Coral Princess 10/5/05 - 10/15/05

[cmm80124]

We went on this sailing for our honeymoon, our third cruise in total but our first time on Princess. I am an easy person to please, and went into the experience with no preconceived notions other than to have a good time.

 

Overall, we had a great time on this cruise, thanks to the dedication of the crew and staff. The entertainment was fun (although it could have been a little more varied), the ports of call were wonderful, and the ship and our mini-suite were absolutely beautiful.

 

However (preparing myself for the fire....) many of the attitudes of the other passengers really put us off from cruising on Princess again. I know this is a vast generalization, but I can only go from my experience, and my experience is that I have never seen more rude people in one location than I did on the Coral. Examples: People deliberately parking their motorized scooters in the walkway on the Lido deck instead of out of the way behind lounge chairs; People cutting in front of me in line at the boutiques no less than three times; People arriving 20 minutes late to a show and demanding to sit in the middle of one of the front rows, making those of us who showed up on time move to accomodate them and miss part of the show in the process; One person positioning a bell hop cart loaded with boxes directly in the way of the main exit on the disembarkation deck and refusing to move it for anyone to get around; people pretending to "not see" the line for the shuttle to return us to the parking garage and instead barging their way in front of those who had waited for over 15 minutes. I could continue to go on...

 

To be fair, we also met many great people while onboard who were both polite and friendly, but it's amazing how one (or several) bad apples can ruin the bunch. I do not know if this occurrence was a function of the length or price of the cruise or the cruise line itself, but we were amazed at how we were treated by some of the other passengers. The whole "we are older, so we can get away with it" attitude got old very quickly.

 

And before people jump at me to say I am an ungrateful person who doesn't respect her elders, know that some of the kindest people we met onboard were also elderly. Age has no bearing on how desirable someone is to be around, but attitude surely does. Again, this is no complaint against Princess, but simply my experience with some of the passengers who were on my sailing.

 

I will be glad to answer any questions you may have.

 

Carla

[mmsoko]

Explain more about the thermal spa for me.

 

What tour/excursions did you take? What did you like and dislike about them?

 

Thanks for your post.

Unfortunately, there are rude people in this world. I just try hard not to be one of them. If we all did then there wouldn't be a problem. Life's too short to worry about these folks.

[TorontoTL]

Hi there, I hope you don't let the poor attitudes and rudeness of one bunch of cruisers deter you from booking with Princess again. After four cruises and two more booked with Princess I'd have to say that your experience is not the norm for a Princess ship. I doubt you'd have that same experience on your next cruise if you should choose to cruise with Princess again. Don't that the minority ruin things for the majority.

[beachlovergirl]

You won't get any fire from me.....we agree with you.....we've also come across some very rude, inpatient and pushy people of all ages on our cruises, and that's been on many of the lines we've been on.....Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, NCL and Carnival, not just our Princess cruises! :( When we first started cruising I don't remember people being as rude and inpatient as they are now. On our last Royal Caribbean cruise (Adventure of the Seas) that was our worse experience with rude passengers. We'll still sail with Royal Caribbean and we're planning our next cruise with them.

 

We're going to be on the Coral next Tuesday (Oct 25th), also in a mini-suite (D606). What mini were you in and was your balcony covered or uncovered? What excursions did you do in Costa Rica and Panama?

 

Thanks!

Dee

[cwestbrook]

Were they possibly from other countries than the U.S.? Experience from some of my travels has shown me that some cultures are just pushier than others, especially when it comes to lines.

 

I'm certainly not saying U.S. citizens can't be pushy. I've just seen some pretty major differences in some locations around the world.

[5fathom]

We began cruising in 1982 on the Sun Princess. We have cruised 26 times since. Regretfully I must agree with you assesment of rude people. We have noticed on our last couple of cruises many people do as they please and to hell with everyone else ! It is not only the older passengers but the younger ones as well. On our recent British Isles cruise we were to be on the bus for transfer to Heathrow at 7 am. We waited exactly one hour for two passengers who upon boarding said " Whats the big deal? We had to eat breakfast didn't we ! 99% of the people we meet are wonderful. Cruising is changing and not only on Princess but on all the cruiselines.

[cmm80124]

Thanks for all your encouraging replies! I by no means find any fault with Princess, and the Sun Princess is actually doing a Southern Caribbean route next October that I would like to go on. I am sure we will sail with Princess again, but I do hope we will find that our previous experience was not the norm!

 

And to answer your questions...

 

The thermal suite was great! It was $109/couple (I think $70 per single) and offered unlimited access to the area anytime the Spa was open. There were different steam rooms/saunas with aromatherapy scents such as tropical rainforest and mint that all had various levels of steam. My favorite, though, was a set of four self-heating tile "loungers" that were S-shaped and therefore conformed to the shape of your body when you lied down. They were wonderful, and made my sore back and shoulders feel so relaxed! I could have stayed in them all day! The entire thermal suite is done in greens and neutrals, and has a beautiful mural of the sky on the ceiling. They also offer orange and lemon flavored water and cucumbers in the room. You can get a tour of this room when they offer the Spa walk-through on embarkation day. I highly recommend it, and my husband (who doesn't usually enjoy things like that) had a good time, too.

 

We were in mini-suite D504, which was partially covered. It was a great location - it was the first cabin under where the bumpout on the deck above began, so we weren't obstructed by anything. It was nice and roomy, too - lots of closet and shelf space.

 

As for the shore excursions, we did:

 

Green Grotto Caves & Dunns River Falls in Ocho Rios - lots of fun, but be forewarned that there are lots of slippery & steep steps in both locations (you can choose to walk the boardwalk alongside the falls instead of climbing them if you wish).

 

Highlights of Panama - this was a great tour, as it allowed you to do three things: an eco cruise on a lake, the Embera Indian Village tour, and to see the locks in operation from shore side. This excursion was a little on the pricey side, but worth every penny! It also allowed us approximately 2 hours to shop in the market at Cristobal.

 

Rainforest Jitney Ride & Skywalk in Limon - this was also a nice tour, but very hot & humid! Our guides did an excellent job of telling us about their country and the rainforest, but beware if you are afraid of large spiders! They are everywhere - above you, below you, and on both sides! We were told they had non-lethal bites, but they were a little too close for comfort for me. We also booked the Old Banana Route Railway Journey in Limon, but it was cancelled due to not meeting minimum attendance requirements.

 

Island Highlights & Stingray Snorkel in Grand Cayman - this was great! Do not be afraid of the stingrays - they are like puppy dogs! We had so much fun and also enjoyed seeing the Turtle Farm and visiting the town of Hell!

 

In Cozumel, we did our own excursion to Chankanaab and swam with the sea lions. Princess only offers the dolphin swim (I think), but try to do the sea lion swim if you can! It is only $59 per person and includes park admission, the swim, and a sea lion show. Chankanaab is so beautiful - we can't wait to go back!

 

Any more questions - I'll be glad to answer!

 

Carla

[Jimjam]

Thanks CMM80124 for your delicate but straightforward comments.. I agree with all the other posts..There's good and bad in most things and cruising is not immune...Having been on 19 cruises, when it comes to "rudness" the cruises to the Eastern and Western Med. were the worst when it came to rudness and the other was on a Caribbean cruise with Costa.. 'WOW!". However, we just consider the source and go on enjoying our cruises..

 

We will be on the Coral for the October 25th Cruise and was wondering when the two formal nights were? With four sea days they usually are on the first and third sea days..Was this the case on your recent cruise? THANKS AGAIN.

[cmm80124]

Hi Jimjam,

 

The formal nights were the first sea day (October 6 for us) and the Grand Cayman day (October 12). It was kind of strange to not have the 2nd formal on a sea day, but since we left Grand Cayman at 3:00, it didn't make too much of a rush for us.

 

Thanks also for your support on the rudeness issue - I was a little scared to see if I would be flamed by some people on these boards.

 

Carla

[mmsoko]

Thanks for the thermal suite info. Makes it clearer than other posts.:)

[rhea2day]

Hi Carla - thanks for the update and congrats on your wedding!

 

I am also going to be doing the Coral Oct 25th for our honeymoon - did they do anything special to your room? I have heard they do silly things like balloons on the door?

 

Were the suite perks all there?

 

Thanks

LIsa

[beachlovergirl]

Carla - Thanks for the information!

 

Jimjam - Our Oct 25th Coral itinerary is a little different than Carla's was so our formal nights may still be the 1st and 3rd sea days. I think they went to Ocho Rios first then Grand Cayman while our cruise is doing the opposite with Grand Cayman on Oct 28th. By the way, there is a Roll Call group for our cruise.....go over to the Princess Roll Call section to find us!

 

Dee

[raydon]

Thanks for your frankness. We have experienced similar situations but now I attirbute it to the time of year more than a particular cruise line. We all know the fall, near end of Hurricane season brings the lowest rates of the year and for some reason, while there are less children the rudeness of adults can often seem like a poor substitute!. We just deal with it and move on. Perhaps (I can feel the flames already), living in south Florida has hardened us to this particular problem.

[luvs2beachit]

Thanks for the great review

 

About the rudeness thing........NY cruises have that market cornered and I am a New Yorker!!! Have been on about 15 cruises, mostly out of Fla., 2 in Europe, one out of Norfolk and two originating out of NYC and hands down the rudest, pushiest, loud mouth folks boarded in that port!! On one of those NY cruises we had to have our table in the diningroom changed because of the crude conversations at the table next to us.......and I work with the criminal justice system so I am use to hearing ALL sorts of conversations! I do have to agree with one of the other posters, I think season and price have much to do with the passenger assortment Having said all that, it hasn't stopped me from cruising, we have one booked for Jan 06 because the nice people out number the rude ones 100 to 1.

Judie

[senior lady]

We were on RCI Radiance last fall to Hawaii, and my DH nearly got run down by the scooters getting off the elevators:eek: I can also remember one cruise that we overheard people complaining about everything!!! Then of all things they were sitting by us on the airplaine and complaining coming home. I finally had enought and turned around and asked them that if they had such a awful time cruising, why did they cruise several times a yr!!!! never heard a peep from them during the whole flight home;)

[hugger]

We found the crowd to be the oldest one we've ever sailed on with Princess.

It just wasn't a fun crowd at all - in fact, we found that most people didn't join in the games, shows etc. They even cancelled several of the shows for lack of attendance which was to bad as we missed a lot because of this.

 

We were in D527 and our balcony was uncovered which we don't mind. It was a bit disconcerting the morning we transited the canal as I didn't expect such a welcome when I walked out on our balcony :) But it didn't bother us at all. Everyone was very friendly and said good morning LOL

We hung an American Flag that my SIL had brought along for all of us on our balcony(as they did on their deck). One man even asked if he could salute it. I was very impressed.

We did find a lot of rude people - it just seemed like a funky mood on the ship for some reason. However, we had a great time of it anyway.

 

Yes, the suite perks are in place other than the new bed linen's. I did read from another poster on this board that the duvet was under the bed - I did notice that there was something there in a huge package. Didn't know to check it out though.

You must ask for the Champagne and the pillow's. Basiclaly it is two new one's to choose from - either a feather head rest as it's called or a memory foam pillow - loved that one.

New shower heads are great - remember to get more water pressure to push in the knob on the top of the handle.

Tolietries are in the bottles rather than the cardboard.

new towels are very nice as were th robes although I liked the old terry one's too.

We had a wonderful cruise - we were disappointed though in the CD and the entertaiment. There is a new CD on the ship this week - hope things are better now.

[cmm80124]

Hi Lisa,

 

Congrats on the upcoming wedding and honeymoon! As for anything special for our room, we did not get any balloons outside our door, although we saw other cabins with wedding, anniversary balloons, etc. Not getting them didn't bother us at all, but if you would like them, you can probably just mention it to your room steward.

 

We did get a note on our door, though, to give to the maitre'd (spelling?) of the Anytime Dining Room on the night we wished to celebrate our honeymoon (we put our date on the Cruise Personalizer). That night, which was the first formal, all the waiters brought us a cute cake with "Happy Honeymoon" written on it and sang us a song to the "Happy Birthday" theme. It was a lot of fun!

 

Like Hugger, we found that most of the mini-suite perks were in place. The shower heads and towels were wonderful! We didn't ask about the bed linens or champagne at sailaway, but I'm sure you could have gotten them upon request.

 

And to add to what Hugger said about the entertainment, at the beginning of the cruise, we were given a summary of each day's activities. We were excited about the "Newlywed, Not So Newlywed Game" because we were, well...newlyweds. However, one of the CD's assistants told us it was cancelled, but never told us why. We were disappointed, especially since we had been told all along that it would be held. We found all the evening shows to be very good, but thought there was Trivia/Scrabble/Bridge overkill during the day.

[beachlovergirl]

That's a shame that some of the entertainment got cancelled on your cruise last week. The Newlywed/Not So Newlywed Game is one of our favorites and I sure hope they have it next week on our cruise.

 

Gee, I wonder what's going on? Hopefully the new Cruise Director who just got on this week is much better!

[TorontoTL]

Well one thing about the new Cruise Director, JJ Ulrich, not sure if it is a she/he yet but the new CD responded to my email within 24 hours of my sending it. Hopefully that is a good sign that he/she will do a good job. I was quite surprised I got a response so quickly.