Back from the Coral. Not impressed

[huskerdan25]

This is sad news. We are scheduled to be on the Coral for 60 days next year. Hope they have a drydock

or some TLC before then.:rolleyes:

 

Remember, this is one person's opinion who was willing to share it. That doesn't mean that the Coral is in bad shape. Our cruise on the Coral was one of the best and the Coral is our favorite ship followed by the Regal. I'm confident this is not the norm on the Coral. Enjoy your 60 days on her! Wish we could take that long of a cruise but we are still working :)

[Wishing on a star]

I have been on the Coral, and have seen comments, photos, etc...

Unfortunately, I have to back up this original poster.

To some degree, there is truth to these comments.

 

This is exactly why we chose one of the newer, picture window Ocean View cabins over a Balcony.

Especially for Alaska, where, yes, it was rainy and chilly anyhow!

 

Yes, the Coral Princess is a wonderful ship in many ways.

Unfortunately, the newer ships that do not have these problems are very different, and they push the space-to-passenger and staff-to-passenger ratio, to the very limits. 48" balconies (if even that)... Seriously...

 

But, I think that those who do not want to acknowledge these issues with the Coral Princess are just not seeing the reality.

 

As far as passengers coughing at the buffet... The buffet offerings were so bad on our sailing on the Coral that we just didn't even hardly go up there. And, the unfortunate truth is that ANYWHERE on a cruise ship, with this many guests in a confined space, will be problematic... The buffet, specifically, is probably no worse than anywhere else... the Main Dining Rooms, the Theater, the main lobby/piazza area, etc. Extra precautions at the buffet would probably have been taken if this were a virus like NORO, and not colds/cough/flu.

Edited September 18, 2017 by Wishing on a star

[Woobstr112G]

OP;

Sorry your recent cruise did not meet your expectations. I've had my issues my issues with Princess buffets (even on the Royal). Hopefully your next voyage will be better.....;):):)

 

Bob

[huskerdan25]

I have been on the Coral, and have seen comments, photos, etc...

Unfortunately, I have to back up this original poster.

To some degree, there is truth to these comments.

 

This is exactly why we chose one of the newer, picture window Ocean View cabins over a Balcony.

Especially for Alaska, where, yes, it was rainy and chilly anyhow!

 

Yes, the Coral Princess is a wonderful ship in many ways.

Unfortunately, the newer ships that do not have these problems are very different, and they push the space-to-passenger and staff-to-passenger ratio, to the very limits. 48" balconies (if even that)... Seriously...

 

But, anyone who does not want to acknowledge these issues with the Coral Princess are just not seeing the reality.

 

You are misinterpreting my response. I'm not saying there aren't issues. Simply saying this is one opinion. Already we have had a response to this thread from someone on the same cruise saying it was wonderful and not experiencing the same issues. Everyone has different expectations of a ship and a cruise and just because one person states they had issues doesn't mean that another person should necessarily be concerned they will experience the same issues.

Edited September 18, 2017 by huskerdan25

[nini]

Bummer to hear this. :(We are on her for 15 days in January- a long time without good food!

[Wishing on a star]

Nini, the food and service in the MDR were Excellent!

But, again, it has been a little while now since we were onboard.

That, and our cabin, did make for a very nice cruise.

[nini]

Wishing on a star-

Thank you for the encouragement. We are looking forward to our PC cruise- full transit.

[jdellachiesa]

We board her on Saturday, and are looking forward to our time onboard! We loved this shop last time, 2 years ago, and looking forward to seeing how she looks a year after her refurbishment!

 

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[new2cruise]

California and Cruising - what cabin were you in?

[kennicott]

When I read this report I was sad, as less than two weeks ago I ran into some guests at the Copper River Wilderness Princess Lodge while having lunch there, they were voyaging south on the Coral in a day or so. They were sure looking forward to it. But then, I just read recent C.C. reviews for the Coral, including some from a Brand X forum. Most all were pretty good. Generally they mirrored our experience on the Coral in 2015, wherein I said:

"We found the Coral Princess to be a vessel I really like, particularly the decor throughout most of the public space and lounges, sea and marine pictures everywhere, dark rich oak beams and molding backed up with lighter backgrounds. I'm tired of pastels and nonsensical modern art hung everywhere on ships. Excellent lounges, lots of room with rich furniture where peace and quiet is found, which makes it a simple enjoyment just to sit and relax in one. Also, super is the abundance of getaway nooks and crannies throughout the ship. The passenger to space ration is great but actually is even better than the numbers suggest. Nice to have some elbow room for a change, for instance the three elevator and stair towers were not ever crowded, even during the first boarding day. Contrast this to the new Royal Princess, where the stairway towers were claustrophobic with consistently long elevator waits; for instance a midship public stair case is non existent. Maybe Princess should begin having the French build and design their ships (Coral) rather than Italians (Royal). Like the good old days of yore, the Coral has a complete wrap around teak promenade deck, fairly wide in many stretches where old fashion reclining deck chairs are provided. The two level Lotus Spar area is great at no extra charge, two well heated hot tubs by the pool and lots of quiet areas above and below, to read and relax in."

The only negative we had on that voyage was the MDR which was understaffed both in the kitchen and service area. But we made due with the specialties which were exquisite and the buffet which also was good.

[UpcountryTravelers]

Thanks for the discussion. We board the Coral Princess next month (for the third time). Except for Ocean Princess (sadly gone), Coral is my favorite of all the ships we have sailed - listed below. Just a pleasure to be aboard, never crowded, and I like the forward buffet. (As for the Royal and Regal buffets, yes, they are by far the best of all the ships we have sailed on 4 different lines.)

[COUNTRYCOWGIRL]

We board her on Saturday, and are looking forward to our time onboard! We loved this shop last time, 2 years ago, and looking forward to seeing how she looks a year after her refurbishment!

 

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Looking forward to your opinion of the ship. We sail on her in November. First time on her.

[stevenr597]

This is sad news. We are scheduled to be on the Coral for 60 days next year. Hope they have a drydock

or some TLC before then.:rolleyes:

We traveled on the Coral Princess through the Panama Canal. It was specifically designed to travel through the older locks, so because of this is is thinner in width. In addition, it is an older ship, and in some areas it is showing its age.

 

With that being said, we think it is a great ship. The way it is designed, with gas turbine engines which take up less space, there is more space/passenger than any other ship in the Princess lines. I would certainly looking forward to having an extended cruise on the Coral.

[riclop]

That is why we will not book her.

[sofiefleurie]

Exactly... when you talk about that kind of aging and rusting, the ship would need more than 'sprucing up'....

We sailed LAST May.... in 2016. It had been thru a pretty good drydock some months prior. So, yes, it has been a while now, since then.

 

At some point, it might not be financially feasible or cost-effective to put that kind of investment into totally over-hauling a ship.... Just like any older car or building, etc.

 

We were lucky that we did our research, and it worked out for us to book one of the few 'new' cabins on the ship. So, the interior was nice and not dated... I did notice some excess rust and aging outside. I am quite sure we would have really noticed/felt the age if we were in one of the regular original cabins that had not been totally re-done.

 

How do you determine if a cabin is "new" on the Coral?

[Colo Cruiser]

How do you determine if a cabin is "new" on the Coral?

 

 

On the Coral a few years ago space was removed from the casino on deck 6 and 13 OV cabins were added.

They are not "new" anymore.

That is the extent of the new cabins.

This type of info can be found in places like Cruise Critic with some research.

[Wishing on a star]

Exactly... these cabins are a few years old now... relatively new when we sailed.

They are the only 'new' cabins on the Coral.

They are those OV cabins, and they are laid out like a full Balcony cabin.

They have a huge picture window, like the other windows along this deck. Higher ceilings, too.

[sailawaytx]

The flu issue is interesting - I sailed the northbound glacier trip Sep 2 - 9 and I caught the flu somewhere along the line....I wound up in Denali totally wiped out. There were people coughing on the ship and of course I tried not to catch anything.... I figured we'd picked up something either in the train or the bus but who knows. So sorry to hear it was more prevalent on your trip.

 

I do know that Australia is having the worst flu season in years and we had lots and lots of Australians on the the ship (2 really large groups and lots of independents) so...I guess it is the pitfall of international travel. Or it may have been anyone from anywhere that brought it aboard.

 

I loved Coral Princess but I like smaller ships....even this was enormous for me.

 

I food was fine, the chocolate specialties were fabulous, Sabatini's was quite lovely.....I enjoyed the buffet for breakfast but I am easy to please...good fresh scrambled eggs, good coffee and a plate full of watermelon and I am happy so...haha, food sophisticate I am not....no complaints there for breakfast. We ate dinner the Bordeaux dining room and all of it was satisfactory - definitely not a foodie's heaven but competently good and varied so I was happy enough.

 

The flu thing though - what a nightmare if so many were ill. I am sure someone on the Sep 2 sailing must have brought it aboard because we didn't have any warnings about flu all week, and not an alarming number of people with a cough running around, and the crew was quite diligent in keeping railings clean, using the hand sanitizer etc., which I figured was an effort to keep Noro in check. Flu wasn't on the radar yet.

[Coupe]

I was on the Southbound cruise and it was wonderful. Both the food and service was great. There were a lot of people who were sick. That did not effect the quality of the meals or the service we received. The buffet is smaller in the evening because they use half of it for a specialty restaurant. The ship itself was spotless and beautiful. It is not brand new but in great shape IMO.

[ahwahoo2006]

I was on this same cruise. The flu was out of control - they were making multiple announcements daily about it and we saw people get kicked off in Juneau for breaking quarantine. The service was fantastic, but I did have some of the same thoughts as OP about the food and rooms. We were in an interior and there were some moderate issues: carpet torn and coming up, rust and smell in bathroom, slight wall damage. We were sad about the missed port at Skagway because we had to cancel our Yukon excursion. The weather for the week was fantastic though - I don't think we put on our raingear once.

 

Related: I have a coffee card with a few punches left. First person to claim it gets it and I will mail it to you.

[spookyfudge]

We have just returned from the 7 day Southbound on the Coral. We were really disappointed in the ship, We had fabulous weather the whole time. This was our 10th cruise on Princess. The Coral is really in need of some serious refreshing of the whole ship. It is dingy and dirty compared to the other ships we have been on. The majority of food is repetitive in the Lido buffet. The main dining room is hit or miss. The service was wonderful. The cruise director I don't remember her name but she was really not out there as on others. The naturalist was fabulous. A lot of the ship got hit with the flue including my husband. While the trip itself was stunning the cruise (ship) was lackluster.

 

Thankyou, will skip bookings on this ship!

[eddragon]

 

Related: I have a coffee card with a few punches left. First person to claim it gets it and I will mail it to you.

 

Hi, if the coffee card is still available, I'd be interested in getting it from you. I'll be sailing on the Coral Princess on 10/27

thanks Ed.

 

whee890 @ yahoo dot com

[geoherb]

The Caribbean Princess also had a problem with flu recently. I did not come down with symptoms until after getting back home. I think I caught it on the bus to the airport (Southampton to Heathrow). Apparently on the cruise after ours it was more rampant. I imagine having to share a cabin with someone with the flu would make it less enjoyable.

[JoRoy218]

We've been on the Coral twice, most recently last June. There were cases of the flu at that time as well (including one of our friends we were sailing with). I love that ship, the design, the public spaces and especially the promenade deck. Granted, I did notice some rusted areas and spots that needed some TLC, but considering the constant exposure to salt air, this is to be expected. The buffets are always mediocre in quality (IMHO) despite larger buffets like the Regal (which we've sailed on as well). The MDR was fine, though we never take a cruise solely for the food. We are planning on booking the Coral again, without hesitation. It remains our favorite ship!

[Steelers36]

Exactly... these cabins are a few years old now... relatively new when we sailed.

They are the only 'new' cabins on the Coral.

They are those OV cabins, and they are laid out like a full Balcony cabin.

They have a huge picture window, like the other windows along this deck. Higher ceilings, too.

 

How much noise from the casino and nearby public spaces on Decks 6 & 5?