Review of Coral Princess - April 2008 Panama Canal

[Papermaker]

I tried posting this review on the review site in April but must have messed it up somehow because it was never posted. Since I went to all the trouble of writing out our experiences on the cruise I thought I would post it here so it might help someone considering a cruise on the Coral Princess or the Panama Canal next spring.

 

We last cruised in 2002 on the Ocean Princess, now the Oceania with P&O, on a seven day inter coastal Alaskan itinerary. We so much enjoyed the experience and the treatment we received from Princess; we wanted to return to cruising as a way to celebrate my sixtieth birthday and experience the Panama Canal. Again Princess did not disappoint!

As a way of being much better prepared this time around, we read all we could find about the ship, ports of call, packing tips, etc in Cruise Critic. It certainly helped a great deal and must say that we are now hooked and will never cruise again without joining a roll call and monitoring the Boards.

Since we own a time share with a beautiful location in Fort Lauderdale, we decided to fly down two days before our embarkation and relax without the concern of late flights and rushed trips to the port. Because we did not want to lug a 50 lb bag through the airport; we decided to try Princess’ new Luggage Valet service. This also allowed us to limit our checked luggage to one bag each and avoid the airline’s charge for a second bag. We carefully packed our large porter bag so the gross weight was just under the 50 pound limit for which we had contracted. All our formal wear and clothes that we would not need in Fort Lauderdale were packed in this bag. The DHL driver picked up the bag from home one week prior to our embarkation and it was sitting upon our bed when we arrived at our cabin. Everything was in order and very little needed to be ironed for wear.

After an enjoyable day and a half in Ft. Lauderdale, we asked the concierge at our resort to arrange for a cab to take us to the ship. She made sure that the driver was familiar with the port and would charge us a fixed rate. The cab picked us up at 11:45am for the twenty minute drive to the port. Because the Grand Princess was occupying Pier 2 for which we were told Coral Princess was scheduled, the driver had to take us to Pier 18. This seems to happen somewhat frequently. Since we did not have a car to park, this made no difference to us. However, the Coral would be docking at Pier 2 for disembarkation and those that drove to the Port would have to take a shuttle bus back to their car. The embarkation procedure was a dream! We dropped our two checked bags with a curb porter and proceed directly inside. With our preprinted boarding passes in hand it took less than fifteen minutes to get our key cards, stop for a photo, and arrive at our cabin. Before we could even look around our cabin and begin to unpack our preshipped bag, our two bags checked at the curb were delivered.

On our first cruise we had an obstructed view outside cabin. Because of the itinerary on this Panama Canal cruise and the warmer climate of Central America vs. Alaska, we decided to upgrade to a mini-suite with balcony. The cabin was much larger than the one we had previously and had more than ample storage space. The bathroom was plenty roomy with a combination tub/shower. The soaps, lotions, etc were also upgraded from our prior experience and we could ask for replacements as needed.

After unpacking our bags and sliding them under our bed (made up as a single queen as requested), I paged our room steward to inquire about the liquor, wine, and sodas that I had pre-ordered from Princess. Jon arrived immediately and we quickly developed a great rapport. He presented us with an envelope containing coupons for all our pre-ordered items including shore excursions, spa treatments, etc. and told us we needed to call room service to have the bar items delivered. As I was doing so, Jon returned with our complimentary glasses of Champagne that was part of the mini-suite experience. The service we received from Jon was wonderful. At first, we left yellow Post-It notes on the mirror with requests for things like ice etc. but he quickly learned our living pattern and needs so very few notes were ever needed after the first couple of days.

Although the Coral Princess is similar in layout and size as the old Ocean Princess, there are many improvements and we chose to take the brief mini guided tour to familiarize ourselves with this beautiful ship. After the mandatory muster drill (brief and painless), we headed to fourteenth deck for the sail away party and had a couple of the “Drinks of the Day” as we followed the Grand Princess out of the harbor.

As we had on our first cruise, we opted for anytime dining. The first evening we just went down to the dining room and presented ourselves as a party of two. We were asked if we would mind being seated with a larger party and we agreed to the request. Although we had a pleasant dinner and the company was fine, we choose to make reservations for two at a specific time for the remainder of the cruise. Our requested seating and time was always granted without any waiting time. The food in the dining room was excellent and we made friends with several of the wait staff. Princess has a great selection of wines and we always had at least one bottle with each dinner. In fact our waiter Noel, told us about the two wine tasting parties that would be held that week and we signed up for both. The first one was held early in the week within the main dining room and was well attended at a cost of less than $10/person. This included a free desert wine glass to take home as a souvenir. The second tasting was held on the last sea day in the Sabatini restaurant. Because this tasting served some of their more expensive wines and included upgraded hors d’oeuvres, the charge was $25/person. Although we very much enjoyed this tasting as well, I’m not sure it was quite worth the higher charge.

Quite often we would fill out the room service placard in the evening with a request for coffee delivery in the morning. It was always delivered on time or five minutes early.

Most mornings we ate breakfast in the Horizon Court. The food was fine and the service very good. My wife and I especially enjoyed the freshly made omelets. I prefer grapefruit juice over the orange juice they had available on their trolleys and my request was always quickly granted.

We had scheduled shore excursions at every port of call so many times we had lunch ashore. On sea days we ate lunch sitting at the Grill Bar with my wife having the drink of the day or a soda and me having a bucket of Dos Equis beer. Those I didn’t consume, I took back to my cabin to enjoy on our balcony later. Because the Grill, Horizon Court, and Pizza Station are all located near one another, we each chose the food to our liking and returned to our seat at the bar. My wife purchased a soda card at embarkation and it turned out to be a worthwhile investment. You need to drink at least two fountain drinks/day to pay for itself. The pizza was excellent as was the brats and jumbo dogs. However, the hamburgers were a little dry and somewhat scrawny.

The evening before arriving at the Panama Canal, I called room service and ordered their special “Panama Canal have Lox in the Locks Breakfast” with a half bottle of French Champagne. Because the exact time the ship will be in the locks is uncertain due to traffic, it is difficult to determine what time to ask for food delivery. The morning of arrival we got up early and went up to the “secret” forward deck on Baja level. When one goes to the most forward end of the hall you can pass through two doors that take you to an observation deck just below the bridge. We observed the passage through the first lock from this deck and then went to the rear of the ship to view the ship following us through the canal. We then returned to our cabin to have our breakfast on our private balcony and enjoy the remainder of the passage. However, our breakfast did not arrive as scheduled and we had to call room service to inquire of its status. They assured us it would be arriving soon. When the food arrived thirty minutes late the steward told us that they had many more than normal orders and they were all for the same time! Although we felt somewhat rushed to finish our breakfast before we had to meet for our excursion to Old Panama City, the food was excellent and was more than we could eat in one sitting.

Unbeknownst to me, my wife had prepaid for the ultimate balcony breakfast as a birthday surprise for me on the last sea day. However, when the day arrived and no breakfast arrived at the allotted time, she called and was told that we had already had the breakfast at the time of the Panama Canal transit! When she explained that I had ordered that breakfast separately, they apologized and delivered a fabulous breakfast including birthday cake and candle but sans champagne and never charged us.

We ate in both specialty restaurants and enjoyed them both. The waiter we had in the Bayou restaurant, Manuel, was one of the most delightful persons we had ever met. If we were undecided between two items he would say “no problem, I’ll bring both” When we ran into him at any other time on the ship he would immediately recognize us and give us a warm greeting. The food was excellent only surpassed by the service.

On the last sea day we made reservations for Sabatini’s to celebrate my birthday. Again we had excellent service and we were seated at window were we could observe the beautiful sunset. As many have written, you should arrive hungry and plan to take your time to enjoy the wonderful food at this venue. The lobster served here was much better than that served during the second formal night in the main dining room. For the second time that day, I was served a birthday cake and serenaded!

As mentioned earlier, we had reserved a Princess tour at each of the designated stops. Princess issues tickets for each of their tours with the time and location of the designated meeting place printed on the ticket. Usually the meeting place is the Princess Theater and they will have someone lead each group from the ship to the awaiting tour bus. We quickly learned it is best to be a little early and be seated at the back row of each tour group. This is especially true of the large tours that may have more than ten tour buses assigned to a tour or to a tour for which you have to use a tender from the ship to shore. They lead the groups to the buses starting from the back row forward. The advantage to having one of the early buses is that the sites will have fewer people and you will have more time at the end of the tour for shopping as many of the tours end in a shopping area.

Our first excursion was a bus tour called The Best of Aruba. It included the natural bridge area, the rock formation, a tour of an aloe factory, the California Lighthouse (added as an extra by our guide), and a drive by Eagle and Palm beaches. Riders had the choice of being let off at Palm Beach for one hour or driven to the main shopping area of Oranjestad from which we could take the short walk back to the ship. The bus returned to the beach to pick up those that got off there. Because we are not avid beach goers we chose the town. Overall we enjoyed the tour and it gave us a good overview of Aruba. My wife was quite surprised to find that Aruba is predominantly a desert as opposed to the other Islands we have visited.

Our second excursion was easily the biggest surprise for us. Cartagena is a beautiful city and the Fortresses and Churches are awesome. We chose the Best of Cartagena & Fortress tour. Radio receivers were given to each participant and our guide would speak to us using his broadcasting headset. It worked wonderfully both in the bus and out among the sites. Our tour started with a drive up a steep winding road to the La Popa Monastery. The view from this location is amazing. Although much has been written about the many street peddlers in Columbia, we did not find them that bothersome. If you told them no or simply ignored them, they would leave you alone. If not, our guide would speak to them in Spanish and send them on their way. The Fort of San Felipe is a site not to be missed. The sheer size of the structure and thickness of the walls allows you to understand why the English could not overtake this defense even with superior numbers. The atria of both La Popa and the Church of San Pedro were lush with flowers and tropical plants. We were given twenty minutes to shop in The Dungeons. I found an excellent T-Shirt there for half the price of other shopping areas. The last stop on the tour was the Pierino Gallo shopping mall that had numerous jewelry, leather, and handicraft items. My wife bought an emerald ring and was very pleased when it appraised at twice what we paid for it.

Going through the Panama Canal was the reason for choosing this itinerary and we were certainly not disappointed. Pictures can not capture the wonder of the locks and the beauty of the surroundings. We were blessed with good weather the entire cruise and this certainly added to the enjoyment. Once we entered Lake Gatun only those with scheduled tours were tendered to shore. All others remained on board and went back through the three locks to dock at Colon, Panama to wait the return of those on excursions. Since there is no where to go in Colon except a small shopping expo located on the pier, taking a tour is the better choice. We went on the tour named “old Panama” City tour. Again we had and excellent guide and thoroughly enjoyed visiting the ruins of the old capitol city, the cathedral square in Casco Antiguo, Los Bovedas, and a beautiful walkway adjacent to the Pacific Ocean tidal basin. Our guide filled the one hour trip each way with fascinating tidbits on Panama’s history and explaining what has changed since the Canal Zone changed hands.

Our next stop was Limon, Costa Rica. We selected the Rain Forest Aerial Tram with Lunch. The drive from Limon to the eco-tourism and research facility was a very pleasant trip on which we observed sloth, howler monkeys, banana plantations, pineapple plantations, and beautiful countryside including white rapid rivers. The tour included a hike through the base of the rainforest and then proceeded to an aerial tram that held six tourists plus our guide. The beauty and serenity of the one hour plus ride through the rain forest canopy was wonderful. The advantage of the tram vs. the zip lines is that I was able to take many pictures and change lenses as we rode. I’m not sure how one would do so on a zip line. After the tour we were fed a delicious lunch of traditionally prepared fruit, vegetables, and chicken. The gift shop was well stocked with everything you could want from Costa Rica including coffee and liquor.

Our next excursion was the Ocho Rios Highlights and Dunn’s River Falls in Jamaica. We first visited the Shaw Park Gardens and were very impressed with the view, the beauty of the gardens and the botanical knowledge of our tour guide. The weather was gorgeous and from the high altitude of the park I was able to take the best picture of our ship in the harbor below I shot all week. This park was a former hotel resort and has a vast number of flora and waterways including a beautiful waterfall. After a complimentary soda we proceeded to Dunn’s River Falls. My wife and I came prepared to climb the falls with bathing suits and water shoes. We were the only ones in our tour group to take the challenge of climbing the 600 foot falls so we joined members from another bus. The guides were very skilled and we were able to make the ascent without problem. In fact one of the guides carried my non-waterproof camera and took pictures of us along the way.

When we arrived back in Fort Lauderdale we knew we would have time to kill before our late afternoon flight back to Atlanta (one can’t be too picky when using frequent flyer miles) so we scheduled the Everglades Airboat Ride and Flamingo Gardens Wildlife Sanctuary Tour. Because a cold front had just passed through Florida, there were no wild alligators to be seen on the airboat ride but the boat ride was fun. They had an alligator wrestling show that actually was pretty entertaining. The gardens were pretty but kind of tame compared to the Rain Forest we had just visited earlier in the week.

Disembarkation went very smoothly even considering we had purchased enough jewelry in Cartagena that we had to visit the customs officials. Columbia has an agreement with the US that allows jewelry to be duty free but you still have to declare the items, show the receipts and then they will tell you that you don’t owe anything. We were prepared with receipts and made sure we declared everything we purchased. One poor lady in front of us told them that she was told that she didn’t have to declare duty free goods so they proceed to tear through all her luggage. Every time they found something they asked if she had declared it. She was still there when we boarded our tour bus.

After passing through customs there was a Princess Representative waiting to take my bag that I was sending via Luggage Valet. Again, everything went smoothly and we were able to go on our tour with only our one bag to check each. The tour bus in Ft Lauderdale dropped up off in front of the Delta terminal so we did not have to purchase an airport transfer. However, when the luggage valet bag was delivered to our home by DHL two days later, one of the wheels and part of the bottom bracing was torn off the bag. The small print in the shipping agreement said that the luggage was considered the shipping container and DHL would not be liable for any damage. I called Princess and they immediately stated that it is true that DHL would not accept liability but Princess would reimburse me for the damage. All I needed to do was take the bag to a baggage repair shop and get an estimate of the cost to repair, or if repair was not possible, what was the depreciated value of the bag. Because my bag was Tumi and they stand behind their luggage, they repaired it for free and all it cost me was the $15 to ship the bag. I have submitted that cost to Princess and I am awaiting reimbursement.

[Sandytoes]

Papermaker ~ Happy Birthday!!!

 

Papermaker - Unbeknownst to me, my wife had prepaid for the ultimate balcony breakfast as a birthday surprise for me on the last sea day. However, when the day arrived and no breakfast arrived at the allotted time, she called and was told that we had already had the breakfast at the time of the Panama Canal transit! When she explained that I had ordered that breakfast separately, they apologized and delivered a fabulous breakfast including birthday cake and candle but sans champagne and never charged us.

What a nice surprise. This is why we like Princess so much.

Thanks for posting your review.

Chris

 

[Boiler Cruiser]

Papermaker,

 

Thanks so much for the great review. My DW and I are taking the Island Princess in October on the same itinerary.

 

Thanks, in particular, for your comments on the shore excursions. Your info will prove very helpful to us!

[ST MARTIN GAL]

Thanks for your great review. We are going on the Coral in September 2008 for the full transit and I have been studing these forums for months now. Love to read different peoples experiences on the Coral and port of calls.

Once again thanks for taking the time to write this.

[mii]

We also did a partial transit in 2004 of the panama Canal and since then have done a full transit in 2006 and will be doing another full transit next year. By reading your comments it brought back many nice memories of this cruise. Thanks.

 

marilyn

[Papermaker]

Thanks to everyone for their kind comments! They make me feel glad I took the time to post the review.

[LARGIN]

Thanks for the review.. The Coral and her crew are our favorites

[anniversary cruiser]

Thank you for your review it was very informative. we are sailing the Coral in November through the Panama Canal and are really looking forward to it.

[Longtonian]

Thanks. Nice to read about the Coral Princess - it's a fabulous ship. We got married on it on a similar itinerary in April 2005, so it will always hold a place in our hearts. It brings a tear to my eye - what a softie!

 

Steve

[dforeigner]

Thanks for taking time to write a detailed review.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review. :)

[RSWBADGER]

Very nice review, we were on the April 15, 2008 sailing, we had a great experience on the coral.

]

[Cruisedreamer1]

Did you have time to walk through the shops on board the ship? Did they have interesting merchandise to view(at least,if not buy)?

 

We really appreciate your report and it will help us on our October Island cruise through the canal.

[travellover3]

Thanks for the nice review. Going on a full transit on the Coral in January '09Went on her to Alaska last Sept. and enjoyed the size and comfort of the ship. This was my first cruise, and it exceeded expectations. Now I have to keep my expectations lowered some, so the Panama Canal cruise will exceed them, again.

[Colo Cruiser]

Sorry you had to deal with DHL.

 

With my past experience on them I would never ship with them again.

They are the worst in my book.

Even with Princess picking up the repair bill. :(

[rdsqrl]

Thanks for writing such a detailed review; really enjoyed reading it!

[Guest arowe6]

Lovely review. We are leaving on the Island Princess in about 4 months for the Panama Canal with a similar itinerary to yours and are very excited.

 

-Andrew:)

[crusinpeg]

On the Cartegena tour did you have much time to walk around the different sites...Monestary, Fort, etc?

[Love Cruis'n]

Thanks for the review. We’re on the Island - full transit – this Christmas / New Years.

[cindyscruise]

Thank you for reposting this review. We are on the Island Princess in April for the same cruise so your tour excursions were especially important to me

[Papermaker]

On the Cartegena tour did you have much time to walk around the different sites...Monestary, Fort, etc?

 

Although we were kept on the move, we never felt rushed and had ample time to see enough and take pictures. Being connected to the guide with the headset helped a great deal.

[JWJs]

I enjoyed reading your detailed review ~ thanks so much for posting. Nice to reminisce...we have done partial canal transits on both the Island and the Coral. The next time we do a canal cruise I think we will do the Old Panama City tour. Thanks for noting it in your review.:)

[Nancyquilts]

Thanks so much for your comprehensive review.:) :) :)