Live from Coral Princess - Round Australia October 2022

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, Bonne Voyage said:

Once again thank you for your updates so glad you are able to resume  your cruise now.

Thank goodness when you are in Melbourne our weather will be better it has been bitterly cold and wet.

It has been so interesting reading your updates and your very positive attitude whilst you were unwell 

Do you have any tips for our next cruise this month?

Kind regards Heather 

Just enjoy! The crew are wonderful and will make your cruise special. If you have the drinks package try some if the special cocktails in the Good Spirits Bar, especially the Butterfly.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Tonight they were using the Provence MDR as overflow. It's not officially open though. It worked very well, they were mostly sending twos up there and spreading them out around the first part of the dining room, near the entrance. It was lovely and peaceful.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

On 10/9/2022 at 10:56 PM, OzKiwiJJ said:

We'll be doing our fifth cruise on Coral since the restart. We really love this ship. In my opinion she's as close as we'll get to the perfect cruise ship - small enough so there aren't too many passengers on board yet big enough to have plenty of choice of restaurants, bars and lounges.

 

Coral Princess is my favorite Princess ship of all time. I was crushed when it was moved from the U.S. to Oz.

[By The Bay]

5 hours ago, scottca075 said:

 

Coral Princess is my favorite Princess ship of all time. I was crushed when it was moved from the U.S. to Oz.

Your lost is our gain.😉

[NSWP]

6 hours ago, scottca075 said:

 

Coral Princess is my favorite Princess ship of all time. I was crushed when it was moved from the U.S. to Oz.

Totally agree, been on her 3 times, Alaska, Panama Canal and in September locally.  Thank goodness they did not butcher her for the sake of a few extra cabins like they did to her sister Island Princess. Been on her too post butchering, Universe Lounge gone, aft viewing areas gone, walk prom deck gone, tragic.

[Pushka]

At last Adelaide is seeing sunshine for you after some weeks of awful wet and cold weather. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

10 minutes ago, Pushka said:

At last Adelaide is seeing sunshine for you after some weeks of awful wet and cold weather. 

Yes, it's been very pleasant wandering around the small streets and lanes. Oh! How odd! I seem to have walked straight to the Central Market! 🤣🤣🤣

 

I love that place! Of course I can only look and drool. 😪 All the stuff I'd like to buy is fresh produce and meats so not possible. We had a lovely Thai lunch across the road though.

 

When did the big Coles next to the market close down? I was hoping to look for a couple of things there. 

[Pushka]

7 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Yes, it's been very pleasant wandering around the small streets and lanes. Oh! How odd! I seem to have walked straight to the Central Market! 🤣🤣🤣

 

I love that place! Of course I can only look and drool. 😪 All the stuff I'd like to buy is fresh produce and meats so not possible. We had a lovely Thai lunch across the road though.

 

When did the big Coles next to the market close down? I was hoping to look for a couple of things there. 

I was there this morning and bought some wonderful strawberries. 
 

that part of the market and all those arcades closed down at three months ago and even today there was something I would have bought from there. Very annoying. They are doing a major redevelopment, hotel etc etc. 

[BulldustHHH]

A bit after the fact, but it seems the local businesses were happy to see you in Freo:

https://www.perthnow.com.au/business/retail/coral-princess-brings-economy-boost-to-fremantle-hospitality-and-retail-venues-c-8721534

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, Pushka said:

I was there this morning and bought some wonderful strawberries. 
 

that part of the market and all those arcades closed down at three months ago and even today there was something I would have bought from there. Very annoying. They are doing a major redevelopment, hotel etc etc. 

I guess it's a prime location for a hotel. It must be annoying for all those who regularly shopped there. It was a big Coles from memory. If they're smart they'll build the hotel over a shopping mall and reinstate the Coles.

[arxcards]

Coral is back to tier 2

[OzKiwiJJ]

We had an unexpected "magic moment" last night in the Atrium. The pianist was playing "Time to Say Goodbye" and we heard someone singing along with him. We looked l around us but couldn't identify the singer as many people were wearing masks. Eventually we realised it was coming from deck 6. One of the Provence Restaurant Managers has a very fine voice indeed! It was just lovely.

[NSWP]

41 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

We had an unexpected "magic moment" last night in the Atrium. The pianist was playing "Time to Say Goodbye" and we heard someone singing along with him. We looked l around us but couldn't identify the singer as many people were wearing masks. Eventually we realised it was coming from deck 6. One of the Provence Restaurant Managers has a very fine voice indeed! It was just lovely.

It would be the same bloke who sang a couple of songs at the Grapevine wine tasting in September. He was good and so was the wine 🍷 lol.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, NSWP said:

It would be the same bloke who sang a couple of songs at the Grapevine wine tasting in September. He was good and so was the wine 🍷 lol.

It could have been. We didn't go to that tasting. 

[NSWP]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

It could have been. We didn't go to that tasting. 

I Always go to it, as you now complimentary for Elite pax. They had some decent Aussie wines there inc Tyrells and Grant Burge and a Wolf Blass from memory and a couple of others.

[MicCanberra]

7 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

We had an unexpected "magic moment" last night in the Atrium. The pianist was playing "Time to Say Goodbye" and we heard someone singing along with him. We looked l around us but couldn't identify the singer as many people were wearing masks. Eventually we realised it was coming from deck 6. One of the Provence Restaurant Managers has a very fine voice indeed! It was just lovely.

 

6 hours ago, NSWP said:

It would be the same bloke who sang a couple of songs at the Grapevine wine tasting in September. He was good and so was the wine 🍷 lol.

It was likely to be Hector, one of the maitre  d's, he has a wonderful voice and he loves that song.

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 hours ago, NSWP said:

I Always go to it, as you now complimentary for Elite pax. They had some decent Aussie wines there inc Tyrells and Grant Burge and a Wolf Blass from memory and a couple of others.

We went to it on one cruise but weren't impressed by most of the wines, and there was far too much talk.

[OzKiwiJJ]

21 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

 

It was likely to be Hector, one of the maitre  d's, he has a wonderful voice and he loves that song.

It could have been. We've only been to the Provence MDR once so I wasn't sure of his name. 

[marinating]

9 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

It could have been. We've only been to the Provence MDR once so I wasn't sure of his name. 

We were on board in September, we had a wonderful couple celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary on our table, Hector came to the table turned their chairs around and sung two beautiful love songs for them! A precious moment we felt privileged to share, this couple were in their mid 90’s and so much fun, they told us that their children were concerned that they are still cruising at their age; the lovely lady said if they die on a cruise they die doing something they love. A great attitude!
 

[MicCanberra]

1 hour ago, marinating said:

We were on board in September, we had a wonderful couple celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary on our table, Hector came to the table turned their chairs around and sung two beautiful love songs for them! A precious moment we felt privileged to share, this couple were in their mid 90’s and so much fun, they told us that their children were concerned that they are still cruising at their age; the lovely lady said if they die on a cruise they die doing something they love. A great attitude!
 

I was there that night at a nearby table. It was very moving.

[joejoe 59]

On 11/4/2022 at 10:33 AM, OzKiwiJJ said:

We had an unexpected "magic moment" last night in the Atrium. The pianist was playing "Time to Say Goodbye" and we heard someone singing along with him. We looked l around us but couldn't identify the singer as many people were wearing masks. Eventually we realised it was coming from deck 6. One of the Provence Restaurant Managers has a very fine voice indeed! It was just lovely.

I know who you mean, when we were on Coral he came over with several other waiters & sang a full rendition of the Elvis song Can't help falling in love, brought his Bluetooth speaker as well. It was for our 40th wedding anniversary so it was very special 🥰 I think his name was Hector. 

[arxcards]

9 hours ago, joejoe 59 said:

I know who you mean, when we were on Coral he came over with several other waiters & sang a full rendition of the Elvis song Can't help falling in love, brought his Bluetooth speaker as well. It was for our 40th wedding anniversary so it was very special 🥰 I think his name was Hector. 

That sounds amazing. We had our 30th in Bayou. The food was incredible, but we just got a short chorus of Happy Anniversary to you from our waiters. 

[arxcards]

So, how was Burnie? Did they throw any of the new Tassie protocols at you when you arrived?

[OzKiwiJJ]

10 hours ago, arxcards said:

So, how was Burnie? Did they throw any of the new Tassie protocols at you when you arrived?

RATs before departing. Masks required to be worn on the buses and indoors. 

 

We went to Cradle Mountain. It was an interesting excursion but lots of bus travel. Still it was nice to see some of the Tasmanian countryside. We stopped at Sheffield, a country town famous for it's murals, where we had time for a coffee and a short stroll around the town. Then we went on to Cradle Mountain, crossing a spectacular gorge along the way. Once we reached the visitors centre we had to switch to smaller buses to enter the national park. It was a beautiful drive to Dove Lake. We had the choice of a short, easy stroll down to the edge of the lake, or a longer walk up to the Crater Rock lookout. We did the latter and the views were superb. We then went to Waldheim Chalet before being dropped at the hotel for lunch. Then it was a straight run back to the ship by a different route. We saw a few wombats, echidnas and what I think was a wallaroo.

[JohnGc]

22 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

RATs before departing. Masks required to be worn on the buses and indoors. 

 

We went to Cradle Mountain. It was an interesting excursion but lots of bus travel. Still it was nice to see some of the Tasmanian countryside. We stopped at Sheffield, a country town famous for it's murals, where we had time for a coffee and a short stroll around the town. Then we went on to Cradle Mountain, crossing a spectacular gorge along the way. Once we reached the visitors centre we had to switch to smaller buses to enter the national park. It was a beautiful drive to Dove Lake. We had the choice of a short, easy stroll down to the edge of the lake, or a longer walk up to the Crater Rock lookout. We did the latter and the views were superb. We then went to Waldheim Chalet before being dropped at the hotel for lunch. Then it was a straight run back to the ship by a different route. We saw a few wombats, echidnas and what I think was a wallaroo.

Sounds like you had a great time.Hope you don't mind a few questions.Love to do that next time we are in Tasmania.Hope the weather was good for you, I read it can be very changeable hourly and day to day on the mountain. Could a fairly fit elderly couple do the walk to Crater Rock lookout and do you need hiking boots ?  Thanks.