Departure hour was delayed because a Norovirus outbreak in the last cruise. They had to clean the ship. Delayed was just a few hours and did not impact schedule at all. During the first days we had special cleaning instructions how to behave. No problems at all during our cruise.
Pick up at Miami airport was on time and excellent. Friendly crew were at the meeting point with a Princess Signed. My wife and I were the only ones on a big bus ride.
The cruise is for older passengers. Baby Boomers and above, so entertainment is focused to this demography.
Island Princess is a good ship. Built specially for Panama Canal, so it is “smaller”. It lacks some of the amenities of other Princess ships, like Tapas bar, Panini stand at the main galleria. We tend to miss these two for a midafternoon cup of wine or fast lunch. Another thing is that Princess built more staterooms to accommodate more passengers but did not increase size of restaurants. During peak hours, there are long lines at the Horizon and Anytime Dinner. Expect crowds during these hours.
We had the specialty restaurants: Sabatini’s and Bayou Café. Sabatini’s is an excellent option. Nice food and service. Bayou lacks personality and at the end you don’t know what type of restaurant is, either steak? southern? etc. Did not like it very much,
Crew is very friendly and helpful. We felt very pampered. Kudos for Island Princess crew, the best so far we have encountered.
We took most of the Princess tours. All went well. All port of calls were excellent. Cartagena, beautiful city. Yes, you will find street vendors all over the City Tour, but they are friendly. Try to engage with them and you will learn one or two new things. Panama Canal was superb. Really an experience. Go outside for photos and fun. In Costa Rica we went to the Rain Forest tour. It was a 2:30 hours drive from port to the place. It is near San José. It is a long and slow ride on a winding jungle highway. In Jamaica we went to Dunn River falls. Lots of fun and the guides were happy and helpful climbing the falls. Don’t forget water shoes!!
In summary, we were pampered for our anniversary celebration at Island Princess at Panamá Canal.
Nice Cabin at the back of the ship. Nice View and big enough with a real bath tube!! You have to walk to get to the restaurants, but did not matter.
Nice place. You can relax, drink and eat everything. Kind of expensive
View All 84 Beach ReviewsHelpful guide. Beautiful city. You walk a lot and is very hot. At the end, you have free time to walk, buy coffee or jewls. Very friendly people.
View All 367 City Tour ReviewsExcellent tour. The best. You drive to Panama City where walk old city, shopping. Time for shopping and be at your own in downtown old city. Bring comfortable shoes.
View All 24 City Tour ReviewsExcellent tour. The best. You drive to Panama City where walk old city, shopping. Time for shopping and be at your own in downtown old city. Bring comfortable shoes
View All 39 Panama City ReviewsClimbing and walking. Beautiful scenarios and you get wet.
View All 287 Dunn's River Falls ReviewsLong (2:30) drive from Port to natural reserve. You pass through pineapple and bananas plantation. In the names is: It will rain. You walk a lot in the forest, have lunch and then get on the tram. You will see the different forest vegetation. Recommendable but be prepared for the long drive and few bathroom facilities
View All 34 Rainforest Aerial Tram Tour Reviews