Tips for newbies on the Coral Princess?

[Jasperdo]

The Splash Pool area is where they should have put the Sanctuary ala the Sun-class ships... completely underutilized space...

Totally agree. One of the few things I did not like about the Coral was the location of the Sanctuary. It seemed like a bad use of limited space, squeezing the Sanctuary into two narrow aft decks.

[DiamondDiva]

We are on the Mar 7 Coral too! Glad to hear the CR tour was so good, as we are signed up for that one :-)

[RNGALNG]

Be prepared for a lot of kids. We had over 750 in March on the Coral years ago and on that smaller sized ship, you really notice it.

 

Remember that the Coral's HC and gym are opposite of almost all the other Princess ships. If you're used to the other ships, it'll through you for a loop for awhile.

 

The last time I was on the Coral we had some pretty good-sized waves. If you enjoy them, go to the very front glassed area of the HC and have your meal there while dipping, cresting and dipping through the waves. LOTS of fun to watch the waves crashing over the bow of the ship! Even the crew members were hanging out there to watch the show (those that weren't seasick).

 

Going in March will almost guarantee that there will be children onboard. We took the full tour through the canal in February and had only three children onboard. Saw two on one of our side trips but never saw any of them the rest of the 14 days! (We now try to plan our cruises when most children will be in school and take longer ones where parents are less likely to take them out of school. So, that is one reason why we took the 14 day instead of the ten day.)

 

When you get onboard, they will usher you to HC for your lunch. When we got on, that area of the ship was packed! A better bet would be to go to the main dining room (if you board early in the day and it is during their hours of operation) or get some pizza, burgers, or hotdogs and avoid the mobs! You will never see the mobbed pack again but it can be overwhelming!

 

Weather can change daily. Looking at big waves can be something fun to one person and terrifying to others. For all your sakes, I hope that your weather is perfect and you have a smooth sailing!

[Cruizman1]

Probably better buying jewelry off the ship for a better selection.