Island Princess Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Overall, a good cruise.  Particularly pleased with the limited no smoking policy.  Land excursions in ports of call were good. Although Cartagena was way too crowded and hard to enjoy.  Ziplining in Costa Rico with the Original Canopy Tour and guides was so much fun!  Especially enjoyed the ships staff, ie.  LaPatisserie Bar crew, room steward and Horizon Court Diningroom.  Burger, pizza and ice cream bars were a nice touch.   A little disappointed that lobster/steak was only served on "formal" nights.  Hand santitizer as you enter buffet dining is great idea. Entertainment was good but especially excellent were the classical group Rhapsody and island sounds band Opus.  Cuisine was good to excellent.  Nightly "movies under the stars" was a fun way to watch a movie and have popcorn.  Good cabin size and storage but shower was a bit confining.

The cruise was good!  The ship is a nice size, I didn't get lost once!  The crew were very accomodating and helpful.  The food was excellent and of course, the weather was perfect.  One critisism,  I believe there should be more hand sanitizing places, especially outside of the dining rooms and the casino.  There were several people with sore throats ans coughs, I being one of them.

We thought the ship was well maintained although old.  The food was delicious and the service great except for the passenger service desk.  The on-shore excursions from Princess left a great deal to be desired and the prices were too high.  We got a better deal on excursions through our travel agent.  Of the 4 excursions we had only one where the guide was knowledgeable about the area.  That wasan excursion from Greenway in Costa Rica.

I had a great time, This is the 100 yr anniversary of the Panama Canal, and it was amazing. The cruise staff were always so helpful. I loved the movie under the stars (new releases). The shows were top of the line I live in N.Y. and see Broadway shows quite often and this one was almost as good,  the set was the best I've ever see on a cruise

This cruise was a dream come true - always wanted to see the Panama Canal and now can cross it off my Bucket List. I haven't done much cruising so can't compare.  All I know is that everything I read about the ship and the tours that I picked for each port were right on target.  The food was great- I made a point to eat in both Sabatini's and Cafe Bayou.  I was alone and really appreciated the chef spending some time talking with me.  The shows and seminars were entertaining and interesting - I learned a lot about the various ports we stopped at.  My steward was attentive and helpful.  My table mates at Provence for dinners were interesting and our waiter was charming and thoughtful.  I met some very nice people at the bars, the knitting circle, the book club, the pool, and on the tours.  I can't think of anything that I was unhappy with.  I have a 1-1/2" looseleaf that is filled with pictures and information from the trip.  I know that I will be looking through it many, many times.  Incorrect info re my accomodations - had a balconey room on Baja deck. 

  Excellent cruise. We loved the diversity of regions we visited from Aruba to Columbia and Nicargura. The excursions were exceptional with extremely friendly and knowledgable tour guides.  It was a great learning experience and one we are going to repeat in the next few years. The ship and ships personel were exceptional (especially our cabin steward) which is what we are used to with every Princess Cruise.

  Hats off to all the cruise personel and the planning behind all the wonderful excursion options.

This Princess cruise made us feel that we were at a party every night!  There's something for everyone and I personally live the music at the pool, thought the production shows were excellent, and enjoyed dancing to Magnitude every night, especially at the two parties!  Staff was attentive, courteous and friendly,  but not overbearing. The excursions were very organized and interesting.  I loved the Zumba and line dancing lessons every day at sea. This is not a boring cruise!

this is a cruise that should be on everyone's bucket list.  the panama canal is clearly one of the top engineering feats in the world and so see it first hand is something that everyone should consider doing.  and do a full transit, as after seeing a partial transit by another cruise line, i don't feel you can get a true sense of the magnitude of of this project.  and then to see the new canal being built next to the original, almost is beyond words.

Very good treatment, food and cabins but at the third day no AC in my room creating a very high blood presion  and lack of air create in me bad feelings, went to the doctor in the ship and check me with EKG and some blood test and little by little went down but six or seven days of the cruise was a terrible experience, the ship needs repairs in the AC and also the cold water lines, taking a shower was imposible to mix the cold water with hot, allways was very hot. At arrival I went to a Hospital for a total check and spend almost two days there. My brother was in the same ship two years early and was good but as per a mantanance man the AC and the cold water pipes need repairs and the ship should be out to a dry dock fot this.

I had been in other lines for more than 10 times as this was the worst experience of all. A large amount of deviations from that .

The AC was repair in the next day and my request for a differente cabin even paying more was denied.

Oscar E Santana  12601 SW 13 St #308 Pembroke Pines Florida  33027

Phone 9543998119

I was talking and make comments with a friend which is a lawyer and tell me to write you what I did yestarday to Customer Services.

Good points. Wonderful view leaving Vancouver and all the way to sunset near Victoria.  Equally awesome view coming in under the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco.  Our stateroom steward was very friendly and helpful.  Room service personnel were prompt and polite. The day at sea was nice, though very breezy,  and enjoyed a plunge in the Lotus Spa heated and covered pool.  Found some good bargains at a small sale for ladies clothing and a couple goodies for the grand children.  Not so good:  rock hard beds.  Had tried to request a kind, but got two twins.  Tiny bathroom. Horizon court food was mostly dreadful, too salty and just not appealing. Food at the 'any time dining' facility was also not so good,   Limited choices and no options, difficult to get reservation before 7:45pm, which is very late to have an evening meal for us, hard to get a table for 2, and all things combined kinda ruined the evening. There was a storm at sea the first night and the ship rocked quite a bit. Was fun in the pool the nest day, not so much fun almost falling out of bed that night. I would try this particular cruise again, just probably not on this ship.  Very dissapointed as previous Princess Cruises were just wonderful.

This was a great short cruise.  The whole crew was very nice and accommodating.

The ship was very nice, just the right size ship for this short cruise.

This was our first cruise. We will definitely take a cruise again. The princess staff was consistently excellent and pleasant. I found the food to be pretty good but I would not go as far to call it excellent. I am ( probably) younger and more health conscience than their average customer so I am probably not the first type of consumer they are trying to please. I would like to see more variety in what they offer for food and better ice cream. The salad bar could use a few more options and their coffee could be a bit stronger. Overall the food was good and fresh. A Vegan would not be very pleased but they also would not starve to death on this cruise. Their fitness center was nice but quiet full during peak hours. I think the itinerary for this cruise was excellent! Several people who we met spend several days before the start of the cruise in anchorage and the area around Fairbanks. If I could do it over I would have done that too. My six year old daughter also had a great time and did not say "I'm bored" once. She really enjoyed the kids club activities and did not want to leave when we would come to pick her up. It seems like anyone from 1 to 90 could really enjoy this trip. I am so glad we went. The beauty of Alaska this cruise showed us is beyond words.

Very well organized. The food in the dining room wasn't as good as previously experienced. Too much sauces on the items. Needs coffee in the rooms. I would highly recommend this cruise.

I was never so pleasantly pleased with my cruise on the Island Princess. The service was great, my accomodations were exceptional. The entire staff was helpful and courteous. How gracious to be addressed as "Madam" at every turn. Being a bit concerned about disembarking, I found it so well planned that any concerns I had were useless. I enjoyed the ports we visiited and especially the Panama Canal. I should have been better informed prior to sailing about the excursions and I would have selected some different choices. Altogether a wonderful experience and I look forward to a repeat in the future.

Very well managed ship. The average age of passenger is probably more than 50 with some being in 70s. The crew was very helpful to one and all and made the cruise a memorable for us. Panama Canal was an engineering marvel and it was a really thrilling experience. If you are going to use bunk bed, ask the steward to align it properly.

One of our "bucket list" trips was to visit the Panama Canal, and Princess Cruises gave us some wonderful memories of the canal - and a lot more! The "at sea" days had many options for activities, including pure relaxation. The many stops were filled with fun and informative excursions. We went from Aruba to Cartagena to the Panama Canal to Costa Rica to Grand Cayman, and saw engineering marvels, beautiful rain forests, colorful animal life, and cheerful, helpful people. There were only two minor complaints. The bathroom showers were so small, that we had to step out of them when we dropped the soap, and the "grab handle" is set so that you can't avoid backing or bumping into it. The second concern is the setup for drinks up in the Horizon dining area. Ice is located around a counter away from ice tea, which is in the same bank with coffee and hot water. Guests must line up and "compete" with serving staff to access the machines, plus there is no water or ice available outside near the pool. Otherwise, the Island Princess is a beautiful and very well-maintained ship with an extremely helpful, responsive, and cheerful staff.

the cruise to Panama Canal on Island Princess was excellent. The staff was very cheerful and helpful; the tour organization was unbelievable. there was no waiting in long lines in the hot sun. Even the muster drill for lifeboats was well done and at the comfort and convenience of the passengers. The food was very good,both in the dining rooms and in the buffet. All in all, we had a great time, met some wonderful people among fellow cruisers. Highly recommend it.

very enjoyable except the average age was very high (70's). It would have been nice to know that before I booked. The ship was very quiet after 9pm. It would have been much more fun to have a younger group who stayed up past 9pm and danced or did Karaoke. Also the pool deck was very boring, only a couple of activities in 10 days and the band only played for a short time each afternoon. The rest of the time they had video of nature or wildlife with spa type relaxation music. That was way to sedate and boring for my taste.

While we stopped in many places, Costa Rica and the Panama Canal were the highlights of this cruise. Aruba was not necessary, given we only were there for a half day. I would rather have fewer stops and more time in each one to get a better experience onshore. The Island Princess was a pleasant ship and not too large. This was our third cruise with Princess and probably will do more.

Our problem was with the food .We have an allergy to shell fish and we don't eat seafood. At dinner we ask if we could have steak because the selection that was on the menu was mostly fish and I told them that we don't eat fish. We were told that we could have steak at a later time. Which when we were on other cruise ships we could get steak if we wanted it instead of what was on the menu. So it really didn't matter if we complained or not. So we stopped going to the dining room and ate very little on the buffet. Will not recommend to people.