On Board the Coral Princess - New Years 2005

[gymswim]

We are enjoying day 6 of our 10 day cruise on the Coral. Grand Cayman is still very much in the "rebuilding" stage. I chose to do a two tank dive this morning rather than spend any time ashore. Most people I talked to during lunch aboard ship indicated they didn't find Grand Cayman very enjoyable.

 

One of the best areas of the ship as far as I'm concerned is the indoor pool area which is reserved for adults only. It's a wonderful sanctuary from families and children. The indoor pool area is pleasantly quiet as well, offering a haven from the ubiquidous music played in public areas.

 

The Norwalk virus seems to be on the wane, although it's difficult to get full answers from the ship's staff. Most everything we learn is by talking to other passengers who are traveling with others who fell ill early in the cruise.

On to Cozumel tomorrow!

Bill

[ddonalds]

I'm assuming that you're on the Panama Canal cruise - which we're going to be on 17 January.... It's been a few years since I've been on a cruise, they're still having viruses, eh? How, in general, is your cruise? I've never gone on Princess - just once on Crystal (LOVED IT)..... I'm starting to get excited...:rolleyes:

[sarahuk]

Hope you are having a great time. We are going on the Coral in April on the Panama Canal cruise and wondered how many formal nights there is.

[soprano]

From recent Coral Panama Canal cruises, this has been the dinner line-up:

 

Day 1 Sailaway - leaving FLL

Day 2 Captain's Welcome (formal) - at sea

Day 3 Caribbean - at sea

Day 4 French/Continental - Costa Rica

Day 5 Princess Dinner - Panama Canal

Day 6 Italian - at sea

Day 7 Captain's Gala (formal) - Grand Cayman

Day 8 International - Cozumel

Day 9 Chef's Dinner - Belize

Day 10 Landfall - at sea

[zaban3]

Our family will be taking this cruise next year beginning Dec. 24. Our children will be 17 and 20. Were there many older teens on this cruise? Are there activities that would appeal to this age group?

[twocats]

Hello, just curious which trip you are taking on the Coral in April. I see there are several scheduled. We are on the 4/27/05, any chance that is yours also?

[WCAB]

Love reading all of the posts on the Coral. we will be going on 04/07/05. Now that we are in 2005, the time should go by pretty fast.

 

Carol

[Blue Eyes]

Hi ddonalds...we are on the 1/17 cruise, too. have you posted on our roll call..it has been so long that i am not sure who all has signed in...we, too, are getting excited...

[ddonalds]

Donna - I gave up even trying to find the roll call, I'm glad to see there's someone else on this sailing.... I'm starting to get excited about it - went and got my prescription for the seasickness patch (I get violently seasick - and this is the only thing that works for me) so I think I'm all set. This weekend we'll start laying out the clothes, getting rid of half of them, and starting over.....:D

[gymswim]

Ahoy Suzanne:

To answer some of your questions. We didn't try to board the ship in Lauderdale earlier than our scheduled departure time. We flew in early and stayed at the lovely Westin Doral in Ft Lauderdale. We wanted to enjoy the amenities there during the day. We were taken to the ship (just a short ride) around 1:30 and there was not line or delay getting on board. We are Platnum level Captains Circle which may have helped, I don't know for sure. We were taken to a separate gangway.

The virus I referred to earlier that has been going around the ship turned out to in fact be the Norovirus. Princess has remained less than forthcoming about the actual numbers of passengers effected, as I said before. The "word going around is that this has been substantial outbreak....the largest outbreak on this ship ever.

The Princess staff I spoke to claim they intentially don't tell passengers the hard numbers of cases in order to avoid unecessary anxiety among the passengers. I found out from a reliable source that over 80 crew members came down with the virus since we sailed on December 28th. One elderly passenger we know of was taken off the ship in Panama and hospitalized. The rumor going around the ship was that one of the singers in the band brought the virus on board they think. She was the first reported case right after we sailed...again, since Princess doesn't print any facts, it's reallly difficult to know for sure.

We've been fine and unaffected I think because we are careful to wash our hands frequently and never put our hands near our face unless we've washed. Also common sense calls for washing hands immediately upon entering our cabin so we don't contaminate our "home".

I've used the adult pool for swimming everyday so I don't think it is spread in the pool. But everything one touches is a potential source, even the keyboard I'm using right now.

We loved Cozumel diving...I've been there four other cruises (all Windstar) and this trip was by far the best diving. We used the Sand Dollar Diving outfit that contracts with Princess. They were first rate.

Panama canal was much more interesting than I would have imagined. I was glad we had the opportunity to lock through to Gatlin Lake before disembarking for the Panama Railway excursion.

As for the Ocean to Ocean, our friends who took it were disappointed and wished they'd taken some other tour.

In Costa Rica we really recommend doing the Zip Line canope tour. It's exciting to be 80-100 ft up in the trees and zipping along at 20 mph between the trees and seeing the monkeys and birds. Princess dosen't offer it because of the liability issues. Best to contract directly with Aurora at Almonds and Coral. She is terrific and will arrange for a driver to meet you at the pier and drive you. We had two excellent guides who met us at the pier and drove us 1 hour south to the Almonds and Coral resort, along the shoreline road....they pointed out all the flora and fauna which made the drive interesting. They were also our Zip line guides as well once we got to the resort. They returned us to the ship around 3:30pm, and even helped us buy Costa Rican expresso beans at the local grocery store befor returning to the ship.

We're having a great, relaxing last day at sea today. The weather has been close to perfect although the seas were rough the first 5 days of our trip.

More later. Time for lunch.

Bill

[Psee]

Thanks for the update Bill.

 

Glad to hear you folks are having a relaxing time and the ports sound great! :)

 

Also thanks for the good tips on keeping the stomach virus at bay. Too bad most cruisers don't follow these simple guidelines to keep from ruining their cruise by a common virus. (Lately, most are more worried about the price of a coke or juice.) :D :D

 

We'll be on the Coral in few weeks and hope to have a nice relaxing vacation and some great times enjoying the ship and all of its ammenities!! ;)

 

Cliff

[gymswim]

Hi Cliff:

We're home now. The cruise on the Coral was great. The diving was terrific, but if you arn't certified, and you like adventures, I recommend you sign up with Almonds and Coral in advance to do the Zip line canopy tour in Limon. The guides will meet you at the pier in Limon and take you to the venue. It's a blast

You can Email Aurora Gamez at:

contact@almondsandcorals.com

Have a great cruise! Say hello to Robert Cole, the cruise director, for me.

Bill

[baby]

Hi

 

Can you tell me the name of the band in the explorer's lounge.

 

It was Emerald city when we were on Nov 10th

 

We are going again oct 25, 2005 -loved theship

 

Are there many peope in the lounges (those that are not sick)]

 

 

carol in connecticut

[gymswim]

Hi Carol:

Emerald City is still the band. They were excellent. The lounges were not overly crowded and very pleasant. The only public places that were temporarily closed because someone had been sick was in one of the glass elevators and then in the library. Specially dressed crew wearing contamination gear for toxic spills arrived and sanitized everything and the areas were reopened within an hour.

Bill

[DoreenD]

Our family will be taking this cruise next year beginning Dec. 24. Our children will be 17 and 20. Were there many older teens on this cruise? Are there activities that would appeal to this age group?

We are planning to book this cruise as well. . .I will be 41 and my DH will be 47. Our daughter will be 18. Hopefully there will be a good mix of ages on this cruise for Christmas!