LIVE from the Coral Princess - LA to FLL - 14 days - April 20 to May 4, 2013

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Hi Pia,

 

Sorry I missed our sailaway but I'm onboard now :)

 

Aubrey is at the airport waiting for his flight and I'm sure relieved after coming home to a weekend of chores he will be happy to be back in a hotel with now yardwork or housework!!

 

Looking forward to our 2 week adventure onboard.

 

I have read all the Jack Reacher books except the last one but haven't seen the movie cause Tom Cruise is NOTHING like I imagine Reacher - let us know how you like it.

 

Safe travels.

[HRPro]

Have a wonderful cruise and thanks for taking us along. I will, as always, enjoy your "live from" and especially this one as we hope to take the Panama Canal cruise in 2014.

[Pia1913]

RANDOM INFORMATION

1. Horizon Court: Love the way it’s been redone. Piano/stage area has been transformed into pastry shop and opposite, the entire rotunda, is now a beverage station. Both sides can now get their drinks without the crowding that occurred outside the previous food exits. Also, a coffee bar has been added, but alas, no fresh brewed. They don’t do it up here, but you can get all specialties.

　

Seating: Much easier with the new chairs which are also comfortable. It used to be quite cumbersome for some to move those heavy wrought iron chairs. It may not be as pretty now, but it is more effective.

　

Buffet area: widened and very accessible. I just like it all.

　

2. Another lecturer: Jim Brown. Not sure what the future talks will be, but today his subject is “How to make this the most enjoyable cruise of your life.” I do see lots of blue cards, so they may get something out of it. We will pass.

　

　

3. Bill, you said something about Bill Keene doing a lecture on embarkation day. Forgot to say that his lectures will all be on shown on TV the following day starting at 11:00 AM and repeating all day.

　

4. Wake Show: Not overly enthusing. Question of the day is who is the captain and where is he from. WHAT? So awe inspiring.

　

5. Gym: At 7:30 mobbed. Had to wait for treadmills, but thankfully not too long. Gym opens at 6:00.

　

6. M and G: Good turnout with very friendly group. Met some really nice people

　

7. International Café: had lunch there today. There is soup; no quiche. Assume no quiche is due to not having grill. Chicken sandwich is chicken salad and not chicken breast.

8. It's cold.

See you tomorrow.

[hokiefans]

I hope you and Mike have a marvelous cruise. Caryn and I are really looking forward to seeing both of you in September when we embark on our Royal Princess adventure. Good health and happiness to both of you!

 

Stan

 

RANDOM INFORMATION

 

 

8. It's cold.

 

See you tomorrow.

 

Hi Pia!

Looking forward to reading more about this cruise!

denise

[rdsqrl]

. . . Chicken sandwich is chicken salad and not chicken breast. . . .

This is very profound. Are we drinking our S.B. whilst writing these posts, by any chance?

 

Glad my fave ship is looking good after her facelift. Wave to Lifeboat #1 for me (you probably missed that thread; I'll explain it to you when we hopefully see you in Carolina.).

 

Hasta la vista.

[mouseterd1]

Pia

What a treat to follow along with you to FLL....wishing you a wonderful cruise and that you get into warm weather soon. We board May 4 FLL for Vancouver.

 

When you have a chance, could you please scope out if the MDR still serves eggs bennies, with lox if asked and capers. I'm salivating for just that.

 

Thanks again. I think I'm getting the packing somewhat under control now that so many answered me back regarding packing for the hot and humid outside!!! LOL

 

Cheers, have a great one :)

Marilynn

[trbarton]

Pia:

 

I understand that they are in the process of adding a new canal for the mega ships. Will be interested to hear what's going on and what you see. Perhaps some photos can be posted for everyone to see.

 

Thanks for making regular posts for everybody to read.

 

Enjoy your cruise!!!

 

Tom:)

[5326jan]

As you walk down the hallways to cabins, the name tags used to be blue, silver or black. Now Princess has the new level and I'm just curious what color the new "medallion" level emblems are.

[chamima]

As you walk down the hallways to cabins' date=' the name tags used to be blue, silver or black. Now Princess has the new level and I'm just curious what color the new "medallion" level emblems are.[/quote']

 

duplicate

Edited April 22, 2013 by chamima

[Pia1913]

Good Monday morning and please please please let the Patter be right. It says temperature will be a high of 81. After yesterday’s brrrrrrrrrrrrr……….. this would be wonderful. So far they’re correct with the sunrise. It was up before 6:00 AM.

　

Last night we bit the bullet and actually went to see What a Swell Party. I think this is one of the worst Princess shows, but at least it was only ½ an hour. It was formal night, and as usual Pia and Mike were not. Lots of tuxes to be seen; more so than usual. But as I mentioned yesterday, lot of newbies on board.

　

So what’s happening today? One of the many 3 hour only sales is this morning; the $10 stuff. Bill Keene’s lecture will be Uncle Sam Builds a Canal, there’ll be line dancing in Universe, all kinds of spa stuff and for us trivia. No prizes yet, but we’ve only lost by one. Twice. Also, first pub lunch of the cruise will be in the Bayou starting at 11:30.

　

Afternoon brings Historic Canal Screening by the videographers; they need to sell their DVD’s. Movie in the theater will be Quartet which we intend to see and MUTS in the afternoon will show Jack Reacher. Timewise, we can make the 2nd movie too; weather permitting. James Brown will present Strategies for Stress Free Living (I know how to do that. Just keep cruising), and pop choir rehearsal. Never made it there yesterday and today doesn’t look too good either.

　

Tonight’s offerings begins with comedian Scott Wyler at 6:30 (he will do three shows). We’ve seen him several times; will probably see him again. MUTS is showing Trouble with the Curve, music and dancing with Opus is in Explorer’s and Universe is having a Rock ‘n Roll Night. Universe will also show Quartet at 5:30 for those who couldn’t or wouldn’t make the afternoon movie.

　

Tracie and Annie: We need to be in Ct. on June 20th, so will pass thru NC either before or after. Will advise when plans are in place.

　

Marilynn: Sorry. We never go near the dining room at breakfast time, but you can alwayst smoked salmon there and even at the buffet if you ask for it.

Tom: we saw the canal construction when we did this route in November. Try to look back for that LIVe since we may not even look at the canal this time.

Jan: I've seen the new Medallion cards. They are mauve.

　

Gym time. See you later. If I have anything to say that is. :D

[trikeman]

Pia:

 

I understand that they are in the process of adding a new canal for the mega ships. Will be interested to hear what's going on and what you see. Perhaps some photos can be posted for everyone to see.

 

Thanks for making regular posts for everybody to read.

 

Enjoy your cruise!!!

 

 

Tom:)

 

Tom,

 

Here's a link to the Panama Canal construction site. It will give you a idea of what they are doing, there's nine current photos of the work.

[WWCJR]

PIA,

We, my sister and I, just got off of the Coral Princess as you were getting onboard on 4/20/2013. We had a fabulous cruise through the canal. I hope your cruise is as good as our was. Say hi from Betty and Bill to Casey and Liz the two videographers on your cruise. They are very friendly and do a great job with the videos. In the past I had stopped buying the Reflections video but they are doing it different now. It is a two disk set with one disk for onboard events and the second for Ports of Call. Then there is a completely separate disk “The Great Panama Canal Experience” of just the day you go through the canal and is just for your cruise only no canned footage. One of the videographers is on shore and the other onboard. They use a lot of time-lapse and had done a great job putting it all together. I was so impressed with it, I ordered one for the cruise you are on to see the passage in the opposite direction. This was a first for them for a person to order the video for a cruise they are not on…they made us get off ship.

Watch that heat while going through the Panama Canal. For us that day it was around 100 and the heat index was 127!!!

[TLC535]

:D Thanks for the "Live" Pia...hope you guys have a fabulous time :D

[TorontoTL]

Love your live from Pia! Thanks for taking the time out of your cruise to post it.:)

[HKM]

Hi, Pia. Sounds like you should have a great trivia team this time. Talk about experienced! Hope you're both feeling better this cruise.

 

Your "live from" is perfect timing for my question. My brother and sister-in-law have an ME reservation on the Coral in Alaska. I think that must be one of the staterooms you're in. (Their on-line agent said they couldn't get a room assignment until June - don't understand that unless they have a guarantee). Is your balcony partly covered? Are there uncovered mini suite balconies on the Coral?

[Pia1913]

Hi Folks:

It did turn out to be a beautiful day. Warm and sunny. Not that we actually stayed outdoors for any length of time.

Hooray for us. We won trivia with a perfect score this morning, including the bonus question. Not bad; 21 for 21. Will probably never happen again. Got the magnetic clips.

　

Had an early lunch and went to see The Quartet. It was OK. Would have better had we been Brits. Some of it is hard to understand.

I have some stats for you. Most traveled luncheon will be Thursday the 25th and the cutoff is 333. Passenger numbers are:

Elite ………………… 165

Platinum ……………338

Medallion ………….269

Gold …………………..653

Blue ……………………553

I did the math for you. It’s a total of 1978.

We intend to see the comedian at 6:30 and then go to dinner. Internet has been spotty. Hope this posts. See you in the AM

HKM: We were booked under the old system. Don't know the new numbers.

[calsnoozie]

Hi Pia,

 

Just wondering what your thoughts are with the smaller casino? Does it seem cramped and/or dark? We will be on the Coral in early June, I am trying to visualize the smaller casino (yes, we like to frequent the casino:D:D).

 

Thank you for the "live" posts. Following your posts get me through the work week and the months between vacation/cruises.

 

Enjoy your trip!

 

Sue from Fairfield, CA

[tequilasunrise]

Pia, thanks as always for the "Live". We are thinking about this cruise next fall, so especially interested this time! :)

[Carolina Cruisers 2]

Yea! Great news that you had no problems taking your beloved wine on board! Enjoy and cheers to both of you.

 

Franky

[Pia1913]

Good Tuesday morning where at 5:30 the sun was shining through our window. We are going to be cruising along the Mexican coast and in fact passing only 20 miles off of Acapulco. That tells me why the forecast is supposed to be 93. Remind me how I b****** when it was cold, ‘cause you’re about to hear about how hot I will become.

　

Last night we enjoyed the comedy of Scott Wyler and even though we had seen him several times previously he had lot of new material. Other than dinner following his show, we did nothing else but return to our cabin to read.

　

So what’s on tap for today? Well, in the morning a lot. Bill Keene will be doing a port lecture on Puntarenas, Catherine the future cruise consultant will be doing a presentation on Alaska - 2014, there will be a culinary demo in the Universe Lounge and a discussion in Explorer‘s led by James Brown - Life Issues.. For us there will of course be trivia.

In the afternoon not much of anything, but there is the movie Flight and we will most likely go to that. Evening is the same. The hypnotist we think is awful, Kellie Karl, is doing 3 shows in the theater. I still don’t understand why she keeps turning up. She is totally ineffective. MUTS is showing Robot and Frank and in Universe there is a game show Peer Factor at 9:00 PM, followed by a late movie; Amour.

　

I need to comment about the elevators. They are fantastic. When is the last time you heard favorable elevator comments? They are very timely and very fast. Something must have been done to them when Coral was getting revamped a few months ago.

Sue: the casino is never busy. It is kind of smallish though.

　

Off to do some exercise. Later.

[wineforhealth]

The hypnotist we think is awful, Kellie Karl, is doing 3 shows in the theater. I still don’t understand why she keeps turning up. She is totally ineffective.

 

Maybe not, is she putting the audience to sleep?

[WendyG]

Hi Folks:

It did turn out to be a beautiful day. Warm and sunny. Not that we actually stayed outdoors for any length of time.

Hooray for us. We won trivia with a perfect score this morning, including the bonus question. Not bad; 21 for 21. Will probably never happen again. Got the magnetic clips.

　

Had an early lunch and went to see The Quartet. It was OK. Would have better had we been Brits. Some of it is hard to understand.

I have some stats for you. Most traveled luncheon will be Thursday the 25th and the cutoff is 333. Passenger numbers are:

Elite ………………… 165

Platinum ……………338

Medallion ………….269

Gold …………………..653

Blue ……………………553

I did the math for you. It’s a total of 1978.

We intend to see the comedian at 6:30 and then go to dinner. Internet has been spotty. Hope this posts. See you in the AM

HKM: We were booked under the old system. Don't know the new numbers.

 

Hi Pia,

 

Where do you get the stats? I would be interested in getting them for my Sapphire cruise this Saturday.

 

Thanks and hope you have a wonderful cruise vacation! :D

[san diego sue]

Wendy,

You can get this from the Captains Circle Hostess or Host. Will have to wait until you are on board.

Edited April 23, 2013 by san diego sue

[paul929207]

Hi Pia,

 

Where do you get the stats? I would be interested in getting them for my Sapphire cruise this Saturday.

 

Thanks and hope you have a wonderful cruise vacation! :D

Wendy

The stats are usually announced at the Captain's Circle party

[kath00]

Thanks for the review so far. I am curious to see how hot it will be as you get further south. It's one of the reasons I have held off on booking this itiniary. DO the A/Cs on the ship keep up with the heat and humidity? It is a nightmare to think about me having to sleep in a hot cabin....

 

Kath