Which ship is better for Alaska, Crown Princess or Coral Princess?

[KruzPrincess]

I've been on both. I just got off the Coral yesterday and had a wonderful 14 days to and from Alaska. I actually looked, on a whim, to see if I could maybe book another cruise on her this summer. LOL. My answer is the Coral. With the exception of some crowding in the Horizon Court we never had any problems with too many people. The staff was so upbeat and friendly. They did a great job. The ship is older, but it's in really good shape after the drydock. We had 4 days of glacier viewing and loved it.

[sailinglisa]

See that Princess? We want more ships like the Coral! It wins in every poll, every time!:)

 

Yeah - just make the showers a bit bigger!!! :p

[pablo222]

I would choose Coral Princess - along with the size of the ship comes the size of the passenger load - Coral Princess is very well laid out and has a low passenger density compared to Crown Princess.

 

Whenever I have been on Crown/Emerald/Ruby in the carribean,

and there is an afternoon shower -- the interior public spaces are

super crowded. There just isn't enough room if people are not

on deck. I can't imagine what it would be like in Alaska.

 

The only thing Coral lacks is a Crown Grill, but I would still pick Coral.

[Casey12]

No comparison -- The Coral Princess is the best choice. I would put the Crown Princess at the bottom of my list of all ships in Alaska.

[allisons]

You asked this question here, and got 8 people telling you Coral is better (and none preferring Crown). At least 2 of those people stated they had sailed on both ships, and several explained that Coral has the better public viewing areas.

 

Then you asked it again on the Alaska forum, and ONE person recommended Crown -- giving wrong information about Coral but making it clear that he had only sailed on Crown.

 

And then an hour later you asked in both forums about choice of balconies ON CROWN.

 

So -- were you really looking for advice about choice of ship, or were you just trying to ratify your already-made decision to take Crown -- and one uninformed vote was all it took!

 

You will have a great cruise anyway, because Alaska cruises are great. But if you are really interested in getting the most out of the glacier viewing days, you would have an even better cruise on Coral.

 

I'm undecided at this point. I'm trying to weigh all the pros and cons, as a few people have recommended. One big difference is the availability of a corner aft balcony cabin on the Crown and not on the Coral. So I was trying to guage how much of a pro that is.

[allisons]

I've been on both. I just got off the Coral yesterday and had a wonderful 14 days to and from Alaska. I actually looked, on a whim, to see if I could maybe book another cruise on her this summer. LOL. My answer is the Coral. With the exception of some crowding in the Horizon Court we never had any problems with too many people. The staff was so upbeat and friendly. They did a great job. The ship is older, but it's in really good shape after the drydock. We had 4 days of glacier viewing and loved it.

 

Thank you so much! I assume that your four days were Glacier Bay, Hubbard Glacier, Tracy Arm, and College Fjord? Can you please rank them, or at least compare and contrast? We're going to do two cruises in Alaska next summer, so we have lots of different options of different combinations of glaciers. Thanks!

[allisons]

Whenever I have been on Crown/Emerald/Ruby in the carribean,

and there is an afternoon shower -- the interior public spaces are

super crowded. There just isn't enough room if people are not

on deck. I can't imagine what it would be like in Alaska.

 

The only thing Coral lacks is a Crown Grill, but I would still pick Coral.

 

Thank you so much!

[allisons]

No comparison -- The Coral Princess is the best choice. I would put the Crown Princess at the bottom of my list of all ships in Alaska.

 

Thank you so much!

[OCruisers]

My reason for picking Coral over Crown may sound silly to most of you ... but we like the location of Crooner's better on Coral! :D

 

LuLu

~~~~

[san diego sue]

Been on both ships.

Love both for different reasons.

On the Coral, there may not be corner aft cabins but the last cabins on either side, still give you panoramic view.

We had corner aft on the Star, loved it but did get sea sick on sea days,Alaska cruise) because of the way the bed faced.

See if you can get a covered balcony cabin(Coral Princess) on Caribe deck. We had a mini suite and were close to the viewing deck in the front.

I prefer to be out on deck when we are viewing glaciers.

We did the Crown on a cold weather transatlantic. It was so crowded. Also getting on and off the ship took a while.

But the thing I love the best on the Coral is the terrific show "On the Bayou". On the Coral and Island have this show and it is worthy to cruise to see this incredible show.

 

Edited July 19, 2013 by san diego sue

[pablo222]

Thank you so much!

 

You need to be careful picking a balcony on coral.

Some are way under an overhang, and some are out

to the edge of the ship.

 

We had an edge-of-the-ship style, which was good for

panama canal, as a lot of the action was straight down

from the balcony. They also opened the crew deck area

forward to pax once in the canal. I don't know if they

would do this in alaska, or not.

 

The only thing that was wierd was that it took two

elevator rides to get to the dining room.

 

Elevator - walk - second elevator.

[fishin' musician]

I'll weigh in as I was recently on the Coral and last year did the Venice to Civitevichia itinerary on the Crown. We had a corner aft on the Crown (C752) and as close as we could get to one on the Coral (E736). If I were in an inside room the answer would be hands down Coral, mostly because of the aft and forward public viewing areas on several decks. But with the corner aft room with the wide angle view I'm much more inclined to lounge on my balcony than to be out on the public decks. I do expect on the Crown they will open the bow area for glacier observation as this was done when we sailed through the straits at the bottom of Italy.

 

IMO having the corner aft balcony on the Crown makes it a very tough decision.

[allisons]

Been on both ships.

Love both for different reasons.

On the Coral, there may not be corner aft cabins but the last cabins on either side, still give you panoramic view.

We had corner aft on the Star, loved it but did get sea sick on sea days,Alaska cruise) because of the way the bed faced.

See if you can get a covered balcony cabin(Coral Princess) on Caribe deck. We had a mini suite and were close to the viewing deck in the front.

I prefer to be out on deck when we are viewing glaciers.

We did the Crown on a cold weather transatlantic. It was so crowded. Also getting on and off the ship took a while.

But the thing I love the best on the Coral is the terrific show "On the Bayou". On the Coral and Island have this show and it is worthy to cruise to see this incredible show.

 

 

You're referring to Coral E736? Very interesting about E736, when I initally booked the Coral, I asked if that had any advantage of being a pseudo-corner aft, and the Princess PCP said no and put me in E708 instead. From looking at pictures, it looks as if it is totally exposed with no balcony above it? That would be terrible if we had lots of rain like we did this summer on our Alaska cruise.

Edited July 19, 2013 by allisons

[allisons]

You need to be careful picking a balcony on coral.

Some are way under an overhang, and some are out

to the edge of the ship.

 

We had an edge-of-the-ship style, which was good for

panama canal, as a lot of the action was straight down

from the balcony. They also opened the crew deck area

forward to pax once in the canal. I don't know if they

would do this in alaska, or not.

 

The only thing that was wierd was that it took two

elevator rides to get to the dining room.

 

Elevator - walk - second elevator.

 

Thank you! Can you please elaborate more? Which balconies are way under an overhang, which are out to the edge of the ship? I assume that you mean that way under an overhang would be bad, while out to the edge of the ship would be good?

 

What do you mean about the elevators? Can you not take the stairs? We barely take elevators on cruises, we almost entirely take the stairs. We wouldn't like it if we were forced to take elevators.

[allisons]

I'll weigh in as I was recently on the Coral and last year did the Venice to Civitevichia itinerary on the Crown. We had a corner aft on the Crown (C752) and as close as we could get to one on the Coral (E736). If I were in an inside room the answer would be hands down Coral' date=' mostly because of the aft and forward public viewing areas on several decks. But with the corner aft room with the wide angle view I'm much more inclined to lounge on my balcony than to be out on the public decks. I do expect on the Crown they will open the bow area for glacier observation as this was done when we sailed through the straits at the bottom of Italy.

 

IMO having the corner aft balcony on the Crown makes it a very tough decision.[/quote']

 

Ooh! Thank you so much! I'm intrigued since you've had both Crown C752 and Coral E736. And since you're similar to us in that, if at all possible, we would greatly prefer to do all of our scenic cruising (Inside Passage, Glacier Bay, Hubbard Glacier) from our own balcony than from the public decks. So Crown C752 would be so fabulous that it would outweigh this notion that the Coral is a superior ship to Alaska than the Crown? Very interesting about Coral E736, when I initally booked the Coral, I asked if that had any advantage of being a pseudo-corner aft, and the Princess PCP said no and put me in E708 instead. From looking at pictures, it looks as if it is totally exposed with no balcony above it? That would be terrible if we had lots of rain like we did this summer on our Alaska cruise.

[fishin' musician]

FWIW, E736 on the Coral is completely covered.

[allisons]

FWIW' date=' E736 on the Coral is completely covered.[/quote']

 

Oh! Good to know! Now that makes it a harder decision! If you had to choose for Alaska next summer between Crown C752 and Coral E736, which would you choose? Thanks!

[fishin' musician]

Oh! Good to know! Now that makes it a harder decision! If you had to choose for Alaska next summer between Crown C752 and Coral E736, which would you choose? Thanks!

 

That's a tough decision... We really enjoyed both immensely! OK, maybe slight advantage to Coral for large back porch 5 ft to the aft of our door! Only negative of that room was occasionally we'd hear the door slam to the back porch.... also, zero internet service in that room. OK, another negative was having to go a long way for a cup of coffee... or food. On the Crown you can just bip up a few floors.

[mr green]

Thank you! Can you explain why?

 

You have to live it. Staff is always soo friendly, and such an easy ship to get around. Plus the full show in the Universe Lounge, with its three stages. is one of the finest that a person will see on a cruise ship.

 

john

[san diego sue]

Just go, you will enjoy whatever you pick.

We cruise so often that for us, doesn't matter which ship because eventually will sale on the other one.I realize most people are not in same circumstance as I, and a cruise is a once in a lifetime. So appreciate your asking all the questions.

As I mentioned in a previous post, we have had C752. Only time we got really seasick was on Alaska cruise in that cabin, when on open sea.

Have had that aft cabin 6 times. We are going to Alaska next month on the Star and chose not to have the aft but one of the side Caribe deck instead. With the way the new category pricing is, better value to take an aft side. The savings can get you nice tours instead.

Poster above, glad you also mentioned the show. It is so worth being on the Coral to see it.

Edited July 19, 2013 by san diego sue

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thank you! Can you please elaborate more? Which balconies are way under an overhang, which are out to the edge of the ship? I assume that you mean that way under an overhang would be bad, while out to the edge of the ship would be good?

 

What do you mean about the elevators? Can you not take the stairs? We barely take elevators on cruises, we almost entirely take the stairs. We wouldn't like it if we were forced to take elevators.

 

For the complete lowdown on Coral balconies, see this wonderful website:

http://mysite.verizon.net/res76zxu/princessbalconies/index.html

 

Coral has four sets of elevators/stairs. The midship and aft sets go to all decks. The forward set only goes down to deck 7, so you have to transfer to get down to the restaurants, casino, etc. There is also an extra set of elevators and a staircase that only covers the atrium area. Since you're looking at an aft cabin, you will find that Coral has enough stairs and elevators that you will never have to wait.

 

Take a good look at the Coral deck plans, and you'll see what all this means. There is a doorway right next to E736 that leads to the aft balcony -- so you would not only get the panoramic view from your own balcony, but a full 180 degrees there. [i would still spend most of the glacier viewing on the promenade on deck 7.]

[OCruisers]

For the complete lowdown on Coral balconies, see this wonderful website:

http://mysite.verizon.net/res76zxu/princessbalconies/index.html

 

Yes, it's great! I always use those deck plans with booking Coral/Island! Great to know which balconies are covered and which are not ... or half covered! :D

 

LuLu

~~~~

[allisons]

That's a tough decision... We really enjoyed both immensely! OK' date=' maybe slight advantage to Coral for large back porch 5 ft to the aft of our door! Only negative of that room was occasionally we'd hear the door slam to the back porch.... also, zero internet service in that room. OK, another negative was having to go a long way for a cup of coffee... or food. On the Crown you can just bip up a few floors.[/quote']

 

Hmm . . . Interesting! Thank you!

[allisons]

You have to live it. Staff is always soo friendly, and such an easy ship to get around. Plus the full show in the Universe Lounge, with its three stages. is one of the finest that a person will see on a cruise ship.

 

john

 

Thank you so much! (Everyone said how great the shows were on Ruby Princess, but we didn't like them at all.)

[allisons]

Just go, you will enjoy whatever you pick.

We cruise so often that for us, doesn't matter which ship because eventually will sale on the other one.I realize most people are not in same circumstance as I, and a cruise is a once in a lifetime. So appreciate your asking all the questions.

As I mentioned in a previous post, we have had C752. Only time we got really seasick was on Alaska cruise in that cabin, when on open sea.

Have had that aft cabin 6 times. We are going to Alaska next month on the Star and chose not to have the aft but one of the side Caribe deck instead. With the way the new category pricing is, better value to take an aft side. The savings can get you nice tours instead.

Poster above, glad you also mentioned the show. It is so worth being on the Coral to see it.

 

I'm confused. I thought that this was the first time that the Crown Princess is going to be in Alaska. The C752 you had was on another ship? Was it comparable and in the same location as C752 on Crown Princess?