Coral-Panama (looking for recommendations)

[Loralu]

I have booked the Coral for a Panama cruise. 1st time on a Princess ship. I have read some positive reviews of the ship and am looking forward to this cruise. I would love to hear any tips or suggestions from any of you have have experienced this cruise - and this ship. Oh and if you have pics to share - that would be excellent!

 

*Embarking at Ft. Lauderdale - what is a good time to arrive?

* they have laundry service on board? is it worth it to use this?

* Going through the canal - we plan to stay on board, have a covered balcony.. are there any special places on the ship for some great views?

* Casino - any tips on how to win big??? (just kidding here)

* Smoking policy - is it the same as most ships?

* Beds - I travel with mom, and we usually have the beds separate.. but was thinking of letting her have the bed - and I could use the pull out.. I wonder if it is comfortable?

* room service - we usually order coffee and fruit early to get ourselves going before actually going to breakfast.. is the service good? coffee good?

* Aruba: any tips on good casinos? or best shopping?

*Exscursions , Costa Rica, Aruba, Columbia???? Any suggestions - we love low key tours and seeing the culture, shopping, nothing too physical.

 

thanks to anyone with suggestions or pictures - really appreciate your help.

[jff50]

I think that your cruise is a roundtrip/partial transit to and from Ft Lauderdale. If so, consider taking a shore excursion in the canal that takes you all the way to the Pacific on a smaller ship. Otherwise, you will miss a large part of the canal (the Culebra Cut, the Bridge of the America's and the Pacific locks). You should be able to find several threads on this in the Ports of Call--Panama Canal section.

 

Also strongly suggest reading "The Path Between the Seas" on the building of the canal--before you go.

[ggprincess2004]

The Coral is our favorite Princess ship! We have taken this cruise before and truly enjoyed all the sea days in the itinerary.

Embarking - FLL is an "easy" port, but as with any port, unforseen things can happen to really screw up the best of plans. That being said, if you arrive by about 11, you should be able to enter the lounge area and have a seat, juice and/or coffee and relax until they are ready to start the boarding process. If you stand facing the ship and the terminal, to find the lounge, after dropping your bags at the loading area, proceed around the building to the right and you will see an entrance - that should be the entrance to the lounge/"holding pen" area. If you don't see it, ask. Whatever you do, if you arrive that early, don't get in line. You will stand there for a while. If you get there by 11, you should be on board by about 12 or 12:15 if there haven't been any glitches with the morning arrival.

There is laundry service on board, and I would trust them with sturdy things, but not delicates. There are also laundromats for passenger use. if you plan to use these, they require quarters. Sometimes the change machine in the laudromat has quarters available, sometimes not. I take a roll or two of quarters with me each cruise. Washers are about $1, dryers about $1. Things vary by ship. There are also vending machines for laundry detergent and fabric softener in the laudry rooms. Sometimes there are empty. I take some fabric softener sheets along, a stain stick, and either some highly concentrated liquid detergent or the powder form tablets.

We stayed on board when going through the canal everytime. There are great and interesting views to be had from a lot of places. From your balcony you will probably have views of the locks working, etc. On the upper decks, forward and aft, you have some great photo ops. One of the most interesting moments we had was going to the dining room for lunch during the lock transit, we had a window table, and with the Coral being panamax, were right next to the wall of the lock - fascinating.

Casino - how not to lose - avoid it!:D

I think the smoking policy is the same - not a smoker, don't pay attention.

Beds - just use the regular beds separate rather than trying a pull down.

We really enjoy having our coffee, tea, fruit, pastries delivered in the morning , too. They are prompt and do a very good job. If you want service earlier than the times available to check off, just write in the time you want the delivery. It will be there! About the coffee, there is a lot of debate. We find that the coffee card that you can purchase is worth it for us - we like espresso based coffees, and you can also get unlimited freshly brewed coffee at the bars and patisserie with it.

I cannot offer any advice for low key tours in the ports you mention. We did a 4WD tour in Aruba - DH loved it. Not low key. Never made it into Cartagena, they cancelled the port due to safety issues.

But, I think you will really enjoy the ship. There is something really special about her!

Bon Voyage!:)

[makeup face]

There's a link in this post with information and pictures regarding the Coral Princess and the Panama Canal. Beautiful pictures of Costa Rico:D

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=625741

[Loralu]

:D Thank you all - so much for your ideas and comments - it always helps to get information from past cruisers.

 

Love the lunch in the dining room in Panama idea.

 

Thanks again everyone for taking the time to reply to me - and ggprincess for such a detailed reply. That's why I love these boards.. people are so helpful.

[Another Cruise]

Check www.oscarbrowntours.com for info about Costa Rica tour. We did a tour with him in April and really enjoyed it. You really get to see a lot more on a private tour instead of a ship's tour. Oscar has really nice vans for his tours. Saw lots, but nothing was difficult to do. In Aruba we went with Tony Bosch. I don't have an address, we just got lucky and got him as a taxi driver at the pier. We saw the entire island. It was just me and my husband and he gave us a great tour. Also spent the morning on a beach. The beaches there are absolutely beautiful but there is also a lot to see on the island. You could ask for him at the pier, but you could probably also get someone else to do the same thing, but Tony was great.

[shofer]

We did this cruise last February and had a balcony cabin on the port side. Would not recommend this only because the sun was rising in our eyes and it was hot! Anyplace it is shady is a good spot to watch the transit. The back deck outside of the gym was a good spot.

 

Wish I had known we could have ordered coffee and juice earlier as everyone was getting theirs at 7:30 (which was the earliest time posted) and we entered the Canal @ 6:30.

 

Princess also has photographers and videographers taking pics of everyone on their balcony. If I had known, I would have combed my hair and put on some makeup. Our 5 secs of "fame" on the video was not enough to make me spend $40.00 for it.

 

In Costa Rica, we took a tour w/Charlie Soto's okeydokey tours. Clean Vans stocked w/water, beer, soda. (or as we call it in Chicago, POP) We saw & did more for less $$ than the ship's tours.

 

As far as arriving in Ft. Lauderdale, we took advantage of my cousin's car and went to see a movie after we checked out of the hotel. Got to the pier about 2:00 and walked right on. Avoided the crowds, had a light lunch as we had early seating and got unpacked before the safety drill.

[Loralu]

Check www.oscarbrowntours.com for info about Costa Rica tour. We did a tour with him in April and really enjoyed it. You really get to see a lot more on a private tour instead of a ship's tour. Oscar has really nice vans for his tours. Saw lots, but nothing was difficult to do. In Aruba we went with Tony Bosch. I don't have an address, we just got lucky and got him as a taxi driver at the pier. We saw the entire island. It was just me and my husband and he gave us a great tour. Also spent the morning on a beach. The beaches there are absolutely beautiful but there is also a lot to see on the island. You could ask for him at the pier, but you could probably also get someone else to do the same thing, but Tony was great.

 

Thanks for the info - I have done the private tour before on some other islands - and we have also really enjoyed them - I will check out this one you mentioned.. do you have any pics to share?

Thanks again

[Loralu]

We did this cruise last February and had a balcony cabin on the port side. Would not recommend this only because the sun was rising in our eyes and it was hot! Anyplace it is shady is a good spot to watch the transit. The back deck outside of the gym was a good spot.

 

Wish I had known we could have ordered coffee and juice earlier as everyone was getting theirs at 7:30 (which was the earliest time posted) and we entered the Canal @ 6:30.

 

Princess also has photographers and videographers taking pics of everyone on their balcony. If I had known, I would have combed my hair and put on some makeup. Our 5 secs of "fame" on the video was not enough to make me spend $40.00 for it.

 

In Costa Rica, we took a tour w/Charlie Soto's okeydokey tours. Clean Vans stocked w/water, beer, soda. (or as we call it in Chicago, POP) We saw & did more for less $$ than the ship's tours.

 

As far as arriving in Ft. Lauderdale, we took advantage of my cousin's car and went to see a movie after we checked out of the hotel. Got to the pier about 2:00 and walked right on. Avoided the crowds, had a light lunch as we had early seating and got unpacked before the safety drill.

 

Thanks for the info - Port is left correct?? I always have trouble figuring that out. We in Michigan call it POP also. I amy check out this tour you mentioned.. thanks:) Oh and thanks for the coffee - and hair brushing tip.. will keep that in mind for sure.:D

[shofer]

Loralu,

 

Speaking of coffee, I had seen on these boards that people were raving about the coffee in Costa Rico, esp a brand called 1820. We had our tour guide, ED, (nice college student w/excellent English) take us to a supermarket where we bought coffee in 500 GM bags (about 1lb, 2-oz) for about $2.50 each. I picked those up for souveniers to bring my grown kids and some for us also. Wasn't too heavy in the carry on and they liked it a lot better than a t-shirt they would never wear.

 

You can read my review of this cruise on these boards for 2/7/07. When are you going? Yes, port is left. The Canal Zone is hot and humid.

[Sanibel*Gal]

All of these posters have given you Great Info! We did the Coral Princess last October to the Panama as well, and she is now our favorite ship! But yes, it is really hot & humid in the canal zone, but sooooo worth the wonderful experience - Have A Great Cruise!!!:D

[Loralu]

Loralu,

 

Speaking of coffee, I had seen on these boards that people were raving about the coffee in Costa Rico, esp a brand called 1820. We had our tour guide, ED, (nice college student w/excellent English) take us to a supermarket where we bought coffee in 500 GM bags (about 1lb, 2-oz) for about $2.50 each. I picked those up for souveniers to bring my grown kids and some for us also. Wasn't too heavy in the carry on and they liked it a lot better than a t-shirt they would never wear.

 

You can read my review of this cruise on these boards for 2/7/07. When are you going? Yes, port is left. The Canal Zone is hot and humid.

 

Yes I heard about the coffee - great idea for gifts - thank you

We are going Nov 19th... I hope it's not too hot.. I can't stand the humidity, and I am traveling with my Mom - she and I both have that issue - this is one reason I didn't want to do any excursions while in Panama - better to be able to cool off on the ship than on a tour.

Thanks for your tips.:)

[Loralu]

All of these posters have given you Great Info! We did the Coral Princess last October to the Panama as well, and she is now our favorite ship! But yes, it is really hot & humid in the canal zone, but sooooo worth the wonderful experience - Have A Great Cruise!!!:D

 

 

thanks - people on this site are so friendly and helpful most of the time - I love to read the reviews and tips - that's what makes the trip more exciting before hand. Do you have pictures from your cruise to share? Anyone have pics???

Thanks again.:D

[mncyclist]

Loralu:

 

Here's a link to some pictures that I took on our Panama Canal cruise on the Coral Princess in 2006:

 

http://homepage.mac.com/charles.breer/PhotoAlbum3.html

 

We had a wonderful time. I would definitely recommend doing some kind of excursion while in Panama. You still get the full experience of going up through the locks, but then you are able to get off the ship (by tender) and have a look around the canal from other vantage points. In our case, we loved taking the Panama Canal Railway excursion, which traverses the entire width of Panama, with the canal visible during much of the trip. The train was very comfortable and it included some open air cars so you could really smell the jungle and canal. It fills up quickly and I would recommend springing for the deluxe accommodations, which includes a nice dome car. The return to the ship was by motorcoach and during the stopover at the Miraflores Locks, we enjoyed a nice lunch at the dining room directly overlooking the locks -- fabulous! The only drawback was a rather bumpy and lengthy ride back to the dock on crowded roads, but we saw Panama up close and it was mostly very nice.

 

Enjoy!