It was not suited for a princess nor prince.

Island Princess Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 56

Overall rating:

2 out of 5
Verified Review
Island Princess

15 Night Panama Canal - Ocean To Ocean (Los Angeles To Ft. Lauderdale)

Sail date: December 05, 2016

Ship: Island Princess

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: p601

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

First the good:

Rooms, Ship was well maintained and service overall was excellent.

Now the bad:

Food in the buffet was not up to other cruise lines. Same food everyday. Pork was the primary meat ( bad for me since I do not eat pork).  No pasta bar, Omelet bar was poor ( you ordered it and they delivered it to you later). Felt like I was in my old college dorm food line again.

Sit down dinning was excellent except that it was all but impossible to get a place except for the 7:45 sitting which was too late for me to eat ( finished at 9:00pm).

Specialty dinning was available but only for $29. additional each. No included specialty dining. 

Drinks were expensive... Could not sit down for long without someone pushing more booze down your throat everywhere. This was morning till late night.

Less than a half a day was allowed off the ship at many ports. Did not give you enough time to do much.

Library is above the smoking lounge. So guess what Princess ship designers..Smoke rises and it stinks!  Could hardly stay in the Library to read for more than a half hour.

My favorite negative is the area on the boat called "Sanctuary". The top deck was restricted to guest who want to pay $40 each for a half a day to be there. So now you have to pay to sit yourself down on part of the ship you already paid to be in. 

TV Choices: Same exact programs over and over again. How many times can you watch the same "Love Boat" episode. Other Cruise lines had DVD available for the cabins. This was an excellent solution in my opinion.

My wife and I have been on 3 other Cruise lines.  Princess is obviously the last choice in cruise lines for us in the future. I would suggest you consider the same. 

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5
Cafeteria was college dorm level. Same food everyday.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Nice .. excellent service

Ship tip

It's like flying today; I only take "Spirit air" when other carriers are not available. Same with Princess. Last on my list from now on.

Ports of call

San Pedro (Los Angeles), California

5 out of 5

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

5 out of 5

Huatulco, Mexico

5 out of 5

San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua

5 out of 5

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

5 out of 5

Panama Canal Transit

5 out of 5

Cartagena, Colombia

5 out of 5

Oranjestad, Aruba

5 out of 5

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida

5 out of 5
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1 Comment

AuntPinkie    7 years ago

You must have missed the roast beef, the Taco day with good guacamole, the stir fry, and lamb in the buffet.  We enjoyed lunch and breakfast there. Sorry you didn't find the diversity you hoped for.

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