Panama Canal

Island Princess Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 24
Helpful Votes: 452

Overall rating:

4 out of 5
Island Princess

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

Sail date: January 04, 2017

Ship: Island Princess

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: B210

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

Overall it was a nice cruise.  This was our first on Princess.  Although I thought Princess was nice, I like RC better.  Much older crowd on Princess.  Could be due to this being a 15 day cruise.  Ports were ok, Canal was awesome.  We had a Junior Suite and it was very nice.  Large Tub with Shower is a must.  Service in Dinning Room and Horizon Buffet was lacking.  Dinner's were stretched out for 2.5 hours and trying to get someone to give you a drink or silverware in buffet was always a problem.  Some days they ran out of clean dishes which caused long back ups.  Bar service was very good, especially around the pools.  I liked the free ship WIFI that allowed you to message anyone aboard and provided a schedule of activities as well as ship board expenses right on your phone.  On board activities were somewhat lacking and this could be because of the age group.  Lots of wheel chairs which caused long lines on excursions.  No offense, but they really need to separate the excursions into two groups, those that have mobility and those that do not. 

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5
Food was about average in both Dinning Room and Buffet. Silverware should be self service, instead staff walked around and gave you silverware as you sat down. Sometimes you had to wait for silverware as your food got cold. Not very efficient use of staff.

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5
Not many activities, I think mainly because of the age group.

Entertainment

3 out of 5
Didn't see any shows due to slow dinning service and 9:45 show was too late

Children's Programs

Only about 3 kids on ship and they looked bored

Service and Staff

1 out of 5
Poor service, staff looked down at floor and went about their duties as if robots.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
Very well kept up for an old ship.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Nice cabin, very roomy with nice closet and bathroom.

Ports of call

San Pedro (Los Angeles), California

3 out of 5

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

1 out of 5

Huatulco, Mexico

5 out of 5

San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua

1 out of 5

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

3 out of 5

Panama Canal Transit

5 out of 5

Cartagena, Colombia

1 out of 5

Oranjestad, Aruba

3 out of 5

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida

5 out of 5
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