Coral Princess changes

[xyankee]

I know that the Island Princess is scheduled for major changes with the addition of more cabins. I assume the same changes are going to be made to the Coral Princess. Has the date for the Coral changes been announced yet?

[xyankee]

Ignore previous post. Just did a search and saw where no changes are currently scheduled for the Coral.

[Thrak]

Guess again. Check the deck plans on the Princess site. If you are sailing after March 6, 2016 the plans show the same hack job that the Island is getting.

[Colo Cruiser]

Yes its do next year.

 

There are few threads on it. :(

[skynight]

Yes, in Feb 2016. Addition of approx. 240 passengers, Elimination of the beautiful Universe Lounge, one of the best on any Princess ship, and it appears no expansion of the DR's to feed all the passengers. The Coral and Island Princess already are challenged with seating in their DR's. THere are other changes also.

[EmpressofPurple]

This is so devastating. I have seen this kind of hack refurb on RCI. I'm planning my first Alaskan cruise on Coral next May and was looking at post-March layouts. Then I read some CC reviews of where best to view the incredible nature scenery, mentioning "aft viewing areas"... but I didn't recall seeing those on the deck plans I had been researching...

 

Sure enough, the viewing areas on decks 9-11 (will) have been turned into enclosed private super suite balconies... the fitness center has been moved from its beautiful site on the Lido deck to an INTERIOR space on deck 6, surrounded by Oceanview cabins (and the Lido deck space has been turned into more cabins, too)... the beautiful Sanctuary pool is gone... and the two-story lounge on decks 7 & 8 aft is GONE, replaced by cabins... even the Promenade deck no longer runs around the entire ship, but ends at a dead stop at deck 7 aft, where these new cabins (will) have been installed. Devastating!

 

So these ships, described as having been "designed" for viewing the Panama Canal and the Alaskan glaciers, now only can provide that for those with private balconies... meanwhile increasing passenger load while actually reducing public space, leading to more overcrowding, overworked staff trying to serve additional passengers in less room... I haven't even thought about the stress on fixed public spaces such as theatres and dining areas...

 

GRRRRR. I was SOOO excited about getting back to my favorite cruise line... only to discover it's been going down the same road as so many of the others, increasing passenger yield while reducing passenger delight... so sad...:(

[Astro Flyer]

If you search for the Island Princess there are many discussions about the changes & most likely a preview of the Coral Princess.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2127734

 

There are great photos by Dave & a few posts from those who have sailed the Island post-drydock. Having sailed the Island & Coral several times these changes are disappointing & to me not much improvement to the wonderful Island...and apparently the Coral next year. :(

Edited June 6, 2015 by Astro Flyer

[EmpressofPurple]

Ugh, I just read a bit in that thread... I am SO UNHAPPY... I had been looking at pictures of princess ships, thinking how pretty they are... But the pix of the butchered Island (and soon Coral) are just plain ugly.

 

Never mind that it's ugly they removed the aft public viewing area... That they moved the gym from a beautiful upper deck to an inside area... That they removed the sanctuary pool... That they removed a lovely two story lounge... That they added extra cabins and reduced public space... That square backside on the ship is just plain UGLY!!!

 

I wanted to do my first Alaska cruise on princess, and was thrilled to be returning to my first favorite cruise line... But I'm seriously going to try to find a different ship... What terrible planning and design, I'm just sick... There have to be other ways to increase earnings, if that's really needed... Honestly, can't people just make a living instead of making a killing? It's not like they're losing money with the current (beautiful, civilized, appreciated, baked) ship layout, are they??

 

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[Astro Flyer]

Ugh, I just read a bit in that thread... I am SO UNHAPPY... I had been looking at pictures of princess ships, thinking how pretty they are... But the pix of the butchered Island (and soon Coral) are just plain ugly.

 

 

 

Never mind that it's ugly they removed the aft public viewing area... That they moved the gym from a beautiful upper deck to an inside area... That they removed the sanctuary pool... That they removed a lovely two story lounge... That they added extra cabins and reduced public space... That square backside on the ship is just plain UGLY!!!

 

 

 

I wanted to do my first Alaska cruise on princess, and was thrilled to be returning to my first favorite cruise line... But I'm seriously going to try to find a different ship... What terrible planning and design, I'm just sick... There have to be other ways to increase earnings, if that's really needed... Honestly, can't people just make a living instead of making a killing? It's not like they're losing money with the current (beautiful, civilized, appreciated, baked) ship layout, are they??

 

I feel similarly but could live with the exterior appearance if the interior was a big improvement...look at NCL's Epic which to me is bad & like a rectangular hotel was a last minute addition to the front upper decks. :eek:

 

 

 

The only improvement is to the Horizon Court which the Coral received several years ago when they also added an IC...not the best but beats nothing at all on the Island. :( Whether the new cabins are an improvement seems to be debatable based on posts on that other thread.

[Cruzin-K]

I just noticed that if you try to do a mock booking on the Coral for 2017, they've yanked the new deck plans and are showing the old ones. The new one is still out there when you just view the deck plans outside the booking engine, but to go and book a cabin, you can't choose a new cabin. My TA told me that they are revising the deck plans. I was ticked because I wanted one of the new aft balconies on Baja, and now there's no telling when they'll come out with new plans so I can get that booked.

[f-mattox]

I tried the same thing. I wound up booking a new cabin on Island Princess instead early in 2017. You might check I.P.'s itineraries for something you like. It's a sure way of getting one of the new cabins.

[EmpressofPurple]

Ooh, I'm a little excited and hopeful that maybe all those terrible changes won't be put in place after all! Perhaps we'll have some aft viewing areas! Maybe a gym with a view!! Maybe a promenade deck with room to promenade!!! Ooohhh...

 

Yeah, for those who want a private, my-cabin-only-has-the-view aft cabin... Book the island!!!! :-)

 

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[mr green]

Disgusted with Princess over Coral. Will never sail on her again!!!:mad:

 

john

[MacGuffin]

There's a lot of chatter out there that the Coral refurb has been changed, delayed or cancelled. Some folks who booked 'new' cabins are getting letters from Princess with new cabin assignments, and the times the new deck plans are shown all the new suites are 'unavailable'!!! I also read the Island is having a lot of vibration problems with the new cabins, so hopefully Princess is rethinking or revising their plans! HAL did the same with the Veendam and Rotterdam. The plan was to retrofit more ships with new aft balconies, remove the aft pool for a 'retreat', etc., but after two ships getting butchered those plans were scrapped. The Volendam was given Lanai cabins and that's about it! Let's keep our fingers crossed for the Coral...

[RickEk]

Yes, no passenger cabins will be added to Coral Princess...

 

"Coral Princess’ maintenance period originally scheduled for March of 2016 has been modified. The dry dock is now scheduled for 16 January 2016 through 30 January 2016. The addition of passenger staterooms has been postponed until further notice."

[Astro Flyer]

Yes, no passenger cabins will be added to Coral Princess...

 

"Coral Princess’ maintenance period originally scheduled for March of 2016 has been modified. The dry dock is now scheduled for 16 January 2016 through 30 January 2016. The addition of passenger staterooms has been postponed until further notice."

Thanks for this encouraging news & based on your other posts from an insider it's info that to me is very credible. :)

 

Princess must have realized early on that the changes to the Island were not being well received by many passengers. They briefly promoted the changes on their website before removing it & unlike other recent major overhauls did not provide photos or videos of the progress.

 

It would be good to know why this change was made however we may never know the real reason why. It may only be a temporary postponement for additional engineering changes to eliminate issues such as the reported vibration in a lot of the new cabins. Hopefully it's not merely a postponement & Princess will formulate a better plan to provide many more positive than negative changes to one of the best ships in their fleet.

 

Whatever their rationale, this is good news to me & others who were very disappointed with the changes made to the Island & hopefully we won't receive any "further notice" of implementing the Island's changes to the Coral. ;)

Edited June 10, 2015 by Astro Flyer

[OCruisers]

Good Grief! Hope they won't ruin another perfectly wonderful ship! :rolleyes:

 

LuLu

[Colo Cruiser]

Lets hope not. :(

[Cruzin-K]

Dear Princess Guest:

 

Please be advised that due to operational reasons, Coral Princess’ maintenance period will now end on January 30, 2016, and not March 1, 2016, as previously communicated. As such, voyage 6605 departing on Friday, February 5 has been reinstated.

 

If you would like to rebook on this voyage, please contact your travel consultant, if you booked through a travel agency, or us at 1-800-774-6237. Upon your request, your original booking, xxxxxx, will be reactivated at the original cruise fare. We are more than happy to honor the original $30 per stateroom ship board credit and if you have not already applied the credit to another sailing, it will be applied automatically to your Princess booking.

 

We apologize for yet another change but we hope that you will be able to sail with us as originally planned. Thank you for your attention to this notification. We look forward to welcoming you aboard your next Princess cruise.

 

Sincerely,

 

Princess Cruises

 

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Colo Cruiser]

Good news. :)

[mr green]

It seems that I might cruise Coral again.:):):)

 

john

[undercat]

Hooray! I'm happy to hear that the refit has been postponed!

 

I'm leaning more heavily towards booking the Coral for 2016 based on this news. We might as well sail on her "as-is" before Princess modifies the blueprints and reschedules the refit and cabin additions for 2017!

Edited June 11, 2015 by undercat

[Cruzin-K]

Hooray! I'm happy to hear that the refit has been postponed!

 

I'm leaning more heavily towards booking the Coral for 2016 based on this news. We might as well sail on her "as-is" before Princess modifies the blueprints and reschedules the refit and cabin additions for 2017!

 

I doubt very much they'd put the same ship in dry dock two years in a row. There's only so much dry dock space anyway, and I'm sure it has to be booked well in advance. 2017 is probably booked solid already.

 

I'm sticking with my 2017 booking, and planning to do lots of laps around that promenade deck :D

[undercat]

Thanks Cruzin-K! (my browser isn't letting me quote to reply for some reason)

[EmpressofPurple]

Hallelujah!!!:d