bar fills on such a cruise 😉

[caribill]

On 1/18/2023 at 3:58 PM, We_like_to_cruise said:

 After an early disembarkation, we walked through the terminal and were met by law enforcement with dogs who sniffed at our backpacks.  (Hmm, did they think we were smuggling drugs INTO Mexico?). 

 

 

Not looking for drugs. The dogs were sniffing for fruit or other food from the ship.

[caribill]

You will get one cruise credit for each segment of the cruise.

 

At the end of each segment, you will also be credited with the number of days from the segment just completed.

 

When you reach Elite status by cruise credits or days at the end of a segment, be sure to contact the Captain's Circle rep to have your status upgraded to Elite. It may not happen automatically on the ship.

 

Questions from me:

What times are the evening shows in the Princess Theater?

 

If they change during the cruise, please let us know the new times.

 

Thanks

[Denali2003]

Is the Conservatory on the Island a pay place (like the Sanctuary) or is it free?

[chamima]

4 minutes ago, Denali2003 said:

Is the Conservatory on the Island a pay place (like the Sanctuary) or is it free?

 

I can answer that one.

It's just an indoor pool. (One of my favorite things about the Island and the Coral)

They also used to have the ice cream station in there.

[Torfamm]

17 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

I'm following along and appreciate the time it takes to post the updates.

 

Question - where is the Elite lounge gathering in the evenings.

 

With no International Cafe, where does one get some nibbles and chi chi coffee drinks?

 

Thanks

Good Spirits at Sea has coffee drinks and pastries in the morning. There is also a coffee machine at the Casino Bar and in the buffet

 

The Elite Lounge is in Explorers 

[We_like_to_cruise]

7 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Not looking for drugs. The dogs were sniffing for fruit or other food from the ship.

 

My posting was a little tongue-in-cheek.  Thanks for your reply though, that is what we thought.

[We_like_to_cruise]

2 hours ago, Torfamm said:

Good Spirits at Sea has coffee drinks and pastries in the morning. There is also a coffee machine at the Casino Bar and in the buffet

 

The Elite Lounge is in Explorers 

 

Yes, and we can always find something to eat or drink.  Especially with the medallion - the food and drink come to you!

[We_like_to_cruise]

3 hours ago, chamima said:

 

I can answer that one.

It's just an indoor pool. (One of my favorite things about the Island and the Coral)

They also used to have the ice cream station in there.

 

They do have the Swirls ice cream at that location.

[We_like_to_cruise]

7 hours ago, caribill said:

You will get one cruise credit for each segment of the cruise.

 

At the end of each segment, you will also be credited with the number of days from the segment just completed.

 

When you reach Elite status by cruise credits or days at the end of a segment, be sure to contact the Captain's Circle rep to have your status upgraded to Elite. It may not happen automatically on the ship.

 

Questions from me:

What times are the evening shows in the Princess Theater?

 

If they change during the cruise, please let us know the new times.

 

Thanks

 

Thanks for the heads up about status.  As far as the shows, they have been at 7:30 - 8:15 pm and

9:30 - 10:15 pm.  They were the same times during the first segment.

[We_like_to_cruise]

Los Angeles, California

 

So much for sunny California – temps were in the chilly low 50s with cloudy skies so we bundled up.  This was the first time in two weeks that we wore jeans and "Florida winter clothes" so it felt unusual.

 

We were instructed to be onboard by 2:15 pm, so a short time in this embarkation port.  Having previously done the touristy excursion offerings, we thought (despite the weather) it would be nice to get outside and take a long walk.  According to the info provided in our cabin, we would need to disembark and go through Customs and Immigration and could shortly afterward return to the ship.  We were led to believe it was a fairly quick straightforward process.  Negative!

 

We left our cabin a bit before 10 am and once we reached the terminal waited on line over an hour to be processed.  The line moved very slowly.  There was only one line for “In Transit” passengers like us, and much grumbling about how long it was taking.  There was no line for Global Entry.  The poor passengers dragging their luggage who had LA as their final destination faced even longer lines than we did.  Yikes.  As my daughter would say, it was a “ship-show” or something like that.  We were surprised there were no facial scanners or passport scanners at this port.  Isn’t California the home of Silicon Valley???  Each person had to be processed by an official - an arduous task.  Of course Princess has absolutely no control over this. 

 

Once free of the port, we walked along the water and visited the USS Iowa that was adjacent to us.  (I didn’t like how its guns were pointed right at the Island Princess, ha-ha – see my pic).  The LA Fire Dept. fire-boat was interesting. 

 

We passed the Port of Los Angeles High School –  POLAHS – Polar Bears, cute!  The polar bears would have liked the weather today.  Then followed signs to “Historic San Pedro” but either we took a wrong turn or someone was pulling our leg.  What we found were pawn shops, dollar stores, and sadly, people rummaging through the municipal garbage pails.  We did see a pay telephone on one of the streets.  I took a pic and will ask my daughter if she has any idea what it is, lol.

 

Heading back a couple of hours later, we walked into a designated lane for “In Transit” passengers.  Great!  But, then we were instructed to sit and wait inside the terminal as we could not yet board.  No, thank you.  Instead, we turned around and went back outside and read for an hour. By then the sun had come out and it was cool but pleasant outdoors.  At our next attempt to board we were able to walk right into the ship and headed to the restaurant for some lunch.

 

We have a few sea days before Hawaii, so will post more about the ship and shipboard activities soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 20, 2023 by We_like_to_cruise
spacing

[mrstmaxx]

Really enjoying your commentary😀 We are going on the WC next year - not same itinerary but we have enjoyed your experiences so far.  Glad to hear the Island is good.   Looking forward to more!!   One question - we have also booked the Deluxe Balcony so am curious if the balcony is a little bigger or just the room is bigger.   Thank you

[We_like_to_cruise]

Just now, mrstmaxx said:

Really enjoying your commentary😀 We are going on the WC next year - not same itinerary but we have enjoyed your experiences so far.  Glad to hear the Island is good.   Looking forward to more!!   One question - we have also booked the Deluxe Balcony so am curious if the balcony is a little bigger or just the room is bigger.   Thank you

 

The room size seems similar to previous balcony cabins we have had.  But the balcony is definitely bigger - perhaps 10 x 10 (guessing).  Plenty of room for the two chairs, foot rests and table provided.  And it is nice that it partially covered. 

[spingal]

There are facial scanners in San Pedro.  Not sure why they weren’t using them for you?

[Funny farmcruzer]

Thank you for your great live review! We are on island princess in September and really enjoying your report! Enjoy yourself and I’ll be following along!

[We_like_to_cruise]

Here are the officers for WC 2023 on the Island Princess

 

[We_like_to_cruise]

Some samples of MDR dinner offerings.  We never had a problem with portion size.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[We_like_to_cruise]

Here's a few shots from around the ship including indoor and outdoor entertainment, a boat building contest, the traditional Baked Alaska parade in the MDR, the covered pool and more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[We_like_to_cruise]

Not sayin this is an older crowd - but ...

 

the traditional Princess Marriage Match game (modeled after the Newlywed Game) usually has three couples.  The first is a true newlywed couple recently married.  The next is a more mature married couple and the last, well they are the "senior" married couple ready to share their knowledge and wisdom.  And of course a feature of the game is to playfully embarrass them all for the amusement of the audience.

 

When this game was held the other night, the "newlyweds" were married 39 years (!) and the middle couple was married 54 years and the last couple was married 70 (!!!!) years.

 

They were all great sports and we did have fun.

 

 

 

[JoRoy218]

Thoroughly enjoying your pics and log of your WC.  Great details!

[caribill]

9 hours ago, We_like_to_cruise said:

Not sayin this is an older crowd - but ...

 

the traditional Princess Marriage Match game (modeled after the Newlywed Game) usually has three couples.  The first is a true newlywed couple recently married.  The next is a more mature married couple and the last, well they are the "senior" married couple ready to share their knowledge and wisdom.  And of course a feature of the game is to playfully embarrass them all for the amusement of the audience.

 

When this game was held the other night, the "newlyweds" were married 39 years (!) and the middle couple was married 54 years and the last couple was married 70 (!!!!) years.

 

 

 

I was on one Princess cruise when the newlywed couple was quite mature (may have been the oldest of the three couples), but had only been married for less than a week.

 

One of their answers involved joining the mile high club while flying to the embarkation port.

[Oscar13]

We were in the game several years ago.  One of the questions was what is your wife's bra size?  The older couple who were in their mid-late 80s had the best answer.  The husband said "I know there is a letter and a number, so 3B".  The audience just lost it, the wife just blushed.

 

K2

[We_like_to_cruise]

4 hours ago, Oscar13 said:

We were in the game several years ago.  One of the questions was what is your wife's bra size?  The older couple who were in their mid-late 80s had the best answer.  The husband said "I know there is a letter and a number, so 3B".  The audience just lost it, the wife just blushed.

 

K2

 

Yes, all of those typical questions were asked.  Surprisingly for this game the men were pretty accurate.