Just off the Coral

We're just back from The Panama Transit on Coral and have noted some comparisons with HAL.

Trivial Thoughts on Princess and HAL

Prior to this month’s Princess cruise on the Coral, our two most recent cruises, both last year, were on the Rotterdam.

Both ships are older and smaller ones in their respective fleets. Our 2017 winter cruise was a 21 day Caribbean circle and then another on the Rotterdam when it was heading to dry dock at the conclusion of our New England to Florida run. And it was the Coral Panama cruise from which we just disembarked.

Now here’s the trivia:

The blue rubber tiles on the Princess balcony meant for quiet chair shuffling in early mornings and late evenings.

Princess still serves real jams from a gravy boat which I much prefer to the plastic stuff now served on HAL. I MUCH prefer HAL breads though and HAL breakfast room service has more options.

The daily Princess Patter was ‘chuck’ full of activities unlike the daily HAL update. We simply enjoy shipboard life and don’t usually participate in on board activities, but we appreciated that Princess offered several unhosted events: Bible Studies, LGBT meetings, Friends of Bill, Knitters, Singles, Aviation Enthusiasts, Emergency Services people, and Game Players. Surprisingly one for educators was hosted as were ones for Canadians and later one for Birts both hosted by the Canadian CD. These cost the line nothing but we appreciated the offered Bible Study which consistently gathered a good group on sea days. I must say I’m surprised they didn’t have one called, “Meeting for anyone feeling left out”!

On recent HAL cruises port lectures were just about shopping opportunities. When we did a partial Panama with HAL a few years ago, they had transit commentary but Princess offered daily lectures related to the general area and the canal in particular. These offered ‘light’ historic information - more entertaining than anything but they were well attended for sure.

Much to our delight both ships were ‘quiet’ with minimal announcements and hype. Neither was ‘hard sell’ for photos, coffee cards or alcoholic beverages.

Both were staffed with professional workers. Princess staff appeared to represent more diverse nationalities than the more overtly gracious and warm Indonesian staff on HAL.

We found dining on each line comparable, ranging from okay to very good depending upon the day’s offerings. We missed the Crown Grill on the Coral, but too late tried Sabatini's and really enjoyed it.

On Princess we missed HAL’s s daily news flyers which would be available first thing in the morning.

The age demographics on each ship appeared identical, to be expected given the cruise lengths.

We request early traditional and were disappointed that our confirmed Princess sitting of 5:45 morphed to 5:00 or 5:15 once on board. Since we had a table for two we told our stewards we’d compromise and arrive by 5:30 and be finished well before their late sitting. This wouldn’t work at a larger table. We sure wouldn’t request early traditional again if this is the norm on Princess ships.

Formal nights on both ships saw a healthy smattering of tuxes, a few traditional gowns and what I perceived to be a dressier event than other evenings.

Our Princess guides were not as good as those we had on HAL but I suspect that was more a function of our group assignment as others in another group on the same tour had excellent ones.

Our loyalty level on Princess earns us free internet minutes, while having sailed more on HAL this earns us little of value to us.

We LOVE the laundry by the bag on HAL. No equivalent was available on Princess so I used the efficient laundry once.

We enjoy both lines, as well as Celebrity.

Our winter '19 cruise is a 30 HAL circle to Lima, Peru.

Ruth

Thanks for writing. We had a choice of HAL or Princess for our Panama Canal cruise next year and it sounds like Princess was the correct choice for us.

Ruth thanks for your review and the comparisons you provided.

Very helpful.

Keith

Thanks for your review! Did you have a chance to try the Bayou Cafe? Just wondering if it's a good substitute for the Crown Grill.

We're going to take the Coral through the Panama Canal in about a year. Looking forward to it!

Thanks for the comparison, Ruth. Enjoyed reading it. People I know were on the Rotterdam about 1 or 2 cruises before you and they said it was the worst thing to ever sail the seas. Truly, I was shocked by their feedback about the ship! They said all the passengers were complaining about it and it was the one bonding thing about sailing on the "Rottendam".

They said the sewer smell was disgusting and prevalent, furniture was ripped and there was water leaking all over the place. It was right before the ship went in for a total renovation so I can understand some wear and tear. These people have sworn off of HAL because of this one cruise. I can't imagine it was that bad, was it? I would love to hear if you encountered any of this.

Thanks for your review! Did you have a chance to try the Bayou Cafe? Just wondering if it's a good substitute for the Crown Grill.

We're going to take the Coral through the Panama Canal in about a year. Looking forward to it!

No we didn't visit the Bayou as the menu posted didn't appeal to our more pedestrian tastes. I've certainly read excellent reviews.

We were surprised to observe that neither restaurant seemed busy and one of the table stewards was in the Lido each noon trying to arrange reservations.

Ruth

For anyone considering a Partial Transit on Coral, look into the shore excursion that takes you through the rest of the Canal on a small boat. It’s an day boat and we sat on the top deck which is mostly covered. We were in the front row in the sun but very comfortable. You’re transferred from Coral while she’s in Gatun Lake. It’s fun to go through the locks almost at water level. We were served a light lunch. We came out into the Pacific, got a look at Panama City which is loaded with skyscrapers, and then taken back to meet the ship on a motor coach.

Our table mates, my DH and I all felt the food on Coral was the best we’d had on any ship and any cruise line in a long time.

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For anyone considering a Partial Transit on Coral, look into the shore excursion that takes you through the rest of the Canal on a small boat. It’s an day boat and we sat on the top deck which is mostly covered. We were in the front row in the sun but very comfortable. You’re transferred from Coral while she’s in Gatun Lake. It’s fun to go through the locks almost at water level. We were served a light lunch. We came out into the Pacific, got a look at Panama City which is loaded with skyscrapers, and then taken back to meet the ship on a motor coach.

Our table mates, my DH and I all felt the food on Coral was the best we’d had on any ship and any cruise line in a long time.

 

 

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Thank you for your post. It was just what I wanted to hear since I am doing a partial transit next month on the Coral and plan to take the excursion through the rest of the canal.

Were there BOGO specials on the ship? Do you recall if any craft beers were offered? Thanks.

That's a well thought out and fair comparison. We think about sailing HAL sometimes ourselves, and keep coming back to Princess. We have done the PC partial transit on the Coral twice now and our favorite ship.

I am surprised they did not offer the bag of laundry at least one during the cruise as they did both times with us, about mid way through. They may be doing away with that now too.

Glad you enjoyed it.

Appreciate your review. We are booked on the Coral for next January cruise from Florida to San Francisco. Have not been on the Coral before, have curised a lot on Princess, it will be our 27th princess cruise, never have done the canal. We too have cruise HAL and Celebrity and Cunard recently... like Princess the best. Suspect we too will miss the Crown Grill, will try steak house minus spices and a few items - I am not impressed with the menu in the Bayou either but have a free dinner and do not like Sabatini's. We plan to do buffet and room service which we like a lot on princess.

 

I am surprised they did not offer the bag of laundry at least one during the cruise as they did both times with us, about mid way through. They may be doing away with that now too.

 

Glad you enjoyed it.

I even phoned the front desk to ask, and was told they're not doing that any more. I have no idea if that meant this cruise, the Coral or Princess. I suspect a very high percentage of guests were elite and so the laundry would be busy.

Ruth

Thanks for your thoughts..

Princess is always our first choice, but HAL is our 2nd when a time frame or itinerary requires it, with Celebrity a distant 3rd, so I appreciate your thoughts and feel similarly to your comparisons

Srpilo

Thanks for your thoughts.

Thanks for your thoughts..

 

 

 

Princess is always our first choice, but HAL is our 2nd when a time frame or itinerary requires it, with Celebrity a distant 3rd, so I appreciate your thoughts and feel similarly to your comparisons

Srpilo

Agree with the above! (y)

For anyone considering a Partial Transit on Coral, look into the shore excursion that takes you through the rest of the Canal on a small boat. It’s an day boat and we sat on the top deck which is mostly covered. We were in the front row in the sun but very comfortable.

I have not experienced this personally, but there have been posts on Cruise Critic that indicated this excursion may make use of several different vendors who have different kinds of boats. Glad you experienced a good boat for this tour. Other have posted their boat was not nearly as nice.

Thanks for sharing.

Tony

I have not experienced this personally, but there have been posts on Cruise Critic that indicated this excursion may make use of several different vendors who have different kinds of boats. Glad you experienced a good boat for this tour. Other have posted their boat was not nearly as nice.

I suspect that this is similar to luck with guides; although having two our of four weak guides is pushing the law of averages as was our luck on this voyage.

The first one had just come down with one of those horrid wet/really sick cold/flu bugs so while it was easy to excuse his less than stellar performance his pattern did seem to be to first memorize the names of his passengers. We were a van of 13 but it still took him well over half an hour while he bragged about once learning the names of all 45 on a bus load. WHY? He never once used our names. And then more time was wasted asking us what we wanted to know and then he needed to rest his voice! He didn't appear to have one of those set commentaries.

We'd have complained had he been well, but instead just grumbled privately.

The second one was OK, but weak compared with ones leading other groups.

Both bad luck, but had these been our first ship tours, we'd say never again.

Ruth

We were surprised to observe that neither restaurant seemed busy and one of the table stewards was in the Lido each noon trying to arrange reservations.

Ruth

We did a full transit on the Coral in November and the one thought that stuck out for us was what a waste of space Sabatinis and The Bayou were. They sat virtually empty most days and were at best half full at night. It seemed they could have been combined into one venue with 2 different menus leaving the other space free for regular passenger use of some sort. Window space for reading, lounging, cocktails, visiting with other passengers, etc would have been wonderfull.

Thanks for the comparison, Ruth. Enjoyed reading it. People I know were on the Rotterdam about 1 or 2 cruises before you and they said it was the worst thing to ever sail the seas. Truly, I was shocked by their feedback about the ship! They said all the passengers were complaining about it and it was the one bonding thing about sailing on the "Rottendam".

They said the sewer smell was disgusting and prevalent, furniture was ripped and there was water leaking all over the place. It was right before the ship went in for a total renovation so I can understand some wear and tear. These people have sworn off of HAL because of this one cruise. I can't imagine it was that bad, was it? I would love to hear if you encountered any of this.

Care to answer?

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Care to answer?

Both our cruises were PRE dry dock, and we enjoyed both though on the second one our toilet was plugged FOUR times but fixed quickly. Once we awoke in the morning to a plugged toilet so this was most inconvenient as we had to search out a public one.

We really enjoyed the ship and didn't notice sewer smells in either our Vista Suite or fully obstructed window cabin. The second cruise was a very last minute escape with a guaranteed cabin which ended up at the very bow of the ship. After this one it was heading for dry dock. This is the one with the toilet problem which they blamed on someone above us.

We encountered no water leaks and I saw no torn furniture, but then I wasn't looking for any.

Ruth

Both our cruises were PRE dry dock, and we enjoyed both though on the second one our toilet was plugged FOUR times but fixed quickly. Once we awoke in the morning to a plugged toilet so this was most inconvenient as we had to search out a public one.

 

We really enjoyed the ship and didn't notice sewer smells in either our Vista Suite or fully obstructed window cabin. The second cruise was a very last minute escape with a guaranteed cabin which ended up at the very bow of the ship. After this one it was heading for dry dock. This is the one with the toilet problem which they blamed on someone above us.

 

We encountered no water leaks and I saw no torn furniture, but then I wasn't looking for any.

 

Ruth

Thanks. So it does sound like you had similar toilet problems like they did in their Vista Suite too. So glad you enjoyed the cruise regardless of any plumbing problems. Thank you.

Thank you for your post. It was just what I wanted to hear since I am doing a partial transit next month on the Coral and plan to take the excursion through the rest of the canal.

 

Were there BOGO specials on the ship? Do you recall if any craft beers were offered? Thanks.

Unfortunately, I’m a wine drinker. I paid no attention to prices and I didn’t buy even one drink. DH is diabetic, so we’ve changed our habits.

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I have not experienced this personally, but there have been posts on Cruise Critic that indicated this excursion may make use of several different vendors who have different kinds of boats. Glad you experienced a good boat for this tour. Other have posted their boat was not nearly as nice.

Wow! That’s bad news. It’s true of just about any shore excursion, but it sure make for a less wonderful day.

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