Relaxing Cruise to Panamá Canal

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.