Review Coral Princess Nov 4 to 14

[TorontoTL]

George was from the Phillipines. Probably not the same guy.

[mitsy]

We are on the Nov 24th sailing and I would appreciate you sending me the menues. Thanks. email address is lrtanner@eastlink.ca

[NorthernLights]

We just can't wait for our Feb sailing on Coral after reading your great review. Thanks for taking the time. Please send me a copy of the menus as it helps me with my lifestyle change (I don't use the word diet anymore). Trying to shrink a few sizes before the cruise, 94 days to go. Who's counting? "yvette-art@serbernet.com"

[TorontoTL]

Hi everyone, I decided the easier way to share the menus was to post them online. Have a look at them here http://community.webshots.com/myphotos?action=viewAllPhotos&albumID=505984740 I hope this helps everyone who is interested.

[AkSusan]

Thanks for the link!

 

Susan :)

[mmsoko]

Will you be on the Feb 22 Coral cruise?

 

If so come join our Roll Call....we have several groups of cruisers represented there....and you'll be interested in our weekly "factoids" thanks to KK.

 

 

 

Thanks for the menus, Toronto!!

[Eddiesmom]

Enjoyed your review as well, will be sailing the Coral on April 23rd.

 

I have a question TorontoTL. Were there 3 formal nights? Were there any "theme" nights.

 

There must be some trouble on webshots, not able to view the menus.

 

 

 

Roberta:)

[jonesmen]

TorontoTL-

 

I, too, enjoyed and appreciated your review. We are sailing on the Coral over the holidays (12/24-1/3) and can't wait.

 

FYI- Tried to view the menus and the link isn't working right now.

 

Bobbi

[TorontoTL]

I think I posted the wrong link, I'm sorry about that....I hope this one works for you now. http://community.webshots.com/album/505984740xgiKYu

There were the usual theme nights, the usual Island night with the deck party, Italian night, etc. There are only two formal nights for a 10 day cruise.

[tispwisp]

Thanks so much for your great review and also the link with the menus! As you know we were supposed to be with you on this cruise until I found out I had to have knee surgery. :p Anyway, we are sailing the Coral in April and was very happy to read your review and am glad you had a great time. Makes me more excited about ours coming up!

 

Thanks again for taking the time to post this information! :)

[TorontoTL]

Hi Amy! I hope things went well with your knee surgery. I think you will be very happy with your cruise on the Coral, she really is a beautiful ship with a wonderful crew.

[legalslave]

Toronto, not only did you give us a great review, you gave us quite a bonus in photographing and posting the menus! Thank you so much! It was a lousy work day, we have ice and snow. You have made it possible for me to forget all about it!

 

Diane

[TorontoTL]

Hi Diane, I remember you asking for the menus before we sailed. I'm glad you enjoyed my review, I certainly enjoyed the cruise and wanted to share it with everyone who wanted to read about it. I hope you were able to read everything on the menus. I also have a copy of the wine menu that I will try to post something this week as well because I remember people asking about it sometime in the past.

[btrojanoski]

Thanks TorontoTL for the review and the menus. We leave on the Coral on January 3, 2006. Really looking forward to it.

 

Barry

[Bonnie-Jean]

Thanks for the perfect review. We will be sailing the Coral Princess on March 14, 2006 and your review has made it even more exciting.

 

Bonnie

[alolewis]

Rather than write a new review I will just add my comments as I agree with everything so far, the cruise was fantastic. A few additional comments:

 

We also had a wait the first formal night and were actually told to use the Traditional Dining room as they had no idea how long the wait was. However, we started eating later and never had to wait and always got a table for two. I thought I wanted the Traditional dining but we used the Anytime dining to our advantage and loved the flexibility.

 

We had a balconey mini-suite D312 and loved the room.

 

Which pool is the adult only pool? One of my comments is that they need an adults only pool as one day in the Lotus pool a kid (one of the few on boar) jumped right on top of me when I ws swimming laps.

 

Dress code in the dining room is not enforced, saw jeans, tee-shirts, etc, one nigbht at the table next to us a woman had on a dirty jogging suit.

 

Seemed like they were always sell, sell, sell, even at the cooking demonistrations it was really an ad for the speciality restuarants, which we did not try, no need to dining room was great.

 

Ordered a scotch and water one day at a bar and assumed when you order a drink without specifying brand you would get bottom shelf, not so, they used Johnny Walker Black label and charged more for it so in the future specified brand of booze.

 

Thought the pool games were childess and reminded me of college faternities, one game was a beer chugging contest, another was run a string up and down the line throught the participants bathing suits.

 

Crew was polite, hardworking and motivated and did a good job - I was a little concerned about that do to comments on cruise critic that said service went down hill when the service fee was added, never saw that, service was very good.

 

As to the Princess Theater - late show usually was not full but early shows were usually "sold out".

 

Did the Sea to Sea Tour in Panama - enjoyed it a lot, however, a minor issue ship said lunch not included and to eat a "hearty btreakfast", upon getting on the tour boat was handed a box lunch.

 

The TV channel that shows the ships position - too long to scroll through the information, did they really need 6 screens to show you the times all over the world? I was most interested in ships position and course and speed but they gave lots of information, took about 10 minutes to scroll through it all so if all you wanted was current position it could take 10 minutes to get to that screen again.

 

All in all - a great cruise and highly recommend it. The mini-suite is worth the extra cost in my opinion as we never seemed crowded (but never did have both TV's on at once). before you flame me, i realize my issues are very minors ones but things I would think would enhance the cruise experience. (We did the onboard deposit for a future cruise we enjoyed this one so much).

[alolewis]

Forgot one, hated the paper containers the shampoo and conditioner came in, they seem to disintegrate in the shower, but was pleased the cabin attendant left the half used ones there, one of my pet peeves is hotels that throw away the small bottles of shampoos every day even though I usually get three or four days from one. I know, I know if these are my complaints I must lead a good life (I do).

[legalslave]

Toronto, yes, I was able to read everything on the menus. Made me very hungry. Thank you again for taking the time to photograph and post them. It means a lot to those of us with upcoming cruises on the Coral.

 

alolewis, I appreciate the info you have given. We need to know as much as possible about the ship and what to expect. What you posted was helpful in letting us all be more prepared. Thank you!

 

Diane

[Seoulmate]

Great review--we leave Feb 2, 06 in Balconys C303. C305. 11 weeks from Thursday. I watched you guys last week going through the locks on the Today show.

Been there to Panama w/o going through the locks--looking forward to it.

 

In the gym--do they have spinning classes--I have seen the bikes on the 360 tour.

 

How is the night life on board?:) :)

 

We are on the same cruise - very much looking forward to it.

 

bb

[NorthernLights]

TorontoTL, did the Coral have the $15 laundry bag special during the 10 day cruise?

Theory...pack less and shop more!

[alolewis]

had it twice but I think it was $20 a bag, once was the day prior to debarkcation. never used the laundray as took extra socks and underwear.

[TorontoTL]

Yes I do remember the laundry special but don't recall the price.

 

I do believe they had spinning classes at the gym, but I didn't attend any of them.

[sellwingri]

If you would email the menus to me, I would appreciate it. We're on the 4/13 cruise so we have a while to go but it doesn't hurt planning early.

 

Thanks

 

sellwingri@comcast.net

[sellwingri]

Toronto,

 

Sorry-I jumped the gun and asked for the menus before I read the post where they were posted.

 

Thanks for taking the time. All of us on future cruises appreciate it!

[OSUFAN]

Hey Benny....

 

It was great to meet you and the other CC Cruisers onboard! Those of you going on a future cruise...it is really neat to meet the people you have chatted with before the cruise. Try to arrange a get together the first day out...we met at Crooners after the lifeboat drill.

He gave a wonderful review and I'll add my two cents worth. Since he is young and polite, he wouldn't mention that the average age of passengers on the ship is probably more 60ish like myself. I think that is probably why there is a lack of late night action onboard. The night I went to the 9 p.m. passenger crew talent show, my traveling companion who is 70 was already headed for bed!

 

We did dine at Bayou one night and it was very good. If you go there, try the chocolate pecan fudge cake for dessert....yummy! A lot of food but worth the $15 cover charge. We both had steak and shrimp...a combo which isn't on the menu...but they offer it anyway. The jambalaya was very good. I had read on these boards that Sabatini's involves mainly ordering an entree and they brought samples of everything else which was way too much food....so we opted otherwise for the dining room each evening.

 

By the way, this was the first cruise I have taken that we didn't have a set seating. Didn't book the cruise until August and were way down on the waiting list. We didn't encounter one instance of a wait for a table since we didn't mind joining others. The food and service was excellent. They offer a lot of wonderful souffles for dessert...they are individually baked and they serve them out of the baking dishes with a side of sauce. The pina colada soup the first night was wonderful....served in a glass with a straw just like the drink. A good opportunity to try chilled soups that you might not otherwise try. Lobster night was two lobster tails, but they also had lobster thermidor as an entree one night and it was very rich and good. The dinner rolls were good and interesting, i.e. coated with sunflower seeds were my favorite.

 

We had a mini-suite...the very last cabin on starboard side...C727. Only noticed vibration from time to time....nothing like motion I've felt on other ships when people got seasick. In addition to our balcony, they have a neat balcony at the back of the ship that is almost private as most people obviously had not discovered it. It was great going through the canal at the back of the ship because you could see out the side and behind us as well. Matt Lauer broadcasting for the Today show made things slower than usual but it was fun to see all the signs made for him. I was up out on the balcony at 6 as we were starting through the canal. We took the train tour and I believe they had us be in the Princess lounge at 9 after we had gone through the Gatun Locks. The train tour also includes a bus tour. We went to the Miraflores Locks. They have a very nice visitor center with an observation tower and we watched another ship approach the locks. The guides on the tours are so well informed and you learn many interesting things about their area and country. At Limon we took the pontoon tour which was very similar to the boats he has mentioned. We, too, saw sloths, iguanas, howler monkeys....no crocodiles though. I had been to Cayman and Ocho Rios before so didn't do a tour...just checked out the shopping. My friend took the tour in Cayman that included a trip to Hell and the turtle farm. She seemed to enjoy that tour.

The Coral Princess is a beautiful ship and as he said, you wonder where everyone is most of the time....(usually at the food venues...lol). There are so many lounges and areas that have live entertainment. We thoroughly enjoyed all of the shows. They also had an illusionist. The singers and dancers are great. This is the first cruise I've been on that had crew members participate in the talent show....and that was fun.

Princess does a fantastic job at embarkation. We had spent the night at Pier 66 and their checkout time was noon. Even though Princess advised arriving after 2, we headed for the ship and were in our minisuite in the snap of our fingers. Debarkation was smooth also.

 

I used the internet cafe to check in for my return flight and print boarding passes. I think with the internet fees and printing it was only $3.80 and worth it to make check in at the airport faster. I think our cab fee including tip back to the airport was $15 so doing the ship's transfers at $10 pp isn't really worth it because you would have to wait for the bus to fill up, wait for luggage to be unloaded at the airport, etc.

 

I was also surprised to see that you could print your own digital pictures onboard...probably walked by that machine 100 times before I realized it.

 

Another neat new thing on the newer ships is the laundry. They have large ironing boards with irons, washers and dryers. The ironing boards are free....washers and dryers $1 apiece. I used the ironing board once and usually no one even in there until about a week later when people started using the washers.

Hope all of you getting ready to go out on the Coral have a fantastic cruise as well. I, too, would be happy to answer any questions. Bon voyage! Carla