Island Princess Review
4.0 / 5.0
A Full Suite passenger's experience on the Island Princess
Review for Alaska Cruise on Island Princess
HaveDogWillTravel
2-5 Cruises • Age 60s
Rating by category
Cabin
Value for Money
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Dining
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Additional details
Sail Date: May 2016
Cabin: Vista Suite with Balcony
The cruise to Alaska was outstanding....College Fiord was simply breathtaking. We were fortunate to have sunshine and warmer temperatures (50-65 degrees F for the most part). The ship itself was fine. The cruise was sold out but it did not feel overly crowded.
Full suite passengers get priority boarding. However, the majority of the staff working the port does not seem to know this. Finally someone with a clue got us in the right area but it really started our cruise off poorly having to keep telling people we were not going to wait in that looooooooonnnggg line as we paid mega bucks not to.
The thermal spa was not too crowded and we enjoyed the steam room (unlimited access with your full suite). Unfortunately, the Lotus Spa Pool is NOT adult only and of course parents on vacation can’t be bothered with their children. You would think that parents would know to take their children to the Lido pool and let adults have the spa area as a peaceful retreat free of running, yelling, kicking and splashing. I will not sail the Island after we finish our upcoming Panama cruise for this reason. I feel it is important to have at least some space outside my cabin that is not ruined by parents too lazy to control their children.
Cabin Review
Vista Suite with Balcony
Cabin S6
The cabin was large and well appointed. The bed was very comfortable. There is a sliding door to the side balcony in the living room and another in the bedroom. There is a refrigerator but no wet bar.
To get to the rear balcony you have to walk out to the side balcony and around. This means you have no aft views from inside your cabin. We have booked the suite next A727 for our upcoming Panama trip.
The lounge chairs were old and did not match. One of them was a wooden, broken down piece of junk. The other was the upgraded larger metal one. Given that this cabin is not even 2 years old (it was added in the last dry dock) I find this odd.
There is a table and 2 chairs as well, which was nice for eating meals on the balcony. As the weather was surprisingly good we did this quite often.
The bathroom was extremely nice with a separate room for the toilet and a second sink and vanity. The shower was large enough for 2. The soaking tub did fit both of us but it was more comfortable for one. There were a lot of shelves for storage.
The best part of having the suite was the free NEXT DAY laundry, dry cleaning and pressing service. We sent laundry daily. Make sure you mark NEXT DAY at the top or you will wait many days for your clothes to come back.
The second best perk that comes with your suite is the room service menus that gives you access to the full MDR menus for lunch and dinner. The menus are brought to your room mid morning. You also have a choice of an expanded room service breakfast menu (menu brought the night before -quite nice and the special changes daily-) or going to Sabatini's for a nice cooked to order breakfast with all the champagne you care for.
You are supposed to get daily bottled water in your suite but they did not know anything about that until I showed them the Princess website list of amenities.
Port Reviews
Vancouver
We stayed over the night before and went to the restaurant the spins (sorry forgot the name but there is only one). I would suggest this.
Ketchikan
I stayed on board, hubby got off and said it was just meh. He did say he liked getting off the ship and stretching his legs.
8 Helpful Votes
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