Island Princess

The Island Princess, as also her sister ship, Coral Princess have been especially designed to get through the Panama Canal (they usually traverse the Canal and the Gulf of Alaska) and hence, are comparatively smaller than the fleet’s bigger ships. However, these ships are still bigger than the mid-sized Princess-class ships that were so common during the nineties. But as a result, they enjoy the privileges of both, losing nothing in return. As a matter of fact, passengers feel more comfortable in navigating within the ship due to the re-sizing, which allows them better confidence in reaching their desired destinations than fumbling along oversize atriums.

92,000-ton Island Princess provides better facilities to its guests by shifting the public rooms to the lower decks and putting cabin decks higher up, which has allowed addition of more balconies to outside staterooms. This, incidentally, has also resulted in increasing cabin space on one hand and improving passenger flow on the other.

The food served in the Dining room and in the Lido Cafeteria featured in the Island Princess is typically Continental Ship variety comprising mostly Broiled lobster tail, Beef Wellington and the like. Passengers not used to such bland dishes prefer the Bayou Café to try spicy shrimp gumbo, grilled jumbo prawns, fried catfish or chicken and chorizo jambalaya amidst woody ambience. Those who feel still not very satisfied usually head for Sabatini’s for ultimate palate pleasure. But for those who insist on out-of-the-world savories, the Lotus Spa menu offers Chilled yogurt and Tamarind Soup sprinkled with grated lemon rind.

Interestingly enough, there is no dearth of invitingly intimate lounges on board the Island Princess, some with live music. Crooners, a Martini Bar mirrors the halcyon days of Rat Pack while the Churchill’s, a snug cigar lounge may remind one of early English country manors. The chunky nautical-themed Wheelhouse Bar (for no apparent rhyme or reason) holds many expensive original oil paintings.

The ship's Internet cafe, card room and library are mostly busy during days at sea. In fact, one may find himself/herself lucky in finding a place to sit. Because there are entrances from both the atrium and the midship elevators/stair tower, the locations are often used as passageways, not exactly ideal either for compute use or for reading.

As in other similar vessels, the captain of the Island Princes is empowered to marry intending couples in the ship’s Wedding Chapel while children are lovingly entertained at the Pelican Playhouse Children’s Center aboard the ship.