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Difference between Island and Coral? Or Princess in Alaska


rachelfran
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I sailed the Island Princess to Alaska quite a few years ago - pre refurb and in summer 2019 my extended family wants to go -- I prefer the smallest ships we can afford for this region which brings me back to these ships ... Can anyone explain the differences between these two now? Our party will range in age possibly from 11-65 years of age. The exact itinerary is not yet decided.

 

I know a number of other Princess ships are also doing 7 day cruises to Alaska ... let me know if I'm missing something wonderful despite their larger sizes.

 

Thanks!

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They used to be sister ships but then a few years ago Princess added cabins. They are in the aft section which resulted in no more universe lounge, no more aft viewing decks and a more crowded (a couple hundred more passengers) ship compared to the Coral Princess.

 

We've been to Alaska twice on the Coral Princess and loved the ship.

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I sailed the Island Princess to Alaska quite a few years ago - pre refurb and in summer 2019 my extended family wants to go -- I prefer the smallest ships we can afford for this region which brings me back to these ships ... Can anyone explain the differences between these two now? Our party will range in age possibly from 11-65 years of age. The exact itinerary is not yet decided.

 

I know a number of other Princess ships are also doing 7 day cruises to Alaska ... let me know if I'm missing something wonderful despite their larger sizes.

 

Thanks!

 

No International café either! Many say they love the Coral, but will not sail the Island again. We experienced very bad vibration in the aft of the Island also.

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Island had around 150 extra cabins added, which took out the aft viewing balconies, Universe Lounge, shrunk the casino to a postage stamp, relocated the gym, and so on. Removed public space, did not expand dining room capacity - so highly suggest set dining time as anytime can have seriously long waits...

Island is the only Princess ship we'll not sail again, unless she's the only ship at all from any line doing a particular itinerary.

 

Coral did not have any of the changes done after the hue and cry after Island. She does have a small International Cafe ...

Between the two, Coral hands, and feet and everything else, down..

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Island took away the Universal Lounge so there is no way to divide the passengers into two different show times like before. This has impacted the Princess Theater. Not only are there more passengers (added cabins) but with no extra show venue, Princess Theater has no way to accommodate all the passengers for each show. Longer wait times in dining room, theater with a possibility of not being able to find seats.

 

The aft decks were wonderful viewing areas. Those are gone now.

 

With this information, the Coral is the only choice.

 

The Coral has some nice ocean view rooms located next to the Casino. Good location.

 

Have a great reunion.

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Island had around 150 extra cabins added, which took out the aft viewing balconies, Universe Lounge, shrunk the casino to a postage stamp, relocated the gym, and so on. Removed public space, did not expand dining room capacity - so highly suggest set dining time as anytime can have seriously long waits...

Island is the only Princess ship we'll not sail again, unless she's the only ship at all from any line doing a particular itinerary.

 

Coral did not have any of the changes done after the hue and cry after Island. She does have a small International Cafe ...

Between the two, Coral hands, and feet and everything else, down..

 

Like you, the only time we will ever sail Island again is if it's the only Princess ship sailing the itinerary at the time we need to cruise. Now that we are retired it's not very likely that will happen.

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We sailed the Island last year and had no issues with it. Different strokes for different folks. OP look at the Royal for 2019. She is coming to the west coast and I believe will be sailing Alaska. A much newer ship.

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thanks for the replies ... sad .. we loved our cruise and my husband spent virtually all his free time on deck with telescope and binoculars -- and he wasn't the only one. I will let my family know to avoid the Island at all costs... The Royal has 3,560 passengers which is just too much for me. Do others feel like the Royal is a good option for someone who normally prefers smaller numbers? My husband fears crowded public spaces for eating and viewing ... Thanks.

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Just my experience from cruising on Princess ships on colder climate cruises you will find that everyone will want to sit inside. Space in public areas and the atrium are limited. Cruisers stake out there seats inside and sit all day. Unless you find a seat before 7 am or after 11 pm it truly is hard to find seating when you want to be out of your room and are not outside looking at the scenery. The Royal class ships are bigger but also have larger public spaces and more of them and have a much larger atrium to sit in. Just my choice.

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I traveled on the Star and Island last year to and from Alaska and thought both were fine. I liked the layout and crew on the Star better, but was pretty happy with my experience on the Island. I am looking forward to my cruise on the Coral next month to the Panama Canal. I, also, like smaller ships and I think the Coral will work nicely for me.

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thanks for the replies ... sad .. we loved our cruise and my husband spent virtually all his free time on deck with telescope and binoculars -- and he wasn't the only one. I will let my family know to avoid the Island at all costs... The Royal has 3,560 passengers which is just too much for me. Do others feel like the Royal is a good option for someone who normally prefers smaller numbers? My husband fears crowded public spaces for eating and viewing ... Thanks.

What happened to the Coral being a option? She wasn't butchered like Island, has all the same features Island used to have that you enjoyed with the added bonus if a small International Cafe , which Island never had.

We love the Royal, it's a beautiful ship, and the open decks are quite large, but if the choice was between Coral and Royal for Alaska, we'd pick Coral for all the extra outdoor viewing areas....

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What happened to the Coral being a option? She wasn't butchered like Island, has all the same features Island used to have that you enjoyed with the added bonus if a small International Cafe , which Island never had.

 

We love the Royal, it's a beautiful ship, and the open decks are quite large, but if the choice was between Coral and Royal for Alaska, we'd pick Coral for all the extra outdoor viewing areas....

 

 

 

Just an FYI - we just sailed on the Island through the Panama Canal and loved the ship and crew. It just went to dry dock in Dec. 2017 so looked great.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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What happened to the Coral being a option? She wasn't butchered like Island, has all the same features Island used to have that you enjoyed with the added bonus if a small International Cafe , which Island never had.

We love the Royal, it's a beautiful ship, and the open decks are quite large, but if the choice was between Coral and Royal for Alaska, we'd pick Coral for all the extra outdoor viewing areas....

 

Yes -- I would think Coral would be our first choice ... Someone else mentioned Royal - so I was curious about what others thought.

 

I won't be the only one deciding so like to collect lots of input.

 

Thanks!

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I traveled on the Star and Island last year to and from Alaska and thought both were fine. I liked the layout and crew on the Star better, but was pretty happy with my experience on the Island. I am looking forward to my cruise on the Coral next month to the Panama Canal. I, also, like smaller ships and I think the Coral will work nicely for me.

 

You will love the Coral for the canal. Be sure to check out the forward and aft viewing decks on Baja and Caribe decks.

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I cannot find my review of the Island (my post reports trouble in getting it published), but I posted about our experience, and here is a copy of that post.

 

I would tell you to read my review but it has yet to be posted by Cruise Critic. Don't book one of the new cabins. The ship and cruise was fine (with limited exceptions) except for the disaster of a cabin. Here is what I posted on July 6:

 

There is quite a bit of discussion here about the retrofit of the Island Princess, which added about 131 cabins but eliminated the ability to walk around the Promenade Deck and eliminated public space. There is some discussion of vibration in the aft cabins. Well, we had one of those aft cabins, and here is my review (which was posted to cabin reviews, as well). In short, cabin C731, an aft mini-suite, is a disaster.

 

On the plus side, it is all the way aft, so the balcony faces both Starboard and aft, which is great for canal viewing or simply watching the wake. This is a mini-suite, with two flat screens (one with a visible picture defect). For entertainment, we would put Fox on one and MSNBC on the other so they could amuse themselves.

 

There is very adequate storage (we could not fill it all) and we brought formal wear. (If you only have one flight, and American allows us two free bags each, then it is easy to bring stuff.) The bed is very comfortable.

There are no outlets easily accessible next to the bed. There are outlets at the desk (two American, one European), and we bring a power strip (not a surge protector, see other threads on this topic). We both have Apple iWatches which do not charge properly in the vibrating environment. (More below.) While we did not use it, the sofa opens into a twin size bed.

 

However:

 

1. Rattles: The cabin suffers from vibration, which we do not mind, and numerous rattles which we do mind. Construction defects in the walls left stuff banging. Very annoying at night. According to the head of customer service, C731 is known to Princess as a “noisy cabin.” Prior guests or staff have improvised all sorts of fixes to limit the noise, including stuffing a can opener in the light fixture to keep a ceiling panel from rattling. (Yes, not only do I have pictures, but staff took pictures to send to HQ, although HQ disputes that it has the pictures.) This problem cannot be resolved.

 

2. Broken Refrigerator: The refrigerator failed. Hey, it did not work when we first walked in the door. It would regularly turn itself off as it overheated. This is another design defect (per the staff), since the cabinet the refrigerator is in does not allow for sufficient heat circulation, so it regularly shuts off. The staff insists it is not really a refrigerator, but is really a cooler, since it uses the Peltier effect to achieve cooling rather than using a refrigerant and a condenser. Customer relations staff suggested leaving the cabinet door open to improve air circulation, but that did not work. Nevertheless, the ship refrigeration guy, who explained all this to me, tested the temperature with two open ice buckets inside, and it registered 59 degrees F. So I observed it wasn’t much of a cooler, either. (A Peltier effect cooler should lower the interior temperature under optimum conditions by about 25 degrees F, so if you keep your room at 75 degrees F, it should be at 50 degrees F.) Since I carry medicine with me that needs refrigeration, our steward provided ice buckets with regularity. The refrigerator was finally replaced with a brand-new refrigerator, plastic wrapping still on, after six days after near daily complaints. Do not despair, though. If you are English and prefer your beer at room temperature, this little cooler will deliver.

 

3. No hot water: Despite the warm Caribbean sun and warm refrigerator, hot water in the bathroom was merely a rumor. There was no hot water when we first arrived, which meant the water was colder than the refrigerator. We had numerous days without hot water, and occasionally took showers in the men's and ladies locker rooms in the spa, three decks up. These are the only public showers on the ship. The ship plumbers visited regularly. Sometimes we had hot water after ten or 12 minutes of running the water full blast. Sometimes never. On the last day of the cruise, having made a scene because the staff blew a specific appointment, two plumbers labored 30 minutes to get the water to 110 degrees F. (At home, my hot water heaters—I have two—are set to 140 degrees F.) On occasion, we heard that hot water had failed in cabins near us as well. This appears to be a design defect from the retrofit. The time of day was irrelevant to the existence of hot water. We started keeping notes of when we called and who we spoke to, and had at least thirty interactions with the staff (not including our steward) about the hot water situation.

 

4. Flood: A pipe broke on the other side of the ship, leading to a puddle of water in our cabin. It took four days to get someone to attend to it. Puddle as in by the 4th day we could splash. And no, the leaking water was not hot, so it was not like fixing the leak solved the hot water problem. This took four days and multiple requests to fix.

 

5. “Rain” on the Balcony: For two days we have water dripping down on our balcony. At first, we thought it was a passing rain shower, but we soon figured out it was coming from the ship. This was fixed (without explanation) after two days, and involved “balcony maintenance” per the notice we received for several dozen cabins on our deck.

 

To the credit of the senior customer relations staff, they were always polite and professional. They provided a significant on-board credit on two occasions, and promised that there would be further follow-up from the Manager of Customer Service in Santa Clarita (and not a staff person), chiefly because of the hot water issue. Front desk staff were no different than that on any other ship. On several occasions, they thought we should wait in our cabin for maintenance people to fix cabin problems.

 

 

To the dis-credit of Princess, we were not contacted by Princess upon our return, as promised by the customer relations manager on the ship. Two e-mails to customer service elicited immediate form responses promising contact within 2-3 business days. No one contacted us. I generally am not fond of folks who make promises they don’t keep.

 

A letter to Jan Swartz finally delivered a belated contact from a customer relations staffer who pretty much had a wholly different story from the Manager on the ship. She did, however, provide an additional FCC, which was promptly applied to our next cruise. From our perspective, we are still owed a call from the actual head of customer service because that was promised on several occasions.

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Hope you got all the problems with C731 fixed as we have it for a 19 day LAX-LAX Panama cruise this April. After 32yrs flying commercial airliners, vibration and rattles won't phase me much. Do you have any pictures of the balcony?

Mahalo!!

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No problems with the re-designed Island here. We had one of the new balcony cabins on the Promenade deck. We loved the having a real teak deck instead of the hard blue plastic one. The bed was fantastic and the television is wall-mounted at the foot for better viewing. The bathroom is a little larger too.

 

The small casino didn't bother us because we don't gamble. We couldn't care less about the gym, as we are on vacation to relax, not work-out.

 

The Island has the best Crooner's bar of any ship. If you don't want to wait for a table or the show, get late traditional dining. The later shows, or the pre-dinner shows, are less crowded.

 

I would pick the itinerary with the best price and ports, and not worry so much about the ship.

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