Off The Coral Princess Into A Snowbank!!

[Seafoam Green]

Well, not exactly, but New England is definitely measuring snow in feet, no longer inches now...

 

I will be putting a review together, but just wanted to give a few details on what's happening aboard the Coral Princesss.

 

DH's first comment was that she was 'showing her age', but during the week there were many maintenance projects happening and she was looking far more fresh and perky as we departed.

 

I saw three staterooms in our hallway getting complete carpet replacements. Our next door neighbors said their carpet was so badly stained that it was replaced on the first port day (nice new pattern).

 

Anytime Dining in the Bordeaux Dining Room was great, with the exception of the typical traffic jam on the first evening when nobody has an established pattern and everyone is hungry at 7pm! We made a reservation for each evening thereafter, a party of two who would share. It was nearly evenly divided between dining with others or having our own table.

 

Norovirus: When we first boarded, everything was passed out via the staff at the buffet and that stopped soon after. On Valentine's Day, full norovirus procedures were in force, including no more freshly ground pepper in the dining rooms (packets would be handed to you). I overhead a passenger who resented the suggestion of only using the toilet in her cabin - she would use any restroom she wanted (the nerve of the crew, wanting her to remain in good health!)

 

Excursions:

Aruba - private, island tour with snorkeling at Baby Beach and Mangel Halto

Cartegena - Fortress, City Walls & Shopping by Land & Sea

Panama Canal - Locks Transit By Boat

Costa Rica - Class II Rafting on the Reventazon River & Lunch

Grand Cayman - private, Dive and snorkel on the Kittiwake

 

Patters: I have them - let me know if you have questions.

 

Happy Hours (daily, entire cruise): 2 for 1 pricing

Wheelhouse Bar 3-4pm

Explorers Lounge 10-11pm

 

Laundry rooms take tokens, not quarters. Is there a list showing which Princess ships take coin or token??

 

We are not show goers, but we enjoy live music with the occasional possibility of dancing. We enjoyed Sol Play in the Wheelhouse Bar, a wonderful dance band that could handle all speeds of music and types of dance steps. Jere Ring at the piano in Crooners Lounge was so popular that each evening the CD set up folding chairs along the atrium and people also sat on the stairs - yes, he was that good!

 

DH and I met so many wonderful and fun people that we enjoyed sharing the cruise with. It's not just the ship, the itinerary, the food, the excursions, the passengers - it's all of of those ingredients that make for a satisfying cruise.

 

I can't finish without mentioning a few of the 'oddities' that we observed:

The woman who attempted to 'pry open' an elevator door when she just missed it - maybe she was impersonating the Incredible Hulk?

The morning a woman set her fancy coffee (in the styrofoam cup) down near the plate container at the Horizon Court and then proceeded to use her arms in alternating swimming type strokes to complete the hand sanitizing process - I was just glad I had finished breakfast and was grabbing a second cup of tea. If I had been starving, I might not have been able to watch the whole dance without dashing by her.

When we were seated at a table for 2 next to a wall for the first dinner of the cruise, the couple next to us made no effort to hide their disgust at the fact that we were there. I commented to DH that we really needed some of the partitions like they used to have for 'Final Jeopardy'....

 

We had fun, we'll cruise again (kudos to the Future Cruise person for distributing pre-printed forms to the stateroom that only required a signature and the number you wanted to purchase. Brilliant!)

 

Let me know if you have questions.

:D

[Colo Cruiser]

Welcome back, looking forward to the review. :)

[cnd crsr]

Thanks for the comments. we will be sailing on her this summer. Looking forward to your review. I heard you were having a terrible winter, hope you get NO more snow!!

[Susie51]

Looking forward to more of your review.

[scienceteacher]

Very humorous anecdotes. Looking forward to your review. We will be on The Coral in October.

[Bimmer09]

Thanks for doing this- I'm always interested in reviews of the Coral.

 

Norris

[deborahjo]

Waiting your review. We are sailing on the Coral in September.

[6pack]

Who did you use for your private tour in Aruba? Would you recommend it? Looking forward to your review as we sail in April on a full transit :)

[cheeks78734]

did you eat at any restaraunt on the islands? Also what night was Italian night on the ship?

[Seafoam Green]

Who did you use for your private tour in Aruba? Would you recommend it? Looking forward to your review as we sail in April on a full transit :)

 

We used toursbylocals.com and booked a half day tour (4 hours) with Esther R. There are 3 guides that do tours through this website. We wanted a tour of the island with the 2 snorkeling stops included. Esther was entertaining and informative and she adjusted our travel to minimize time in traffic. We would definitely book with her again.

 

The full transit sounds nice. I hope we get to do that someday.

 

:D

[Seafoam Green]

did you eat at any restaraunt on the islands? Also what night was Italian night on the ship?

 

Usually we just stop to try a local beer and have a snack on the islands. On Aruba we went to The Paddock for some Balashi beer. On Grand Cayman, we went to Margaritaville and this time they were out of local brew so we had Red Stripe and Corona with some delicious chicken Quesadillas.

 

I believe that Italian night on the ship was the day we visited Limon, Costa Rica.

 

:D

[Susie51]

Thank you for continuing to share your experiences with us.

[Thrak]

Never sailed on Coral but we are booked for the 17 day SF/FLL full transit next September so very interested in anything regarding refurbishing of the ship. It's great to hear that they are doing maintenance such as replacing carpets. Perhaps she will be a "spiffed up" for us when we finally board. :)

[Seafoam Green]

Never sailed on Coral but we are booked for the 17 day SF/FLL full transit next September so very interested in anything regarding refurbishing of the ship. It's great to hear that they are doing maintenance such as replacing carpets. Perhaps she will be a "spiffed up" for us when we finally board. :)

 

Lucky you! Hey, how was that last cruise with the fancy upgrade?

 

The ship's crew is very nice, friendly and hardworking so I'm sure she'll be in even better shape by then. I never follow the drydock schedules, so I don't know when the last one was, or if one is due now. Clearly a lot was happening on our cruise.

 

:D

[Kim_and_Scott]

Thanks for your observations - can't wait for the review.

We're on her in 9 days - looking forward to kicking back and relaxing!

Kim

[Seafoam Green]

did you eat at any restaraunt on the islands?

 

Response #2 (after sleeping on it ;)):

 

The north end of Aruba is where the big hotels and casinos are, and we saw many American food chains represented there (KFC, Dunkin' Donuts, etc). It always seems like folks from New England look at Aruba's Dunkin' like it's Mecca...:rolleyes:

 

On Grand Cayman, the dive center we went out of had a restaurant/wine bar on the second floor called the Lobster Pot. Check that out. There were a few other waterfront bars/restaurants as you take a left out of the cruise terminal and head north on foot (10-15 minute stroll).

 

Google could probably provide help and reviews.

 

:D

[Seafoam Green]

Thanks for your observations - can't wait for the review.

We're on her in 9 days - looking forward to kicking back and relaxing!

Kim

 

It's a great itinerary and one you'll never forget! So much more than the usual Caribbean offering, and I really enjoy those.

 

Have a wonderful time, and make sure to 'relax completely' on those sea days because three intense port days in a row will bring a pleasant exhaustion.

 

:D