Coral Princess at OPT on a sunny Sunday afternoon

[aussielozzie18]

 

 

 

 

[Reina del Mar]

Can’t wait……2024 here we come !

[OzKiwiJJ]

16 minutes ago, Reina del Mar said:

Can’t wait……2024 here we come !

Ditto! 

[Kellyansapansa]

She's so pretty. My second favourite ship since our PNG cruise earlier this year. 😍

[MMDown Under]

What makes Coral Princess so attractive?  Is she a good size for cruising Australian and South Pacific Island Waters?  Does she have a nice feel/atmosphere? 

Why would the cruise line shift her, if she is so popular here in AustNZ?  After all we only have her for part of the year.  

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, MMDown Under said:

What makes Coral Princess so attractive?  Is she a good size for cruising Australian and South Pacific Island Waters?  Does she have a nice feel/atmosphere? 

Why would the cruise line shift her, if she is so popular here in AustNZ?  After all we only have her for part of the year.  

Yes, and yes. In the end, she was built for Panama Canal, and we were lucky to have her at all.

 

We do have her fulltime from June 2022 till October 2024, and she only really leaves for a period in 2023 & 2024 to complete a couple of Aussie based world cruises.

 

For those anxious to board for either or both of the world cruises, she will be the perfect ship for that too. Had we been able to a longer cruise she could well be our favourite, but she goes pretty close already.

[sewgood]

4 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

What makes Coral Princess so attractive?

For me part of it is the layout. Most of the features of a Grand class ship with the passengers numbers of a Sun class

I love the library on the Coral. It's spacious with full length windows and comfortable armchairs with footrests.

[aussielozzie18]

2 hours ago, sewgood said:

For me part of it is the layout. Most of the features of a Grand class ship with the passengers numbers of a Sun class

I love the library on the Coral. It's spacious with full length windows and comfortable armchairs with footrests.

Agree the library is such a lovely space.

[Kellyansapansa]

2 hours ago, sewgood said:

For me part of it is the layout. Most of the features of a Grand class ship with the passengers numbers of a Sun class

I love the library on the Coral. It's spacious with full length windows and comfortable armchairs with footrests.

I agree, these features are a big part of what makes Coral so appealing. She never felt crowded. We also loved the layout and location of the Sanctuary, the full wrap around promenade and the location of the International Cafe.

Edited May 1, 2023 by Kellyansapansa

[sewgood]

10 hours ago, Kellyansapansa said:

the location of the International Cafe.

We thought that the location of the cafe was a bit strange and it looked too small on the plan but when we got on the ship we loved the cafe being away from the atrium and we could more easily find an empty seat there perhaps because there was no entertainment there unlike other international cafes on Princess.

Love that full wrap around promenade as well.

[OzKiwiJJ]

It's also the layout for me. All the best features, and size, of the old Sun Class ships with a few extras. she seemed more spacious as far as public areas went. Having the IC out of the Atrium worked better, I think, and the Good Spirits Bar was a good back-up coffee venue to the IC for those of us who just wanted coffee but no snacks.

 

It was interesting having the Sanctuary aft, and I loved the little Sanctuary pool. However we did have some issues with soot on some days.

[MMDown Under]

44 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

It's also the layout for me. All the best features, and size, of the old Sun Class ships with a few extras. she seemed more spacious as far as public areas went. Having the IC out of the Atrium worked better, I think, and the Good Spirits Bar was a good back-up coffee venue to the IC for those of us who just wanted coffee but no snacks.

 

It was interesting having the Sanctuary aft, and I loved the little Sanctuary pool. However we did have some issues with soot on some days.

Thanks Julie. For non ship people like me, what size were the old Sun class ships?  Did they have the wrap around promenade decks, which I love?

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, MMDown Under said:

Thanks Julie. For non ship people like me, what size were the old Sun class ships?  Did they have the wrap around promenade decks, which I love?

Yes, the Sun class ships had the wrap around promenade deck and were a similar size - 2000 passengers. Coral seems more spacious though, and has an extra lounge (Explorers) plus two permanent speciality restaurants. The Sun class ships only had a pop-up Sterling Steakhouse in part of the buffet area each night - zero ambience.

 

And the lounges/bars are a decent size on Coral. OK Crooners doesn't go right around the atrium as it did on the Sun class ships as Coral has the cIgar lounge on one side but it's still seems bigger than Crooners on the Grand and Royal class ships. Coral's Wheelhouse Bar is big and, as mentioned earlier, it also has an Explorers Lounge. The theatre is similar to the Sun class theater, and the Universe Lounge is similar to the Sun Vista Lounges. However the Universe lounge has revolving stages so Coral is the only ship that can stage the wonderful On The Bayou production show. 

 

The downside to Coral is the really tiny showers in most cabins but at least the positioning of the dispenser bottles and grab rail are positioned better than Golden's were.

[reeves35]

2 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

Thanks Julie. For non ship people like me, what size were the old Sun class ships?  Did they have the wrap around promenade decks, which I love?

Coral Princess is a little bit larger than Sun Class 91,000 tonnes compared with the Sun Clas at 77,000 tonnes.  It is also about 30 metres longer but has very similar capacity of just under 2000 passengers.

 

Ships this size (also including ships such as Carnival's Spirit class and RCL's Radiance Class) do seem ideally suited to Australian waters for a few reasons.

1. 2,000 passengers is about the size the cruiselines can consistently fill year round.  Much bigger than that and there can be very light loads in the off-season which means the ships have to sent to Asia or Alaska over our winter so they can be profitably deployed.
2. Given many ports in the Pacific rely on tendering, anything much bigger can be quite painful for passengers to get off and on the ship.  Significantly larger ships such as RCL's Oasis class were not designed for tendering at all.  
3. Ships this size can still have a range of features that make them desirable such as specialty restaurants, waterslides etc.  Smaller ships, of which there aren't many left anyway except for the premium lines, are limited in this regard.

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

Thanks Julie. For non ship people like me, what size were the old Sun class ships?  Did they have the wrap around promenade decks, which I love?

The Sun class ships were 4 in number. Three have spent time here, with 1 remaining:

Sun Princess

Dawn Princess (now Pacific Explorer)

Sea Princess/ P&O UK Adonia

Ocean Princess/ P&O UK Oceana

[BuzzBuzzen]

Only 328 days to go before boarding the Coral Princess ! Cheers, Buzz.

[capriccio]

We just disembarked our 3rd cruise (the first two were 2007 and 2012 Alaska) on the Coral Princess on Sunday - a fabulous 28 days around Australia.  One of our favorite on board locations is the covered pool area on decks 14 and 15.  It is rarely crowded, is very quiet (no MUTS), and is a great place to watch the seas in inclement weather.  Old fashioned teak lounges around the pool with thick cushions are so comfy plus there plenty of cushioned teak chairs and tables on that deck and above overlooking the pool.  The upper deck has floor to ceiling glass windows and doors.  Plus you are never far from food (ice cream at the pool, and the grill, pizzeria, and the Horizon Court are just steps away) and drink (the Lotus Bar is right by the pool).

[arxcards]

17 hours ago, reeves35 said:

Coral Princess is a little bit larger than Sun Class 91,000 tonnes compared with the Sun Clas at 77,000 tonnes.  It is also about 30 metres longer but has very similar capacity of just under 2000 passengers.

 

Ships this size (also including ships such as Carnival's Spirit class and RCL's Radiance Class) do seem ideally suited to Australian waters for a few reasons.

1. 2,000 passengers is about the size the cruiselines can consistently fill year round.  Much bigger than that and there can be very light loads in the off-season which means the ships have to sent to Asia or Alaska over our winter so they can be profitably deployed.
2. Given many ports in the Pacific rely on tendering, anything much bigger can be quite painful for passengers to get off and on the ship.  Significantly larger ships such as RCL's Oasis class were not designed for tendering at all.  
3. Ships this size can still have a range of features that make them desirable such as specialty restaurants, waterslides etc.  Smaller ships, of which there aren't many left anyway except for the premium lines, are limited in this regard.

The passenger capacity is based on a US convention and only counts lower berths, or at times is just based on 2 passengers per cabin. We have sailed on Sun Princess among 2300 other passengers, and the ships always feel busier during holiday sailings.

 

GRT tonnage isn't a pure number and is affected by design. If the covered pool on Coral was open without a roof, the GRT would be somewhere near 87,000

 

I agree that ships like Coral, Radiance, Pacific Explorer are ideal for our ports, but they are mostly moving on to make room for larger ships. In 2025, Crown Princess is the all-year Princess ship, joining two other P&O "grand" class ships, Splendor & Pacific Explorer in the full-time fleet. While that brings a comparison that ships will be too large, I remember when the same comments were being made about Sun Princess and even Pacific Dawn. Port facilities do improve over time, and it wasn't that long ago that Pacific Dawn used to tender to Yorkeys Knob. Coral Princess couldn't have been based in Brisbane before the pandemic, as that extra 30 metres was 25 metres too much to turn in the Hamilton Basin.

 

We will enjoy each future ship in their own way, but will always have a soft spot for Coral, Sun class, Radiance, Spirit .... and even Pacific Dawn.

[MMDown Under]

7 minutes ago, arxcards said:

The passenger capacity is based on a US convention and only counts lower berths, or at times is just based on 2 passengers per cabin. We have sailed on Sun Princess among 2300 other passengers, and the ships always feel busier during holiday sailings.

 

GRT tonnage isn't a pure number and is affected by design. If the covered pool on Coral was open without a roof, the GRT would be somewhere near 87,000

 

I agree that ships like Coral, Radiance, Pacific Explorer are ideal for our ports, but they are mostly moving on to make room for larger ships. In 2025, Crown Princess is the all-year Princess ship, joining two other P&O "grand" class ships, Splendor & Pacific Explorer in the full-time fleet. While that brings a comparison that ships will be too large, I remember when the same comments were being made about Sun Princess and even Pacific Dawn. Port facilities do improve over time, and it wasn't that long ago that Pacific Dawn used to tender to Yorkeys Knob. Coral Princess couldn't have been based in Brisbane before the pandemic, as that extra 30 metres was 25 metres too much to turn in the Hamilton Basin.

 

We will enjoy each future ship in their own way, but will always have a soft spot for Coral, Sun class, Radiance, Spirit .... and even Pacific Dawn.

Thank you for your detailed information.  I think that it is sad that the cruise lines don’t give passengers a choice in Australia.  Maybe it is time for the Government to introduce some healthy competition in a ferry service like in Alaska, Norway and Tahiti. Two of my favourite cruises were by ferry in Alaska and Norway with Tahiti still on my wish list.

My first trip overseas to London was on Queen Frederica return on Chusan.  My first cruse in Australia from Sydney to Perth was on Angelina Lauro.  I have no idea on size of the ships. However, the first two set the benchmark for future cruising and the third turned me off cruising for 30 years!

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 hours ago, arxcards said:

The passenger capacity is based on a US convention and only counts lower berths, or at times is just based on 2 passengers per cabin. We have sailed on Sun Princess among 2300 other passengers, and the ships always feel busier during holiday sailings.

 

Yes, that's true and it's fine if the ships are designed for those extra numbers.

 

The original Grand class ships are rated at 2670 lower berths. Crown, Ruby, Emerald and one other (Caribbean?) were built with an extra deck of cabins, giving them a lower berth capacity of 3080, without any additional public spaces. I had the misfortune to cruise on Ruby in December 2019 with just over 3500 passengers onboard. It was appalling! To get a table for two for breakfast you had to queue up half an hour before the MDR opened. Dinner service was chaotic, and queues to get into the MDRs were long even if, like us, you chose to dine late. Finding a table in the buffet was almost impossible. The bars were overcrowded and we often waited over half an hour just to get a drink. Luckily we'd managed to get into the Sanctuary so spent most of our time there.

[arxcards]

17 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Yes, that's true and it's fine if the ships are designed for those extra numbers.

 

The original Grand class ships are rated at 2670 lower berths. Crown, Ruby, Emerald and one other (Caribbean?) were built with an extra deck of cabins, giving them a lower berth capacity of 3080, without any additional public spaces. I had the misfortune to cruise on Ruby in December 2019 with just over 3500 passengers onboard. It was appalling! To get a table for two for breakfast you had to queue up half an hour before the MDR opened. Dinner service was chaotic, and queues to get into the MDRs were long even if, like us, you chose to dine late. Finding a table in the buffet was almost impossible. The bars were overcrowded and we often waited over half an hour just to get a drink. Luckily we'd managed to get into the Sanctuary so spent most of our time there.

Hence my Princess motto - Eat Early, Eat Often. 😂 It surprises me that when they have a crowd lining up each day, they still only open one dining room for breakfast & lunch.

 

It should be even worse on Majestic, but walk-up dining worked really well with minimal queues, still with only one dining room open at breakfast & lunch. Dinner was also a breeze via the app bookings.

[OzKiwiJJ]

43 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Hence my Princess motto - Eat Early, Eat Often. 😂 It surprises me that when they have a crowd lining up each day, they still only open one dining room for breakfast & lunch.

 

It should be even worse on Majestic, but walk-up dining worked really well with minimal queues, still with only one dining room open at breakfast & lunch. Dinner was also a breeze via the app bookings.

The mid-ships MDRs are bigger on the Royal Class ships than on the Grand Class. They are designed for the number of passengers they were built for, not for a few hundred more than the original design.

 

Plus Ruby had a surprisingly small number of tables for two compared with other Princess ships we've been on so to get one you had to get in early. The main problem is that the MDRs are designed for probably a maximum of 3000 passengers on that ship (2670 plus upper berths) so over 3500 was stretching things just a bit too far. 

 

We had no problems at all on Grand in March. Yes, the app bookings work well but even without booking we had no problems getting a table very quickly on Coral, even after they closed one of the MDRs during the Covud outbreak on the Round Australia cruise.

 

I will not cruise on any of the extended Grand Class ships ever again so Crown is not a good addition to the Australian fleet in my opinion, and certainly not a good ship for the longer cruises. 

 

 

 

Edited May 3, 2023 by OzKiwiJJ

[capriccio]

One other thing to to add about the Coral Princess and food:  we were delighted to discover on our recent cruise that on a couple of sea days a week, Sabatinis was converted to a free pop-up Alfredo's restaurant (with the pizza only menu) from noon to 1:30.  It was noted in the Patter and seemed popular.  Since Sabaitinis has its own pizza ovens, the pizzas were as good as any we have had in Alfredo's or Gigi's on other ships.  We enjoyed it once a week.

[NSWP]

Coral Princess is my favourite Princess ship. Been on her 3 times..Alaska, Panama Canal and Coastal cruise last September, NSW/Victoria/South Australia.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, capriccio said:

One other thing to to add about the Coral Princess and food:  we were delighted to discover on our recent cruise that on a couple of sea days a week, Sabatinis was converted to a free pop-up Alfredo's restaurant (with the pizza only menu) from noon to 1:30.  It was noted in the Patter and seemed popular.  Since Sabaitinis has its own pizza ovens, the pizzas were as good as any we have had in Alfredo's or Gigi's on other ships.  We enjoyed it once a week.

It's more accurate to say that Sabatinis turns into Alfredo's for those pizza lunches as that's how it's listed in the Patter (or whatever they're calling it now). It can be confusing for some. On one of the cruises we did last year we were chatting to a couple who were very disappointed that they couldn't find Alfredo's. They were very happy when I told them it was actually held in Sabatinis.