Island Princess Review
Rating by category
Additional details
This trip from Venice to Barcelona was a birthday gift for my daughter. I have been on many cruises with my husband but this was a girls only trip. I was hoping for an excellent experience for her as it was her first cruise. Unfortunately the problems we encountered turned what should have been a totally relaxing, worry-free trip into a bit of a nightmare for the first half of the trip.
As the ship had just come out of dry dock the brand new carpets in L715 reeked of formaldehyde and we had to leave our balcony doors wide open day & night so we could breathe. The TV was new and the remote didn't work. The steward told us there wasn't a replacement remote onboard so we had no TV until 3 days into the cruise when a new remote magically appeared in our room.
The Gym wasn't open until a couple of days into the cruise as it wasn't completely restored from having been in dry dock I assumed.
Cabin Review
When we initially booked our cabin I believe it was on Deck 9 somewhere but we were "upgraded" by Princess to Cabin L715 (Lido Deck 14). This cabin was almost the last one at the back of the ship. The problem was that the entire cabin vibrated so much from the engine, whether idling or sailing, that it made us ill. We couldn't read, sleep or relax in our room due to the vibration. Finally, after 6 days (of a 12 day cruise) another room became available & the Manager of Passenger Services, Ina, had us moved to D410 which was a mini-suite & perfectly calm & just wonderful. We were compensated for the problem and the rest of the trip was great. I will always choose my own room from now on & make sure it is amidship. I don't know what, if anything, they can do about the extreme vibration in that room but my suggestion would be to NEVER put passengers in it!