Island Princess, never again

[Guest ldtr]

We have sailed on every currently active Princess ships (except Sky and Enchanted) and many of the retired one. The Coral Princess is one of our favorite ships. For years, since the major changes, we have avoided the Island. 

 

Because Princess schedules the Island for some unique itineraries, we finally booked a cruise (search for Northern Lights on the island). 5 days into this cruise I have come to the conclusion never again. While the lack of an Internation Cafe or any other separate coffee area is a negative (the integration of the coffee into the bar areas makes it chaotic at best). The real problem is that the conversion of the rear lounge means that any seats on 5, 6, 7 is extremely difficult to find. In over 50 cruises on Princess ships I have never been on one where you could walk all of the venues on all 3 decks and not find an available spot to sit pretty much all day. 

 

Compared to the Coral which still has the rear lounge, the impact of the change is tremendous. At this point I do not care how good of an itinerary that the Island sails, they could not pay me to set foot on that ship once this cruise ends.

 

The entertainment, food and service is all very good, but all of that is wasted on a shipruined by an  Ill conceived replacement of the rear lounge by extra cabins.

Edited October 8, 2023 by ldtr

[PacnGoNow]

9 minutes ago, ldtr said:

We have sailed on every currently active Princess ships (except Sky and Enchanted) and many of the retired one. The Coral Princess is one of our favorite ships. For years, since the major changes, we have avoided the Island. 

 

Because Princess schedules the Island for some unique itineraries, we finally booked a cruise (search for Northern Lights on the island). 5 days into this cruise I have come to the conclusion never again. While the lack of an Internation Cafe or any other separate coffee area is a negative (the integration of the coffee into the bar areas makes it chaotic at best). The real problem is that the conversion of the rear lounge means that any seats on 5, 6, 7 is extremely difficult to find. In over 50 cruises on Princess ships I have never been on one where you could walk all of the venues on all 3 decks and not find an available spot to sit pretty much all day. 

 

Compared to the Coral which still has the rear lounge, the impact of the change is tremendous. At this point I do not care how good of an itinerary that the Island sails, they could not pay me to set foot on that ship once this cruise ends.

 

The entertainment, food and service is all very good, but all of that is wasted on a shipruined by an  Ill conceived replacement of the rear lounge by extra cabins.

Sorry to hear that.  Do they still

have a coffee bar at Amuleto in the Horizon Court?

 

I can’t imagine doing a WC and it being so crowded.  I would retreat to my cabin a lot, I guess.

 

They could remove the Library and put in a small IC on 8.  Not sure how big of an area it is, as far as seating, though.

 

Coral IC was wedged just

off the casino. Small, but workable.

 

Hope your cruise goes better.

 

 

[Guest ldtr]

Just now, PacnGoNow said:

Sorry to hear that.  Do they still

have a coffee bar at Amuleto in the Horizon Court?

 

I can’t imagine doing a WC and it being so crowded.  I would retreat to my cabin a lot, I guess.

 

They could remove the Library and put in a small IC on 8.  Not sure how big of an area it is, as far as seating, though.

 

Coral IC was wedged just

off the casino. Small, but workable.

 

Hope your cruise goes better.

 

 

Yes they do. They also have coffee at the casino bar as well as the good times bar. In all 3 location it is rather chaotic, except for early in the morning.

 

I had the same thought. To replace the library and half of the internet Cafe. However the game tables  in the Library are used as well as the 4 large chairs. Would not solve the major issue related to seating on 5,6, 7. Too many activities and people in too few venues. I must admit to being shocked at the difference between the Coral and the island when it come to how open the Coral felt and how  crowded the island feels.  Since seating is so limited the tendency seems to be to grab seats and camp in them for long periods of time.

[PacnGoNow]

7 minutes ago, ldtr said:

Yes they do. They also have coffee at the casino bar as well as the good times bar. In all 3 location it is rather chaotic, except for early in the morning.

 

I had the same thought. To replace the library and half of the internet Cafe. However the game tables  in the Library are used as well as the 4 large chairs. Would not solve the major issue related to seating on 5,6, 7. Too many activities and people in too few venues. I must admit to being shocked at the difference between the Coral and the island when it come to how open the Coral felt and how  crowded the island feels.  Since seating is so limited the tendency seems to be to grab seats and camp in them for long periods of time.

Oh no! Chair hogs. Unreal.  

On some ships, they offer tables in one of the MDR’s for daytime card games.  That really helps.

 

I’m sure you will convey your thoughts to the right people.  
 

Hope your cruise goes better. 

[Steelers36]

We have had more days on Island than any other ship due to a 60 nighter around South America and then another 14 last Nov in the Med.  Next most used ship for us has been Regal.

 

So, I do feel like I have done my time on Island and would prefer another ship, but wouldn't go to the extreme as to not go on a great itinerary.  Never had much problem finding a place to play during sea days nor doing what we wanted in the evening... which isn't much after dinner.

 

As for the Universe lounge aft, I will say that Princess CD's ... or at least some of them... don't use the Vista lounges anymore.  We were on Regal for B3B last October and only time in there was for CC Elite reception with Captain.  We don't play bingo.  Maybe a comedian had a show there once in 25 nights, but basically almost zero scheduled events and sits there unused other than receptions.

[Guest ldtr]

Just now, PacnGoNow said:

Oh no! Chair hogs. Unreal.  

On some ships, they offer tables in one of the MDR’s for daytime card games.  That really helps.

 

I’m sure you will convey your thoughts to the right people.  
 

Hope your cruise goes better. 

The difference unlike when the term is normally used. they are actually sitting in them.  

 

 

[Guest ldtr]

Just now, Steelers36 said:

We have had more days on Island than any other ship due to a 60 nighter around South America and then another 14 last Nov in the Med.  Next most used ship for us has been Regal.

 

So, I do feel like I have done my time on Island and would prefer another ship, but wouldn't go to the extreme as to not go on a great itinerary.  Never had much problem finding a place to play during sea days nor doing what we wanted in the evening... which isn't much after dinner.

 

As for the Universe lounge aft, I will say that Princess CD's ... or at least some of them... don't use the Vista lounges anymore.  We were on Regal for B3B last October and only time in there was for CC Elite reception with Captain.  We don't play bingo.  Maybe a comedian had a show there once in 25 nights, but basically almost zero scheduled events and sits there unused other than receptions.

Have seen Vista used quite a bit. Bingo, Zumba and other dance classes, Trivia on some ships, Elite lounge, captains circle events, etc. Especially on Royal class where Princess live has replaced Explorers.

 

Even when nothing is scheduled there it is open as another place to spread out.

[PacnGoNow]

28 minutes ago, ldtr said:

The difference unlike when the term is normally used. they are actually sitting in them.  

 

 

Okay sitting chair hogs!  🥴

[BamaVol]

Is there a shortage of seating for events?  I don’t spend time sitting unless there’s something to watch but I don’t like the idea of ships being remodeled to add cabins at the loss of public areas.  We all know what happens when airlines add seats to aircraft. We fly for hours with our chins resting on our knees.

[Guest ldtr]

10 minutes ago, BamaVol said:

Is there a shortage of seating for events?  I don’t spend time sitting unless there’s something to watch but I don’t like the idea of ships being remodeled to add cabins at the loss of public areas.  We all know what happens when airlines add seats to aircraft. We fly for hours with our chins resting on our knees.

In the central area there are generally no open seats at good time bar on 5, or crooners on 7. After 9 am.  The Island pre dates the open piazza of the grand class. Though there is some entertainment there.

 

 There is a large Wheel House bar, but is is used for many activities (all dance activities, sales promotions, trivia, etc) with a shortage of seats

 

There is Explorers on 6 but that has been full when I have checked.

 

So I would have to answer yes. Activities over flow, but most of all lack of seating available to just sit, order drinks and relax in the core or the ship.

Edited October 8, 2023 by ldtr

[Rick&Jeannie]

I guess I have a rather low "satisfaction bar" when it comes to the Island.  Have only cruised one time on the "Oktoberfest" Capitals of Europe last year.  Either it simply was not as crowded as your experience or we just lucked out in the activities we were doing.  Don't recall there being much of an issue in seating.  We enjoyed the ship.

[Paula_MacFan]

We just disembarked from the Island 10/4.  We had no problems finding seating in any lounge during our 12 night cruise.   We attended a comedian/magician and live music several evenings in Crooners, the Wheelhouse, and Explorers.  

[KKB]

15 minutes ago, Paula_MacFan said:

We just disembarked from the Island 10/4.  We had no problems finding seating in any lounge during our 12 night cruise.   We attended a comedian/magician and live music several evenings in Crooners, the Wheelhouse, and Explorers.  

GLAD to hear, @Paula_MacFan!

I am glad we got our upgrade to a Mini suite window on an apparently nearly full ship.

At least our friends could hang in the room to play card if need be.

We love trivia & game shows--do you know how early we should plan to be in a lounge for these?

[ExploringTheGlobe]

I was on the Island last year and did not enjoy the ship.  The only thing I liked about it was the large library.

[Nebr.cruiser]

The Island is probably our least favorite Princess ship, partly because their is no International Cafe.  It also just seems crowded.  We'd only sail her again if it was a spectacular itinerary and price.

[Paula_MacFan]

39 minutes ago, KKB said:

GLAD to hear, @Paula_MacFan!

I am glad we got our upgrade to a Mini suite window on an apparently nearly full ship.

At least our friends could hang in the room to play card if need be.

We love trivia & game shows--do you know how early we should plan to be in a lounge for these?

We also had a mini suite and it was wonderful on a longer cruise.  Having that extra space with the full sized couch and extra TV was nice just to relax.  We had a mini on the Caribe deck which has the larger fully covered balconies too, which we used quite a bit.

 

Sorry I can't help with trivia and game shows -- we didn't participate in those.  We primarily like the live music events, of which there were many each night and we really enjoyed these!

 

I can say that most events are scheduled in 45 minute blocks, whether it's production shows, comedians, live music, etc.  So every 45 minutes the venues turn over and we didn't have any problems finding seating.  Even in Crooners which is pretty small, we always found a spot to sit.  For evening music that was scheduled for more than 45 minutes, the entertainers still took breaks about those same times, so people tended to turn over then too.  

[Potstech]

2 hours ago, ldtr said:

In the central area there are generally no open seats at good time bar on 5, or crooners on 7. After 9 am.  The Island pre dates the open piazza of the grand class. Though there is some entertainment there.

 

 There is a large Wheel House bar, but is is used for many activities (all dance activities, sales promotions, trivia, etc) with a shortage of seats

 

There is Explorers on 6 but that has been full when I have checked.

 

So I would have to answer yes. Activities over flow, but most of all lack of seating available to just sit, order drinks and relax in the core or the ship.

In other words be a chair hog also.

[sultan_sfo]

We liked the Island.  Our problem on ships that have the IC is that the Atrium has always been full with  the Atrium chair hoggers! There is no where to sit.

[tserface]

You are right about sitting.  Especially on the Norway cruise where people are mostly inside.  We found that if you want to play trivia you literally had to go 2 hours early because the chairs were all reserved.  Groups sent one or two people to hold a lot of chairs for their group and they just played cards or some other game for a couple of hours.  We are not diehard enough trivia buffs to go to all that trouble.

 

We also missed IC and found getting specialty coffee to be a drag.  We got it mostly in the buffet area and that worked pretty well.

 

We loved playing Bingo with Fortuna Luck and we could always find a seat there.  They should switch the venues for Bingo and Trivia to make more room for Trivia.

 

Still, we loved the Northern Lights cruise and, in spite of a few gotchas, we had a great cruise.  We found Alfredo’s pizza for lunch in Sabatini’s and that was great!  Also, the crew was over the top amazing.  We ended up doing some pick up trivia games in the elevator hallways on the screens and had up to 20 people at one point.  So much fun.

[MissP22]

After they chopped up the Island we vowed never to return. 

[Torfamm]

9 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

So, I do feel like I have done my time on Island and would prefer another ship, but wouldn't go to the extreme as to not go on a great itinerary.  Never had much problem finding a place to play during sea days nor doing what we wanted in the evening... which isn't much after dinner.

 

I'm with you.  I don't love the Island, especially the fact that the fitness center feels like a dungeon, but I wouldn't hesitate to sail on it for the right itinerary. We were on it for a leg of the world cruise last winter and had no problems at all.

[SargassoPirate]

18 hours ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

The Island is probably our least favorite Princess ship, partly because their is no International Cafe.  It also just seems crowded.  We'd only sail her again if it was a spectacular itinerary and price.

After several world cruises were cancelled by the pandemic, I ended up booking a WC on the Island.  Great itinerary for me, a nice mix of port and sea days, and by watching for price drops, I've been able to save 10K from my initial booking.

 

I can usually find a workaround for whatever "genius" ideas Princess comes up with - such as increasing the passenger capacity by reducing public spaces.  

 

[Guest ldtr]

8 hours ago, Torfamm said:

I'm with you.  I don't love the Island, especially the fact that the fitness center feels like a dungeon, but I wouldn't hesitate to sail on it for the right itinerary. We were on it for a leg of the world cruise last winter and had no problems at all.

Before this cruise I thought how bad could it really be. Especially since we really like the Coral.

 

There is not an itinerary on the Island that I cannot not find alternative ways to do it on other lines. Reason I was able to avoid it for all of these years. Only did it this year because we canceled a Hurtigruten trip in Feb and the timing lined up in between a Greek island small ship cruise, and a P&O cruise immediately after.

[Yaya_in_Oz]

The Island is OK. I wish it did have an IC. I've just spent a month on it and I chose it because it was a smaller ship. There were 2100 on board and I'm certainly glad there wasn't an extra 1000 people getting on the tenders in Greenland and other places. 

The buffet was always full at lunchtime on seadays so I just grabbed a bite and ate on my balcony. If it was chilly, I had a blanket, so a bit of adventure in the North Atlantic. No problems in the theatre. I don't do trivia and bingo.

I chose the Island for itinerary and being a smaller ship and I'd go on it again. There are other ships I like better but its just a means of transportation to me to visit ports I want to go to.

[SargassoPirate]

5 hours ago, Yaya_in_Oz said:

The Island is OK. I wish it did have an IC. I've just spent a month on it and I chose it because it was a smaller ship. There were 2100 on board and I'm certainly glad there wasn't an extra 1000 people getting on the tenders in Greenland and other places. 

The buffet was always full at lunchtime on seadays so I just grabbed a bite and ate on my balcony. If it was chilly, I had a blanket, so a bit of adventure in the North Atlantic. No problems in the theatre. I don't do trivia and bingo.

I chose the Island for itinerary and being a smaller ship and I'd go on it again. There are other ships I like better but its just a means of transportation to me to visit ports I want to go to.

I followed a 2023 world cruise thread here on CC and the poster had nothing but good to say about the Island, especially the crew.  I agree with your comment about a means of transportation - in fact I always look at a ship as a hotel where I can unpack once and the hotel moves me to places I want to see.  Also, treating the crew with respect as human beings can enhance one's enjoyment at sea.

 

Even a so so day at sea is always better than a good day at the office.