Great Experience to transit the canal!

Island Princess Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 60

Overall rating:

4.1 out of 5
Verified Review
Island Princess

15 Night Panama Canal - Ocean To Ocean Westbound (Ft. Lauderdale To San Francisco)

Sail date: November 20, 2018

Ship: Island Princess

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: D717

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

Overall I really enjoyed the cruise, the ship & staff. The staff ensued you had what you wanted and were always checking in. The canal transit was amazing & the ship did some really nice things to enhance the experience. Would recommend.

Embarkation

5 out of 5
From the cab to onboard the ship in under 15 minutes.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5
Main dining rooms were excellent. Staff was amazing. Specialty restaurants are a bust, wanted to leave & just go back to my main dining room had I not already missed my time slot. Not worth the extra cash.

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5
The entertainers they had were great, the 'shows' were awful in my opinion.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5
Ship is showing its age. There was the smell of mold/must in the atrium area on deck 8 at all times and in all other public areas of the ship at times, it just kind of moved around and we couldn't be in the area without coughing. I asked several ship staff & officers, surely they could smell it - it would make your eyes water. But they all seemed to act like they never heard this complaint nor could they smell it. Something is wrong here.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
Room was comfortable, stateroom attendant was very good & kept the room nice. However the room is showing its age. The curtains are disgusting and stained - there are holes in the blackout portion so if you have them closed during the day you just see dozens of small holes letting in light. Bathroom also showed its age with rust, mildew stains around the shower that couldn't be scrubbed off. Lastly the shower curtains are awful - with the vent setup & shower running you are always fighting the shower curtains.

Ports of call

Cartagena, Colombia

4 out of 5
The history was great & nice to see. The hop on/off bus tour was nice. The walking tour was difficult with the headsets failing a lot, ended up abandoning this part.

Panama Canal Transit

5 out of 5

Fuerte Amador, Panama

4 out of 5

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

4 out of 5

San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua

5 out of 5

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

3 out of 5
Avoid "Agave" bar/restaurant just off the ship. Poor food/drinks service keeps dropping things off you didn't order. They tried to stick us with a tab with South Beach Miami prices!

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
Taken around 10 cruises to date, by far the most organized.
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3 Comments

Gwbigdog    2 years ago

tinjes2003    6 years ago

We were just on that ship cruising westbound from Ft Lauderdale. We noticed the smell too, but only on the most humid days.

catlady68    6 years ago

Good to hear. We’re doing that cruise but not until March 2020. Counting the days!

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