Coral Princess - review, kids & answers to random queries

[Jean C]

Hi, just off Coral today and at airport. I had some queries prior to boarding, some weren't answered, so here goes with our findings:

 

4 berth mini suite

This was a good option for us (3 sets of 2 adults and 2 children). Roomy and beds not in way, so no inadvertent head knocks. Extra room on balcony fantastic - we usually have standard cabin for 2. Be aware that 4 berth cabins are every second cabin, so couples or singles can end up between family groups. Solo lady between us, but I think we weren't a disruption to her 🤔. She didn't drink and even gave us some of her mini bar 🥳

 

Standard package/plus package

Family had plus package, we had standard as we're not budding alcoholics! Staff very relaxed re drinks ordering, plus people could order multiple drinks and pass them around the table, including soft drinks for the kids on parent's plus package. We often declined but had one or two drinks this way. To my shock and horror every day someone came very close to their alcohol limit, partly from buying rounds and drinks not turning up, but all the same they definitely drank a lot!

 

MDR/Specialty restaurants

We ate mostly in the MDR and couldn't fault it. Family utilised their specialty restaurant voucher, we ended up cancelling our booking as we enjoyed the MDR. Family tried to use their casual dining benefit - available at Bayou Cafe and Sabatinis at lunchtime - however Bayou was closed at lunchtime so they could only go to Sabatinis. In MDR we pre-booked 2 tables for 6 and they gave us two tables side by side. It worked well for us. Kids a bit of a nuisance on first evening but a Nana lecture sorted that out. Although side by side, we had different wait staff and kids were served sooner than us. By 2nd day they knew their way around ship so we let them go back to our cabins as soon as they finished - that worked well.

 

Boarding 

Very easy and straightforward.  Staff at terminal wouldn't let us all go to the same counter, so a bit awkward since mum had passports of 2 kids in our cabin, but we sorted it.

 

Medallion app/account glitches

Parents very tech savvy so installed tracker feature for everyone. Only problem was that for some reason, firstly, all orders were going into name of 10 year old girl, even though my daughter was signed in as herself.  In order to complete pre check in via app I'd added her to my credit card as it wouldn't accept daughter's credit card, so I was getting charged! Easily sorted at Guest Services and kids transferred to mum's credit card. Next though she was being charged for alcohol they said was ordered by 12 year old son (it wasn't) but again easily sorted. We kept close watch on our accounts after that.

 

Charging devices 

We took a US adaptor plug - with that, the Aus/NZ outlet and plenty of USB ports, no problems charging all their devices.

 

Internet 

Bear with me - I dunno what they did, but my daughter was able to somehow add the internet, at no additional cost, to the device of the girls' in our cabin (next door but one to us) - it kept them happy!

 

All for now, I'll add more if I think of it. I just hope some of the info helps someone 😊

[Jean C]

Pool depth 

Deep - both main pools. I'm 5'2" and a bit, daughter's 5'8". Just as well we can swim, as you couldn't stand on the bottom! Didn't affect enjoyment of our kids nor, for that matter, all the others on board - a bit over 300-odd.

 

Kids club 

Our kids slow on the uptake, checked in on first day, said boring so checked out after half an hour. Later in the cruise they started going to specific activities of interest to them and enjoyed it - they were having a ball just among themselves. One girl of 7 years was supposed to be in a younger age bracket club to the rest, they were happy to upgrade her to next level, I think with some more paperwork. 12 year old boy was head and shoulders above the 8 and 9 year boys in the club and easily thrashed them at everything, so he was told he could choose to go to the next age bracket's club if he wanted - much to big sister's annoyance! No one her age in club so she hung out with the adults. Disappointingly too, no "cute" boys - dad very happy about that!

[Ozwoody]

Oh Jean love it, thanks very informative and great sense of humour.

 

[Jean C]

Covid 

We all survived, took test kits but never used them. A walk down the length of either side of our deck, Caribe, revealed 13 tables outside of doors - we only checked our deck. Also, surprisingly, no hacking coughs in theatre 😊

[arxcards]

35 minutes ago, Jean C said:

Covid 

We all survived, took test kits but never used them. A walk down the length of either side of our deck, Caribe, revealed 13 tables outside of doors - we only checked our deck. Also, surprisingly, no hacking coughs in theatre 😊

All survived the cruise, fantastic. Give it a couple of days to be sure though.

 

Those tables would also be used for gastro isolators.

[Jean C]

3 minutes ago, arxcards said:

All survived the cruise, fantastic. Give it a couple of days to be sure though.

 

Those tables would also be used for gastro isolators.

Thanks 😊

[Jean C]

Buffet food

Kids loved the buffet food, their favourite place to eat. At end of first day on board, 14 year old girl, who is super slim - and that's not just Nana speak - said when she gets back, her friends at school will probably throw a baby shower for her, hehehe. They particularly liked the cookies and probably ate more than their fair share 😋

 

Coffee

I can't stress enough how bad the on board coffee was! I can usually tolerate the buffet sludge but it was so strong I turned my back on it and resorted to tea - anyone that knows me knows I don't do tea (and being a Brit too!), so it was desperate times. Family ordered us a flat white at the buffet at breakfast - it was only warm and I've had better coffee. Next day we had another one, this time piping hot but made with long life milk so still not the best. A few days later we had one at the International Café, temperature right but weak and creamy. Although Aussies say their coffees are up with best, NZ's are too, so we have high standards. All I can say is that I'm glad I wasn't paying for them 🙁

 

Shoreside

Kids were having so much fun on board they didn't want to go ashore. We made it compulsory though and after constant complaining and trudging in the heat to the lagoons at Airlie Beach and Cairns, they had a blast, well worth the effort. I figured the lagoons were the best option for kids rather than sightseeing, so it was a good choice. They stayed on board for Port Douglas with one of the dads - that too was the best option for them as it was unbearably hot and humid and they wouldn't have enjoyed it. Two daughters said it was the best place because of the shopping, so a hit with them 😄

[MicCanberra]

Thanks for the review.

[Jean C]

Inflation/shrinkflation

We bought a bottle of NZ wine - Dusky Sound - for $61 or $62 - hugely overpriced but worth it for something drinkable. We thought the MDR meals looked smaller than on previous cruises, but were still filling enough. Many seemed a bit short on veges, on last day we finally remembered to order a veges side dish!

Koala Sanctuary "cuddle a Koala" price was $20 last year, this year a whopping $45!!! They limit tickets for this as they don't want the koalas over-handled, but we managed to get one for one of our group who had her heart set in it.

 

Theatre shows

These were without exception excellent. We found Princess had upped their game re shows, the sets were elaborate and each a spectacle. Took kids to On the Bayou and didn't hear a peep from them throughout the show, they were transfixed the whole time. We'd seen it before, this time it ended with a streamer drop - a nice extra finishing touch. Don't miss it if you have the chance 😊

[Jean C]

Would I do it again with all the family and the rug rats - absolutely, everyone loved every minute of it. One son-in-law was a bit hesitant re cruising, he didn't think it would be his thing - he got involved in absolutely everything and probably got more out of it than the rest of us - what a turn around, we definitely have a convert 🤣

[arxcards]

49 minutes ago, Jean C said:

Would I do it again with all the family and the rug rats - absolutely, everyone loved every minute of it. One son-in-law was a bit hesitant re cruising, he didn't think it would be his thing - he got involved in absolutely everything and probably got more out of it than the rest of us - what a turn around, we definitely have a convert 🤣

Sounds like what a family holiday should be all about.

[mum and son]

Sounds like everything went very well. It's makes me excited to be back onboard with Princess in 3 weeks! 

[arxcards]

6 hours ago, Jean C said:

MDR/Specialty restaurants

We ate mostly in the MDR and couldn't fault it. Family utilised their specialty restaurant voucher, we ended up cancelling our booking as we enjoyed the MDR. Family tried to use their casual dining benefit - available at Bayou Cafe and Sabatinis at lunchtime - however Bayou was closed at lunchtime so they could only go to Sabatinis. In MDR we pre-booked 2 tables for 6 and they gave us two tables side by side. It worked well for us. Kids a bit of a nuisance on first evening but a Nana lecture sorted that out. Although side by side, we had different wait staff and kids were served sooner than us. By 2nd day they knew their way around ship so we let them go back to our cabins as soon as they finished - that worked well.

 

Random query:

Was the lunch at Sabatini's just an Alfredo's pizza menu?

Did you see a casual dining menu for Bayou Cafe?

[Jean C]

7 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Random query:

Was the lunch at Sabatini's just an Alfredo's pizza menu?

Did you see a casual dining menu for Bayou Cafe?

Sorry, we didn't go there, the other adults did. I didn't see casual dining menu for Bayou. I'm sitting outside Auckland Airport waiting for Keith to come back from parking, kids went off separately so I'll ask when I can.  It's nearly 3am, flight left late because of thunderstorm in Brisbane stopping all flights 😪 We now have 2 hrs drive for me, 3 hrs for Keith 🙁 Didn't think we'd be so late 🥴 But it was all worth it 😊

[arxcards]

1 minute ago, Jean C said:

Sorry, we didn't go there, the other adults did. I didn't see casual dining menu for Bayou. I'm sitting outside Auckland Airport waiting for Keith to come back from parking, kids went off separately so I'll ask when I can.  It's nearly 3am, flight left late because of thunderstorm in Brisbane stopping all flights 😪 We now have 2 hrs drive for me, 3 hrs for Keith 🙁 Didn't think we'd be so late 🥴 But it was all worth it 😊

I was surprised to see an answer so soon. Have a safe drive.

[MicCanberra]

Safe travels

[patch nine]

@Jean C glad you enjoyed the cruise - we did too.  Did keep an eye out for a frazzled grandma with 6 kids but don't believe we saw you.  Thought maybe someone was you but the kids were boys and I know yours were nearly all girls.  However, I recommend you do a covid test when you get back as I have tested positive!  I was fine on the ship although a couple of mornings I woke up with a very dry throat - was fine once I got up and went outside so put it down to the air con in the cabin.  Then on the last night as I got ready for bed started to feel like I was getting a cold - would have tested then but our RATS were in our cases which had been collected.  Felt OK in the morning and then once I got home I felt fine - no symptoms at all and forgot about it until I was cooking tea and thought maybe I should test just in case.  So I did the test expecting it to be negative and was surprised when it gave a positive reading almost immediately.  My husband is OK so far.  We were very careful on the ship and even moved seats one night in a bar when a man nearby had a cough.  I think the most likely time I picked it up was on the tender over to Airlie Beach.  It was very crowded and stuffy and I did wish I had taken a mask with me.  My husband stayed on the ship so that is why I think I may have picked it up there.

We didn't have the package as we don't drink a lot and had a fair bit of OBC so just bought our drinks.  We took our two bottles of wine on with us for  drinking in the cabin and then usually had a beer/wine or cocktail before dinner then a wine with dinner and I had a diet coke every afternoon.  We also bought 2 bottles of duty free and I have this morning received our final account for the total amount of 51 cents!!!  (the 1 cent being the credit card surcharge).  So we are very glad we didn't shell out for the plus package as it would have been a complete waste of money.

We really liked the ship as it seemed there was so much more space and in particular seating, compared to other ships we had been on.  Did notice a few cutbacks compared to earlier cruises but overall it was a good cruise and we have purchased a future cruise deposit.  

 

[bazshirl2]

Thanks for these excellent reviews. We are doing around Oz in 3 months on Coral so comments were very helpful.

Will take plenty of coffee bags and mugs with lids to carry hot water. Glad you had a most enjoyable cruise.

[Jean C]

MDR dress standard

I've now seen it all.  Generally most dressed smartly, with some more casual, even in shorts. As we were leaving the MDR one evening, a man of about 80 years was warmly and politely greeted at the door, as we all were, and shown to a table. He was wearing well worn and faded wide leg red shorts, about the same length as the 1970s stubbies 🥴, with an equally well worn and faded tee shirt 🤣 To his credit, although well worn and faded, they appeared clean 😄

 

Casual dining

@arxcards, kids said that yes, Sabatinis at lunchtime was pizzas, albeit with better toppings than you get by the slice. They said there were lovely entrees, a very nice mozarella "ball" in sauce, and a nice bruschetta (sp?). Only dessert on offer was tiramisu (sp?) (my usually good eye for spelling has deserted me). Sorry, don't know about Bayou, they wanted to go there, but it was closed for lunch!

[Jean C]

3 hours ago, patch nine said:

@Jean C glad you enjoyed the cruise - we did too.  Did keep an eye out for a frazzled grandma with 6 kids but don't believe we saw you.  Thought maybe someone was you but the kids were boys and I know yours were nearly all girls.  However, I recommend you do a covid test when you get back as I have tested positive!  I was fine on the ship although a couple of mornings I woke up with a very dry throat - was fine once I got up and went outside so put it down to the air con in the cabin.  Then on the last night as I got ready for bed started to feel like I was getting a cold - would have tested then but our RATS were in our cases which had been collected.  Felt OK in the morning and then once I got home I felt fine - no symptoms at all and forgot about it until I was cooking tea and thought maybe I should test just in case.  So I did the test expecting it to be negative and was surprised when it gave a positive reading almost immediately.  My husband is OK so far.  We were very careful on the ship and even moved seats one night in a bar when a man nearby had a cough.  I think the most likely time I picked it up was on the tender over to Airlie Beach.  It was very crowded and stuffy and I did wish I had taken a mask with me.  My husband stayed on the ship so that is why I think I may have picked it up there.

We didn't have the package as we don't drink a lot and had a fair bit of OBC so just bought our drinks.  We took our two bottles of wine on with us for  drinking in the cabin and then usually had a beer/wine or cocktail before dinner then a wine with dinner and I had a diet coke every afternoon.  We also bought 2 bottles of duty free and I have this morning received our final account for the total amount of 51 cents!!!  (the 1 cent being the credit card surcharge).  So we are very glad we didn't shell out for the plus package as it would have been a complete waste of money.

We really liked the ship as it seemed there was so much more space and in particular seating, compared to other ships we had been on.  Did notice a few cutbacks compared to earlier cruises but overall it was a good cruise and we have purchased a future cruise deposit.  

 

Thank you for the advice, and I do hope you don't get to feel too unwell from your covid. One of the girls in our cabin developed a minor cough that I thought nothing of. I never quite got over jet lag, Qld is three hours behind NZ and I was regularly waking up at 3am, so I was used to generally being a bit tired on board.  On Thursday it seemed to really catch up with me, I felt tired and also had a mild sore throat. I've never had covid before and have had 5 vaccines so I didn't mentally connect anything. Anyway, I have just done a test with a strong positive result! My daughter has just tested too, also with a strong positive result. She's going to test the kids, as they're due to go to school on Monday.  To all those out there I sincerely apologise if I've inadvertently infected anyone through my negligence.

 

If you didn't notice the brood then they can't have been too bad! They are generally good kids, there would have been a lot of excited girly chatter going on, and for one or two their table manners in the restaurants left a bit to be desired (showing my age here!). Because we had so many, both on board and at Airlie Beach we were asked to tell the kids to stop jumping in the pool - only problem being that the offenders weren't our kids and were kids we had nothing to do with, hehehe!  Take care 🙂

 

[patch nine]

Hope it doesnt develop much further Jean.  Like you I had never had covid before but luckily had a 5th booster about 3 weeks prior to the cruise.  I did notice the last couple of days that there were a lot more people around wearing masks and there did also seem to be a bit more coughing that we hadn't noticed earlier in the cruise.  We rarely walked the whole corridor on our desk (Baha) as were forward and usually used the forward stairs (DID NOT USE THE LIFT AT ALL!) but one day walked down to the Laundromat at the back and did notice just 2 tables outside cabins on our side much further along.  I am not feeling too bad but it has come out as a bit of a cold today so I do feel I have something.  Will isolate until I test negative and hope that won't take too long.   Like you my test was a very strong positive - the 2 lines appeared almost immediately.  I would assume there will be many people affected but of course some wont test and therefore wont know it which is how it spreads but as you say the symptoms can be so vague and easily attributed to something else (jetlag for you and the air con for me!).  Hope the kids are all OK though they probably wouldn't mind another few days off school 🙂 

[mum and son]

9 hours ago, Jean C said:

a man of about 80 years was warmly and politely greeted at the door, as we all were, and shown to a table. He was wearing well worn and faded wide leg red shorts, about the same length as the 1970s stubbies 🥴, with an equally well worn and faded tee shirt 🤣 To his credit, although well worn and faded, they appeared clean 😄

 

Maybe Santa needed a pre-Christmas break!

[arxcards]

10 hours ago, Jean C said:

MDR dress standard

I've now seen it all.  Generally most dressed smartly, with some more casual, even in shorts. As we were leaving the MDR one evening, a man of about 80 years was warmly and politely greeted at the door, as we all were, and shown to a table. He was wearing well worn and faded wide leg red shorts, about the same length as the 1970s stubbies 🥴, with an equally well worn and faded tee shirt 🤣 To his credit, although well worn and faded, they appeared clean 😄

 

Casual dining

@arxcards, kids said that yes, Sabatinis at lunchtime was pizzas, albeit with better toppings than you get by the slice. They said there were lovely entrees, a very nice mozarella "ball" in sauce, and a nice bruschetta (sp?). Only dessert on offer was tiramisu (sp?) (my usually good eye for spelling has deserted me). Sorry, don't know about Bayou, they wanted to go there, but it was closed for lunch!

Thank you. That is the Alfredo's menu on the ships with a sit down pizzeria. Coral had these lunches on selected days for N/C prior to the "addition" of prix fixe casual menus. I wasn't aware of their being a Bayou lunch, but it would be a nice extra.

[joejoe 59]

Thanks for review @Jean C makes me excited for our cruise to Tasmania in January. 

[Jean C]

15 hours ago, arxcards said:

I wasn't aware of their being a Bayou lunch, but it would be a nice extra.

Yeah, that's where they would have preferred to go, but it was closed for lunch? They'd asked at Guest Services what the casual dining was and were told Sabatinis and Bayou at lunchtime - no bookings, just turn up. Oh well, that's life!

Edited December 3, 2023 by Jean C