Island Princess Review

4.0 / 5.0
1,228 reviews

A Tad Better Than Norwegian but That's Not a Compliment

Review for the Panama Canal & Central America Cruise on Island Princess
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mdaccess
10+ Cruises • Age 70s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Nov 2018
Cabin: Balcony

Why we chose this Cruise: We selected this journey because we wanted to go through the Panama Canal during the winter time to avoid the cold weather. Our travel agent recommended the Island Princess to facilitate our vacation. The trip started out terrific. The flight to Ft Lauderdale, the transportation from the airport to the Hilton, and transportation from Hilton to the ship for boarding was seamless and pleasing.

We are Experienced Travelers: We consider ourselves experienced travelers, thus our review is based on our experiences we've had on other cruise lines as a comparison.

Signs of Obsolescent: The Island Princess was built in 2003 and reportedly was refurbished in 2017. Its early December, 2018, and the Island Princess looks and acts very old and tired. Floors squeaked a lot, doors were difficult to open, and some of the furniture appeared to look like its ready for a second hand store or as if it just came from one. The last days of Holland-America's original Westerdam (a cruise we took many years ago) at least managed to have furnishings that was quite serviceable and not old or tired. Unfortunately, the Island Princess will continue to be used as a cruise ship until the public gets so tired of old at NEW Prices.

Cabin Review

Balcony

We paid extra for a balcony upgrade that was unusable due to heat and humidity. The balcony was usable only 3-4 days of trip. Save your money for a balcony in panama. Too cold to use from Cabo San Lucas north. The shower was so small that if you had a heart attack and started to fall, you wouldn’t be able too. Try using a bar of soap and scrubbing in difficult places. It could be described as the size of a tanning tube.The table in the room was very tiny and the furniture was in dire need of replacement.

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