Everyone is different but this cruise was perfect for me.
Island Princess Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America
10 Night Panama Canal Partial Transit (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)
Sail date: January 04, 2016
Ship: Island Princess
Cabin type: Oceanview
Cabin number: E 315
Traveled as: Singles/Friends
Reviewed: 8 years ago
Review summary
I go on cruises to RELAX! I have been on many cruises and this was one of my favorites. Prior to sailing customer service agents were easily accessible by phone and were helpful. Great embarkation and disembarkation with no pressure to hurry up with the bags the night before and able to make last minute changes without a problem. I am not a big fan of formal nights (I get tired of dressing up for dinner) so only two on a ten night cruise was much appreciated. This is not to say the food was not always great. It was!!! Big lobster tails! Caviar sushi on the buffet one day! My favorite dessert, Creme Brulee was offered every night. Crispy American bacon at breakfast! Excellent Fettucine Alfredo as a nightly standard. The guaranteed rate that we paid resulted in three adjacent midship exterior cabins. I will do guaranteed rates again!! The officers were English as were many of the passengers. Announcements were in English. The mandatory passenger drill was simple, not a ridiculously conducted exercise as some are. The ship lay-out was convenient. Trivia, which we love, was 2X daily or more. The shore excursion desk was so helpful and did not simply push excursions. All crew was extremely polite (unlike a number of crew and officers on the last Holland America cruise that we took which was the final of five with them.) The coffee bar card and two locations made my lattes cheap and close by. Free water! Yay! (Come on, MSC. Take a water cue from Costa.) I have NO complaints. I will brag to others about my first Princess cruise which I hope will be the first of many.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
Do not like the choice of open seating OR assigned time seating. Does not work. Offer one or the other. Nobody should be unexpectedly surprised with no assigned seating time. The one and only night that we had open seating was awful. Yes, it works on Norwegian because they only do that.
Ports of call
Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida
Panama Canal (Cruise Into Canal)