Deciding..Honeymoon on ISLAND PRINCESS

[cmalibu1]

Hi!

 

I need help! We are deciding on a possible honeymoon, and have narrowed it down to two cruises. (With 2 different cruise lines)

 

We have never cruised with Princess before and want to make sure it will match our needs.

 

I am 23, he is 33. We are looking for something romantic, and fun! We want to relax yet be fully entertained and we also want a ship to match that. We would go to the Panama canal and I know some have said its typically an older crowd? I just want to make sure if we decide on princess that it can keep up with our fun loving side. We like to have a good glass of wine (or two?! but who is couting?) and I just want to make sure that this line/ship will match our needs~!

 

Any advice on either this ship (Island Princess) or the lines itself?!

[Go-Bucks!]

Hi!

 

I need help! We are deciding on a possible honeymoon, and have narrowed it down to two cruises. (With 2 different cruise lines)

 

We have never cruised with Princess before and want to make sure it will match our needs.

 

I am 23, he is 33. We are looking for something romantic, and fun! We want to relax yet be fully entertained and we also want a ship to match that. We would go to the Panama canal and I know some have said its typically an older crowd? I just want to make sure if we decide on princess that it can keep up with our fun loving side. We like to have a good glass of wine (or two?! but who is couting?) and I just want to make sure that this line/ship will match our needs~!

 

Any advice on either this ship (Island Princess) or the lines itself?!

 

 

I've gone on Carnival and Princess. Both offered many of the same daytime, sea days activities like bingo, galley and stage tours, port talks, other games, spa, sports, etc. There were also a mix of ages on both lines.

 

But the general atmosphere of Carnival was a bit more upbeat. They had bands playing out by the pool and the waiters would dance around the dining room in a "parade" each evening after dinner and everyone would clap and sing along. Sometimes we would get up and join the parade! I thought it was fun and I'm no spring chicken - but I enjoy having fun.

 

Princess was more sophisticated, but not stuffy or boring. Dinner was like a very nice restaurant at home. No singing waiters, but relaxing and pleasant. I loved the food on both lines, but I'm not a food snob either.

 

If you want a quiet, private, romantic atmosphere then Princess might give you more of that. I thought the entertainment on Carnival was OK, but they had alot of glitzy, Las Vegas-style showgirl shows. They lacked substance. Princess had good shows with more professional singers and dancers and no showgirl type offerings. I didn't attend the late night events on either line.

 

I'm taking a Panama canal cruise on Princess this year and have heard that it tends to be a slightly older crowd because it's 14 days long. The shorter cruises tend to be a younger crowd. My parents went on a 14 day HAL cruise last year and said that most of the pax were in wheelchairs and had oxygen on! Hopefully mine won't be like that! Good luck with your choice. Really, any cruise can be a great cruise - it's what you make of it! :D

[ellenstarr]

My hubby and I went on the Caribbean princess last year for our honeymoon. We did the eastern Caribbean route. I am 26, he is 36. We were looking for a fun (but not kid oriented) cruise with good food and good entertainment. We are foodie types who don't go clubbing or dancing. We loved MUTS! We were very happy with our choice and met many other young couples also honeymooning. I can't say whether the same would be true on a Panama Canal route though. Good luck and congrats! :)

[deviouslr]

hi . I've been on the panama canal with princess twice. my wife was 22 and i was 25 at the time. we Had a great time. people were friendly,the food was great, but the club at night after 11 was empty( with the exception of a few cruise staff). the age of most of the people on board were much older, but we did find two couples near our age(give or take 4 years). during the day there are plenty of activities to participate in, if you want to.at night there are the shows and the casino, but thats true on any ship. i would go with princess only because i like a calmer crowd and a little better everything over carnival. hope this helps.by the congrats .

[cruiserjanet]

There were a lot of weddings on the CB during our two week Caribbean cruise. We saw a lot of people in your age range and a lot of older people as well. The people in your age range seemed to be having a lot of fun and they mixed well with the older people who were having fun too. We did go by MUTS a few times and saw younger people snuggled up, eating popcorn and watching the movie. We have been on the Island Princess twice and, while it doesn't have MUTS, it is a beautiful ship and one that I believe you will still have a wonderful honeymoon on.

[cmalibu1]

Thanks everyone for all your replies. It really does help.

 

Does this ship have MUTS? I wasnt sure I thought maybe the coral did, but didnt know about Island princess.

 

Its quite a decision. The other line we were looking at was royal, but they are so expensive that if we did go with them we couldnt have a suite -which I was hoping for.

 

Sounds like there are quite a mix of age groups? We are young and like to have fun with people of ANY age. (Our best friends are 33 and 37) but they like to have a couple drinks as well..

 

What a choice! Sounds like they are pretty similar. The only other benefit to royal was the last stop for them was in grand cayman (which we have been before, and LOVED) Where this cruise stops in Jamacia, and we havent ever had a good experience in Jamacia. Any advice on that particular port of call?!

 

Thanks again for all your help!~I didnt realize how exciting this would be to plan! (But difficult too!)

[ht_dave]

We've done the Island Princess to Hawaii for our honeymoon and the Caribbean Princess for a 7 day. Except for MUTS, which the Island didn't have, we REALLY preferred the Island Princess. Hawaii was a 15day cruise so it was a large number of retired folks, but there were a few more honeymooners. I thought the ship was just the right size. The retractable roof pool came in handy and the promenade deck had much more walking/lounging space.

[jag27]

We are going on the CB for our honeymoon in about 2 months. I am 32 and FI is 27 and Princess had everything we wanted in a cruise. I have cruised both Princess and Carinval in the past and found that Carnival had too many kids on the ship. Plus, Princess is more sophisiticated. We are not club types, so I like the idea of finding a quite spot for a drinks and MUTS will be more on track for us.

 

Which port are stopping in Jamaica? The ships normally go into Ocho Rios. If that is case, you must go to the Dunn Rivers Falls! Jamaice is beautiful country if you can get past the poverty that you will see.

[Longtonian]

We got married and spent our honeymoon on the Coral Princess (Panama Canal) three years ago, almost exactly to the day - it's our anniversary tomorrow!

 

It was fabulous!

 

Fellow passengers were definitely older than on some of the other few cruises we've been on, but this didn't detract in any way from our enjoyment - if you want "lively" you can normally get it. We sampled most of the cocktail menu (though not all on the same night) and this was great fun.

 

If you want to add to the romance, make sure you get a balcony.

 

Congratulations and good luck

:)

[cmalibu1]

Thats great!

 

I just also stumbled upon the Emerald princess, which may have more amenities for us! The ports of call are different but allI REALLY wanted to do was go to Aruba! So they have a cruise that does that! Not sure what the other stops will be like weather wise that time of year?!

Stops include:

Aruba

Bonaire

Grenada

Dominica

St. Thomas

Princess cays

 

This is compared to the Panama route which would be amazing but I think we may find more to do on the Emerald than Island? I remember last year on our carnival cruise, there were sometimes at night when we were like, ''What should we do now?!" And I thought we used their activities pretty much to the fullest.

 

Are the night clubs empty at night? We would definitely enjoy dancing a few nights, but even on carnival we found some of the clubs to be EMPTY at night?!

 

Thanks again!

[Mintycake]

I sailed on the Coral for my honeymoon (sister ship to Island) to Alaska, which was also pretty devoid of people our age (early 30's). But we loved it. Princess is elegant and refined but not stuffy or snobby. We found it to be the best trip we ever took.

 

Panama canal, like Alaska, will have an older crowd, but don't be shy - we had a great time anyway!

[jrw]

You may not be aware, but the site rules prohibit naming travel agencies (or travel agents).

[cantwaitfornextcruise]

[

Are the night clubs empty at night? We would definitely enjoy dancing a few nights, but even on carnival we found some of the clubs to be EMPTY at night?!

 

Thanks again!

 

On the Feb 24th sailing you could dance with the crew any night in the disco :D like most ships it tended to go to sleep at approx 12.00 - 01.00.

I have been on both and they have the same activities so my advice would be choose your itinerary and ship which suits you, the food will be similar and the activities will be similar on both the only differences will be the size of the ship and unless you are travelling with friends you just never know who else will be on board with you

[Guest arowe6]

We have booked the RT Panama Canal cruise for November 6th on the Island and have no concerns about the age group or activities (We are in our mid 20's). We are going to relax and enjoy the sights. Plus we've already made some nice friends through our roll call which has added to the excitement.

 

Hope this helps & enjoy your cruise.

-Andrew