Anyone just back from Coral Princess Alaska?

[lucky cal]

We are sailing on Coral Princess southbound from Whittier in July. We are curious ... about everything! If you're just back from Coral, please share.

 

I know many of these areas are subjective, but here are some specific questions:

 

Was embarkation, disembarkation fast and orderly?

 

Any norovirus delays or special accommodations?

 

How was the food overall (MDR, Horizon Court, specialty restaurants)? And specifically, how were the new Alaskan menus?

 

Who was the naturalist on board? Good, not so good?

 

How was the entertainment? Anything stand out as particularly good or bad?

 

Was the ship well-maintained? The cabins? Or is the ship showing lots of wear and tear?

 

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and any additional information you want to provide. I hope we'll see lots of full Alaska reviews in the coming weeks!

[Kamloops50]

We are sailing on Coral Princess southbound from Whittier in July. We are curious ... about everything! If you're just back from Coral, please share.

 

I know many of these areas are subjective, but here are some specific questions:

 

Was embarkation, disembarkation fast and orderly?

 

Any norovirus delays or special accommodations?

 

How was the food overall (MDR, Horizon Court, specialty restaurants)? And specifically, how were the new Alaskan menus?

 

Who was the naturalist on board? Good, not so good?

Coral is currently on it's first complete NB/SB cruise . I would expect some reports in about a week.

 

How was the entertainment? Anything stand out as particularly good or bad?

 

Was the ship well-maintained? The cabins? Or is the ship showing lots of wear and tear?

 

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and any additional information you want to provide. I hope we'll see lots of full Alaska reviews in the coming weeks!

 

Unlike many ports embarkation is very easy. They usually supply the room cards ( cruise tours only) the night before . Because departure is at 8:30PM embarkation is in waves as the different groups arrive by train , bus and private shuttle.

Edited May 25, 2015 by Kamloops50

[partybarbie]

Check out this thread, http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2212337. It's from the 4-day Alaska on the Coral. I would post your questions there.

[RaiderCruiser]

We are sailing on Coral Princess southbound from Whittier in July. We are curious ... about everything! If you're just back from Coral, please share.

 

Just returned from our first Princess and Alaskan cruise on 5-21. I am currently writing a review but happy to give you my opinions.

 

I know many of these areas are subjective, but here are some specific questions:

 

Was embarkation, disembarkation fast and orderly?

 

Both were extremely smooth. Not in a hurry to board because there was much to see in Vancouver. We boarded around 2:30 and worked our way through the process without really slowing down. The process took maybe 20 minutes.

Debarkation was easy as well. We took advantage of EZ check? baggage so we were able to walk off right away without any delay.

 

 

Any norovirus delays or special accommodations?

No delays, but a Noro alert was announced on maybe the 4th day and again on the 5th. Some passengers were quarantined to their rooms.

 

 

How was the food overall (MDR, Horizon Court, specialty restaurants)? And specifically, how were the new Alaskan menus?

Found the food in the MDR to be ok at best, but I will say we weren't on this trip for the food. We ate at Sabitinni's and it was very good. IMO the new Alaskan menu has been somewhat over-hyped.

 

 

Who was the naturalist on board? Good, not so good?

The naturalist was Mark Harrison and he was great. Will admit don't have a lot to compare him to, but he was informative and very personable. We spent a lot of time talking to him on the bow of the Baja deck.

 

How was the entertainment? Anything stand out as particularly good or bad?

Didn't take advantage of all the entertainment because of everything going on outside, but we did enjoy a couple of the stage show, really enjoyed AJ the pianist and the comedian, can't remember his name, was really funny.

 

 

Was the ship well-maintained? The cabins? Or is the ship showing lots of wear and tear?

Ship was fine. Didn't notice any problems with "aging"

 

 

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and any additional information you want to provide. I hope we'll see lots of full Alaska reviews in the coming weeks!

 

Note on the Baja bow deck observation area. There are 2 signs posted on the door as emergency exit only, so we leary of going out. But after stepping out there were several people there. This is where the naturalist spent all his time in Glacier Bay and College Fjord.

 

Overall we had a great time.

[sammiedawg]

We just finished the northbound sailing. The Coral is a favorite of mine and it did not disappoint. The ship is in very good condition and the layout is great.

Mark Harris was a great naturalist. He hangs out on the forward part of Baja talking to passengers and giving some commentary on scenic days. His lectures are informative and well attended.

We enjoyed the shows and comedians.

The dining room food was pretty good and a few entrees were excellent. Appetizers, salads, soups and sides were mostly good. Princess is mass market but their food is better than it was years ago.

DH went to a crab shack lunch for $20.00, he was not impressed.

The Horizon court food is much improved over what I remember years ago. Layout, presentation and quality are much improved. Princess has great tableside service there, beverage teams come immediately to take your orders.

The Crew in the anytime dining area seemed very young as if they have hired lots of new servers. For the most part they were good. One guy we had seemed to struggle a little. They had good staffing levels for assistants, food runners, etc. Some of the courses were slow to arrive.

Edited May 25, 2015 by sammiedawg

[Opua Kiwi]

Was embarkation, disembarkation fast and orderly?

Any norovirus delays or special accommodations?

How was the food overall (MDR, Horizon Court, specialty restaurants)? And specifically, how were the new Alaskan menus?

Who was the naturalist on board? Good, not so good?

How was the entertainment? Anything stand out as particularly good or bad?

Was the ship well-maintained? The cabins? Or is the ship showing lots of wear and tear?

Embarkation very efficient....(priority boarding)

 

Small novo outbreak announced on day 4. (about 30 cases)

Immediate Code procedures instigated. Very happy with the response.

 

Food was good.

Only ate dinner in MDR twice due to prefering to be outside viewing or watching departures.

 

Naturalist Mark. Excellent. Do go to his lectures.

 

Entertainment very good. Bayou show in the small lounge was excellent as was the comedian Steve.

 

Ship in good shape.

 

Overall, no complaints for the 7 days....Great trip (helped by superb weather)

[Kamloops50]

Check out this thread, http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2212337. It's from the 4-day Alaska on the Coral. I would post your questions there.

 

There was no naturalist on the 4 day cruise. It wasn't your typical Alaskan cruise. It was more like a 3 day Mexico cruise from LA.

[partybarbie]

There was no naturalist on the 4 day cruise. It wasn't your typical Alaskan cruise. It was more like a 3 day Mexico cruise from LA.

 

I was thinking the OP might enjoy seeing the many pictures of the ship and food on this particular review. I believe those would be the same.

[montgomeryfamily]

We just finished the northbound sailing. The Coral is a favorite of mine and it did not disappoint. The ship is in very good condition and the layout is great.

Mark Harris was a great naturalist. He hangs out on the forward part of Baja talking to passengers and giving some commentary on scenic days. His lectures are informative and well attended.

We enjoyed the shows and comedians.

The dining room food was pretty good and a few entrees were excellent. Appetizers, salads, soups and sides were mostly good. Princess is mass market but their food is better than it was years ago.

DH went to a crab shack lunch for $20.00, he was not impressed.

The Horizon court food is much improved over what I remember years ago. Layout, presentation and quality are much improved. Princess has great tableside service there, beverage teams come immediately to take your orders.

The Crew in the anytime dining area seemed very young as if they have hired lots of new servers. For the most part they were good. One guy we had seemed to struggle a little. They had good staffing levels for assistants, food runners, etc. Some of the courses were slow to arrive.

 

 

Thanks for the summary. We are on the northbound Coral in early June. Do you have copies of the Patter which you could post or email?

[peety3]

Unlike many ports embarkation is very easy. They usually supply the room cards ( cruise tours only) the night before . Because departure is at 8:30PM embarkation is in waves as the different groups arrive by train , bus and private shuttle.

+1 on this. It's essentially impossible for a big wave of people to arrive at any one time - there's only one tunnel to Whittier, and it's one lane and one service at a time.

[jucaha]

Has anyone taken the land tour excursion out of Copper River (kellinton?)

[DougH]

I think the scenery for the first couple of hours out of Whittier is among the most spectacular you will see on the whole trip. Be sure and spend some time out on deck to enjoy, most people are tired the first night after just boarding and miss out. I like to be on the open aft decks to be out of the wind.