Island Princess Review
4.0 / 5.0
operabob1
10+ Cruises • Age 70s
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Sail Date: Feb 2016
Cabin: Balcony
It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. (Apologies to Charles Dickens).
Before nattering on about the evils the trip note that overall I enjoyed myself.
Not Princess's fault specifically but it set things up. We (6) flew from Victoria, BC to LAX the day before (luckily!) with a connection in San Francisco. We had a layover of 1 hour and 40 minutes. For some reason US Customs requires us to pick up our baggage first before clearing customs in San Fran. Canadian customs just vets your baggage and sends it on to the final destination. Why can't the Americans who are normally so good at moving people figure this out? We spend 25 minutes waiting for baggage only to then spend 1 hour 55 in line with 500 passengers and "2" agents vetting them. Obviously we missed our flight and had to wait 4 hours for the next one. This is disgraceful and Star Alliance should be raising absolute hell with Homeland Security over this!!!!! I contrast this with our return through Toronto, no bag pick up, several Air buses arriving at the same time, a couple thousand passengers, so many they have to shut off the escalators to keep people from crushing each other, BUT!!! at least 20 Canadian Customs Agents, AND, a dedicated line for people making connections with 4 agents. Through in 40 minutes!
Cabin Review
Balcony
Cabin B1
Other than the flood!!!!!!!!!!!!
Port Reviews
Los Angeles
It's a port. What more do you need?
Puntarenas (Puerto Caldera)
Vastly over priced with 70% of time on a bus and 100% of time sitting (see review). We saw 3 one foot crocs and maybe a macaw high up in the trees. However, I think it's just a dummy to please the tourists. We also saw a cockroach that hitched a ride on our boat., That was the highlight.
Fuerte Amador (Balboa)
Took the hop on hop off. They failed to tell us it arrives around 10:20 at the terminal and every 45 minutes after. We waited over an hour for it. Don't buy your ticket on board ($44). It's $29 online but the people working the bus were only charging $25. I guess it was too hard to make change. The brochure on the bus said $29. It's a 2 hour round trip but probably better to cab it to the first stop (Old Town). Second stop would be downtown. Those 60 story buildings look impressive until you get up close and start seeing all the cracks in the foundations. The trip up to the locks is a waste of time. You're going through them anyway. It's $15 US for the visitors centre but you can get a "Restaurant Only Ticket" for free but the restaurant charges $44. Coming back down we managed to get past the ticket takers out on the the outdoor main floor patio where there was a reasonably priced snack bar.
Aruba
Aruba is when you've spent a month out hiking in the woods and you finally decide to spend a night in a motel. Very modern and more expensive. Been there before and was disappointed to see the artisan market has been replaced by a new building. Only the cheap tourist cr@p left but the vendors don't hassle you. Turn right and walk over the bridge and there's a good beach cafe $4 a beer (still cheaper than the boat though).
Puerto Quetzal (Antigua)
Should have hired a local guide otherwise you feel like your in a maze as narrow sidewalks beside walls built right up to the edges. Avoid the central square for the non stop vendors.
Cartagena (Colombia)
This was the best of all. Down to the fort ($5 for a street vendor T-Shirt) then into old town. Found a great little corner cafe where the locals were all having lunch. $10 total for a snack lunch and beers for 6 people! Really!!!
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