Let's talk "Ship"

Today's post is about our ship, the Island Princess, at the request of a loyal blog subscriber and a great friend.  But before I talk about both the specs of the ship as well as the guest experience, I would like to revisit yesterday's post, the doors of the island princess.  

Keep in mind, I chose 24 of approx 1100 doors to include in yesterday's blog.  A mere 2% of all passenger doors on the ship.  And also, I haven't discussed the post with anyone on the ship.  Last night, while we were at dinner, the couple immediately to our right (she was an obgyn) mentioned the door decorations during a conversation that meandered from where we lived and what we did to 20+ other topics before we arrived randomly at the door decorations.  So I mentioned my blog post, of course, and showed them the pictures.  A lovely older pair of women immediately to our left who travel together said, " oh, I wonder if you photographed either or both of our doors as we decorated them."  Sure enough, 612 was one of their rooms.  The odds were 1 in 10000 that we'd end up at the same table in the same seating and just happen to discuss decorated doors the very next day after the post.  It made her day and mine too.  

Back to the ship: The Island Princess is a Coral-class cruise ship for the Princess Cruises line. She is the sister ship to Coral Princess and together they are the only Panamax ships in Princess's fleet.  This means it is the largest a ship can be, both length and width, to go thru the old, original locks of the Panama canal. The detailed stats are toward the bottom of the post. From a guest experience perspective, we prefer this size ship over all others. There are smaller ships that do this itinerary.  The Pacific Princess (aka the love boat from the TV series by the same name) only held 600 passengers, so less than a third the size of our ship. More intimate, fewer venues and options.   In contrast, weighing more than 230,000 tons with a total capacity of nearly 7,000 passengers, Royal Carribbean's Wonder of the Seas is currently the world's largest cruise ship.  Less intimate, many more venues and options. In the end, beyond the itinerary and cost, there are 5 or so criteria we use to decide on a ship.

1) Dining options - because food is important.  Our ship will spend $15m on food cost over its 111 day journey.  Every ship has a main diningroom or several.  The IP has 2.  There's a dress code and occasional formal nights.  It's classic ship dining with white tablecloths, multiple courses, fantastic service and about 2 hrs of conversation.  Every medium to large ship also has a buffet, open 24hrs or close to it. We have the Horizon Court.  It's good, easy, plentiful, no pomp or circumstance whatsoever.  Then there are the "outlets".  They can include specialty themed restaurants like a fine Steak house, a japanese style restaurant or a churrascurria (like a holland america ship we were on in 2019), some have a food court like the mall.  Some have a small upcharge but most are included in your fare.  This ship only has 2 specialty restaurants, the Bayou and sabatinis...Cajun and Italian respectively.  We've been to both and both were excellent. Well worth the upcharge of $29 and $25 pp, respectively. There are a few coffee bars around the ship as well with danishes and small sandwiches.    

2) Bars=indoor Entertainment - our evenings are spent at the show (in the theater) and then essentially bar hopping based on which musician is playing where, if we feel like dancing etc.  Our ship has 5 such venues, all themed (see details below).  We gravitate to the 70s solo guitarist and relax with an after dinner drink

3) Cabin / Stateroom - you'll want to ensure you get a cabin you like, even for a short cruise.  While you really don't spend many waking hours there, it's home.  And how you feel in your home is important.  We have 180 Sq ft interior cabin.  But size and windows or balcony is just 1 element. Location location location as they say is also important.  While we didn't upgrade the room type, we upgraded to the best location....dead center (front to back, side to side, top to bottom).  Not only is the sway less, we're always close to everything.  That's important to us. 4) pools and outdoor entertainment. We have 2 pools, 1 indoor, 1 outdoor.  I insist on an indoor pool option so that if there's inclement weather, you can still relax on a chaise around a pool and hot tub.  That's how we relax during the day.  Some ships have go carts and water slides that rival a land-based water park.  If we had young kids with us, I'd make those amenities a higher priority.  But at an avg passenger age of 72ish, go carts and water slides aren't that relevant on this cruise. Some ships have golf, tennis and racketball.  There's really no limit.  It's a floating city.  We have a pickleball court here that gets A LOT of use.

5) the gym - if you don't workout on a cruise, bring clothes 2 sizes bigger cause you will outgrow the clothes you started with.  Most boats have a fitness center....the issue becomes the # of treadmills, ellipticals, weight stations etc.  It can get crowded, especially 6am -9am.  This ship has plenty so I've never had to wait.  Plus I've shifted my exercise routine to early afternoon, so it's perfect. For more ship specs, please read on.  Due to a rogue Samsung forced update to my phone that disabled it for 1/2 a day, I'm a bit behind.  Till tomorrow.

Island Princess Ship Profile & Stats Cruise Line: Princess Cruises Ship Type: Cruise Ship Line Class: Mainstream Registry: Bermuda Year Built: 2003

Year Last Refurbished: 2019

Capacity: 2,200 passengers

Decks: 16

Gross Tonnage: 91,627

Length: 964 ft

Beam: 122 ft

Average Speed: 24 knots

Inside Cabins: 108

Outside Cabins: 879

Nationality of Officers: British Nationality of Crew: International Number of Crew: 900

Island Princess On-Board Recreation Outdoor Pools: 2

Spa: Yes

Casino: Yes

Island Princess Dining Choices Bordeaux Dining Room (Capacity: 570) Provence Dining Room (Capacity: 510) Sabatini's Cuisine: Italian

Bayou: Cajun and Fine Steaks

Island Princess Entertainment:

Explorer's Lounge: Cabaret, game shows, dancing (Capacity: 260) Universe Lounge: Movies, classes, demonstrations (Capacity: 320) Princess Theater: Broadway style shows (Capacity: 688)

Wheelhouse Bar: Music, dancing, maritime theme (Capacity: 153) Crooners Bar: 60's Rat Pack style bar (Capacity: 62)