Follow up “live” for June 19 coral princess

[Cbtours]

Hi fellow CC’ers. 
I indicated I would start a new topic as a follow on from the previous live 16th June, not presuming to go over same stuff, but to add observations, experiences etc. especially for us that are first time in a suite, and B2B.

 

1. So the official brochure for suite says the mini bar and complementary embarkation dinner were for cruises 6 days or longer. I checked with my PVP who assured me it was every cruise and that there would be a welcome letter each cruise.

 

Today, our second cruise (4 days) has the said letter inviting us to SD, last week we did Bayou, tonight we are doing Sabatinins.

 

Next came someone delivering our mini bar. We explained nicely that we had swapped it last week and they had given us both a coffee package and a soda package. No problem.

 

guest services just confirmed that we have the coffee package and the classic soda package which covered every drink not alcoholic, so mocktails, juices, smoothies, frappes as well as all the fountain sodas. Just not cans. Fine with us. Very impressed with the swap needless to say. I checked the medallion account and it was showing a charge for soda package. No worries sir it will be reversed within 24 hours. Also they explained some of the staff don’t have the little machines that immediately see your name and what package you have, so Guest services apologised for any inconvenience, but assured us to just come back with any charges and they would remove them,

 

second thing we had been told, was they each cruise needs settling account at the end of each segment so make sure you use your OBC. Today I found out that they just rolled our account instead of closing it and opening a new one. This is fine by us and means OBC would roll over too.

 

we cannot stress enough how accommodating every single staff member has been. This is the first time we have been in a suite as I said and aren’t elite yet. So have never used laundry. David our room steward told me to have anything I wanted for washing, and any just ironing in a separate bag, and he would take them when he did the bed turn down so they would be in first thing. So we did this first night 16th last week, as we’d been away 3 days already, so not much but some washing. But I had much more ironing as we didn’t unpack as such as our friends. Both lots were delivered back about 5.30pm next night. He actually offered first night if I needed something pressing tp wear for dinner, he would run down and organise it and bring it back right away. Amazing service.

 

So to todays embarkation observations. Much younger crowd I’d say on board judging from what I saw. And a faire few kids which is great.lots of excitement. And for I guess the first hour, the staff loudly cheered and welcomed everyone. At some stage I realised I could no longer hear the welcome, so I’m guessing it’s maybe just the first batches, so hoping you all on early enough for the big welcome. One of you guys [NWPS? Strolls on last minute????? Well let us know the time and we cc group can meander down to deck 7 and give you a little hoo raa when you’re getting on lol. I wonder if the newcomers today were as touched as we were by the welcome….. I’m not sure anyone would not have been a tad emotional. Heck I was again today just hearing it from our balcony.

 

We have been making the most of MDR so not really trying to mix it up with the hoards just for socially distancing, not wanting to be tossed off our cruises. That being said, there was no rats, no attesting, or any such things today.it was I presume they counted it as one long cruise, even though the benefits are coming through as individual cruises. Sooooo nice to be back on board savouring every delicious morsel of everything….. except Frank thought his fish was just a tad dry yesterday lol. Me!,,, if it was a Vegemite sandwich that I did it have to prepare I’d be happy.

 

 I must say, we are having breakfast in sabatinis but I am presuming the menu is same as MDR?.. today I had brioche French toast and it was amazing. Yes I had a delicious Bircher meuelsi first and I may have had a chocolate croissant to finish, and the waited asked if I wanted crispy bacon with my French toast and I didn’t want to hurt his feelings by saying no hahahahahah. I had heard you can ask for anything and they would try and get it. I had them stumped though when I asked if they had any kippers!,,, I don’t think they even kj is what a fav old English item was .

 

so. That is our experience of cruise number two swapping over. It’s 3.12 so I need to get ready to watch the leaving activity, listed to the blast of the horn. Your turn will come if it’s not already……

ask anything and will see if I can get the answer. When I go down later I’ll try and source your sausage rolls CDaze71.

 

 

 

 

[Cbtours]

Complimentary embarkation dinner in Sabatinis tonight. Grllied lamb skewer mmmmmmmm and calamari so tender and delicious. Actually a huge entre but big enough for main. However we then fit in a main heheh. Frank had the seafood parcel, fascinating to have it come wrapped in paper, which was very novel, and he really enjoyed the contents of the parcel. I stuck with chicken scalloping and was not disappointed. Frank chose the pan Scott’s dessert and I was tempted by the chefs special, four miniature samplers of the main menu. Tooo nice.

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

It all sounds wonderful Irene. 

 

I have a feeling I might get quite emotional when we board. Princess ships are one of my happy places. 

 

It's great to hear the suite turnaround on laundry is so quick. That clarifies a few packing decisions for me. Like you we have a couple of days before boarding, and then four days before we get home so have to plan for that time as well as the cruise.

 

Did you get to see the Encore production show? If so who or what (soprano, tenor etc) is the guest singer? I absolutely love that show.

 

Enjoy the second cruise. 

[Cbtours]

1 minute ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

It all sounds wonderful Irene. 

 

I have a feeling I might get quite emotional when we board. Princess ships are one of my happy places. 

 

It's great to hear the suite turnaround on laundry is so quick. That clarifies a few packing decisions for me. Like you we have a couple of days before boarding, and then four days before we get home so have to plan for that time as well as the cruise.

 

Did you get to see the Encore production show? If so who or what (soprano, tenor etc) is the guest singer? I absolutely love that show.

 

Enjoy the second cruise. 

We’ve not been to a show yet. A bit of taking things easy re crowds especially doing a few cruises together, didn’t want to get turfed off in the middle and we’re so enjoying everything else, even just relaxing, hanging around etc, I’ll check out what’s on when.

[arxcards]

All sounds like wonderful Princess. Keep on enjoying your cruises.

[portcbob]

Hi Irene.

Your reviews thus far have settled us down a bit. We have a 28 nighter around Aussie coming up in October.

Have been reading the odd complaints from people on FB concerning the ship is looking old, food no good ect ect 

Glad to see you guys are enjoying the ship.👍

[NSWP]

8 hours ago, Cbtours said:

We’ve not been to a show yet. A bit of taking things easy re crowds especially doing a few cruises together, didn’t want to get turfed off in the middle and we’re so enjoying everything else, even just relaxing, hanging around etc, I’ll check out what’s on when.

If I may say so, you are really missing out on an experience not going to the shows, they are a big part of the Princess experience and you need to 'Come Back New.' 😁

[Cbtours]

4 minutes ago, NSWP said:

If I may say so, you are really missing out on an experience not going to the shows, they are a big part of the Princess experience and you need to 'Come Back New.' 😁

Absolutely agree, but because we’re on here fir 17 days I didn’t feel I needed to rush right into everything. 🥳🥳🥳 obviously they repeat the shows 

[Cbtours]

19 minutes ago, portcbob said:

Hi Irene.

Your reviews thus far have settled us down a bit. We have a 28 nighter around Aussie coming up in October.

Have been reading the odd complaints from people on FB concerning the ship is looking old, food no good ect ect 

Glad to see you guys are enjoying the ship.👍

We are in the same 28 nighter in October too 🥰 I have read some of the fb posts too and I wondered if they were on the same cruise lol.

[CDaze71]

@Cbtours thank you so much for all your updates, you are a gem. I will get so emotional if the crew are there greeting us in the first group. 

[Cbtours]

Just now, CDaze71 said:

@Cbtours thank you so much for all your updates, you are a gem. I will get so emotional if the crew are there greeting us in the first group. 

I’m sure they will be at least the first, maybe even the second lol. Perhaps I could wander down there on 26th with a box of tissues to Greet you 😂😂😂😂

 

I felt like I should be hugging them all or something like long lost family lol but of course all we could do was “thank you thank you”.

now just to keep your excitement alive, took this at 6am from our balcony

doh I have no idea why my pics keep inserting upside down cos I’m def not standing on my head!!!!

let’s try one more. Make sure your sound is on!

 

[Ozwoody]

35 minutes ago, Cbtours said:

I’m sure they will be at least the first, maybe even the second lol. Perhaps I could wander down there on 26th with a box of tissues to Greet you 😂😂😂😂

 

I felt like I should be hugging them all or something like long lost family lol but of course all we could do was “thank you thank you”.

now just to keep your excitement alive, took this at 6am from our balcony

doh I have no idea why my pics keep inserting upside down cos I’m def not standing on my head!!!!

let’s try one more. Make sure your sound is on!

 

Hi Irene

It may be that on some photos you rotate the phone to the right, and on another you rotate it left.

Just a suggestion??  🤨

[Cbtours]

Just now, Ozwoody said:

Hi Irene

It may be that on some photos you rotate the phone to the right, and on another you rotate it left.

Just a suggestion??  🤨

Yet I just sent same to my family on messenger and it’s oerfect

[Ozwoody]

4 minutes ago, Cbtours said:

Yet I just sent same to my family on messenger and it’s oerfect

That is possible, as you may be sending it to a device that auto rotates.🤔

I've had that problem with my Nikon, then found that I was alternatively rotating one way or the other, found that once I made the conscious thought to rotate one way, it stopped.

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 hours ago, portcbob said:

Hi Irene.

Your reviews thus far have settled us down a bit. We have a 28 nighter around Aussie coming up in October.

Have been reading the odd complaints from people on FB concerning the ship is looking old, food no good ect ect 

Glad to see you guys are enjoying the ship.👍

Don't panic! Princess does the long cruises very well.

 

Food is very subjective. Some people are very fussy about how they like things and will complain if it's not exactly cooked how they ( or maybe their mum) cook it.

 

Yes, Coral is one of the older ships which is why she has lovely features like a full promenade deck. IMHO Princess usually keeps their ships in good condition and are continually cleaning, painting, and maintaining them. 

[Cbtours]

31 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Don't panic! Princess does the long cruises very well.

 

Food is very subjective. Some people are very fussy about how they like things and will complain if it's not exactly cooked how they ( or maybe their mum) cook it.

 

Yes, Coral is one of the older ships which is why she has lovely features like a full promenade deck. IMHO Princess usually keeps their ships in good condition and are continually cleaning, painting, and maintaining them. 

Coral is in top condition for me 🥰

[NSWP]

I have been on both Coral Princess and her sister ship Island Princess  Panama Canal and Alaska Inside Passage. Lucky Coral came here instead of Island. They butchered her, losing Universe Lounge, aft view decks and more importantly the full walk around promenade deck.  All for the sake of putting additional cabins...$.

 

There was a huge uproar in the American cruising fraternity when they butchered Island.  Saved Coral.

 

 

Edited June 19, 2022 by NSWP

[OzKiwiJJ]

25 minutes ago, NSWP said:

I have been on both Coral Princess and her sister ship Island Princess  Panama Canal and Alaska Inside Passage. Lucky Coral came here instead of Island. They butchered her, losing Universe Lounge, aft view decks and more importantly the full walk around promenade deck.  All for the sake of putting additional cabins...$.

 

There was a huge uproar in the American cruising fraternity when they butchered Island.  Saved Coral.

 

 

Yes, I'd read about that and was very relieved when I heard we were getting Coral. 

[Cbtours]

3 hours ago, Ozwoody said:

That is possible, as you may be sending it to a device that auto rotates.🤔

I've had that problem with my Nikon, then found that I was alternatively rotating one way or the other, found that once I made the conscious thought to rotate one way, it stopped.

 

I have a picture now of you personally rotating each way (not your camera) lol. The homey pokey style of photography 

[Cbtours]

CDaze71! An answer to ordering two drinks at once. Technically it’s not allowed and they will charge you for one. They explained that the system is standard to accept one drink at a time. I’ve come unstuck because I’ve ordered one for each of us on the app but in my name. It’s absolutely no prob to just pop down to guest services and they reverse it. But now we know I will just make sure we order from our sep apps.

when ordering verbally you just need to make sure they allocate the drinks each. Of course if you’re in same restaurant they get to know you very quickly so it’s no prob, it’s just their default to make sure the plus people are not ordering for all and sundry,

[Ozwoody]

32 minutes ago, Cbtours said:

I have a picture now of you personally rotating each way (not your camera) lol. The homey pokey style of photography 

That's not far off it🤣🤣

[CDaze71]

6 minutes ago, Cbtours said:

CDaze71! An answer to ordering two drinks at once. Technically it’s not allowed and they will charge you for one. They explained that the system is standard to accept one drink at a time. I’ve come unstuck because I’ve ordered one for each of us on the app but in my name. It’s absolutely no prob to just pop down to guest services and they reverse it. But now we know I will just make sure we order from our sep apps.

when ordering verbally you just need to make sure they allocate the drinks each. Of course if you’re in same restaurant they get to know you very quickly so it’s no prob, it’s just their default to make sure the plus people are not ordering for all and sundry,

Thank you for this. So I guess then, the next question to that is, "Is there a time limit between drink orders"? If you personally order for yourself one pre-dinner cocktail for eg. When can I order the next drink (for eg a glass of wine to take along to the restaurant so that not asking the drinks waiter for a wine straight up? 

[Cbtours]

1 minute ago, CDaze71 said:

Thank you for this. So I guess then, the next question to that is, "Is there a time limit between drink orders"? If you personally order for yourself one pre-dinner cocktail for eg. When can I order the next drink (for eg a glass of wine to take along to the restaurant so that not asking the drinks waiter for a wine straight up? 

I honestly don’t think they’d bother, like I know we’re not drinking alcohol but as soon as I’ve finished drinking my Bahama mama they are there asking if I want another one!!! I’ve not heard of any waiter saying “I think you’ve had enough” lol and I’ve not seen anyone even slightly inebriated (actually never on a princess ship) but then I’m never up at midnight so maybe it all happen then 😂😂😂

[CDaze71]

3 minutes ago, Cbtours said:

I honestly don’t think they’d bother, like I know we’re not drinking alcohol but as soon as I’ve finished drinking my Bahama mama they are there asking if I want another one!!! I’ve not heard of any waiter saying “I think you’ve had enough” lol and I’ve not seen anyone even slightly inebriated (actually never on a princess ship) but then I’m never up at midnight so maybe it all happen then 😂😂😂

Cool. Thanks. Yeah I will be tucked up in bed at midnight too. 

[Cbtours]

Just now, CDaze71 said:

Cool. Thanks. Yeah I will be tucked up in bed at midnight too. 

I’ll ask the waiter tonight!