Coral Princess Panama Canal Cruise Dec 18-28th review

[ar1950]

Interesting, I present what I'd consider an honest opinion - pointing out things I liked and disliked, and I "trashed" their review? As I pointed out in my comments, for the most part, the cruise was pretty good, but there's no question it had a few glaring issues too in my opinion. ...................................................

 

Not questioning your comments or the validity of your opinions. Just saying that quoting the OP's review in its entirety and then doing a "point, counter point" type format may not have been the best way to present your opinions and experience. How about doing your own separate review so it doesn't sound like you are having an argument with the OP? Just my opinion here and why I posted what I posted about your presentation. As I said before, just sayin'.

Edited January 5, 2017 by ar1950

[eric99]

Really appreciate both comments on the rafting. Haven't done it in quite a while and Princess didn't give much information on the river. Having been injured once before on a cruse, I like to play it safe now. Sailing in 3 days!

[musicpro442]

I was on the cruise one week before you and she DID have a solo show, and for many it was the worst show of all.

 

I stood in the back and watched many people walk out as she talked about herself non-stop in between songs.

Her ramblings included things like why she'd never change her name from Barbie, to how she didn't know "Porgy and Bess" was an opera.

When she wasn't talking, she was gulping down a huge bottle of water.

You could actually hear her drinking, as if she was in a cartoon.

People could not stop talking about how bad she was the next day.

 

If she was bad then, she was exceptional this current cruise. She had two standing ovations at her solo show(s) and Encore received the same as well.

 

I for one thoroughly enjoyed her voice. She's also very humble, sweet, and took time out of her schedule to answer all my questions about how she came to be on the ship. I also bought her CD.

 

All in all, the entertainment was excellent this cruise. I have yet to see Motor City but I'm every other show, including the cast's and comedians', were fantastic.

 

(I read this post a few weeks ago so I just wanted to let everyone know what I thought once I was onboard. Once I have time, I'll have a thorough review pending.)

 

Excellent ship overall, however.

[Kingofcool1947]

If she was bad then, she was exceptional this current cruise. She had two standing ovations at her solo show(s) and Encore received the same as well.

 

I for one thoroughly enjoyed her voice. She's also very humble, sweet, and took time out of her schedule to answer all my questions about how she came to be on the ship. I also bought her CD.

 

All in all, the entertainment was excellent this cruise. I have yet to see Motor City but I'm every other show, including the cast's and comedians', were fantastic.

 

(I read this post a few weeks ago so I just wanted to let everyone know what I thought once I was onboard. Once I have time, I'll have a thorough review pending.)

 

Excellent ship overall, however.

 

 

So, one man's meat is another man's poison? ;). Who, and what, to believe?

Edited January 15, 2017 by Kingofcool1947

[VacationISmyFAVORITEword]

Just wanted to write an overview of this cruise that I thoroughly enjoyed! I (26 F) was sailing with my mom (not 26). We've sailed on Royal Caribbean and Holland before but this was my first time on Princess. We both agreed that Princess is now our favorite line!

 

Room: We had a balcony cabin on the Aloha deck (A329). This was a great room and it was fairly quiet too. We were a two minute walk to the buffet which can be a good and a bad thing depending on how you look at it (my waist line says a bad thing). We had originally had a cabin on the baja deck that we had researched and selected but princess "upgraded" us ahead of time and we couldn't our old cabin back. We didn't want that upgrade and were upset at the time but I liked out room so I think it worked out fine.

 

Our stateroom steward was very friendly and brought us a plate of two cookies every night (his idea, not ours). He did this for all of his rooms in addition to the chocolates.

 

Food: Definitely the best food that we have ever had on a cruise ship. I had read a lot about the princess food. I was fantasizing about that fettucine alfredo in a parmesan bowl but guess what? They don't make it anymore. Well they do, but not in the parmesan bowl. Oh well, I survived. They have a menu inspired by chef Curtis Stone and chocolate deserts inspired by Norman Love. I definitely felt like a lot of thought went into the food choices and there was never a night that I couldn't find something I wanted to eat off the main menu in the dinning room.

 

The highlight for me was the gingerbread souffle on christmas. It was so delicious!

 

We tried every other free dinning choice on the boat as well (except for the grill because we're not hamburger/hotdog people). I enjoyed all of it, my favorite probably being the pizza (alfredos and the one by the pool) and the afternoon tea (we only tried this once because our seating was at 5:30). I can't speak for Sabatini's or the Bayou. I don't want to pay for meals on cruise ships when I'm already paying for the included food.

 

We also went to one of the wine tastings (they had three throughout the cruise). If you like wine, I think it's worthwhile to do this once. They give you snacks and let you try some pretty expensive wines too.

 

Onboard Activities:

I want to get it out of the way first and mention that one of my only complaints was The Voice of the Ocean experience. I'm a singer. I have a degree in vocal performance and I've been training for over a decade. I was really looking forward to this opportunity. They had auditions which basically entailed singing with the Karaoke machine and then the audience would write in votes and they would pick the top 7 or 8.

 

Here were the problems with that set up:

-16 or 17 people auditioned (I was number 3). Majority of the people that got through were in the last 8 and voted through by audience members who missed the first half.

-People voted for their friends/family that auditioned. They said they were only giving one slip per table but that didn't seem to be enforced. I (having only one family member there) and others (who had ten family members there) were not on equal footing.

-The 8 people that were voted through had a huge crowds that they brought with them and at least 5 of them were completely tone deaf.

 

It was a very frustrating/unenjoyable experience. I think the auditions should be voted on by the cruise staff so it is unbiased and then let the audience vote in the final show. I may sound bitter/a sore loser about this but I had to share how felt.

 

Moving on from that...

 

There was so much to do on this boat and the sea days just flew by! The cruise director Corey was the best cruise director we ever had (I was also a little bit in love with him).

 

Some of the highlight activities for me onboard were:

-Zumba (the classes that Corey lead especially). I do Zumba back home too and it was great to have this on sea days so I felt like I was getting some exercise.

-Stargazing. This was after the shows one night up on deck 16 by the splash pool. They turned off all of the lights and the cruise director pointed out different constellations in the sky and the stories behind them. It's a treat to see the night sky without all the usual light pollution.

-The library. People were leaving books they brought from home and finished so there was always new material. I think I ended up reading 5 books on this trip. The chairs are also comfy and point to the windows so it's a very cozy place to relax and read.

 

I appreciated the lotus pool a lot too though it often got very crowded. My favorite day was when we came back early from Grand Cayman and had the pools and hot tubs almost entirely to ourselves.

 

They also have BOGO happy hour in the Wheelhouse Bar everyday from 3-4 where you can buy one drink and get another one for 1 dollar. We did this almost everyday. They have trivia right after that in the same location which we tried one day but promptly realized we don't know anything.

 

The onboard destination talks were also very informative. The guy that lead them always had very funny powerpoints and a lot of helpful information. He reminded me of Rick Steves.

 

Entertainment:

I was seriously impressed with all of the entertainment onboard the ship. The only show I didn't like was motorcity (it was cringeworthy).

Encore (a new princess show I believe) was especially impressive.

 

I also was really impressed by the magician that they had onboard (his name escapes me at the moment). He lead a class on the last day where he showed how he did some of his tricks. It was very interesting.

 

Around the ship my favorite music act was the violin duo (Angelic Dreams). They performed in different venues throughout the day and were always great to listen to.

 

Ports:

We did Princess shore excursions in every port except for Grand Cayman where we took a taxi to the beach (only $5) and then walked around the town.

 

We took the boat that went all the way through the Panama Canal which was a fascinating and worthwhile experience. That being said there was very little shade/AC on the boat so it can be a trying day, especially if you're older. I saw a lot of people on that excursion who looked like they were suffering.

 

My favorite port was Costa Rica where we saw the canals and the rainforest. I saw at least 5 sloths!

 

Holiday activities: The boat was well decorated for the holidays. There was a gingerbread display near the front desk that was particularly impressive. They had a lot of nice events for the kids and the grown ups. There was Christmas caroling on Christmas Eve and Santa came on Christmas morning to give present to kids in the atrium. Everyone on the boat got a stocking with a candy cane and some chocolates (one per room). They also had holiday cookie decorating on christmas which we did and a gingerbread house competition (which we didn't do). They had a special holiday show on Christmas night as well.

 

Let me know if you have any questions! I'm still jetlagged and tired so I apologize in advance for typos in this post.

 

I'll included some pictures later once I get them on my computer.

 

Loved your review

Did you pre-pay for the princess shore excursions or can you reserve the excursion and use OBC while on board?

[atsea64]

Thank you for your Coral review.

Sounds like a great time was had and I cannot wait.

We are sailing in March