Multiple ? re: Coral & Panama Canal; full vs partial transit

[cat loving cruiser]

Hi all,

 

DH & I are considering the 3/17/13 10 day partial Panama transit cruise on the Coral Princess from FLL. Mid 30s, no kids.

 

A few questions:

1) Some have recommended doing full transit instead of partial transit. If we do this cruise, then my plan is to take the Princess small boat shore excursion through the canal to the Pacific. In your opinion, is this an interesting/good excursion, or should we save up vacation time and $ to do the 14 day instead? I'm wondering if after the partial cruise we'll have felt that we should have done the full transit instead.

 

2) We have previously sailed on the larger Princess ships (Golden, Ruby). Some friends have told us they didn't like the Coral b/c it was too small and smoky with the casino in the middle of the ship, and lacked the activities/nightlife of the bigger ships. Thoughts? We enjoy onboard activities like scrapbooking and lectures; we usually skip evening shows to go to the casino or dance. We love the Wheelhouse bar on other Princess ships.

 

3) A friend told us we should wait until 2014 when the new canal is finished and bigger ships sail the canal regularly. Any thoughts/opinions on this?

 

Any tips/comments/considerations would be great, especially from folks who have done both the 10 and 14 day cruises, or have sailed Coral as well as Ruby or Golden. Thank you CCers!!

 

Cara

[poncho1965]

1) I don't think you'd be sorry with either full or partial transit. We stayed on the ship during our transit and loved it.

 

2) Coral and Island are great ships, no IC but it never felt crowded. Remember younger demographic for shorter cruises, vice versa for longer ones.

 

3) Not sure, will Princess put Grand class through the canal? Probably but why wait?

 

Emerald and Ruby felt busy and crowded, Coral not so much. Even Sapphire was a good passenger to space ratio. I've enjoyed all my cruises with Princess but all stand on their own merits. The Panama transit on Coral was my favorite so far, and we will be doing this cruise again.

[Psychedout]

1) I don't think you'd be sorry with either full or partial transit. We stayed on the ship during our transit and loved it.

 

2) Coral and Island are great ships, no IC but it never felt crowded. Remember younger demographic for shorter cruises, vice versa for longer ones.

 

3) Not sure, will Princess put Grand class through the canal? Probably but why wait?

 

Emerald and Ruby felt busy and crowded, Coral not so much. Even Sapphire was a good passenger to space ratio. I've enjoyed all my cruises with Princess but all stand on their own merits. The Panama transit on Coral was my favorite so far, and we will be doing this cruise again.

 

 

 

DITTO!! We did the 10 day on the Island Princes last March:)

[BillB48]

A few questions:

1) Some have recommended doing full transit instead of partial transit. If we do this cruise, then my plan is to take the Princess small boat shore excursion through the canal to the Pacific. In your opinion, is this an interesting/good excursion, or should we save up vacation time and $ to do the 14 day instead? I'm wondering if after the partial cruise we'll have felt that we should have done the full transit instead.

I think most will people will still want to do a complete Canal transit even if they have already made a partial transit. Now that I have said that a partial transit cruise in combination with the tour you mentioned is an excellent way to see the see the Canal and would be a great compromise! The best part is that a partial transit cruise will not detract in any way from your eventual full transit cruise.

 

2) Can't really help you with this one.

 

3) A friend told us we should wait until 2014 when the new canal is finished and bigger ships sail the canal regularly. Any thoughts/opinions on this?

The problem is the expansion project will not be not be completed by the projected date of August 2014 and they are admitting to a 6 month delay. My guess it will be well into 2015 or later before any of the cruise lines willing to commit one of their post-Panamax ships to a itinerary that includes the Canal.

[AKman2495]

Back in Sept we did a full transit with the 2nd day in Panama option. THis is a great way to experience Panama and the Canal. A 10 day with the small boat, I have heard is a god way to see the canal too, but there is something about waking up in the Pacific (or Atlantic) sailing through the canal and going to bed in the other ocean that, at least for me, was exciting.

 

The good thing is that you can always do both when time and $ permit.

 

As for the Coral, it is a wonderful ship and we did not find any lack of activities/or shows aboard. There is plenty or room and fewer passengers so we never felt crowded.

 

You will not go wrong with a trip on the Coral.

[vancouvergirl2010]

On our full transit we joked that the average age was around 80 years old. We found this cruise much more mellow, you could always find a chair at the pool! We liked that the ship was smaller and found we met more people. The ship was very quiet after 10pm.

[ChevyCruiser]

We did a B2B full transit on the Coral two years ago and it was one of our best cruises. Loved the ship. Never felt crowded at all. Staff and service were stellar. The nice thing about the B2B was we embarked and disembarked in Port Everglades. Also had a wonderful port lecturer that narrated the entire transit of the canal - both times.

 

Scratched one off the bucket list with that one.

[thinfool]

Hi all,

 

DH & I are considering the 3/17/13 10 day partial Panama transit cruise on the Coral Princess from FLL. Mid 30s, no kids.

 

A few questions:

1) Some have recommended doing full transit instead of partial transit. If we do this cruise, then my plan is to take the Princess small boat shore excursion through the canal to the Pacific. In your opinion, is this an interesting/good excursion, or should we save up vacation time and $ to do the 14 day instead? I'm wondering if after the partial cruise we'll have felt that we should have done the full transit instead.

 

Do the 14 day...a full transit will allow you to see more of the land, canal expansion and there will be plenty of time on the port day to see the sites in Panama City and environs.

 

2) We have previously sailed on the larger Princess ships (Golden, Ruby). Some friends have told us they didn't like the Coral b/c it was too small and smoky with the casino in the middle of the ship, and lacked the activities/nightlife of the bigger ships. Thoughts? We enjoy onboard activities like scrapbooking and lectures; we usually skip evening shows to go to the casino or dance. We love the Wheelhouse bar on other Princess ships..

This seems a little silly....NO other ship will fit in the locks. Princess built the Coral and Island to just fit...on purpose. So if you want to transit the canal, full or partial, you have no choice. (This is also true for HAL, Celebrity, Carnival, et al)

 

 

3) A friend told us we should wait until 2014 when the new canal is finished and bigger ships sail the canal regularly. Any thoughts/opinions on this? ..

Go soon, before they open the new locks....and then go afterwards. At least that is what we plan to do. It is not out of the question that the day will come when you will only be able to book the 'behemoth' transit of the Panama Canal :(

 

 

 

Any tips/comments/considerations would be great, especially from folks who have done both the 10 and 14 day cruises, or have sailed Coral as well as Ruby or Golden. Thank you CCers!!

..

Princess will fill your sea days with enrichment programs. Videos and lectures that will be full of canal, Caribbean, Spanish, Panamanian, French and US details. It is wonderful!

 

Finally, be prepared for some rather high port charges. Princess added $300.00 pp to our base fare. It seems the ship had to pay $380,000.00 to transit the canal (one time, each time).

[LittleMissMagic]

I wouldn't worry about not liking the Coral/Island. I've sailed on all sizes of ships, and originally thought the Island to be small. However, it was very long and much larger than I had anticipated. It never felt like a small ship to me, and I've sailed on larger. Also, the casino is on one side of the ship, so you can cross the ship without walking through.

 

I did the 10-Day partial transit recently and have written a pictorial review - the link can be found in my signature. The reason I did the partial and not the full is because it is what fit my schedule. I would definitely like to do a full transit sometime in the future.

 

3) A friend told us we should wait until 2014 when the new canal is finished and bigger ships sail the canal regularly. Any thoughts/opinions on this?

 

The construction of the canal addition is actually already behind schedule and won't be finished until 2015. Going through the original canal was so cool - it's amazing to think how this was done with the limited technology available at the time. I'd definitely go ahead and go through the original canal on a Panamax size ship.

[5326jan]

We're doing the full transit in 51 days (but who's counting:p) and chose that option because after reading posts on CC for years, I never read anyone say "I wish we'd only gone half-way through.", but have read many going all the way through after doing a partial previously. Additionally, we've been to Jamaica and don't want to go back there. We like to travel and try to go somewhere new each time. With so many places to see, why pay for only seeing half of it, unless you really want to go to the other ports as much as seeing the canal or don't have time to go all the way. :)

 

We went to Alaska on the Coral and loved it! It is a really manageable size ship, still has MUTS and some of the other amenities not available on Pacific Princess, which we really loved. We never noticed smoke except when walking by the cigar lounge. Aside from IC, we like the size of Coral/Island better than the bigger ships.

 

Good luck with your decision!:)

[shastatroy]

1. I just did the full transit on the Coral, speaking as a mid 40's gal I loved the cruise. Much older demographic = much quieter cruise. I took the small boat tour through the canal and LOVED IT!!! It is a must, regardless what length cruise you choose. The small boat tour had a much greater impact on my experience going through the canal than cruise ship did.

 

2. I can't stand cigarette smoke, that being said I never had an issue walking by the casino. They did have a smoke free casino night. I would say the activities on the ship are a bit limited but I attribute that to a poor CD staff. There were quite of few lectures during the cruise, I did find there was more to do at night than during the day. For some reason the Wheel house bar seemed bigger than on the Diamond. But that may be because there were fewer people around. However, I love reading during the day so I was good with that.

 

3. Like an earlier post, why not cruise it before and after? The current canal is what we all put on our bucket lists to do. The history of the canal if fascinating and I wanted to experience the history. That being said you will get many opportunities to view the new construction and you can add the new locks to your bucket list on a larger ship.

 

And don't forget the Coral will be in drydock in February, so you will be on a newly refurbished ship.

[Pam in CA]

Hi all,

 

DH & I are considering the 3/17/13 10 day partial Panama transit cruise on the Coral Princess from FLL. Mid 30s, no kids.

 

A few questions:

1) Some have recommended doing full transit instead of partial transit. If we do this cruise, then my plan is to take the Princess small boat shore excursion through the canal to the Pacific. In your opinion, is this an interesting/good excursion, or should we save up vacation time and $ to do the 14 day instead? I'm wondering if after the partial cruise we'll have felt that we should have done the full transit instead. -- If you can afford the $ and the time, do the full transit as you get to experience the Panama Canal more fully. Whether you do the partial or full transit, do the small boat excursion. It's great. But bring water. I took it in October and other than initial bottle of water, there was nothing to drink on the boat.

 

2) We have previously sailed on the larger Princess ships (Golden, Ruby). Some friends have told us they didn't like the Coral b/c it was too small and smoky with the casino in the middle of the ship, and lacked the activities/nightlife of the bigger ships. Thoughts? We enjoy onboard activities like scrapbooking and lectures; we usually skip evening shows to go to the casino or dance. We love the Wheelhouse bar on other Princess ships. -- Are they serious? First, the Coral/Island are LONGER than the Grand-class ships. However, they are narrower to fit through the Canal. They don't have the extra deck of just passenger cabins. They have almost as much interior public space as the Grand-class ships (due to the ship being narrower) but a 1,000+ fewer passengers. The passenger space ratio on the Coral/Island is much better. For instance, it's rare to find the buffet packed. I've taken both ships quite a few times and have never had a problem finding a choice of tables for breakfast or lunch. There are just as many activities because there are just as many lounges and venues as most of the Grand-class ships.

 

3) A friend told us we should wait until 2014 when the new canal is finished and bigger ships sail the canal regularly. Any thoughts/opinions on this? -- You're going to have a long, uncertain wait because when I was there in October, completion had been pushed back until 2015. There is no way they can complete construction before then. I'm not an engineer but they're still dredging, still digging, and have a long way to go before they can even start construction. It's very doubtful any Panama Canal cruise on the larger ships will be released when the 2014-2015 itineraries come out so even if by a miracle the new Canal is completed in 2014, no "large" Princess ship will be scheduled.

I've done both the partial and full transit and prefer the full. But I understand if the partial is not do-able. You won't see the new Canal construction if you do the partial.

[smoosh21]

We did the full transit on the Coral and loved it. Yeah, it skewed older, but so has every other cruise over 10 days that I have been on.

 

I liked the ports coming down the Pacific coast, and enjoyed the full day sailing through the Canal. I definitely would not want to give up sailing through the Gaillard Cut.

 

I didnt find the Casino to be that smoky.

[zahav1]

Hi all,

 

DH & I are considering the 3/17/13 10 day partial Panama transit cruise on the Coral Princess from FLL. Mid 30s, no kids.

 

A few questions:

1) Some have recommended doing full transit instead of partial transit. If we do this cruise, then my plan is to take the Princess small boat shore excursion through the canal to the Pacific. In your opinion, is this an interesting/good excursion, or should we save up vacation time and $ to do the 14 day instead? I'm wondering if after the partial cruise we'll have felt that we should have done the full transit instead. - If you can take a longer cruise / vacation, you should do the full transit. I've done both, and the full transit is a superior experience. That small boat excursion is not fun (I've heard) and not comfortable.

 

 

2) We have previously sailed on the larger Princess ships (Golden, Ruby). Some friends have told us they didn't like the Coral b/c it was too small and smoky with the casino in the middle of the ship, and lacked the activities/nightlife of the bigger ships. Thoughts? We enjoy onboard activities like scrapbooking and lectures; we usually skip evening shows to go to the casino or dance. We love the Wheelhouse bar on other Princess ships. - the Coral is great, lots to do, we stayed up late most nights, never smelled smoke, lots of activities and of course the Panama Canal lectures, lots to learn with that.

 

 

3) A friend told us we should wait until 2014 when the new canal is finished and bigger ships sail the canal regularly. Any thoughts/opinions on this? - the new locks will not be finished till the end of 2015. A longer wait.

 

 

Any tips/comments/considerations would be great, especially from folks who have done both the 10 and 14 day cruises, or have sailed Coral as well as Ruby or Golden. Thank you CCers!!

 

Cara

 

See above my answers.

[jnc411]

Hi, we have done the full transit 3 times , never get tired of it. We just did the full transit on the Coral in December. It was very nice, it did not seem crowded or busy at all. It is a different layout than most the other Princess ships, but we were fine with that. We did enjoy the day in Panama City , very interesting , much larger than I thought it would be. However you need to choose your itinerary carefully, as our cruise it did not stop anywhere on the west coast /Pacific except for Costa Rica, no stops in Mexico or anyother stops. We love just the sea days , so it was fine with us. But it is something to consider. Now our daughter went on the Coral the opposite direction from Pacific to Atlantic a few weeks earlier than we did and she did stop in both Cabo, and Nicaragua and Costa Rica then through the Canal , but no stop in Panama City , it would just be your choice. Also found Cartagena Colombia interesting as well. What ever you decide to do , I don't think you would be disappointed in the Coral t is a nice ship.

Cori

[sammiedawg]

The coral and island princess ships have the best passenger space ratio in the fleet which means you will not feel crowded. These are considered premium ships.

Princess plans to put the grand class ships on the canal route when the widening is completed. The grand, golden and star princess will fit. These ships are nice enough but they are not considered premium.

 

We do not like the Caribbean and her sisters, they added 500 passengers but no extra public space. I am amazed many passengers like these ships as I do not enjoy competing for space. They are at the other side of the space spectrum on princess and in my opinion a lesser value.

 

Many components of cruising are very subjective such as food,service,entertainment. Space per passenger is an objective comparison that we consider when making a ship choice.

[patnfrank]

My wife & I have done both; a partial when we took a bus tour to Panama City about 10 years ago and last Dec. from Ft. Lauderdale to Los Angeles on the Coral. The first left us desiring to do the whole thing, so we did. We enjoyed a very short visit to Catagena & the canal was as we remembered, only better. We stopped in Costa Rica, a first for us on the Pacific side. I don't remember the tour operator but he is highly recommended in Trip Advisor.com and offers something called a "3 in 1 tour" We had 2 couples in a van with driver & guide and they constantly watched for beautiful birds in the trees and would frequently make a u-turn. We did the rain forest tram which was very interesting. Only 2 negatives: Our cabin (C225) inside was the smallest we have had in over 20 cruises. It also had the smallest shower (about 18 x 24 inches). Princess has completely discontinued visits to Mexican ports and goes non-stop to LA. The LAX terminal was the most disorganized I have ever seen. The check-in line was about 100 feet outside, then inside, then outside again, then inside and this was before reaching the excalator to security. Then another screening area was opened which required walking to the far end of the building. We will avoid LAX at all costs - maybe try John Wayne or LB. Too bad San Diego is so far away. In sum, it is a wonderful trip so do what you have time for. The note about larger ships in the new expanded canal is valid. The new route is basically the same but the larger ships will have many more cabins and lower prices.

[swimdolly]

Hi all,

 

DH & I are considering the 3/17/13 10 day partial Panama transit cruise on the Coral Princess from FLL. Mid 30s, no kids.

 

A few questions:

1) Some have recommended doing full transit instead of partial transit. If we do this cruise, then my plan is to take the Princess small boat shore excursion through the canal to the Pacific. In your opinion, is this an interesting/good excursion, or should we save up vacation time and $ to do the 14 day instead? I'm wondering if after the partial cruise we'll have felt that we should have done the full transit instead.

 

2) We have previously sailed on the larger Princess ships (Golden, Ruby). Some friends have told us they didn't like the Coral b/c it was too small and smoky with the casino in the middle of the ship, and lacked the activities/nightlife of the bigger ships. Thoughts? We enjoy onboard activities like scrapbooking and lectures; we usually skip evening shows to go to the casino or dance. We love the Wheelhouse bar on other Princess ships.

 

3) A friend told us we should wait until 2014 when the new canal is finished and bigger ships sail the canal regularly. Any thoughts/opinions on this?

 

Any tips/comments/considerations would be great, especially from folks who have done both the 10 and 14 day cruises, or have sailed Coral as well as Ruby or Golden. Thank you CCers!!

 

Cara

 

We have done both partial and full transit. This 3/17 partial cruise goes to the east coast of Costa Rica, and the full transit went up the west coast (we did that with a different cruise line). Either one is enjoyable, depending on the other ports visited. (Princess is my favorite cruise line.) We did not have the option, on our partial, to take a small boat to the Pacific - taking that option sounds like the best of two worlds!

[caribill]

If all you want to experience is the fantastic orginal locks, then a partial will do just fine.

 

But if you really want to experience the Canal, seeing the "Cut", the Continental Divide and the entrance to the Pacific, you need to go all the way through one way or another. Without going through the "Cut", it is impossible to realize what an engineering feat it was to build the Canal.