Coral Princess Trip Report from Princess newbie with lots of photos

[cheznandy]

14 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Memories of travelling around USA and Canada for three months on my own - strangers falling asleep on my shoulder.  (I was 24)

Reminds me of a flight in Vietnam from North to South and a woman fell asleep on Andy....he kept shrugging her off but she snuggled in closer.......I got some great photo's haha!!

 

 

[MMDown Under]

15 minutes ago, aussielozzie18 said:

No I didn’t.  I’ll give it a week, then follow up with Princess if it’s still there.

I didn't know about holds and was surprised to learn how long some banks hold "holds".  We went from a cruise to hire a car hire, which also hold money, and didn't have enough money on one credit card.  We had enough money for all expenditure!

[MMDown Under]

12 minutes ago, cheznandy said:

Reminds me of a flight in Vietnam from North to South and a woman fell asleep on Andy....he kept shrugging her off but she snuggled in closer.......I got some great photo's haha!!

 

 

ha ha  I did the same!  No photos on your own though.  

[aussielozzie18]

2 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

On my last solo cruise, I was happy to sit on my own taking in the beautiful view as I ate.  However, someone, such as the guest speaker, would join me.  I would say it wasn't necessary but they would say they were happy to join me.  Maybe part of their job ?  Guest Speakers on small ships are always interesting. 

The guest speaker on my friend’s Coral Explorer Cruise from Broome to Darwin earlier this year was the only one who tested positive to Covid on board.  He wasn’t thrilled to be confined to his cabin.  
Wouldn’t surprise me if staff are encouraged to chat with solos.

[aussielozzie18]

2 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

Memories of travelling around USA and Canada for three months on my own - strangers falling asleep on my shoulder.  (I was 24)

You certainly get an interesting cross section of people if you do a bit of travel by Greyhound bus in the US.

[MMDown Under]

8 minutes ago, aussielozzie18 said:

You certainly get an interesting cross section of people if you do a bit of travel by Greyhound bus in the US.

Yes I was sad that I couldn't take up all the offers of hospitality.

[Aus Traveller]

5 hours ago, LittleFish1976 said:

 

That's a good hint, thanks for that. From reading this board, it seemed that once you have a few cruises with Princess under your belt you get a preferential rate of deposit anyway. I've been used to paying 10% with the line I would otherwise cruise with.

I don't believe there is a lower deposit for previous Princess cruisers. I have never found it to be the case. The only way there is a lower deposit, other than special offers, is booking with a Future Cruise Deposit. You buy these on board for $100. This is used as the full deposit on a cruise (although not on the World Cruise) and in addition, you are gifted a little bit of on-board credit. If you don't use the FCD within 2 years, it is refunded to your bank account. This is something that is a win-win with no negatives.

[arxcards]

3 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

I think I know the answer to this but going to ask anyway.  Just checked my bank account.  Onboard final bill has gone through.  Also a separate Princess charge for $100.  I am assuming this is the holding fee that will eventually be reversed or drop off?  Previous holding fees from hotels have been listed as pending so that’s why I am asking.  Thanks,

Most likely, unless you accidentally used the app to buy a FCC.

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, cheznandy said:

Reminds me of a flight in Vietnam from North to South and a woman fell asleep on Andy....he kept shrugging her off but she snuggled in closer.......I got some great photo's haha!!

 

 

Hey, I had 20 stone, 3/4 drunk Bubba at a Giants baseball in San Francisco. Really weird, and smelled like he had been drinking for days.

[arxcards]

23 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

I don't believe there is a lower deposit for previous Princess cruisers. I have never found it to be the case. The only way there is a lower deposit, other than special offers, is booking with a Future Cruise Deposit. You buy these on board for $100. This is used as the full deposit on a cruise (although not on the World Cruise) and in addition, you are gifted a little bit of on-board credit. If you don't use the FCD within 2 years, it is refunded to your bank account. This is something that is a win-win with no negatives.

Yes, +1 for us with that. 

When they do a promo lately though, they often have $99 deposits as part of it.

[LittleFish1976]

43 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

I don't believe there is a lower deposit for previous Princess cruisers. I have never found it to be the case. The only way there is a lower deposit, other than special offers, is booking with a Future Cruise Deposit. You buy these on board for $100. This is used as the full deposit on a cruise (although not on the World Cruise) and in addition, you are gifted a little bit of on-board credit. If you don't use the FCD within 2 years, it is refunded to your bank account. This is something that is a win-win with no negatives.

 

Thanks, Aus Traveller. I've used the Carnival group's FCD on another of its lines - very useful.

 

The comments I've read previously regarding lower deposits must have been ocassional special deals available only to previous Princess cruisers rather than an across the board way thing. It certainly seems to be the case that previous cruisers do receive emails with specials available only to them.

 

 

[NSWP]

3 hours ago, cheznandy said:

Reminds me of a flight in Vietnam from North to South and a woman fell asleep on Andy....he kept shrugging her off but she snuggled in closer.......I got some great photo's haha!!

 

 

Airborne Cougar, lol.

[NSWP]

36 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Hey, I had 20 stone, 3/4 drunk Bubba at a Giants baseball in San Francisco. Really weird, and smelled like he had been drinking for days.

There are some strange ones over there, Geoff.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, NSWP said:

There are some strange ones over there, Geoff.

Not so much strange, but big enough he should have paid for two seats. Really funny, but not when he started snoring and looking for a pillow.

[JohnGc]

11 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Sounds like you really need to do your research before booking if you want a standard balcony cabin with cover on the Coral Princess

I found this on the net and very useful for picking a balcony. Hopefully it might help others.

www.cruisedeckplans.com/Princess/odell/res76zxu/princessbalconies/index.html

[gurkha]

On 10/10/2022 at 6:09 PM, aussielozzie18 said:

Because I am a newbie and AFT I frequently got lost initially so I noticed peoples cabin doors…,

 

Mum had a notice board with msgs & jokes.

 

[gurkha]

Did you answer the jokes on my door? We were getting lots of replys which my girls would have a laugh at. We also put ducks around the ship but didn't find ducks from other people. x Jackie

[MMDown Under]

5 minutes ago, gurkha said:

 

Love the Koala Family.  It must be a new thing as I haven't seen a decorated door, except for birthday.

[gurkha]

We have done  a few cruises in america at christmas and alot of doors are decorated. My girls like the decorated doors.It makes the cruise more fun to see other cruisers replys to jokes/questions x Jackie

[MMDown Under]

1 minute ago, gurkha said:

We have done  a few cruises in america at christmas and alot of doors are decorated. My girls like the decorated doors.It makes the cruise more fun to see other cruisers replys to jokes/questions x Jackie

Oh yes, Americans love Christmas decorations, in fact all holiday decorations.  I did a rail trip from Florida to Canada at Christmas once and it was wonderful to see all the Christmas lights and decorations on the houses en route. 

[gurkha]

We did a back to back cruise with this trip being the second cruise. There was a big difference in this cruise from the previous cruise. The last cruise was mainly older cruisers even in the school holidays. Some of them were verbally abusive to my teenage daughters and their friends for being noisy. I checked on them with their friends and they were fine. We have never experienced this before cruising.   I put in a complaint with the front desk and said the girls would be taking photos of the abusive entitled old people. The girls pay full fare so are entitled to use the ship. We are seriously unimpressed.One of the teenage boys told his mum who confronted one  old entitled woman and she left the pool area.

[MMDown Under]

20 minutes ago, gurkha said:

We did a back to back cruise with this trip being the second cruise. There was a big difference in this cruise from the previous cruise. The last cruise was mainly older cruisers even in the school holidays. Some of them were verbally abusive to my teenage daughters and their friends for being noisy. I checked on them with their friends and they were fine. We have never experienced this before cruising.   I put in a complaint with the front desk and said the girls would be taking photos of the abusive entitled old people. The girls pay full fare so are entitled to use the ship. We are seriously unimpressed.One of the teenage boys told his mum who confronted one  old entitled woman and she left the pool area.

Yes two B2B cruises can be very different depending on the passengers.  That is so sad.  Some people aren't used to the normal noise teenagers make just having fun.  I was taught you don't check other people's children!!  

 (My friend's SIL and husband won't join them for Christmas because it is too noisy.)

[gurkha]

This cruise had alot of old people who were unsteady on their feet.  I would love to retire cruising than be in a nursing home. I reinforced to my girls that they must walk slowly around any old person on board, as I would hate for them to be involved in a incident where someone fell over. They are very respectful. It is hard to teach them to be respectful when they are told to shut up and called bastards.On the 2nd last day a couple of people came up to the teenage group and said they all had been behaving well through out the cruise, which was good.

[MMDown Under]

1 minute ago, gurkha said:

This cruise had alot of old people who were unsteady on their feet.  I would love to retire cruising than be in a nursing home. I reinforced to my girls that they must walk slowly around any old person on board, as I would hate for them to be involved in a incident where someone fell over. They are very respectful. It is hard to teach them to be respectful when they are told to shut up and called bastards.On the 2nd last day a couple of people came up to the teenage group and said they all had been behaving well through out the cruise, which was good.

That was nice that their good behaviour was recognised by another couple.  I taught my girls to ignore rude people.  

[aussielozzie18]

1 hour ago, gurkha said:

Did you answer the jokes on my door? We were getting lots of replys which my girls would have a laugh at. We also put ducks around the ship but didn't find ducks from other people. x Jackie

I loved your cabin door decorations!  They made me smile everytime I passed your door and it was the best one I saw. 
My first cruise with our teens was on a Christmas cruise.  Loved decorating our cabin door in Christmas decs and seeing others doing the same.

Sorry to hear your teens got criticism but glad they got complimented in their behaviour. Maybe try Royal Carribbean if you haven’t already.  Very popular with families especially teens because of all the activities.