Island Princess Review

4.0 / 5.0
1,228 reviews

A good cruise on a good ship (with a few warts)

Review for the Panama Canal & Central America Cruise on Island Princess
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Vaughn
First Time Cruiser • Age 70s

Rating by category

Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Entertainment
Fitness & Recreation
Service
Cabin

Additional details

Sail Date: Dec 2008
Cabin: Balcony

EMBARKATION: Near perfect. We followed the cruise lines advise and arrived after the main rush. Friendly porters were waiting at the street to take our luggage, 20 minutes later we were checked in and walking aboard the ship. Our initial experience aboard the ship was only marred by the jammed central elevators. Had there been someone there to direct folks to also use the fore and aft elevators, this jam could have been greatly minimized.

CABIN/STEWARD: We were very happy with both our stateroom and our steward. Our room was plenty large enough for the two of us, and our balcony exceeded our expectations, being big enough to easily accommodate 4 chairs and a small table. We had plenty of storage room. The bathroom and particularly the shower were somewhat cramped, but functional. Our steward had been with the Princess line for ten years, and was perfect.

DINING: We were initially disappointed to find that we had been frozen out of the main dining room, and were instead assigned to "anytime" dining. We soon found that to be a blessing. The secret was to call the "dine line" early every day and make reservations for a shared table in the "anytime" dining room. We avoided the lines and ended up with the same experience as the folks with assigned tables, but we always got our choice of eating times and we always got to sit with a new mix of companions and meet new people. Meals were a leisurely affair. Supper took an average of 90 minutes. Portions were modest in size, but I found the several courses with the pleasant conversation between to be very satisfying. Service was occasionally uneven, but generally very good. We ended up ignoring the upstairs buffet and eating all three meals in that dining room. After two weeks of this pampering, we were very pleased to find that the damage to our waistlines was very minimal.

Cabin Review

Balcony

Good sized balcony but with a somewhat restricted view fore and aft. The balcony tended to be very hot in the afternoons. a higher stateroom would have had more shade. The shower was tiny. Good storage.

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