Live from Island Princess New Year's Panama crossing

[Bucky3]

We are following your reports with great interest in preparation for our April 21st cruise. I wouldn't mind spending extra time in Huatulco, but your report makes me rethink our plans for independent excursions in Puerto Quetzal. Thanks for posting. Bucky

[Zouave]

What is the length of your cruise? Three formal nights? Which days?

 

Zouave

[miagirl]

Maureen, Got your email, thanks so much, will be calling him. I love that pick three and thanks for reminding me to look for that coupon in the shore execursion envelope, I had forgotten that. I'll probably get a facial on a sea day too.

 

It's a pity you all have to miss Antigua, safety first though. We do have a big storm bearing down on us (in San Diego), perhaps it's affecting your seas as well. It is sad for the people who depend on the cruise tourist trade.

 

I hope you enjoy your extra day at sea, and again thanks so much!

[mringenoldus]

Bucky - This was totally weather-related. We have sea spray upto our balcony on Deck 10. The cptain said the seas are expected to get rough after 8PM. They have closed off the Promenade Deck. As long as you don't have to pay your private guide in advance you should be fine.

 

Zouave- the first formal night is Day2 and the last is Day 8. We only had 3 due to New Years

[miagirl]

Maureen, Here's another spa related question. The spa is wide open for appointments the day we are going to be going through the canal. I don't really want to miss any of the locks so I was wondering if you could remember a time frame when the ship was just going along the canal. I just want to pop up there for a facial. (I'm only thinking of canal day because our sea days are pretty heavily booked. I was surprised as I haven't had trouble in the past.)

 

thanks, hope you don't mind the rough seas too much.

[mringenoldus]

Mia Girl - I think any time late morning would be fine for your spa appointment. You will be mostly just cruising Gatun Lake at that point.

 

The end of the story.........

Huatulco is an amazing little village. The water is the beautiful aqua of the Caribbean. There is one of many beaches right at the end of the pier. The shops carry fine quality silver and souveniers. The town is quite new and clean. We walked to La Crusecita and say the world's largest mural of Our Lady of Guadalupe. (about 2 miles round trip). There was also river rafting, ziplining, horse riding etc available.

 

I went on the cooking demonstration excursion which is held in a beautiful little eatery. The chef is French but prepares Mexican products in a French style. Very interesting.

 

However, this was one of the two places where Princess let me down. I booked this excursion specifically because it was limited to 12 people - however there were 24. I believe that Princess was trying to make up some of the lost revenue from the port we missed. It was not a big enough locale to accommodate such a large group but the chef was delightful as he attempted to be sure everyone had a chance to see. I went to the excursion desk when I returned, gave my input but never received any reply from the "supervisor" who was to be given my concerns.

 

The other area was the extremely poorly selected cruise director staff. They were boorish to the point of being rude. I have seen many activities staff over the years that far more deserved this position than the group assigned to the Island Princess. A very odd lot!

 

In Acapulco, we were met by Ismeal and Jose (noted on another board). They gave us a great overview of the city and the cliff divers really are something to see. We paid the extra hotel charge to sit at a table with an awesome view. This included two drinks. We paid half of what Princess charged for their short tour and airport transfer. We arrived at the airport right on time but realized that we had left a bag at the cruise terminal - dumb :(

 

Princess really stepped up. The airport greeters radioed the port people and the bag was delivered to the airport about 45 minutes later - disaster averted!

 

Please feel free to send along questions on anything I may have missed. For those of you looking forward to this trip - have a wonderful time!! I only hope you have as nice a group of people in your CC Roll Call as we did in ours!

[Gabrielle R.]

How was the airport at Acapulco? Did you use Princess air? What time out was your flight? Next Dec. we get to Acapulco on a Saturday.... Wondering about the flights out.

Any advice on a don't miss adventure on shore or what not to miss on board?

Thanks for the reports! Gabrielle

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for all the updates. :)

[bandmp]

Thanks so much for all the information on the Island Princess. Do you have any suggestions for a window table for two in anytime dining?:)

[mringenoldus]

Gabrielle - Some of our roll call friends waited in line almost 2 hours to checkin to the ACA - LAX 5:15PM flight. We were on Aeromexico at 4:20PM (Which actually left about 5:45). I know a number of people were on USAir flight at around 4:30PM which stopped in PHX. The airport itself isn't very large.

 

In terms of things not to miss - it's hard to say since everyone has different tastes. However, I would have hated to have missed the Walled City in Cartegena, the zip lining in Costa Rica and the port of Huatulco in general. The people who took the Nicaragua excursion liked it but said it was over 3 hours on the bus.

 

On the ship, we enjoyed the dance shows, the casino (but they need to update the slots) and the people we met playing trivia each afternoon.

 

bandmp - I don't recall there being tables for 2 near the windows. tables for 2 are usually placed in a short row which lets you chat with your neighbor if you wish. The Bordeaux dining room is used for anytime dining. Making a reservation for dinner is a good idea.

[Polar Bear]

Mringenoldus- thank you for the phone number....will be calling him soon.

 

Question ...In Huatulco was anyone swimming at the beach near the pier?

[mringenoldus]

dannish

The beach to the left of the pier looked very lively. There were waverunners and a banana boat ride going in and out. The water was very clear - you could see to the bottom from the pier. They also had a number of very pretty beach bars and a dive shop.

[miagirl]

Thanks again for so much great info! I have been trying JJ for days with no luch, I'll be sure to let you know when I do reach him.

 

Is the Island still on the old menus or have they rolled out the new ones?

[bandmp]

Thank you for the dining info - we will make reservations when we board.:)

[mringenoldus]

Mia girl - you might try this email address for Nanda, JJ's relative:

mafesody@gmail.com

 

If you begin with this sentence JJ will receive your note:

Hola Nanda de los Estados Unidos. Por favor, enviar este mensaje a JJ. Gracias!

 

Then simply follow with your message to JJ in English. Good luck!

 

I'm sorry I can't answer about the menus but they didn't appear very different to me from those in the past.

[miagirl]

Sent my email off to JJ, keeping my fingers crossed. One would think that with a last name of Garcia, I'd be able to at least speak some spanish, but no.

 

I liked the old menus so if they haven't changed, that's fine with me.

 

It really is a pity that the CD and staff were so poor for your trip. We had a great one on the Tahitian last spring - Neil Chandler. I understand he's on the Emerald right now.

 

many thanks for all your posts!

[Polar Bear]

dannish

The beach to the left of the pier looked very lively. There were waverunners and a banana boat ride going in and out. The water was very clear - you could see to the bottom from the pier. They also had a number of very pretty beach bars and a dive shop.

 

 

Thank you for the info...106 days and counting til our Panama Canal vacation:D

[mringenoldus]

I remeber how excited I was when we finally broke the 100 day mark!

 

You must be on pne of the last trips of the season.I wonder how much the weather fluctuates - our warmest and most humid port was Cartegena.

[desertcats]

We've really enjoyed reading about your trip. Thanks for posting.

 

A question -- Have you had to show proof of vaccinations anywhere -- i.e, yellow fever, malaria, etc? Do you need to show your yellow vaccination card to get on the ship?

 

Thanks!

[mringenoldus]

No vaccinations were required. There is no documentation needed. In fact, although I brought bug spray, at this time of year we never even needed it.

[desertcats]

OK, thanks.

Are shorts ok for the shore excursions? Was it ever cool enough that you'd need a sweater or light jacket?

[Wandalust725]

You mentioned in an earlier post that the Cruise Director staff left a bit to be desired. Who was the Cruise Director on your trip? We are boarding the Island Princess on the 26th. I hope we have as much fun as you did.

 

Thanks,

 

Linda

[mringenoldus]

desertcats

We are from Arizona so we're used to warm weather - but I thought this area was quite warm also. We had very nice sunny weather every day except the day we ran into the gale force winds. Then a jacket was needed We would also have needed a jacket if we had made it to Antigua as it's higher in elevation.

 

I always get cold on the ship due to the airconditioning so I wore a light jacket or sweater each evening.

 

Wandalust725

The CD was named Susan. I don't even remember the names of her other two assistants (I just called them the Trivia Dictators) I'll be interested to hear if anyone else sees them as an odd choice for their positions. As I said, they were sacrastic without being humorous. And as shallow as this sounds - they weren't particularly attractive people either. One of the CC members said she probed the crew a bit about them and didn't get any positive replies.

 

I know you will have a ragingly good time. This is an interesting itinerary and a nice mid sized ship. All you need now are people as terrific as were in our group!

[desertcats]

We live in Phoenix, so I know what you mean about being used to warm weather. Thanks for the info. One more question -- how was disembarkation in Acapulco? I'm trying to figure out what time to tell our tour guide to meet us.

Thanks

[mringenoldus]

We live in Mesa...so we are fellow desert rats!

 

I was a bit surprised how strung out the disembarkation times were. We were White 3 and didn't disembark until about 10:40 (this was towards the end of the list.)

 

The good news was that we were very comfortable waiting in the Platinum lounge and there wasn't much luggage left to sort through by the time we got off.

 

They used the new "silent disembarkation" method where a staff member assigned to the area is radioed and relays the information to the passengers. This works just fine.

 

I had told my guide to meet us at around 9:30 as we are typically off by then. The poor man got there early and had waited almost 2 hours by the time we actually disembarked! If I had thought to get his cell phone number in advance, I could have called him that morning and told him our assigned time.

 

If you want an earlier start, you could sign up when you arrive for early disembarkation (but I think you have to take your own luggage).