Island Princess Revealed

Posted on May 29, 2013May 29, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Like all of the other cruise ships I have ever been on, the Island Princess was huge.

From Bow to stern the Island Princess measures 964.3 Ft. Walk the halls back and forth just 3 times and you’ll almost have a mile! The ship is 105.6 ft. wide. She can carry a maximum of 2368 passengers and 810 crew members. The Island Princess first set sail in June of 2003.

The Island Princess has swimming pools. One is covered but the other is in the open and eventually was drained as we cruised north and it got colder and colder.

There is a small casino.

A spa and beauty salon.

Multiple entertainment venues.

Movies under the stars (Even when it rain or so they claimed)

Restaurants

Open decks

An internet café…unfortunately because of the mountains the service was spotty and slow. I have an issue with paying for “minutes” when the service takes forever to connect. If the internet was fast I’d be the first to sign up. But I had to use it one day to answer just one work related email and it took 12 minutes of my 15 minute package to connect.

I remember my first cruise. I spent most of my cruise lost. The 2nd cruise was easier and I found this one easier still but Sandy was on her first cruise and the size of the ship and all it’s decks was like a maze to her. It all takes time. By the end of the cruise she’ll be an old hand at getting around.

Day 1~Embarkation

Posted on May 28, 2013May 28, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Following our Scavenger Hunt list we explored the ship finding the shopping area including the Art Gallery, the Internet Café, Sabatini’s Italian Restaurant, and finally the Lotus Spa. Beware the spa visit!

As we collected our stamp, Spa Attendant Dolly asked of we’d like to see the most relaxing place on the ship. Of course we said yes. She let us into a little room off the reception area where 4 ceramic lounge chairs were the main focus of the room. Even though we were still in traveling clothes she had us sit down on the chairs. Oh My! Heaven. The ceramic was heated and as it radiated up into my travel weary muscles I could feel the knots releasing! I hated to move. Sandy was feeling the same way. She immediately signed us up for a chocolate scrub and unlimited use of these stone beds.

I allowed myself to be convinced to have a massage as well and Sandy also agreed to have one. The fees were charged to our on board account. That makes it easy to spend without thinking about the actual cost. A dangerous side effect of the “cashless” policy.

About that time I realized I had lost my Scavenger Hunt Card. We’d accumulated all the stamps so we went looking for the Welcome Aboard Party to turn Sandy’s in. We ran into quite a few other guests looking for the same thing. Apparently the rain had canceled the party.

That was ok because now it was time for the Safety Drill/Briefing. Back to our stateroom we went to retrieve our life vests then down the stairs to our muster stations.( Sandy was worried about getting her daily walk in…Ha!) Once we were all assembled the crew performed a series of demonstrations on the use of the life vests before we had a chance to try them on ourselves. The Safety Briefing is mandatory on all cruises as a requirement of law. In view of all the recent cruise ship mishaps, I think that’s a good thing!

The Island Princess was scheduled to depart Vancouver at 4pm but was delayed for maintenance. That’s ok with me. Fix it now… not at sea!

While we were at dinner in the Bordeaux dining room around 6:30pm we finally noticed we’d begun to move. As she sailed away from Vancouver the Island Princess sailed through the Burrard Inlet with Stanley Park on the port side. Lion’s Gate Bridge spans the inlet.

What we didn’t realize at the time is that the sail away from Vancouver is ranked as one of the world’s most scenic.

It is recommended that you view the departure from the outside deck allowing at least an hour to see all the highlights.

Oops! Well we certainly enjoyed our dinner and met the first of some very interesting people even if we didn’t see all of the sights.

After dinner we made our way to our balcony before we headed to the Welcome Aboard Show in the Princess Theater.

Little did I know that this would be one of the last sunsets we’d see in quite awhile.

Posted on May 27, 2013May 27, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Well Once again I am counting my lucky stars! Sandy and I had a great trip on the Island Princess only to come home to news that Royal Caribbean passengers aboard the Grandeur of the Seas are not having such a good time!

John Bacon and Gene Sloan, USA TODAY10:59 a.m. EDT May 27, 2013

MIAMI — A fire broke out Monday aboard a cruise ship on its way to the Bahamas, but the blaze was quickly extinguished and no serious injuries were reported, Royal Caribbean Cruises said.

The ship Grandeur of the Seas did not require evacuations and continued under full power, reaching Freeport, Bahamas, this morning. Royal Caribbean said that after the fire on a rear mooring deck, passengers had to report to evacuation stations. The ship is being “evaluated,” the company said.

“Grandeur of the Seas experienced a fire this morning. Captain mustered all guests. No injuries of guests or crew reported,” the line said on Twitter.

Royal Caribbean Cruises owns several cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises.

The fire is the latest in a series of cruise ship mishaps that has shaken the industry. In February, fire in an engine room of the cruis ship Carnival Triumph left the ship dead in the water in the Gulf of Mexico. In addition to a lack of propulsion, the ship was without power for essential services such as food preparation and, for a time, running water. Toilets stopped working, as did air conditioning and lighting. The vessel eventually was towed to Mobile, Ala., but not before passengers had to spend four days on board in what was described as miserable conditions.

America’s trust in cruise lines has dropped significantly in the wake of problems aboard the ships, according to a Harris poll released in March.

The survey of 2,230 U.S. adults, which took place between Feb. 19 and 21, found a 17% drop in a measurement of America’s trust in Carnival Cruise Lines following the much-publicized February incident.

Measurements of trust in rival lines including Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Holland America also dropped, though not as sharply.

All Aboard the Island Princess

Posted on May 27, 2013May 27, 2013 by Dusty Roads

We enjoyed a nice lunch before heading to the cruise terminal. I told Sandy that we had been able to have lunch on board when Joe and I went to Cozumel but that we almost missed it because it took so long to get through the lines and checked in. We thought we’d play it safe and eat a quick lunch before hand.

As expected there were lines but they moved fast. There were kiosks with vendors selling everything from luggage to binoculars to fleece vests. A sign said passengers could leave the line to shop. Wow! Two different ships were boarding but they had it down to a science. Princess employees stood at each turn directing passengers left or right.

We passed through customs and security within minutes. Then had our photo taken for ship security and were issued our room keys which double as our on board credit account. We filled out a declaration form for customs and then it was onto the ship. Much faster than in Miami! We made such good time that we could have had lunch on the ship!

We met the first of what I call the “Shipperazzi”, the ever-present ships photographers for our Embarkation Photo.

They had been terrible on Carnival, in your face everywhere! I was to find that they were much less visible on Princess. We only saw them in the dining room once and when we went to shore. That was so much nicer.

First up on our to-do list was to find our stateroom. We had reserved an ocean view room but a week before we were to leave we got an email with “changes”. The main change was that we moved from Baja Deck aft to Aloha Deck and our stateroom was listed as a balcony room. Gotta love free upgrades. Locating our deck and the hall we set off on the first of many long walks. Our stateroom was still near the rear of the ship, just on the port side instead of aft. Most of the restaurants and activities on the Island Princess were mid-ship. We would get our walking in on this trip. 🙂

Once we reached our room we found a welcome package waiting for us. It included a copy of the “Princess Patter “, a daily newsletter that lists activities, including times and locations. Every cruise I’ve taken has had some kind of daily newsletter and they are important to check in order not to miss anything and plan your day.

It includes interesting bits and pieces about the Island Princess and it’s staff. It also gave us the daily dress code for dinner in the dining rooms.

Our room did turn out to be a balcony room and our luggage was waiting for us by the door. That was quick service!

It’s the first time I’ve had a balcony on a cruise and I think I’m spoiled now. If I ever cruise again I will have to have a balcony.

It makes a world of difference and it will be a real blessing later on. But more on that when I tell you about Glacier Bay.

Also in the package was a scavenger hunt list. What a great way to introduce the ship. The scavenger hunt was a list of different places on the ship. When you found the location you got a stamp. The completed list was to be turned in at the Welcome Aboard Party for a prize. Off we went to collect our stamps.

A Rainy Vancouver Morning

Posted on May 26, 2013May 26, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is living up to it’s reputation for rain. Vancouver is Canada’s third most rainy city, with over 161 rainy days per year! Even so we were determined to get in a bit of time exploring Stanley Park.

Stanley Park is Vancouver’s first, largest, and most beloved urban park. We stopped at the front desk for directions and to find out where we could leave our luggage until we left for the cruise ship.

Continuing in the friendly tradition I mentioned yesterday the desk tagged the luggage for us and placed it behind the desk. That way we could check out, they could get the room ready for the next guest and we could call for our luggage later.

The clerk also told us we were just steps from Stanley Park. I’m not sure if we went in the wrong direction but we ended up in a park that followed the water front. We didn’t get to the normal Stanly Park attractions like the Totem poles, the botanical gardens , or any monuments. I believe that we ended up following the Seawall.

The Seawall is a scenic 22 km path that lines Vancouver’s waterfront. We got caught up watching the birds that seemed to be everywhere, mostly herons and ducks.

There were also plenty of dogs jogging with their owners.

In spite of the cool weather, the landscaping was well underway.

Our walk started with a sculpture of laughing men.

A bit of research identified the sculpture as A-Maze-ing Laughter by the Chinese artist Yue Minjun. It is well named as it had us both smiling as we explored the bronze statutes.

The huge sails that dominate the waterfront were built for the 1986 World’s Fair . These sails are Vancouver’s equivalent of the Sydney Opera House or the Empire State Building. Located on Canada Place you can’t miss them.

We also passed a sculpture that looked like it was right out of Stonehenge.

This is an inuksuk which is a stone landmark or cairn built by humans. Such monuments were used by the First Nation People of the Artic Region. An inuksuk was used as the basis of the Vancouver 2010 logo and the construction of inuksuit around the world have led to increasing recognition of them.

The time passed quickly and before we had even scratched the surface it was time to get lunch, retrieve our bags and get a cab to the main event….the cruise ship. The friendly desk clerks helped us gather our bags and even called a cab for us.

The time had come for the adventure to really begin.