On Board Coral Princess 12/30/04

[gymswim]

Over fourteen of fellow Cruise-Critic members assembled in Crooner's Bar yesterday. We've asked David, the Host, if he would see if Princess will host a cocktail party for us during the cruise.

The ship is lovely, the food and service is pretty good considering they have to feed close to 3000 passengers every 3 hours! The crew is well motivated and our cabin steward is excellent. We recommend the Emerald Deck (8) forward, in the 200 series. It is "off the beaten path" and far enough forward to be free of bow wave ocean spray so you can actually enjoy the balcony.

More later.

Bill

[melissa_bel]

Happy sailing Bill!

You're starting the New Year in style *lol*.

[LARGIN]

Over fourteen of fellow Cruise-Critic members assembled in Crooner's Bar yesterday. We've asked David, the Host, if he would see if Princess will host a cocktail party for us during the cruise.

The ship is lovely, the food and service is pretty good considering they have to feed close to 3000 passengers every 3 hours! The crew is well motivated and our cabin steward is excellent. We recommend the Emerald Deck (8) forward, in the 200 series. It is "off the beaten path" and far enough forward to be free of bow wave ocean spray so you can actually enjoy the balcony.

More later.

Bill

Where did the 3000 passengers come from? It sure must be crowded as the Coral holds a little less than 2000 passengers. I am glad you are haveing a great time.. The Coral is our favorite ship..

[steve2001]

Where did the 3000 passengers come from?

He is taking into account seconds, thirds, and fourths:D

[Colo Cruiser]

Larry they added 3 new decks during the last dry dock.:D

[thepocketrockett]

Just got off of the Coral December 20th. Could you please, if possible, say hi to Sidney, Ronald, and the bar tender (sorry can't remember his name but he's very slim) and Charlie the singer and piano player in Crooner's. Just say hi from Jill, Cory, Jill and Jordan. Crooner's was our favorite place on the ship. Have a great time.

[Mike2131]

Over fourteen of fellow Cruise-Critic members assembled in Crooner's Bar yesterday. We've asked David, the Host, if he would see if Princess will host a cocktail party for us during the cruise.

The ship is lovely, the food and service is pretty good considering they have to feed close to 3000 passengers every 3 hours! The crew is well motivated and our cabin steward is excellent. We recommend the Emerald Deck (8) forward, in the 200 series. It is "off the beaten path" and far enough forward to be free of bow wave ocean spray so you can actually enjoy the balcony.

More later.

Bill

Hi Bill!

We were on the 12/10 cruise and Crooner's is definitely a nice place to linger and listen to some music. We found that the stern is a wonderful place to watch the canal transit. Everyone else was up front! A great view of the locks working, the mules, other ships transiting, etc.

 

Have a great cruise!

 

Mike

[LARGIN]

Hi Bill!

 

We were on the 12/10 cruise and Crooner's is definitely a nice place to linger and listen to some music. We found that the stern is a wonderful place to watch the canal transit. Everyone else was up front! A great view of the locks working, the mules, other ships transiting, etc.

 

Have a great cruise!

 

Mike

Mike.. Shhhhhh about the stern stuff.. Let that be our little secret.. :D The Caribe deck aft was our hideaway on both of our Coral cruises this year.

[Psee]

Quick question for the vets,

 

During the canal transit, is it best to grab a good location for viewing/photos and stick to it, or try and roam the decks for some different views? Will be carrying a lot of photo equipment and need to know if it's worth the extra leg work to get a better photo op. Also need to know if a tour (Ocean to Ocean, etc.) will cause us to miss part of the transit.

 

Thanks! :)

[Psee]

Thanks for the aft tip Mike,

 

Looks like the initial lock transit takes an hour or so so I would assume it would be more advantageous to check out several decks for different photo opportunities. :)

[Mike2131]

Mike.. Shhhhhh about the stern stuff.. Let that be our little secret.. :D The Caribe deck aft was our hideaway on both of our Coral cruises this year.

Oops!

Me and my big mouth!

Mike

[Mike2131]

Quick question for the vets,

 

During the canal transit, is it best to grab a good location for viewing/photos and stick to it, or try and roam the decks for some different views? Will be carrying a lot of photo equipment and need to know if it's worth the extra leg work to get a better photo op. Also need to know if a tour (Ocean to Ocean, etc.) will cause us to miss part of the transit.

 

Thanks! :)

Hi!

I am not sure if this is too late or not. The only thing you will miss is the return from Gatun Lake, back through the locks, and then to Colon. After all passengers on excursions are tendered to shore (the only way to get off the ship is if you are on a ship's excursion), they then move to Colon.

I hope you get some great shots!

 

[SuzanneE]

Mike, How was your transit today? I saw the ship on the wevcam going through the canal. One question, what time could people embark on the first day. Our papers say 1 o'clock, which used to be 12 o'clock. In other words, it is an hour later. Would 11 be too early to go? Thanks! :confused:

[Khapp]

Hi Bill

Do you miss alot if you get off the ship in Panama? Thanks

[Mike2131]

Mike, How was your transit today? I saw the ship on the wevcam going through the canal. One question, what time could people embark on the first day. Our papers say 1 o'clock, which used to be 12 o'clock. In other words, it is an hour later. Would 11 be too early to go? Thanks! :confused:

Hi Suzanne!

I am not sure if this was meant for me. Embarkation on our cruise was set to begin at 12:00 PM. We got to the pier about 11:00 - 11:30 and, if there had not been a Cosat Guard inspection, could have boarded about then. As it was, we had to wait about 1 1/2 hours (not the fault of Princess). I believe the inspection was unexpected, but there is nowhere to wait except outside. After the process was started, it moved along swiftly.

[gymswim]

Well, we had a great day in Panama...took the Panama Railway vistadome car excursion. The tour lasts 5 1/2 hours and we lucked out having a spectacular day for it.

We disembarked by tender from Gatun Lake after locking through early this morning. It was a "short" night, given that most of the ship rang in the New Year, celebrating in every possible lounge. There was a huge party up on deck as well as in the beautiful atrium, complete with a balloon drop.

Thanks everyone for the valuable tips on where to get the best view. Actually we found a great spot in the Horizon Lounge (aka "the trough") where we could see everything. Also from our veranda on the starboard side, deck 8, we had a wonderful view.

There seems to be some illness going around the ship. Tonight we saw barf bags set outside one of the cafes. No one has said anything from the ship's staff as yet.

We're enjoying the cruise. We must admit that after cruising Radisson and Windstar and Silverseas, we're finding the showers in our veranda cabin on the Coral on par with a motorhome. Quite a few passengers are commenting on the tiny showers and based on the size of some of the passengers, we can't figure out how they could accomplish any significant bathing process using the showers since none of them are equipped with a handheld shower nozzle.

Bill

[Blue Eyes]

Hi Bill

 

We are on the Coral leaving 1/17 :D and are really getting excited. We are in C505, unfortunately it is next to the bump out so I am afraid we will not have a good view looking forward. Keep us informed about what is going on. I am really unsure where to watch the transit also, guess we will move around as the day goes on.......

 

Have Fun

[Psee]

Bill,

 

Thanks for the update. Those Coral showers are really getting a bad reputation! :rolleyes:

 

Hopefully the illness is just related to the sea (and late night activities). ;)

 

Hope you folks have a great new year experience and keep us posted on all the details! :)

[SuzanneE]

Bill, Did you hear of any passengers who took the Ocean to Ocean excursion on the smaller boat the rest of the way through the locks? I see via the web cam that you are on your way to G Cayman. How is the weather? What do you plan to do in GC? What time were you allowed on the ship in Fort L.? They are listing our embarkation time as 1:00, not 12. Thanks for your input Mike. Enjoy your day at sea, and I hope you don't need one of those bags! Suzanne:)

[SuzanneE]

Bill, did you fall overboard?:confused: :confused:

[gymswim]

Ahoy Suzanne:

To answer some of your questions. We didn't try to board the ship in Lauderdale earlier than our scheduled departure time. We flew in early and stayed at the lovely Westin Doral in Ft Lauderdale. We wanted to enjoy the amenities there during the day. We were taken to the ship (just a short ride) around 1:30 and there was not line or delay getting on board. We are Platnum level Captains Circle which may have helped, I don't know for sure. We were taken to a separate gangway.

The virus I referred to earlier that has been going around the ship turned out to in fact be the Norovirus. Princess has remained less than forthcoming about the actual numbers of passengers effected, as I said before. The "word going around is that this has been substantial outbreak....the largest outbreak on this ship ever.

The Princess staff I spoke to claim they intentially don't tell passengers the hard numbers of cases in order to avoid unecessary anxiety among the passengers. I found out from a reliable source that over 80 crew members came down with the virus since we sailed on December 28th. One elderly passenger we know of was taken off the ship in Panama and hospitalized. The rumor going around the ship was that one of the singers in the band brought the virus on board they think. She was the first reported case right after we sailed...again, since Princess doesn't print any facts, it's reallly difficult to know for sure.

We've been fine and unaffected I think because we are careful to wash our hands frequently and never put our hands near our face unless we've washed. Also common sense calls for washing hands immediately upon entering our cabin so we don't contaminate our "home".

I've used the adult pool for swimming everyday so I don't think it is spread in the pool. But everything one touches is a potential source, even the keyboard I'm using right now.

We loved Cozumel diving...I've been there four other cruises (all Windstar) and this trip was by far the best diving. We used the Sand Dollar Diving outfit that contracts with Princess. They were first rate.

Panama canal was much more interesting than I would have imagined. I was glad we had the opportunity to lock through to Gatlin Lake before disembarking for the Panama Railway excursion.

As for the Ocean to Ocean, our friends who took it were disappointed and wished they'd taken some other tour.

In Costa Rica we really recommend doing the Zip Line canope tour. It's exciting to be 80-100 ft up in the trees and zipping along at 20 mph between the trees and seeing the monkeys and birds. Princess dosen't offer it because of the liability issues. Best to contract directly with Aurora at Almonds and Coral. She is terrific and will arrange for a driver to meet you at the pier and drive you. We had two excellent guides who met us at the pier and drove us 1 hour south to the Almonds and Coral resort, along the shoreline road....they pointed out all the flora and fauna which made the drive interesting. They were also our Zip line guides as well once we got to the resort. They returned us to the ship around 3:30pm, and even helped us buy Costa Rican expresso beans at the local grocery store befor returning to the ship.

We're having a great, relaxing last day at sea today. The weather has been close to perfect although the seas were rough the first 5 days of our trip.

More later. Time for lunch.

Bill