This was our first time on Princess Cruise Lines after multiple cruises on Norwegian, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, but primarily Holland America.

In February we took the Island Princess on a fifteen day Panama Canal cruise from Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale. I am going to make this review as short as possible because the primary point I want to make is the Island Princess is grossly over crowded. The ship was in dry dock last year and the company added approximately 121 new staterooms. Unfortunately I did not learn this until I was on board and began talking with previous Island Princess guests.

I have never been on a ship that was as over crowded with passengers as this ship was. As one reviewer said the ship has “ subway intensity crowds “ and that is the best way to describe how bad they were. Sea days are particularly crowded, you must get in line thirty minutes before a show to insure you get a seat, the Horizon Court is always crowded at regular meal times, and the public areas are packed with people and few seating options any where on the ship other than the outside decks. Read more