Island Princess Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Our land and cruise tour thru Princess on the Island Princess was excellent. Alaska is breath taking. The snow on top of the Mountains and the tree, never saw so many trees lush and green. The tour directors for the cruise were all very knowlagble and pointed out sites and explained everything. Princesses staff was also terrific and our room steward was also great.

Nice ship. Better than expected dining experience except for the the specialty restaurant - Sabatini - very mediocre. I will not recommend this restaurant to my friends. It is perhaps marginally better than the dining room food.

Service overall was excellent but I did not like the constant "selling"/sales pitch. 

Recommend a high end sushi restaurant on the ship - a healthy option - I would have been happy to pay the extra.

The gym was too small and no view unlike the other ships I've been on - dissapointing.

My wife and I had an incredible experience on our Alaska cruise. The service the staff of  Princess Cruise was exceptional and polite. The shows was very good and entertaining. The excursion was well organized and very exciting. The food was very good, but speciality restaurant was not as good as expected. The ship was very clean . We would definitely take this trip again. Overall, we truly enjoyed our cruising experience. Anyone looking to take a cruise to Alaska will truly enjoyed this cruise and incredible experience. 

The cruise portion of the trip was wonderful.  However, the land tour was not.

We had a lot of problems with the excursions that were solely the fault of Princess. We were unable to find anyone that would help solve the excursion problem.  The accommodations at the Denali  & Mt McKinley lodge were poor.,    The rooms needs immediate refurbishing.  Beds had old bedspreads & blankets & the carpeting was spotted.  If I had seen the room first I never would have stayed.  Bathroom was clean, but again old.  Sink area very small no  place to put toiletries.    

We are not fond of cruising, but we have no complaints about the Island Princess with 2200 passengers.  It was redecorated May 2015 and was very well kept and clean. The food was fantastic- such variety with an abundance of fruit, veggies, meats, fresh breads and desserts to gain 6 pounds on!  The crew of 900 were attentive and friendly.

We were up close to only one glacier, which calved into the sea...Margery Glacier was very beautiful.  We took the train and bus combo through Frontier Tours in Skagway, which we would highly recommend. 

We were not satisfied with the 10 day land cruise package. 

The tours provided little interest and for sure lacked of any wildlife.  The scenery at times is nice but doesn't take your breath away.  Accommodations are simple but adequate prices are high. 

The balcony cabin on the Island Princess was ample and had good storage. Service was adequate but not at the level we have seen in other cruises.  Nothing particularly impressive with the food at the buffet or the restaurant.  The specialty restaurant Sabattine was worth the extra charge. 

We got the impression that when the ship was designed they forgot about a casino and a gym. The casino is the size of a mid size living room and the gym is indoors with no windows looking out.   Not what you expect in a modern ocean linner 

The one outstanding portion was the shows. In particular On The Bayou very well done.  

No hot water in the shower. 

Old linens. 

Develp terrible allergy and wanted to charge me for a doctor because they only have medical services 4 hrs a day. Had to call my family doctor to prescribe me, the allergy was pretty bad.

The entire ship smells like cigar. People smoke insidr the Churchill room that in in the center of the ship, so cigar smokes goes/smell travels through ship ventilation, library which was next to my room smells so bad, pure cigar. Gave me a headache the entire trip.

This is a great way to see Alaska.  We had a room with a balcony and I recommend this because you can sit in your room and look at the beautiful country on the days you are not in port.  They have a naturalist on board that discussed the points of interest as you pass by which added to the beauty of the land to know the history.  They broadcast his talks over the loud speaker and on the in-room TV.  The Island Princess is a nice ship with all the usual cruise ship amenities;  the exception to this is the entertainment was exceptional. Both the stage shows and the groups in the lounges were much better that other ships that I have been on.  This was our third trip to Alaska so we so we only took 2 excursions, but from our experience and talking to the people that we met the excursions offered by Princess are exceptional.  Dinner is always good but some nights the choices were not as robust as other cruises that I have taken.

My favorite part of the cruise was the fact the cruise ship could actually get very close to the glaciers. This made for great photo ops.  The tour guide was very informative about the entire area.  

The least part I liked was the entertainment.  It really needs to be better.  It's the worse entertainment of all the other cruise ships I have been on (5). Also, while trying to navigate my way around the casino with a walker became very frustrating as stools were blocking your way to go down the aisles. This led to my saying forget it and leaving because I could not get past people sitting at machines.  Beverage service in casino was slow. Most of the time the servers were at the bar talking to each other and not roaming the floor.  All I wanted was a bottle of water and it took 15 to 20 minutes before I could flag down a server.

Please put better signage out by all elevators - some of us are a little visually impaired with cataracts and the gold backing which is pretty and the black letters were just too small for us to see from a short distance, you had to walk up to the wall and read carefully to see what deck you should be going to.  Letters need to be larger. Better signage should also be in the cabin hallways, hanging up directing you to aft, starboard, elevators (under the exit signs) would be most helpful.  

All in all the trip was good.

Over all the trip was good. Except for the following

Princess Lodge in Fairbanks dinning room was not up to my standards either in food or service.

Princess Denali was beautiful, upon returning from tour we had 1 hr to find something to eat. Impossible not enough places to get food and they were all slammed.

As for the ship. Very clean and nice. Showers were the smallest I have ever seen.

The entertainment was poor. Only the first comedian and the last show were worth going to.

The food was not good. As was expressed by more than one other person not in our group. Selection in buffet was poor. And dinning room selection was so, so.

Asked for drawn butter and was told only on lobster night. We had a hard time getting seating for our group. We never really understood their system. First we were told no then another gentleman steeped in and told them to seat us a certain table. Perhaps they were just an untrained crew. While they were pleasant we fould the waiters on Royal Caribbean heads above them. Never been on ship where some sort of food was not available 24hrs.

We enjoyed all the excursions . The sea plane, riverboat in Fairbanks, the White Pass train ride were our favorites. Really not sure I would recommend Princess would tell them to look at other options.

This cruise is worth it for the views.  Alaska is breathtaking and the inside passage was the best choice.  Island Princess is a beautiful ship.  While other reviews complained about the addition of passengers after the dry dock, but our group did not notice any overcrowding.  In fact, I've sailed on much larger ships and felt very overcrowded.  The staff went out of their way to provide great service.  I did have a couple of issues with food safety and handling, but once the issues were brought to the attention of the staff, they were addressed immediately.

We had a terrific time on this cruise. Alaska was absolutely breathtaking and the Southbound/Northbound one-way trip allows you to see more places in less time. 

We booked an outer cabin with window, choosing to forego the balcony to spend more on top notch excursions. And they certainly were! While we certainly wouldn't have turned down a balcony, to enjoy the spectacular views from our own rooms even better, it was completely unnecessary. We noticed the balconies were often empty and the top decks were full, but still provided plenty of room to comfortably watch the glaciers and experiences the views and wildlife. 

Our favorite part of the cruise was the spending the day in the adults-only Sanctuary while in Glacier Bay National Park. An affordable price for reserved, spacious private seating and lounge, with blankets to keep you warm and meals and drinks served by your side all day long. We couldn't have felt more special and taken care of, and the other ~25 people who bought day passes were all wonderful to get to know, too. Be sure to visit the Sanctuary immediately upon boarding as the best seats and days will be quickly taken.

Our favorite excursion was the Heli, Hike & Rail combo in Skagway, AK. The company leading this expedition was top notch: professional, friendly, and informative. From the dock a quick shuttle bus drops your small group (we had 4 of us + guides) to the helicopter base. After your briefings you'll fly above the glaciers and mountain tops for 15 minutes before landing in the Tongass National Forest for a 4-5 mile round-trip hike along the raging Skagway River to a viewpoint of the Laughton glacier.

Recommendations on improvements to the cruise ship include that the buffet food could have been more interesting, and offered better options, or even changing options. Instead we found it lacking. Additionally, the nightly entertainment seemed to be missing any main performance. Maybe they hadn't yet finished rehearsals, as we were the first of the season, but the only entertainment seemed to be comedians, sales pitches, and bar/lounge singers.  Would have been great to have seen bigger and better performances.

We were lucky to have incredible weather at our three Alaska port visits. Blue skies and warm allowed us to enjoy our excursions and shopping without foul-weather gear. The smaller ship size (2000 passengers) allows for a more personal experience without long lines and crowding. Being an Alaskan cruise it is colder, so layong by the pool in your Speedo is very questionable.  The food was fantastic and we had fun in the casino. The only downside would be the constant selling of photos, drinks and other items. You wamt to relax, but the push was exhausting. Offer one free shipboard photo and move on. Otherwise, we had a great time on the Island Princess and then we continued onto the 5-day land tour to Denali and Fairbanks. 

had a wonderful time visiting cruise ports and especially enjoyed the Panama Canal crossing. Not to be missed. The ships was spotless, food great, and service impeccable. Excursions were seamless, however the Nicaragua port was missed because of unsafe conditions for tenders. That was the only disappointing event.

Great cruise - they booked us an unbelievable cabin - location wise.  All arrangements were handled very professionally.  Island Princess was a good ship - very clean, good food and a lot of opportunities to make new friends.  Couldn't ask for a better experience.  We took advantage of the shore excursion

Upgraded from window to balcony then given 120 cruise dollars which allowed us to reserve two loungers on the top deck rear of the ship (called the sanctuary) all day while passing through the panama canal with food and drink service. Many other niceties also.

Another experience can be checked off my bucket list. What an amazing adventure. The ports of call were enlightening. The history of each country as told by our guides added another dimension to the culture of their countries.  Beauty every where, even in the poorest of areas. We enjoyed the excursions even though some were in the heat and humidity. I didn't think the transit through the Panama canal would be something that would be able to keep my attention for long. Let me say I couldn't stay inside for long. It is truly an awesome engineering feat. Every need was met or exceeded starting with our travel agent, Brian Dick, with , to all the staff on board our ship. I can't speak highly enough of this trip. If you take this cruise you will never regret it.

Princess misses the mark on this cruise!  They are only in Aruba for a few hours and in Nicaragua for an entire day.  Cartegena's Hop On Hop Off was the best bang for the buck but it was really hot and the bus is not air conditioned.  The canal was great and Chris Roberts, cruise port expert, was excellent as he talked us through the entire canal.  I wish we had had another port in the Caribbean and not so many sea days on the Pacific side.

The Island Princess having just been refurbished was an excellent ship for this trip, the size, condition and food was perfect.  We were quite disappointed in Aruba, what all the hype about this place is a mystery to us.  The remainder of the stops were all good.  Cabo is just a mirror image of Cancun, been there done that!.

The Canal trip took 9 hours and onboard commentator did an excellent job of explaining the facts.  Highly Recommend

All experience was pretty good. The ship personnel was very friendly, made you feel welcomed and cared. Everything was very clean: your cabin, decks, elevators, kitchen. Entertainment was not the first class, but looks like they tried to do their best: comedians, musicians all were funny and talented. It was good to find ping pong tables, pickle ball tennis and mini golf there.  The food was OK. I just do not know why they name the dishes in French manner, so it was difficult to understand what kind of product was it made of. Unfortunately at the end of second week many people get sick from some flu virus. My husband was among them. I do not think that this  was the cruise fault. But may be the medical had to warn people to be more careful, that there is some infection goes around...