Island Princess Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The ship left port 11 hours late due to maintenance, because of late departure Juneau was cut from itinerary. I do not think we were fairly compensated for loss of the opportunity to visit Juneau. The cruise was sold as an Alaskan Sampler , but we spent very little time in Alaska , seems a little misleading. I don’t plan on using Princess in the future.

We had been planning this cruise for a year and the excursions we planned on taking were extremely important to us. We felt this was a once in a lifetime vacation. The cruise would have been fine if we had been able to do what we had planned. This has colored our impression of the cruise line and the handling of this incident.

We were beyond disappointed with our Island Princess cruise experience. We booked an Alaska Sampler vacation for our honeymoon which sailed out of Vancouver. We were supposed to visit two ports – Juneau and Ketchican. Even before we left, the cruise ship was experiencing mechanical difficulties associated with the speed it could travel. This resulted in a 10 hour delay before sailing. We were then told that the ship wouldn’t be able to sail to Juneau – the one port most of us were looking forward to (e.g. whale watching, glaciers). Instead of asking customers if they wanted a refund, they diverted us to Prince Rupert, BC which means our Alaskan cruise only had 1 port in Alaska and two in BC! To top it off, they were not able to provide many excursions in Prince Rupert, which meant most of us were forced to spend the day walking around aimlessly – the nearest attraction being the local Walmart. The “compensation” all of us received was a $100 credit and 15% towards a future vacation (as if we would sail with this company again). Beware! The sign of a good company is not how they treat you when things are going well – it’s how they handle difficult situations such as the one we experienced. While we will certainly cruise again, we will NEVER AGAIN give our business to Princess (or their parent company Carnival Cruises).

I have previously sailed on Royal Caribbean and Carnival multiple times and was excited what Princess would bring to the table. Overall, I was really disappointed and wouldn’t choose to cruise with Princess in the future. The ship itself was very rundown and just didn’t seem to have the same sparkle and care as other ships I’ve been on. The one large perk was the bed - it was the most comfortable cruise bed I’ve had. The room was also quite spacious and had good storage, but lacked outlets and had a small bathroom (even by cruise standards). The food was abysmal - I don’t expect much from cruise food but this was truly bottom tier. A lot of it was inedible. The upgraded food was delicious, but everything else was awful. The staff were just fine. It definitely lacked the connection I’ve seen on other cruises, where I’ve come to love the waitstaff, bartenders, steward, and other crew by the end of the journey. The pressure to sell was ridiculous, everywhere we turned we were being pushed to buy upgraded drinks and extras. I have never experienced this on another cruise line. My cruise ended up experiencing mechanical issues and canceling the main port (Juneau). While we were devastated, we understood this was out of anyone’s control. However, the compensation was laughable - $100 onboard credit and 15% refund to use toward a future cruise. No thank you!

WARNING #islandprincess 5 day cruise to Alaska from Vancouver is a BIG disappointment!!! This cruise attracted me mainly because it will stop in Juneau Alaska . Because my father, who is 95 years old first time goes on the cruise and hopes to visit Mendenhall Glacier. However, the ship delayed sailing until to next day early in the morning and claims there propulsion system problems..., and then say because of delayed departure, will changing port destinations, will not sail to port Juneau, Alaska. The secondary port, Ketchikan, became the primary port and they added a filler port, Prince Rupert, BC. to fill the time gap. This cruise is clearly a bait and switch cruise. The captain had adequate time to take us to Juneau and could have skipped Prince Rupert if that was really necessary or maybe even skip Ketchikan. And the other passengers onboard are extremely upset that don’t get an opportunity to see glaciers. I heard one passenger say ‘this is a cruise to nowhere.’ They also announced the itinerary change will gave us a $100 onboard credit and a announced a ‘50%’ future credit, but when they printed it on paper it was actually only ‘15%’. The captain cheated the guests!!! Princess Cruises should be ashamed of this bait and switch tactic and should have taken us directly to Juneau, even if we need to take water shuttles to dock! We could have skipped Ketchikan and Prince Rupert! We are long time fans/customers of Princess Cruises but feel they should be giving Full Refunds for using outdated broken down ships!

Worst Alaskan cruise ever. Didn’t visit the main port of Juneau, which was where we had planned excursions. They added an additional port in Canada. You can say we were on a Canada cruise and that wasn’t what I chose. Very disappointed won’t sail Princess again.

Worse vacation experience ever! We will never cruise again after the nightmare 5 day trip to Alaska on the Island Princess we just returned from. Our 5 day cruise was suppose to include two stops; Juneau and Ketchikan. We sailed on a broken ship, the stop in Juneau was cancelled, the staff was rude and surly, the food was inedible, the gym was abysmal, and the “activities” on board were sales pitches to spend more money; the experience was miserable. The Broken Ship and Cancelled Juneau stop: We received a message from our travel agent the day before the ship was to set sail informing us Princess had just issued mandatory preassigned times they were requiring passengers to board the ship the next day. Our assigned time was several hours sooner than we had planned as we had plans to sight see in Vancouver that morning. So, we hustled down to the ship for our assigned boarding time. When it was finally time to leave port several hours later the captain announces that some propeller was broken and they were fixing it and we would leave late. (So, it is beyond me what the hurry to rush everyone onto the boat was for!) Through out the evening we continued to just sit there not moving while the captain would come on the load speaker and promise we would be leaving “soon.” At 2:00 the next day we finally left. At this point we have been held captive on essentially a floating hotel for over 12 hours! The following day, after we were already moving, the captain announces the boat was not fixed and they will not be sailing into Juneau. Instead they will “try” to find an alternative port. Great, we are not going to Juneau, the capital of Alaska, I won’t be hiking any glaciers (there are not any trips to see glaciers in the other port) and my husband will not be going on the Alaskan salmon fishing trip he had booked (there was no such salmon fishing trip in the other port). Glaciers and fishing for salmon in the capital of Alaska are the reasons we took this trip, now none of it was going to happen and we would be stuck on this broken-down ship for the next 5 days. If they would have told us this when we were still in Vancouver, we could have gotten off the boat and made our own arrangements to fly to Juneau! Oh, they did go to an alternative port to replace Juneau: Prince Rupert, Canada. Canada, not Alaska. In addition, Prince Rupert had nothing there, and was not equipped to have a boat full of 2000 people dropped off on it unexpectedly. I asked at the visitor center if they even get cruise ships that make stops in their little island and was told they do not. When we finally did make it to our stop in Ketchikan, we were not allowed off until the afternoon. So, we only got to spend half the day there. The Staff and Food: Staff all over the ship looked miserable and if you smiled at them, they just stared blankly back at you. The dining room staff was slow and disorganized. The first night we ate there my husband and I could not even eat the food they served it was so bland. It also had been sitting waiting to be served so long, gravy had formed a disgusting skin on top of it. Another time we went in and only ordered dessert and hot tea. We sat there for 30 minutes without any hot tea. We gave up and left without it. How hard is it to hand someone hot water? We tried the buffet hoping it would be better. The food was poorly labeled for allergies and vegetarian choices were lacking, none existent, or only consisted of raw veggies and wilted rotting lettuce. After the rotten lettuce experience, I went into the dining room to eat a salad and then asked if I could have an extra salad to take back to my room and put in my fridge and was told “no.” Why not?? I can bring the rotted lettuce from the buffet back to my room, what is so hard or egregious to you that I take a salad from the dining room back??? Another time I ordered a pizza and it was handed to me whole and uncut. I asked if they would please cut it into slices for me and was told, “There is a fork and knife behind you.” The guy was literally standing in front of 3 pizza cutters, but would not slice the pizza he just handed me. The Gym and Activities: I hope you don’t like to run or walk in fresh air while on this ship because a walking/running track does not exist, they don’t have one. Instead they have a small, stuffy, windowless room, in the bottom of the boat with a few treadmills facing the wall, really. We had seen photos of treadmills facing out to the ocean in the Oasis spa online, when I asked about those treadmills, I was told they moved them all down to the windowless room. Wonderful, who doesn’t love to run on a treadmill with their face 3 feet away from a blank wall. Don’t like the sound of the walking/running situation on the treadmills, well then try spinning. They offered spinning classes; only 3 times and for a fee. The rest of the time the spinning bikes were chained together and stored in an aerobics room they used for other “pay to play” classes or used for sales pitches disguised as “events.” (“Learn how to have better posture” for example, is really a pitch to buy orthotics). So, unless you care to pay for a class and go during one of the only three, 45 minutes they held a spinning class, you are not allowed to use the spinning bikes. Once you finished exercising in their stagnant dungeon there was really nothing else to keep you busy. Other “activities” throughout the ship were set up similarly; you had to pay a fee to participate or the “learning” and “event” experience was just a sales pitch. On our Island Princess cruise to Alaska missed half of the ports it should have sailed to, the ship was broken, the food was bad, the staff was rude, and the onboard activities were really just sales pitches. To make matters worse, Princess gave each person a $100 ship credit and 15% off a future cruise for compensation. Are you kidding me?! First of all, $100 won’t even cover the gratuity they add automatically to your bill at the end of the cruise and we just missed half the ports this cruise should have gone to! Second, if they think I would ever voluntarily sign up to pay even one dollar for another 5 days of hell trapped on one of their boats they are insane!

Good food, nice cabin. We had many services issues. They always want you to buy something. We had an onboard credit issue that is still not resolved after the cruise. Their favorite answer....there is nothing we can do😠

We were with 12 people and 11 got sick. My husband is still sick. The last night my salmon dinner was under cooked and we felt rushed at dinner. The other people we were with who got salmon also was under cooked. The scenery was the best part of the whole trip. All in all I am glad we went.

Our group was made up of cousins. We had fun visiting, eating, gambling, dancing, singing old songs and buying jewelry. Life was good onboard. We will do it again.

I would definitely recommend going to Alaska the state is amazing.

Hats off to princess. Things could not have been better organized. Everything like clockwork, from luggage to accommodations to excursions.

Trip of a lifetime. Smooth sailing, great staff, good memories. Princess is our choice.

I was expected a better experience with Princess than I experienced on other cruise lines and based on my past Princess cruise. This was not anything outstanding.

First time for us to Alaska. We will go back! Mountains and rivers and views are spectacular. I wish the food was a little better. Contrary to some reviews I've read i thought the staff were good. You always get some who could be better but they are humans with their own personality.

I tend to get very seasick and had no problem, so this was great for me. I used the seabands on the wrists for the first day at sea and otherwise was fine. We went towards the end of the season so we did not see very much ocean wildlife from the ship, as I had hoped we would. The cruise ship and staff were excellent - it was all in all a wonderful cruise.

If you want a good deal, this is the cruise for you. Just don't expect Princess food to be top quality. Cutbacks have lowered their brand for sure. It is a nice ship. Comfortable rooms. Great staff. Well laid out.

Bucket list cruise. Wanted to see Alaska for a long time and finally did it. Had great weather on the cruise portion. Had a couple of days of rain on the land portion which made us miss a view of Mt. Denali, but was still worthwhile. The bus tour on land was very nice thanks mostly to our driver and guide, Cal. He was fantastic! Always a smile and an upbeat mood. Giving us useful info throughout the trip. The bus ride was nice as well since our group of 6 had the whole back section. Each of us had our own seat which made the trip more enjoyable and comfortable. We had plenty of time at each stop. On the cruise the towns were nice, but the highlight was getting up close to the glaciers. Beautiful! I did the rock climbing in Skagway and that was the most unusual and fun excursion on the trip. Best food I’ve had on a cruise, but then again I’ve only been on Carnival until now.

Loved this trip. Nothing is ever perfect, but I would sail Princess and this ship again. However, I’d also consider choosing a value-priced cruise, in order to return sooner to Alaska!

We had a great time and recommend this cruise. The Glaciers are receding so it was good to see them now. Island Princess is a nice, smaller ship.