The Coral, The Panama Canal and LA - An Aussie viewpoint!

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Universal Studios – 10th March

Off to Universal Studios today. This is something that I have dreamed about for at least 30 years. Disneyland was somewhere that every child aims to get to but for me it was always Universal from around 20 years of age.

We were picked up across the road from the hotel by a coach and transported to the bus depot where we were transferred to another bus. On our way at last and a very informative drive through the streets of Los Angeles.

We were on a new double decker bus and the driver was new at it and it was a slow drive there, but we had plenty of time, so it was kind of enjoyable with her commentating all the way.

Arrived at Universal Studios and because we had our tickets already went straight through the gates.

What a fun day. The rides were amazing. Loved every one of them. But I think the Simpsons ride was the best. I have never screamed so much in my entire life, and it was only a simulator. For those of you that have been on the Simpson’s ride you will understand. The Mummy ride was also good, as was Jurassic Park ride.

[Grizabellachinchilla]

San Diego continued..........

 

The old town centre was wonderful. Had lots of fun looking in all the shops and bought some great gifts for everyone at home. Found my pin too. So far I have managed to get a pin for everywhere we have been these holidays except for Fort Lauderdale (and a friend has offered to get one for me now – thanks Barb).

The trip back to Anaheim on the train was just as enjoyable. Because it was at 6pm there were no pastries but we were handed a snack pack and we could choose a drink (wine' date=' soda, water).[/size']

A taxi was waiting at the station and it was a quick trip back to our hotel.

Went to the Cheescake factory for dinner again. Love that place.

Had to show you our poor little koalas - how cold would they be!

Another one for good measure.

Thank you B & Cs Mum. Loved reading your reviews and the pictures made them live. Thanks for taking the trouble to entertain us. GC

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Universal Studios continued......

The studio tour is not to be missed either. I nearly wet my pants when jaws came at me.

The lines were not too long as it was a Wednesday and even though there was a fair crowd there, the lines moved relatively fast.

Had to show you this one. Beth bought an ET doll and made Rob carry it. LOL.

Same driver on the way back to the hotel. Might I say, we could have walked faster. She was sooo slow and overcautious on the way back. A trip that should have taken 1 hour took 2 ½ hours. Everyone was complaining.

Back to the hotel. Just had whatever we could find in the kitchen. Yep you guessed it – those pastries came in handy!

Off to the airport to catch our plane to Las Vegas in the morning so into bed early because we have to be up early.

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Hope everyone is enjoying it. Have to call it quits now will finish it tomorrow. I need my beauty sleep.

[Johnsanders]

As usual I am the last to find this as I was looking on Coral Reviews. I'm with Gary asking who gave you permission to use photographs of us and when I think about it, where is my payment for taking some of the pictures on your camera that you used?

 

You will be hearing from my lawyer regarding the "Jim being an Idiot" insult (I was merely being myself) and on the "even Jim " comment.

 

Apart from that your report was brilliant. Enjoy your Diamond Cruise.

 

Jim.

[texasgirl29]

Great review! I love all the photos. We did the Panama Canal at Christmas on the Island Princess. It's fun to read about it from your POV.

 

JoAnn

[StLouisCruisers]

Great job, Eileen! I love seeing the pictures. Now I think a review without pictures is boring! I'm looking forward to the Las Vegas portion. Sleep tight!

[MAZANDSTEVE]

Brings back memories. Love Las Vegas too so look forward to the rest.

[Drews_Cruise]

Loved your review of the Coral. It brought back nice memories of our time on her. The Bayou Cafe was our favorite place to eat....yummy lobster. We haven't been on that many ships yet, but so far the Coral is our favorite. Thanks for taking to time to coordinate your review with all the photos. Its like we went on the trip with you.

[caribill]

Greatly enjoying reading your review. Thanks for posting.

You said at one point: " I did miss the vegetables. Here in OZ everyone eats a lot of vegetables and I found it was lacking on the Coral. I would have died for a large plate of broccoli, cauliflower, peas and green beans."

On your next Princess cruise, just ask. Your waitstaff will be happy to bring you a large plate of vegetables.

[poncho1965]

Totally enjoyed your review! We have not done Panama yet but its on the list!

[Seal]

Just found the thread--I knew it was around--just didn't find it--now keep going I've read up to here--I believe Las Vegas is next--

 

Can't wait for the re-cap of the USA--your likes and of course your dis-likes--

 

Nancy:D:D

 

We live in Seal Beach--about 15 minutes from where you docked in San Pedro

 

By the way--it only going to be 62 here today--we also have a home in the desert which will be warmer--but the beach never gets very hot here.

[stary]

absolutely love love LOVE your review! thank you for posting!

[snookymom]

Eileen I'm thoroughly enjoying your review. As somebody else said Pam will be proud of you & your pictures.

What kind of sandals did you wear for all the walking?

Just ate my lunch & there was a caramel TimTam in the bag so I toasted you while I ate it!:D

[mytime53]

LOL--it sounds like you found a strange store...do you remember the name of it?

We always look forward to eating at home after a trip, as we miss vegetables as well. I think most of us eat more veggies at home than we get when eating at restaurants.

[Griller]

Excellent review so far, Eileen!

 

What's up with Dollar? There's no way you should have had to pay for a full tank. It should be full when you get it and full when you return it. That's the way it works! Good thing you got a refund or I would say time for a letter to corporate.

 

It all depends on the deal you get - I love paying for a full tank of gas on a one day rental from Dollar - we get a deal where it costs only $10 extra, and then we burn most of it driving from Orlando area to FLL or Miami - and take it back with maybe a quarter left in.

 

 

Those one day - one way rentals with a tank of gas max out at less than $40 and it saves us paying a fortune in parking fees at the port while we are aboard the ship.

[Kinkacruiser]

Top class recount. I'm really enjoying it. The photos are brilliant. I think we should all use them when writing, but granted it's complicated. What did surprise me was your comment re the LAX airport. I was hoping it would be a 'megastar' (we'll be there next year).

Thanks for all your time and effort.

Cheers,

Anna

[genevieve7000]

Top class recount. I'm really enjoying it. The photos are brilliant. I think we should all use them when writing, but granted it's complicated. What did surprise me was your comment re the LAX airport. I was hoping it would be a 'megastar' (we'll be there next year).

Thanks for all your time and effort.

Cheers,

Anna

As my 11 year old noted after coming off the Sapphire, "Why is LAX such a dump"? We found an ok place to eat, but for a major US airport, there is not much selection and it is looking rather run-down on the whole.

 

Great review; love all the photos!!

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Las Vegas – 11th March

We caught a cab to John Wayne Airport at 6.30am and due to the early hour it was a quick trip. We were flying Southwest to Las Vegas. I checked in online the night before so I felt we would be ok. Why would I feel like that you ask, well we have this TV show in Oz called Airline USA that features Southwest and lordy the horror stories that are shown regarding that airline are amazing. Overbooking would have to be the main one that comes to mind. Anyway, I have to commend the airline on the streamline way they pack their customers onto the plane. Letters and numbers in order and no shoving! Baaa! Just as well it was a short trip for a relatively small amount of money, because they might be good at packing you on but the comfort and service levels are pretty basic. Oh well, at least we made it.

Might I also add that there was snow over the hills overlooking Las Vegas. We were in for some more cold. Did I mention – I don’t do cold?

Arrived at the airport to be greeted with Poker machines (slot machines to you), and people were actually playing them! How bizarre!

Anyway, a short taxi ride to the Flamingo on the strip and we were home for the night. Easy check in and low and behold our rooms were both ready. Beth and Rob went to theirs and we went to ours. Not bad, quite large and the bed was comfortable. I don’t think they expect people to be in their rooms for very long because there was a lack of creature comforts. There was no cupboards or drawers in the bathroom, no fridge or teamaking facilities in the room.

The view was ok, overlooking the centre of the hotel where the flamingos are. Not much to see in the distance however.

Beth and Rob fared better overlooking Caesars Palace. Turned out we didn’t miss any of that because we were literally only in the room to sleep and shower.

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Beth and Rob wanted to go to a show and were talking to some young guys at the airport just leaving Vegas. They had to buy the tickets from the Bellagio and pick them up from Caesars Palace. Sounds easy huh? The sheer size of everything in Vegas is daunting. Sure we crossed the road and walked into the Bellagio and sat and waited while Beth and Rob bought their tickets. That took an hour and a half! Enough I want to go shopping, not sitting in a casino waiting.

 

Bellagio foyer

 

Caesars Palace

They opted to pick the tickets up later from Caesars Palace, so we walked out the front and caught a Deuce Bus to check out the strip and go to the outlet stores at the top of the strip.

The Luxor

Excaliber

We couldn’t get over the sheer size of the casinos. For those of you that have been there, you will understand. For those of you that have not, let me just say that the pounds put on by those damn pastries were melting fast!

Imperial Palace

[stevedonna]

Congratulations on a great review. It is by far the best I have read. You had a fantastic holiday..well done

 

Steve

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

The outlet mall was fantastic. Bought lots of pressies and bought two beautiful long coats by Calvin Klein for a stupid amount each. Clive bought two pair of Floreshiem leather dress shoes for less than a quarter of the cost of one pair in Australia. The jeans, how cheap were they! My daughter Jaime has fared well. It is her 21st birthday the Saturday after we get home so she is scoring quite well indeed. Had lunch in one of the eateries in the mall. Chinese, with vegetables!

We also bought another suitcase as we needed more space for our pressies. We met Rob and Beth for afternoon tea at 4pm and fair dinkum she had bought the exact same suitcase! You wouldn’t read about it!

Beth and Rob caught the Deuce Bus back to the Flamingo as they had to get ready for their show Cirque do soleil and the Beatles, and we decided to continue shopping. We eventually got back to the casino around 8.30pm all shopped out (well for today anyway). Had a shower and then set out to explore the strip at night. We were hungry so decided to just stop in at the diner in the casino. Straight out of “Happy days” with bottomless cups of coffee and lots of food. Our bellies full, we ventured forth. The lights were amazing. We decided to the best way to see the bottom half of the strip was to get back on the deuce bus (because it was soooo damn cold) so off we went and ended up at the terminal at the bottom of the strip, where everyone was told to get off and wait for the next bus to start its run. OK……. Besides the fact that it was by now brass monkey weather and the wind factor was off the scales, the terminal was not in the (shall we say), best part of town. Thank god I was with Clive! I really felt unsafe there, and that was the first time since being in the USA. After freezing half to death the bus arrived and off we went on our journey again. The bottom half of the strip near Fremont street is definitely the seedier part of town. We got off the bus at our hotel and then went for a walk. We watched the water show at the Bellagio and dodged the drunks and all the young guys handing out cards for prostitutes and strippers. We couldn’t get over how you were allowed to walk around town with yard glasses, rolling drunk and the cops were oblivious to it all. In fact I don’t recall seeing a cop at all in Las Vegas. We went past the cop shop up the top end of the strip, but never saw a live one.

We fell into bed at some ungodly hour after Clive had a few 99c beers at the poker bar in the casino.

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Next morning we packed (thank heavens we bought the extra suitcase), checked out and stored our luggage in security. Seeing as Clive discovered the bar with the 99c beers, Rob just had to sample them too and Clive had to help.

Beth needed to buy some jeans so off we set again to the shopping centre for a quick shop. We loved the Chinese we had the day before so stopped and had more. Best Chinese we had had for ages. Did some more shopping and headed back to the Flamingo. Found a two pins in the shops in the foyer (a pink flamingo and an old welcome to Las Vegas sign)

The flamingo courtyard

Picked up our luggage, caught a taxi to the airport and had an uneventful trip back to Anaheim.

Got back to the Wyndham and it felt good to be back. They are so friendly here, not impersonal like in Vegas.

Went to the Cheescake factory for dinner (love that restaurant)!

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Anaheim – 13th March

A rest day. We walked across the road to The Garden Walk shopping centre and went to the movies. We saw The Blind Side with Sandra Bullock. Fantastic movie, she deserved her oscar for that perfomance.

We had lunch in a restaurant – all you can eat for $9.95 and they cook it right in front of you. Vegetables – yes!!!!!!!

We stopped in a chocolate store and bought some rocky road. Not as nice as our rocky road (Darrell Lea in Australia has the best rocky road). We couldn’t get over the chocolate coated apples. Apparently they are really popular.

We went back to the resort to rest and for Clive and I to get ready to go to dinner at Pirates Adventure. We were being picked up at 6pm.

Walked across the road to wait for the coach to pick us up. It was 45 mins late after 3 phone calls and assurances that he would be there. It was darn cold out there waiting for him too. Finally he came and we were off. The coach dropped the other passengers going to the Medieval dinner closeby and then us.

We have been to a similar type of show in Australia called “Outback Adventure” on the Gold Coast in Queensland and absolutely loved it so much we went again. This show is based on the same idea, however, it was pretty poor in comparison. I won’t go on and on about how bad it was but lets just say that if anyone asked me if they should go I would advise them against it. Spend your money elsewhere.

We got back to the resort around 11pm and set the alarm for 7am because we had to finish our packing and checkout.

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Anaheim – 14th March

What a sad day, time to say goodbye to Anaheim and the friends we have made at Worldmark Anaheim. I don’t know if the staff made us feel so welcome because we are “owners” or they are like that with everyone. I feel it is the latter. We hope to be able to return to this resort as we have loved staying here.

We finished packing and took our luggage downstairs to put into storage for the day. Our flight doesn’t leave until 9.10pm and we were off to Disneylands, California Adventure for the day.

We caught the shuttle and fought our way through the gates. What a difference from last Monday at Disneyland. The crowds were horrific. It took us 45 mins to get on one ride and then 1 hour to get on another. There wasn’t that much to see in California Adventure so we went back to Disneyland to ride the train and relax.

We did get on the monorail and take it to Disney walk and shopped around there for a while and then back into Disneyland for lunch. We found a great little restaurant just past the front entrance on the left. Sit down and the food was wonderful and inexpensive. We had beef hot pot and vegetables – great.

We enjoyed just wandering around and then caught the shuttle back to the hotel to wait for our shuttle to the airport.

We handed out gifts to all the staff, bottles of wine, Tim Tams from Australia and Australian souvenier stubby holders.

The shuttle arrived and we were off to the airport on our first leg of our journey home.