Coral Princess but not until April 3, 2006

[Linda the Book Lover]

The DH and I just booked today and we are very excited about our first Princess cruise. My mother loved Princess and could not say enough great things about her Alaska cruise and she is/was a RCC fan. Since she is going to be 88 and she loves to cruise I thought why not give Princess a look. The kudos goes to “llund” and the great review and answering my many questions about the Coral Princess. Naturally, I would love to hear any tidbits about the Coral Princess and I am too excited about this trip even though it is over 1 year away!

 

The DH and I will be forward/port on the Dolphin deck cabin 208 (balcony). I know it sounds crazy but we love sailing forward vs. mid-ship. I would love to hear anything about the cabins and just plain stuff.

 

Why did we book today - our TA loves cruise critics!:D

[heynow]

My wife and I are going on the Coral on May 3, 2006. So it will be interesting to hear what people say about the ship. We don't know where we are on the ship yet, but we have a balcony as well and we are looking forward to it.

[heynow]

ooops

[SHayesShip]

I have the Coral booked for April 23, 2006. I love this ship.

 

Steve Hayes

[Lynda90]

I have the Island Princess to Hawaii booked for 4/6/06 and am very excited. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one booking so far in advance.:D

[WCAB]

Will be on the Coral on 04/07/05 for the Panama cruise. I will let you know all about it once I am back home.

 

Carol

[Mike2131]

The DH and I just booked today and we are very excited about our first Princess cruise. My mother loved Princess and could not say enough great things about her Alaska cruise and she is/was a RCC fan. Since she is going to be 88 and she loves to cruise I thought why not give Princess a look. The kudos goes to “llund” and the great review and answering my many questions about the Coral Princess. Naturally, I would love to hear any tidbits about the Coral Princess and I am too excited about this trip even though it is over 1 year away!

 

The DH and I will be forward/port on the Dolphin deck cabin 208 (balcony). I know it sounds crazy but we love sailing forward vs. mid-ship. I would love to hear anything about the cabins and just plain stuff.

 

Why did we book today - our TA loves cruise critics!:D

 

Hi Linda!

Did you get an answer regarding the covered balcony you posted to my Coral thread? I know that this can be a real issue for some people and might make a difference in cabin selection. Due to the construction of the Coral, some are totally covered, some are partially covered and I believe others are open. We were in C217 and our balcony was fully covered. I would let your TA coordinate with Princess to make sure you get a suitable cabin.

 

Have a great cruise!

[Linda the Book Lover]

We love to cruise forward and when our TA called Princess the person she spoke with said, our cabin was "covered" with no obstruction. We booked Dolphin (D208). I am a little concerned about the mixed message so I sent an email to our TA about changing to another location. We would prefer "just a tad more privacy”. Thanks everyone! I sure do love cruise critics:D

[lkettle]

We are from the UK and this is our first trip on Princess having cruised on Celebrity Millenium(great cruise and ship) we are also doing a Caribeaan cruise on P&O this April. We are booked on the Coral Panama cruise on the 23rd April 2006 and I noticed that someone else was going on this cruise aswell, would love to hear your views on Coral and Princess in general

 

Lynn & Dave

[Deloresgardella]

I will be on the Coral for her Panama cruise April 27th of this year.:) Have been planning this for a year and it is getting closer, really excited about going.:D We have an inside cabin, can anyone tell me the best place to watch going through the canal. Is there an secret place maybe in the forward, like there is on the Regal. :confused: Thank you all

 

Delores

[Mike2131]

I will be on the Coral for her Panama cruise April 27th of this year.:) Have been planning this for a year and it is getting closer, really excited about going.:D We have an inside cabin, can anyone tell me the best place to watch going through the canal. Is there an secret place maybe in the forward, like there is on the Regal. :confused: Thank you all

 

Delores

 

Hi Delores!

We were on the 12/10-12/20 Panama Canal cruise on the Coral. The front was packed, but the stern allowed a great view of the lock operation, other ships transiting, the locomotives (mules), etc.

Have a great cruise!

[Mike2131]

We are from the UK and this is our first trip on Princess having cruised on Celebrity Millenium(great cruise and ship) we are also doing a Caribeaan cruise on P&O this April. We are booked on the Coral Panama cruise on the 23rd April 2006 and I noticed that someone else was going on this cruise aswell, would love to hear your views on Coral and Princess in general

 

Lynn & Dave

 

Hi Lynn & Dave!

As you probably know by now, there is a lot of great info on these boards. In addition there are member reviews posted both here and in the separate review section (I posted in both areas myself).

We were on the Coral in December and she is a beautiful ship. I know you are not sailing until April 2006, but I know you will have a great cruise!

[jonesmen]

Our extended family is sailing on the Coral for the holidays next year. We are all excited since none of us have done this itinerary. I really can't tell from the map; is it full transit or partial transit?

 

Bobbi

[Mike2131]

Our extended family is sailing on the Coral for the holidays next year. We are all excited since none of us have done this itinerary. I really can't tell from the map; is it full transit or partial transit?

 

Bobbi

 

Hi Bobbi!

The easiest way to tell is by the port call. If it shows only a Caribbean port (probably Colon) you will be making a partial transit. The ship will step up through the 3 Gatun Locks and enter Gatun Lake. Passengers with shore excursions booked through Princess will be tendered to shore and then the ship will be moved to Cristobal/Colon. Your shore excursion will return you to Colon to reboard the ship.

We had a great time and hope you do too!

[llund]

The Coral is built to go through the canal so you will have a partial transit. We were on the 12/28 sailing. Mike is right about the excursions. We took the Ocean to Ocean and went to Pacific ocean and was bussed back to meet the ship in Colon.

 

Delores, we had an outside balcony but really did not stay there to watch the canal. We had every intention to get to the Horizon court and bring breakfast back to our balcony. About 6:00 A.M. we got to the Horizon Court and happened to get a table right in the middle by the window-front of the ship. We could have not had a better place to watch us go through the first lock. Plus, you will hear about it on the intercom system (which you could not hear on your balcony). I have pictures of the sun rising. We sat there and watched us go through the first lock. Then we left and went to our balcony to see how close our ship was to the edge of the canal. After, we walked to the back of our deck (Baja) to watch the gates close behind us after going into the first lock. It was quite a site seeing it from all angles. We had to meet for the Ocean to Ocean excursion about 9:30 A.M.

[jonesmen]

Any suggestions on excursions? Linda, I noticed you did the Ocean to Ocean. Are there reliable independents, or in this case, are the Princess excursions the best or the only ones available?

Bobbi

[Mike2131]

Any suggestions on excursions? Linda, I noticed you did the Ocean to Ocean. Are there reliable independents, or in this case, are the Princess excursions the best or the only ones available?

 

Bobbi

 

Hi Bobbi!

We took the Caribbean Rain Forest and Nature Hike - very disappointing and would not recommend it. We heard good things about the rail tours.

One thing to note, only passengers with excursions booked through Princess were allowed to disembark in Gatun Lake. Given the time frame, I doubt you will be able to arrange a suitable coast-to-coast tour after the ship is moved. An independent tour in or around Colon might be possible, but I am not sure I would risk it.

[Deloresgardella]

Thanks llund formation I am just getting so excited abot going. This itinerary I have wanted to do for a long time.

 

Delores

[baby]

we loved the coral so much this past november and the fact that it is hard to find good 10 cruise itineraries, we booked again on the coral for 10/25/05.

 

she is a wonderful, beautiful ship. The explorers lounge has great entertainment and good bands The pool area and shopping area is beautiful. there are light that twinkle in the main atrium area.

 

One night, hubby and I were up until 2:00AM - were were in the main lobby area all by ourselves (everyone else had to be sleeping)- it was very romantic and beautiful.

 

 

We had a balcony on Baja - when we transited the canal, we had the TV on and could hear what the moderator was saying as we went through. You will love Panama - there is a shopping area right off the ship with local vendors selling their wares and a wonderful dance show put on by the locals dressed in native clothes - absolutely beautiful

any questions let me know

[Linda the Book Lover]

Special thanks to my TA for setting us up in record time with our new cabin! Cheers to llund for writing about Baja 502, which I must say, helped us decide which cabin to choose when the DH said to go higher on the ship. Now to the excursion decisions after we return from our short cruise this summer! :)