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CRUISE REVIEW
ISLAND PRINCESS East Coast North America Summer 2024 by Richard H. Wagner |
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This was an 11-day cruise round-trip from New York (Brooklyn) calling at Newport, Boston,, Halifax., Norfolk and Charleston
One of the things that attracted me to this cruise was its a unique itinerary. For the most part, the cruise lines operating from New York offer Bermuda cruises, Bahamas cruises, Caribbean cruises and, in the fall, cruises to New England and Canada. This cruise was comprised of a selection of ports on the East Coast of the United States and Canada. All of these ports are visited by cruise ships from time to time but what made this cruise special was that it combined these ports together. While some luxury brands and some small ship lines do similar itineraries, it is very unusual for a mass-market, large ship line to do this itinerary. It is an itinerary with a lot to offer. In many respects, this cruise was reminiscent of cruising in Europe where the primary objective is sight-seeing as opposed to most domestic cruises s, which center upon relaxing on a beach. For those interested in history, the cruise took you into the heart of where the American Revolution and the Civil War took place. Places such as Jamestown, Williamsburg, Bunker Hill, and Fort Sumter were within the vicinity of the places the ship docked. Indeed, the historic 20th century American battleship USS Wisconsin was next to the cruise terminal in Norfolk. Halifax, with its associations with the Titanic and the convoys of both World Wars, is also rich in history. As for culture, there was the elegant architecture of downtown Charleston and the boldness of the Gilded Age “cottages” of Newport. Some of America's great art museums including the Boston Museum of Fine Art, the Chrysler Art Museuum, and the Gibbs Art Gallery were along the route. In addition, these ports offered opportunities for maritime sports and seaside relaxation. Of course, the U.S. ports can be visited by car or via domestic airline flights. However, it would be difficult to drive or fly to all of them during an 11-day period. Furthermore, a road trip or a series of airline flights is a much different experience than a cruise where you are served, fed and entertained as your hotel travels from place to place. Island Princess had no difficulty meeting the schedule despite the considerable distance between some of the ports. The ship When she was built in 2003, Island Princess would have been described as a medium to large cruise ship. Today, at just over 90,000 tons, she is one of the smallest ships in the Princess fleet. The ship did not shrink, she is still a big ship with the seakeeping capabilities of a big ship. However, she is on a more intimate scale than the giant ships coming out of the shipyards these days. She does not need to attract 4,000 guests a cruise. Also, she is still able to get into certain ports that her bigger fleetmates cannot. This makes her well-suited to taking experienced cruisers on unusual itineraries such as this one. There have been a number of changes to the ship over the years. When she was built, she had what looked like jet engines attached on either side of the funnel. These were merely decoration and ere just there to give the impression of speed and power. While the ship is still relatively fast for a cruise ship, the faux jets are now gone. Also, more cabins have been added to the stern area so that the once-terraced aft section is now more square. Princess has also worked to keep the ship in line with the rest of its fleet. For example, she is equipped with Princess' Medallion technology. Each guest carries a small piece of technology about the size of a quarter that not only takes the place of the room key card but provides a number of features when combined with the Medallion app. My traveling companions found out that guests must obtain a new medallion for each cruise. In other words, the medallion they had obtained for a cruise on Regal Princess last year would not work on this year's cruise on Island Princess. However, they were able to obtain a new medallion at the cruise terminal on embarkation day. (For a $10 fee, I had my new medallion shipped to me beforehand. This made for an incredibly quick embarkation). Princess has also upgraded the Wi-Fi system on Island Princess. I was able to do essentially everything I could do on land including streaming and texting without any problems and without any service drops. Prior to the cruise, Princess offered guests the option of buying a “package.” For our cruise, two versions were offered one at $60 a day and one at $80 a day. These packages were not your typical cruise line “drinks packages.” They combined drinks (subject to some limitations) and a number of other items such as the daily gratuities, internet, some spa classes, and various dining features. As one might expect, the more expensive version had more generous features (e.g., some more pricey drinks were included). Guests did not have to buy a package and were able to pay for the included items ala carte. Service on Island Princess was good as was the food in general. We had an excellent meal at the Bayou Cafe specialty restaurant. It is the steakhouse on Island Princess and whereas it had its own menus at one time, it now follows the same menu as the Crown Grill on other Princess ships. It is a high quality menu and the chef did it justice. Sadly, there was now a charge for Alfredo's Pizzeria – individual, made to order gourmet pizzas. This is a sit-down three-course meal, not a grab-a-slice and go venue. Whereas the larger Princess ships have permanent, purpose-built Alfredo's, Island Princess does not have a dedicated venue for Alfredo's. Instead, the Sabatini's specialty restaurant became Alfredo's for lunch on sea days. A rather more casual experience is the complimentary Princess Pizza stand. Its poolside pizza was quite good. Along the same lines, my traveling companions enjoyed the nearby Swirls ice cream stand. |
Above: A balcony cabin on Island Princess.
Below: The ship's aft section has been redesigned. 
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Cruise review - - Princess Cruises - - Island Princess - - East Coast Cruise - Summer 2024