Enjoyed our cruise on Coral Princess

[mjbelen]

We sailed on the July 6th southbound sailing and had a mini suite on Dolphin deck next to our friends. Though we "made sure" that the balconies had an ajoining door when we booked, either our TA or Princess gave us bad information. Our room steward Jeff told us that this happened to another group of friends just a few cabin's away from us. We quickly got over the disappointment and decided not to let this mistake ruin a perfectly fine cruise.

 

My husband and I took the exact same cruise 6 years ago. Though we had a covered balcony that time, we never needed it as it did not rain. Believe it or not, it never rained on this cruise as well, so we were fine in our uncovered balcony. I love viewing wildlife so I spent a lot of time on the balcony with my binoculars. Except for a few whales, I did not see any where near the amount of wildlife from my balcony as I had on our last cruise. On land I saw moose, black bears, and eagles. Every wild animal I saw was either standing next to or crossing the road though I spent many hours on buses looking for wildlife in the distance with my binoculars. Go figure!

 

The food was good to very good on the ship and the service was excellent. We loved our mini suite, and I enjoyed soaking my aching feet in the bathtub after a long day of walking on tours or around town. The room could use updating as the bedspread looked like something you would find in an inexpensive motel. It would also been nice to have flat screen tv, but the two tv's were a nice touch. The bed was comfortable however, and the duvet was very nice and comfy. I was not knocked out by the entertainment provided by Princess and skipped many of the shows. When I did go to a show, I then remembered why I hadn't wanted to go in the first place, and was much more content to sit on my balcony and enjoy the scenery. When it comes to entertainment, I am a Royal Caribbean girl.

 

We booked all our own tours, and the highlight of our trip was a glacier landing on Mt. McKinley. We flew into Anchorage on Saturday and stayed at Alaskan Frontier B&B which was very nice. On Sunday, we drove to Talkeenta where we had booked the flight tour through Talkeenta Air Taxi. It was wonderful and is something we had not done on our first trip to Alaska. In Juneau we went with Harv and Marv, and saw a pod of humpbacks bubble feeding. They gave us quite the show and were even breeching, a behavior they do not usually do in the cold Alaskan waters.

 

The ship is still in good shape though there was quite a bit of rust on our balcony. Even though we have sailed on her before, we got thrown off by the decks that do not go through to where you need to go. The ship is a good size, not small, but not so large that it overwhelms you. I love the larger RCL ships, but I enjoy them more for a warm weather cruise, where my destination is more about the ship than the ports.

 

I love Alaska and I am sure I will be back a third time as there is still so much to see. All and all it was a great cruise, and we enjoyed spending time with old friends and making new ones as well.

[themerle]

Thanks for sharing you review. Glad you enjoyed your cruise. I wasn't that impressed with the entertainment when we were on the Coral in May. Like you, I enjoyed the scenery while some checked out the entertainment. When I go to Alaska, it's all about the scenery and wildlife! This summer was my third time but not my last!

[LARGIN]

Thanks for the review.. The Coral is one of our favorites..

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for your comments. :)

[texkan]

Thanks for the Cruise Info. Will be on Coral in Aug.