Coral Princess vs. Zuiderdam for partial canal transit?

Has anyone done both Coral Princess and HAL Zuiderdam on the 10nt partial Panamal Canal transit and can compare them for me? Looking mostly for opinions on physical ship differences, entertainment and enrichment/destination lectures.

I find food and service between HAL and Princess comparable so not looking for opinions in that arena :D

Nope. Only done it on Coral Princess. However, I can tell you that we thought it was a really great ship for the itinerary. The forward and aft viewing decks on Baja and Caribe made it especially suited to the canal transit. We loved Coral Princess and would happily sail her again any time.

I have done this trip on both ships. Sorry, I can't remember the lectures. Coral has my favourite show ever, On the Bayou in the smaller venue, I have seen it several times and would love to see it again. Zuiderdam we had aft balcony but had flushing problems with the toilet. The cabin itself was fine and to be in an aft balcony was wonderful, amazing location going through canal. Coral was in an inside cabin but the ship is made for the canal and so many great viewing locations.

I enjoyed both trips and would gladly take either ship again.

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I have done this trip on both ships. Sorry, I can't remember the lectures. Coral has my favourite show ever, On the Bayou in the smaller venue, I have seen it several times and would love to see it again. Zuiderdam we had aft balcony but had flushing problems with the toilet. The cabin itself was fine and to be in an aft balcony was wonderful, amazing location going through canal. Coral was in an inside cabin but the ship is made for the canal and so many great viewing locations.

I enjoyed both trips and would gladly take either ship again.

 

 

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I too enjoyed "On the Bayou" when I saw it on the Island Princess two years ago - probably the best show I've seen on a Princess ship!

If I do the Zuiderdam we have a deck 5 aft balcony room, whereas if we did the Coral it would be a midship oceanview obstructed. All said and done pricing would be ant $200 more to do Princess over HAL, which is part of my hesitation. We're it a Coral deck extended midship balcony on Princess then my decision might sway more to the Coral over the Zuiderdam as I think Princess offer more Panama focused enrichment lectures than does Holland, which are important to me and mum.

I seem to remember the reason we booked Zuiderdam over Princess the first time was $$$ related. Same thing- we got a great balcony for same price as ocean view on Princess. Prices dropped and we ended up in the aft balcony. Coral princess we were in an inside cabin close to aft, was a last minute standby sale deal. There was a large public aft balcony on our floor where we spent a fair bit of time so the inside cabin was fine.

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I can only speak to the Zuiderdam experience, but we had a corner aft balcony and it enhanced the experience 100%. While my husband went on a full day excursion, I enjoyed the balcony on the return through the locks along with sweet delicious Panama rolls and a birds eye view of everything. I can say without hesitation that having a balcony (and an AFT one especially) for that trip was one of our best cruising decisions ever.

As far as lectures go, there was not a whole heck of a lot. My husband went to one, but he remembers it being from a HAL staffer as opposed to a Panama Canal expert. I think there was also a movie, but I could be wrong. I wish I had saved the daily activities sheets but I didn't. DH brought a few books about the canal with him, and enjoyed reading those and telling me all about them at dinner every night so I had my own private lecturer :p

We had no issues with our stateroom at all, and enjoyed the ship. There was a fair amount of rust on our balcony which I guess is an issue with the Zuiderdam, but it had no impact on us other than we noticed it after reading so much about it.

My first Princess cruise isn't until March, so I have no basis for comparison but I would take the Z again in a heartbeat. This was definitely one of our favorite cruises.

Thanks for all the input -we have decided to stick with the Zuiderdam for the canal as we are 100% fixed on doing the Coral for Alaska in 2018, and should be booking that tomorrow when bookings open :D

I can only speak to the Coral. We took the same cruise a year ago. It was fantastic. There was a great enrichment lecturer. He narrated while cruising thru the canal. He also lectured on every port. He was a former state department employee. It really added to our experience. The lectures were multimedia presentations, not shopping talks. The talks were about history, culture, and politics.

While I will miss the potential for some good enrichment lectures the fact of a large sheltered aft balcony on the Zuiderdam (vs obstructed oceanview on Princess), a superior thermal suite (which mum is looking forward to) and more forward facing viewing areas for canal day all compiled to keep us on the Zuiderdam :D.

We are gonna do a pre cruise "book club" and watch some documentaries on the canal before leaving, so have our own enrichment series that won't interfere with ship life. Lol. Not the same, but an acceptable compromise.

Looking forward to going into the canal on the Coral in january, hope "on the bayou" is still playing. thanks for the comments.