Island Princess Review

4.0 / 5.0
1,228 reviews

Panama Canal 10 days Feb 2013

Review for the Panama Canal & Central America Cruise on Island Princess
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guambird
6-10 Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Feb 2013

We just returned from our 10 day cruise aboard the Island Princess. Below is my overall review:

1. Pre-cruise: We flew to Fort Lauderdale 4 days early and stayed at the Universal Palms in Fort Lauderdale. We arrived at about 2am and I was honestly hesitant to check in. The hotel lobby was very well maintained and the front desk attendant was quite helpful however the outside of the hotel was concerning. The room was clean for the most part however the bedding was like sleeping on cardboard. The shower was something to behold! There was no tub or any way to contain the water to the shower area. It just drained onto the bathroom floor down a small ramp that they fabricated to make the room wheelchair accessible (we did not ask for this accommodation and did not need it). There was mold around the baseboard however that was likely due to the shower arrangement. I would not recommend this hotel. We toured Everglades Holiday Park (where the Gator Boys are) and took pictures with the crew and then took an air boat tour and saw lots of alligators. This was a great experience. The next day we drove to Everglades National Park and saw even more alligators. This was very interesting to us as the people in the park were much more interested in the birds rather than the alligators. It seemed like they thought of seeing alligators as I think of seeing deer or squirrels at home! Both of these are must sees for people who don't live in the area. The remainder of the time we spent touring around Miami, Palm Beach and a drive though safari/zoo (Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee).

2. Embarkation day: We returned our rental car to Hertz at the Fort Lauderdale airport around 11am and the staff there was nice enough to drive us to the cruise terminal. The terminal is only a few miles away and on the return trip we took a taxi that only cost about 12 dollars. I appreciated the ride to the terminal though. We arrived about 11:30 and entered the terminal to find that there was almost no line. We checked in and were asked to wait for about an hour or so until the ship was ready. We boarded about 12:30 in groups of about 50. Embarkation went smoothly. The ship itself seemed a little worn as compared to the other 9 cruises we have been on. That being said, it was clean and there were no obvious issues or significant concerns with the ship itself on first impressions. The crew was always great! We were allowed right to our cabin (A-307) which was also clean and well appointed and comfortable.

Cabin Review

4. We were allowed right to our cabin (A-307) which was also clean and well appointed and comfortable. Although it is right under the pool deck, there was very rarely any noise from deck, but occasionally there was scraping from the chairs. We were also very close to the elevator but this posed no problem and was even helpful. The cabin had no cold water to speak of. The "cold" water was about 80 or more degrees all of the time which was a new experience for brushing my teeth. There seemed to be some issues with the air conditioning. It was never really cool and at times it was even too warm even though the AC was set on the lowest setting (this seemed to be a problem for the whole ship). Besides these few issues, it was a great cabin. You would not go wrong in this one!

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