Observations from our Coral Princess cruise

[twocats]

I am very slow getting this posted but here goes. The Coral Princess traveling from FLL to SF through the Canal brought us such joy. We met wonderful cruise mates, some we met here on CC, and it was fun running into people all over the ship and sharing experiences. The best part about coming home was opening my window at home was hearing the birds chirping. Didn’t miss it until we heard it but no sound like that on the ship. Sooo there are goods and bads to everything. The bad part is that I sure miss Alex our cabin steward who did a great job for 15 days.

 

There was a wonderful post recently by bdjam regarding his stay on the Island Princess and a great review by Largin. Since the Coral and Island are sister ships it would be redundant to restate those posts. My post will be just my observations. I do agree the Coral is beautiful and well laid out. Our cabin was C520 and almost center of the ship port side. Remember port side has the red/orange coloring weaved into the carpet. Our balcony was half covered and half uncovered. It nicely accommodated a lounge, two deck chairs and a table. We used the balcony until we left Cabo, then the weather changed, the wind came up and it was really “California coast” weather, which was quite cool. We asked that the divider between our cabin and family’s cabin of 518 be opened. I did notice that not all balconies did have this possibly. Some of the things I need to correct regarding postings I read before we left are minor but include:

No liquid shower soap on the wall of the shower, only bar soap available (which I hate). So bring your own shower gel or whatever. The individual packets of shampoo and conditioner were fine, but with very soft water my hair was limp. Also with two or more showers a day (heat and humidity) the shampoo washed out my hair color. Better to bring your own personal choice of hair products. Shower curtain was a weighted cloth material so it didn’t blow in, no need for duct tape to secure sides. Shower is small but not unmanageable. Also interesting is that the faucet has an auto stop for heat and water pressure, if one wants hotter water or more pressure there are little wedges sticking out on the sides of the shower faucet, squeeze and turn and it will move past the auto stop. I like very warm water and it was not always even warm without changing the faucet.

Nightlight for room unnecessary because light from hallway shines through door edges. Also the night stand lights are dimmer lights, so those can be used accordingly.

Bathroom plug would not accept my curling iron so it was another appliance for the extra-extended outlet we brought from home. It was set up on the desk area where the hairdryer and phone are. Bathroom plug would not accept my nightlight either so I suggest a small tap light for the bathroom counter, unless you turn the big light on each time you use the bathroom at night.

Check your bill several times before it gets to confusing. Room tip charges are posted daily rather than at the end. We had a rather large bar charge that was charge and signed for by someone else. They just put our cabin number and that is what bookkeeping uses for billing. Easily changed by stopping at the Passenger Service Desk.

 

Look in your packet placed in your room the first day for a great form called the “Cruise Planner”. I overlooked it for a day or two but quickly realized how valuable it was. It has grids showing a schedule for Date - Port - Dinner/Dress Code - Main Events and a place for you to put notes. With the main events listed one can see which shows will be presented, some are twice and some only once. It listed the culinary demos and a few other things, certainly not everything but the Patter does a great job for all that. Extra Patters and some mainstream newspaper front pages are printed and passed our free from Passenger Services.

 

Largin did a great job describing some the meals and one specialty (at least for me) was the ice cream bar. Free ice cream (not to be confused with the Ice Cream bar where one purchases cones and sundaes) service is available in the Horizon dining area. Not in the buffet lines, but back by the seating. It was from 3:30 to 4:30 and consisted of 3 flavors and several toppings. Yum, it was a nice treat.

Also of interest was the afternoon tea. Tea was poured from the pot so I don’t believe there was any choice. Accompanying tea was several types of small sandwiches, scones, cookies and some fancier desserts. Also very nice. We ate one evening at the Bayou and all 4 of us found it to be excellent, I had the biggest and best Porterhouse steak ever, and the 3 others enjoyed alligator ribs. Along with the dinner we chose our own accompanying foods and then extra plates were brought to share. The chocolate souffle was the best dessert.

I think that’s it for now, feel free to post questions, I will try to answer.

I will also post separate from here a port review for those interested on the ports for this repositioning cruise. Along with the port review I will make pictures available for the tours we choose. i will have that done later this evening or in the a.m.

[LARGIN]

twocats.. Welcome to the "I Love the Coral" Club... She is a fine lady..

[Desert Nurse]

Free ice cream (not to be confused with the Ice Cream bar where one purchases cones and sundaes) service is available in the Horizon dining area. Not in the buffet lines, but back by the seating. It was from 3:30 to 4:30 and consisted of 3 flavors and several toppings. Yum, it was a nice treat.

.

 

We had the same arrangement for the no charge ice cream on the Island to Hawaii in March. It was amusing to see some make fools of themselves running for the ice cream and dishing up huge quantities like they had never seen ice cream before!

[TBetti]

Cricket, On the Island, I never saw the ice-cream bar, guess I spent tooooo much time at Crooners and the Casino!

 

Tom:cool:

[goblue]

Bathroom plug would not accept my nightlight either so I suggest a small tap light for the bathroom counter, unless you turn the big light on each time you use the bathroom at night.

 

What is a tap light ? can I find it in Home depot or Loews ?

I brought a nite light with me the first time I got on Coral (2003) and it didn't fit the plug - ended up leaving the big light on all night :(

[skybuffalo]

The Coral will always be our first love.

 

Welcome to the club. Ron

[twocats]

Tap lights are little flat round lights, they can sit flat or be hung and are battery operated. One just pushes on the top and the light turns on. They are about 4-5 inches across. They can be found at any hardware, KMart, Walmart and yes, Home Depot and Loews. Very convenient for the bathroom counter during the night. I believe I found mine at the dollar store.

[Deloresgardella]

Twocats I loved your review. I was also on that same cruise and loved the ship. I was even able to find my way around after two or three days. I thought the food was very good. We ate in the Horizon Court for breakfast and lunch most of the time. Did make dinner in the restarant at night though. I thought the pizza was excellent as were the hamburgers at the grill. I also really enjoyed meeting all of our CC friends. Really Irish, I hope you found your house still in tack when you got home. I haven't talked to Douglas much since we got home but I am sure he enjoyed talking to everyone.

 

Delores

[goblue]

Tap lights are little flat round lights, they can sit flat or be hung and are battery operated. One just pushes on the top and the light turns on. They are about 4-5 inches across. They can be found at any hardware, KMart, Walmart and yes, Home Depot and Loews. Very convenient for the bathroom counter during the night. I believe I found mine at the dollar store.

 

Thank you - now i know what to look for :)

[mafig]

We were fortunate to be on Coral's maiden voyage. It ranks as our favorite cruise. I'm glad to hear people are still enjoying her.:)

[NWBuckeye]

We had a similar problem on the Golden Princess.....the outlet in the bathroom was for electric shavers only. So everything had to be plugged into the one outlet which was already crowded (hair dryer and then the phone right next to it) Maybe someone has a solution to this situation. The extension cord and multi-outlet strip I had didn't really help. Is there some sort of an adapter that could have been used in the bathroom ? Perhaps there's a safety issue here that they don't want you using electrical appliances in the bathroom.

Help anyone ?