We took the 10 day Panama Canal partial transit on the Island Princess from December 20-30, 2012. This was our 15th cruise overall but first on Princess. Overall we were extremely happy with all aspects of the cruise, with only a few areas where we see an opportunity for improvement. Here is a summary of our impressions:

Embarkation: We arrived at the port at 1:30. After dropping our bags with the porter we proceeded to check in. There was a small line that moved very quickly and the whole process took less than 15 minutes before we were on board and could go directly to our cabin. Having the cruise cards already prepared and then taking our photo for security as we stepped aboard clearly expedited the process.

Cabin: We had a standard balcony cabin mid-ships on deck 11. It was quite roomy and we were particularly impressed with the amount of storage available. Between the bedroom and the bathroom was an alcove with a floor to ceiling cabinet and a full length closet rod with lots of hangars for our clothes. The bedroom had two night stands with 2 drawers each and a desk with an additional 4 drawers. The shower was typically small but adequate. The balcony was roomy enough for both of us to sit and stretch out our feet. Read more