JessaColada Cruise Review on Island Princess on Oct 11, 2018

Item: Island Princess
Rating: 3
Author: JessaColada

Island Princess Cruise Review

JessaColada

Contributor Level: Deck Hand

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 5

Overall rating:

3 out of 5

Sail date: October 11, 2018

Ship: Island Princess

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

Let me preface this by saying; We were cruising! A fun time regardless! We were fortunate to take such a nice vacation. Now, on with the nitty gritty; I wish we would have researched this ship more before booking. Believe the reviews when they say it's crowded. With the 2015 dry dock refurb, they added more cabins, took away a multi-use room, and did not account for the hundreds of added passengers. Finding a seat during peak times in the Horizon Court was near impossible. Tables were very close together, and the traffic pattern to exit was cramped. Traditional dining in the Province felt claustrophobic. Our dear waitstaff were always smiling and courteous, though you could tell they were overworked by the number of guests they had to serve. The crew brought out extra fold-out chairs to accommodate guests in the Explorers Lounge for their popular Marriage Match game. There are only two full sized pools on this crowded ship. Finding two deck chairs was a challenge. The first day, many areas of the ship smelled of sewage. Most of the problem odor was eradicated, but for the duration of the 10 day cruise, deck 5 aft and starboard still carried this putrid scent. I felt sorry for those in mobility scooters because in many areas of the ship you were required to open some very heavy doors (I struggled with the doors, and I'm in my 30's and healthy.) I don't know how they managed to get around. The layout of the ship was awkward. You cannot enjoy a book quietly in the library if the library is a high traffic walkthrough. The promenade does not go all the way around the ship. The gym and children's areas were tucked into the aft interior, lending no sweeping sea views. The spa was a high traffic walkthrough which offered no pool, unlike many ships in the Princess fleet. What saved our cruise were the staff. They were amazing, and just what you would expect from the Princess line. We especially loved our room stewart and our waitstaff at dinner. All were attentive and friendly.

8 Comments

Gwbigdog 2 years ago

Oops

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cruisereckoning 3 years ago

Thanks for the review

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flynnc25 6 years ago

And also agree that dining service could be a little slow at times but that particular day was the worst.

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flynnc25 6 years ago

Agree with you on the sewage like smell on Deck 5. We walked through the starboard side on different days to get to the atrium and noticed it each time. I wouldn’t have been happy either if we had been in that corridor.

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floridagirl3 6 years ago

Agreed. Will not be sailing Island again. Balcony cabin very small with a ridiculously cramped shower. We could look down onto two levels of open balconies below us, felt like I was invading privacy. Our wait staff was not as accommodating as yours, they were fairly scarce. Ship did feel crowded most of the time. We’ll stick to RCCL and trying Viking Ocean next year.

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timmysf 6 years ago

Thank you for the very long and informative post. I'm going on the Island Princess in a couple of weeks for a 15-day Cruise. Your experience lets me know what I'm in for. I just hope it's not as bad as what you say because I will be very disappointed.

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Londonuk 6 years ago

The perils of a big ship I think

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CeeceeNB 6 years ago

I agree with most of your review. We were on deck 5 for the cruise and that smell was quite overwhelming the first day. Thankfully it didn't "seep" into our cabin. But it just wasn't one day. It was lingering for most of the cruise and more on about three more days. Dining was okay. We only had about one visit to the dining room where the experience was awful. it was the day they had the Jamaican Jerk Chicken on the menu and apparently they were overwhelmed with the amount of people who wanted the chicken even after the day after the trip to Falmouth, Jamaica. We were with two other people who both ordered the chicken on that day and yet we had to wait for almost an hour to get our meals. Our waiter apologized and then the head waiter came to talk to us and apologize for the chef who said that they would do something for that we never did see anything. All in all a great cruise but some things were disappointing.

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