Island Princess
Amid a sea of gargantuan new mega ships, 2,214-passenger Island Princess, part of the Princess Cruises fleet since 2003, sits happily on the borderline of big and mid-sized. This has its benefits, namely being able to transit the existing Panama Canal, the reason Island Princess and its sister Coral Princess were built (although new, wider locks are scheduled to open in mid-2016). If you sail on this ship, you’ll either be cruising the Canal between the Atlantic and Pacific or admiring glaciers in Alaska. Repositioning cruises to either are good deals.
What We Love
The Joie-de-Vivre: A French influence can be found in the dining rooms (Provence and Bordeaux), the Paris-themed casino, La Patisserie, and even in the Bayou Café & Steakhouse, where Cajun dishes and jazz offer a taste of New Orleans.
Pizza by Princess: Many cruisers swear it’s the best slice this side of Naples, and the cruise line is only too happy to endorse the theory. There are frequent lines, but it’s worth the wait.
Best Known For
Atrium Excellence: The glass elevators add a touch of elegance to an atrium already made popular by the complimentary pastries at La Patisserie (Deck 5), which seats 40 and is often filled to capacity on sea days.
Being the Big Sister: It was already slightly larger than Coral Princess when a 2015 refurbishment added another 121 staterooms to push passenger capacity above 2,000.