Coral Princess review - 12/31/05 - 1/3/06

[Numbers]

This will be long and in several parts. This was our second cruise, the first being to Alaska on the Coral's sister ship, the Island last July. We loved that trip and I posted a lengthy review on the Alaska page. If you are interested in knowing a little about our likes and dislikes, you might want to check that out, as I won't repeat all of that over here. The big difference this time was that DW and I were joined by our 16yo son who was in camp when we went to Alaska. While we were very happy with our BA cabin on the Island, we went for a mini-suite on the Coral to give us some extra room for the third person. We chose D601 and were quite happy with the choice. The room was great and our steward was fine. We are low maintenance folks and we typically don't ask for anything other than our room being cleaned on a reasonably timely basis. On this cruise we had a bit of a problem getting our steward to find us pool towels on some days. That was a bit frustrating, but we dealt with it and it is the only critical thing I have to say about our steward.

 

We flew to FLL the day before the cruise and stayed at the Embassy Suites. Your typical Embassy Suites, mostly filled with cruise passengers. Given the number of Celebrity luggage tags I saw on Saturday morning, I have to assume that they use this as one of their preferred hotels for pre and post cruise passenger, but I don't know that for a fact. Anyway, we had signed up for an 11:45 AM hotel shuttle to the pier, and all went well. Once at the pier, we were processed and on board in a matter of minutes. Very smooth.

 

After dropping off our carry on bag, we toured the ship for our son's benefit. If there is any difference between the Coral and the Island, I'd be hard pressed to identify it other than the casino motif that was French on the Island and British on the Coral. Lovely ship, well maintained, and a great crew. We got lunch at the Horizon Court (nothing fancy, but no complaints either), and then checked out the teen program for our son. He was very happy with the program and spent several evenings there. There were tons of kids on the cruise, but few problems that I know of. Our son was told that he could be (a) with us, (b) with the teen club, or © in transit between with no passing Go and no collecting $200. We did not want him wandering the ship and, to the best of our knowledge, it never happened. If it did and I heard about it, it would have gotten ugly really fast, and my son knows that perfectly well. He's a good kid, though, and we tried to keep him with us as much as possible because we like his company and that's what family vacations are about anyway.

 

OK, enough of that. We chose traditional, first seating, and were absolutely thrilled with our waiter Pablo and his assistant Arlen, both from the Phillipines. Great guys and wonderful service. First class all the way. We were joined at our table by three women travelling together, but they switched after the first night. Not sure what we did wrong, but I'm certain that my deodorant was OK. Anyhow, I hope we didn't upset them, but it worked out for the best as we ended up with three new tablemates for the remainder of the cruise who were just wonderful.

 

While at dinner that first night, we left FLL and headed to sea. We spent the evening wandering around and went to one of the shows. The entertainment throughout was pretty good (with one exception to be mentioned later). We also discovered the joy of sitting out on the lounge chairs on the promenade deck. Quite breezy, which, for a balmy evening is just the thing for us. We spent a lot of time out there -- in the mornings as well. We're not really sun worshippers, so the shade and the breeze (not to mention the relative quiet) was greatly appreciated.

 

The next day was a sea day on the way to Ocho Rios. We spent the day meandering around the ship, going to lectures and the like. I didn't keep a log of what we did, but of particular note was trivia (which my son and I got into) and the first of two cooking demonstrations. Overall a lovely and relaxing day. We also spent some time at the pool, late in the afternoon after the peak crowds had died down. Then dinner where we met our new tablemates and the evening show. Great time, but we take these trips mostly for the ports, so the best was yet to come. More on that in my next installment.

[Cruiseteach]

Thanks for the great review, Part 1. I hope there are more to follow. We are doing this cruise on 3/4 and I am getting really anxious. We will be in D511, not too far from where you were, so I am anxious to hear about the cabin. Did you have lounge chairs or just those plastic things? I am also anxious to hear about any excursions you took. Just got our air info yesterday, which raised my excitement level several notches.

[Texcruise]

Numbers: Thank you for taking the time to write your review. I anxiously await more details since we board the Coral on the 23rd of this month.

Gail

[Numbers]

Cruiseteach: We loved the cabin -- noticeably more room than the regular balcony cabin we had on the Island. It gets very tight when the sofa bed is opened, though, especially since the coffee table needs to be moved. Not a problem -- when the room was cleaned each morning, the sofa bed was closed back up and then re-opened when the sheets were turned down in the evening.

 

The new mini-suite perks were there and they were a nice addition as well. We particularly liked the higher end towels.

 

With regard to your balcony question, plastic chairs only, I'm afraid. They do have a high back and recline somewhat (similar to the old beach chairs from my youth, you pull up on the armrests). When only one of us was out there, we would usually put the other chair facing and use it as a footrest. Not ideal, but it worked. As described elsewhere, the balcony is totally uncovered. Our cabin was equidistant between the center and aft elevator banks, yours would be slightly forward of where we were.

 

Hope that helps. I'll try to get to part 2 of my review within the next day or so.

[Numbers]

By now, I presume someone other than me realizes that the heading of this thread is wrong -- the start date for our cruise was 12/24/05. I'm such an idiot sometimes....

[Cruiseteach]

By now, I presume someone other than me realizes that the heading of this thread is wrong -- the start date for our cruise was 12/24/05. I'm such an idiot sometimes....

Yeah- that would have been a pretty short cruise :) I never noticed until you pointed it out. Thanks for the answers. Did you have a problem with the balcony being uncovered?

[mmsoko]

Can't wait for further installments!!!

 

Quick question? Do you know the time of first seating traditional dining?

[sherman931]

Great review....looking forward to your next post.:)

[LisaH]

Was hoping you would post to a board so I could thank you for your recent review. It was great and I enjoyed reading it.

[Numbers]

To answer a couple of questions first -- uncovered balcony was no problem for us. Even though we aren't sun worshippers, we typically weren't in our stateroom during the hottest times of the day. It was actually quite nice out there in the mornings and the evenings. If you are referring to the lack of privacy issue, there were very few people out there to spy on us (not that I cared, nor was there anything we were doing that was worth looking at!). The only times the balconies seemed to be heavily used were during the Canal transit and during sailaway and port arrival periods.

 

Early seating is at 6:00 PM. Now, back to the review:

 

Forgot to mention that our first day was also Christmas Day. Lots of seasonal decorations and other festivities, along with a special Christmas dinner. Given that this was the first sea day along with it being Christmas, everyone assumed that it would be the first formal night. Wrong! -- the first formal night was the fourth night (second sea day) of the cruise. There was some grumbling about that, but it didn't matter to us (it was also the first night of Chanukah, by the way).

 

Our first port was Ocho Rios, and we had scheduled a trip through Princess to take the yachting excursion to Dunns River Falls. We were very pleased with this trip which stopped for snorkeling as well. One of the real advantages of this type of trip over many of the others is that you arrive at the bottom of the falls and therefore do not have to deal with the hassle of the vendors at the top (I realize others like that kind of stuff -- its just not for us). Very well run operation. My DW took one look at the falls and declined the opportunity to climb. My son and I went up, but exited at the first opportunity (perhaps 100 feet up?). Nothing wrong with the excursion, but I had broken my ankle quite badly in an auto accident two years ago and it will never be the same. Although I can walk perfectly well (albeit with some pain), the climbing took an unexpected toll on my ankle. As a result, I slipped at one point (popped right back up without even a skinned knee) and decided that I shouldn't push my luck. Don't get me wrong - it was a ton of fun and I would definetly recommend it. Although others will no doubt disagree, I view myself as having climbed the falls and had a good time doing so. The yacht itself was nice with free snacks (fruit) and drinks (including alchoholic, but for obvious reasons, alchohol was not served until after the climbing and snorkeling), not to mention the usual souveniers for sale.

 

I must point out however that the falls were incredibly crowded. At least in part, this was due to the fact that it was a holiday (Boxing Day) in Jamaica, so a lot of locals were out there to join in the fun. There were only two ships in port that day, though, so I can only imagine what it gets like when there are more ships around.

 

By the way, one of the nice things about this cruise was that there were never more than two or three ships in any of the ports we visited (I'm not counting Fort Lauderdale, of course). I've heard stories of many more (seven to ten in some instances, notable in Grand Cayman and Cozumel) so I think we were quite fortunate. For those of you who don't know, you can check www.cruisecal.com to see which other ships will be in the same port as you on any given day.

 

After the excursion we returned directly to the ship. We were not inclined to stroll around Ocho Rios after reading these boards. The couple at our dinner seating went on a 4X4 Jeep trip that day and absolutely loved it. Apparently, this tour tends to sell out early, so if you are interested, I would suggest making reservations sooner rather than later.

 

Once back on the ship, we had a late lunch, spent some time at the pool, then dinner, show, stroll, bed. Fun day. More in the next installment.

[Cruiseteach]

Thanks for the http://www.cruisecal.com site. I checked for my 3-4-06 Coral cruise and it looks there will never be more than one other ship in any of our ports!

[Numbers]

After our day in Ocho Rios, we had our second sea day. Very crowded by the pool, but as noted earlier, we don't hang out there in the heat of the day. A couple of interesting notes, however. Shortly before 8 AM we were heading to Horizon Court for breakfast and were passing through the pool area. Some guy showed up with a duffel bag full of towels that he put on at least a dozen chairs, along with some books, sunglasses, etc. Pretty slimy, huh? If I had spotted any staff around, I might have said something, but I didn't see anyone, so I let it pass. As noted, it wasn't an issue for us, but I do feel badly for those who want to sit by the pool and play by the rules. Later that evening, one of our dinner companions told us a third or fourth hand story about angry passengers pointing out chairs that hadn't been used for quite a long time and having the staff remove the towels, etc. They then tipped the staff to move the chairs elsewhere, presumably so that those who found themselves without a chair wouldn't be able to identify them. Pretty sad that stuff like this goes on, but the rules are the rules.... I don't have a lot of sympathy for people who save chairs like that.

 

OK, off that soapbox. We really just relaxed on this day, since the Panama Canal was the next day. Formal dinner was nice, and we had a good day all around, just nothing notable to report. The next day, however, there is a lot to tell. What a great day!

 

We awoke early and, though still dark, it was clear from the outline of the shore and buoys that we were approaching the canal. We did a quick trip upstairs for breakfast and then scouted for the best place to watch. Like most people, our first stop was the upper decks. Unfortunately, there were lots of people up there. Not only that, there are blue tinted glass panels (presumably windscreens?) that extend perhaps ten feet off the ground. There are some small gaps between them, but you could barely get a camera lens in that gap. Not a great setup. As a result, a lot of folks were hanging around the top of the exterior staircases, which allowed something of a forward view without the windscreens. What a mess.

 

This is where I give a HUGE thank you to all of you cruise critic posters. I recalled the "secret" forward balconies on the lower decks. We went to the Baja deck (deck 11) and found ourselves almost alone, with an unencumbered forward view (no windscreens at all)!!! As time went by, more people found this area, but there were never too many people -- everyone there had room to be at the rail at the same time. Same story on the Caribe deck directly below us. It was fabulous, and we stayed there for the first two of the three Gatun locks. We were getting off for an excursion in Gatun Lake, so for the final lock, we decided to venture to the aft of the ship, to get some rearward pictures. Few people back there, and it was great as well. Finally, since we needed some stuff from our cabin for the excursion anyway, we watched a bit from our balcony as well. Awesome sights, awesome views, awesome pictures!! Do not miss those forward lower deck balconies if you do this trip on the Coral. Anyhow, the day was just getting started, and it was going to get much better.

 

Our excursion was the trip formerly known as Ocean to Ocean -- I don't remember what they're calling it now. We tendered off the ship in Gatun Lake and took a very nice, air conditioned bus to the smaller boat that would take us through the remainder of the locks. This boat had three levels, with both inside and outside viewing, shaded areas, drinks, etc. Not at all crowded, either. We chose a spot on the middle level up front, which put us right at the bow. This area was totally uncovered, which made it pretty hot, but we kepts hats on, kept hydrated, and had a great time. It certainly had the best view on the boat. We went through the remainder of the locks virtually alone -- we were joined by a small sailboat with perhaps 6-8 people on it. The experience of going through on a much smaller boat, rather than a cruise ship, is like night and day. As we dropped down each level, we found ourselves surrounded by the immense walls and gates which towered over us. Absolutely amazing. We even got to touch the lock walls -- very much like touching history.

 

If there was anything to complain about (there really isn't - this is just minor quibbling), it is that we docked the boat just short of the Bridge of the Americas, so we didn't actually go under it and out into the Pacific Ocean itself. Close enough as far as I was concerned.

 

The tourguide was also very interesting and very candid about life in Panama past and present (Noriega and all that stuff). The ride back was considerably longer, but she kept us reasonably well engaged. We were brought back through Colon to the port itself and left off within the security perimiter of the port. That's a good thing after you've seen Colon. I grew up in NY City and been all over the US, but I've never seen slums like this before. Our guide made it clear that anyone venturing into town who didn't look like a native would find themselves in big trouble, and I believe it. By the way, the shops that people talk about are within the same security perimiter, so you can shop without fear. I would strongly advise against leaving the port facility, though.

 

We arrived at the dock just as the Coral Princess arrived, so we spent some time walking through the shopping area while gangways were set up. We then reboarded the ship as soon as we were able, just as huge numbers of folks who had stayed on the ship all day were getting off to ship a bit. We then had the ship pretty much to ourselves for a couple of hours, so we went to the pool, swam, and had a grand old time.

 

The main purpose of our trip had been to see the Canal, and it was definetly worth it. Having said that, the trip was only starting, and there were great experiences ahead. More on that later.

[senior lady]

Thanks for the great info. We'll be on the Coral doing a full canal cruise. 19 days of bliss:cool: Our cabin is on Caribe.

Any other info will be greatly appreciated:D

[Blue Eyes]

[SIZE="3"]We did the Coral last January and loved the ship and the cruise...[/size]

[Numbers]

The next day was in Limon, Costa Rica, which again was an early morning for us. We had scheduled an eco-cruise through the Tortuguero (sp?) canals for something like 7:15 AM (as avid wildlife lovers, we know that the best time to see wildlife is as close to dawn or dusk as possible). Again, a lovely bus ride of about 20 minutes to the dock where our boat was waiting. Because we chose the early tour, the boat was only about 2/3 full (the later tour was sold out) which allowed us to spread out and scoot from side to side as there were sightings of birds and animals. We were also fortunate that we did the tour in reverse from the guidebook description. There is a 1 1/2 hr bus ride in one direction and about 20 minutes in the other. By doing the short trip first, we got on the water that much earlier, which, as noted above, we viewed as a good thing.

 

The cruise through the rain forest was fabulous. No rain for us at all, which I understand is quite unusual. We saw howler monkeys, sloths, crocodiles, and zillions of birds. Although I do not consider myself a bird watcher, I was really smitten with what I saw. I've never seen such a variety of birds, many of whom we got to see quite close up. Near the end of the cruise, we found ourselves just inside a reef from the open ocean. There in the calm water were floating a number of logs covered with an astounding collection of birds. None of them were as exotic as those we saw deeper into the rainforest, but the number and diversity was stunning. Like something out of a National Geographic show.

 

This was an absolutely wonderful trip, and all those that we spoke to (on our boat as well as others) had the same reaction. I would wholeheartedly recommend this tour to anyone. At the end of the cruise, we docked at an area where the tour company had set up a number of local craft people selling a number of interesting items. They also had fresh fruit and drinks out for us. Very nice. After about 20-30 minutes there, we headed back in the bus. As an added feature (not part of the tour -- its just where the bus route took us), we went through a large banana plantation. We would have liked to have stopped, but just going through it we saw a fair bit, and the guide was quite knowledgable about the workings of the plantation. All in all a very nice trip, and due to our early start, we were once again back to the ship early. Once again, rather than walking through Limon, we got back onto the ship and enjoyed some pool time in relative quiet.

 

Another lovely day in paradise. Hope this isn't getting too long and boring for anyone. Will try to post again tomorrow with the next installment.

[SF]

Numbers,

 

Thanks for the great posts. Really enjoying reading about your cruise.

 

We've been thru the Panama Canal on Coral's sister ship Island Princess and are thinking of going again but this time on Coral. Was wondering.... how do you get to the "secret" forward balconies on the lower decks. From what you've mentioned I believe its on both deck 11 and on Caribe. Is there a special door or area you go to?

Guess it won't be so "secret" anymore!!! (lol):)

[mmsoko]

Quote:" Another lovely day in paradise. Hope this isn't getting too long and boring for anyone. Will try to post again tomorrow with the next installment."

 

Numbers

Am enjoying reading each installment. It's fun to read such a thorough review, look forward to more. Thanks.

[Cruiseteach]

Where are you, Numbers? We're all dying for the next installment!! I have to say, you are one of the best reviewers I have read on this or any other board. Keep 'em coming!

[Numbers]

Such kind words -- thanks!! Actually, I returned home from work yesterday as sick as a dog, and am just now crawling out of bed. Sorry for the delay.

 

After Costa Rica, it was another sea day, which I won't dwell on, other than to say it was lovely. The next day, we were in Grand Cayman, and we had booked a snorkel and stingrays tour with Captain Marvin. We tendered to shore early in hopes of getting in some shopping (I was looking for a watch), but the stores didn't open until 10:00. So, we just wandered around -- very nice area. We then headed over to Captain Marvin's, checked in, and off we went. Very nice excursion. First we went to the snorkeling location -- great!! They brought along a videographer, who donned scuba gear and stayed underwater videoing us and the sea life. The two highlights were a nurse shark, which dutifully rolled over and allowed the videographer to scratch his tummy, and a pair of eels who got into a territorial battle, wound around each other, and went at it. Awesome! The video was $60, and we jumped on it.

 

Next it was off to the stingray sandbar. Incredibly crowded with boats and people, but it was great anyway. The stingrays swim around you, through your legs, etc. in only about 3-4 feet of water. We were given fish to feed them, and common wisdom has it that that is what keeps the stingrays coming back -- personally I think it to watch the show -- dozens of these humans making fools of themselves. Women shrieking, and all that. It was a barrel of laughs. I would definetly recommend it.

 

The boat had some snacks available, and they had a fresh water hose to shower you down with if you wished. All in all, a fun time. Then it was back to Georgetown, where I found the watch I wanted. Then it was time to head back to the ship, as it was departing fairly early (3:00 I think).

 

That night was formal night and New Year's Eve. Lots of festivities, noisemakers and all that. We went to see Sarge, a comedian we saw on the Island last summer and liked. He was great. Then, being the old farts that we are, we went to bed and were asleep when the New Year rang in. I saw excerpts of the goings on via the trip video which Princess was hawking at every turn and it looked like a lot of fun (not to mention crowded), but the next day was Cozumel and we wanted to be rested for our next day's adventure (Tulum). More on that in the next installment.

[Cruiseteach]

Such kind words -- thanks!! Actually, I returned home from work yesterday as sick as a dog, and am just now crawling out of bed. Sorry for the delay.

 

.

Sorry you are under the weather. Cruise withdrawal, perhaps? :) Feel better and keep writing. I am enjoying your posts.

Question: How strong a swimmer do you need to be to do the stingray excursion? How far is it from the boat to the sandbar?

[Numbers]

For the stingray excursion (not the snorkeling), you do not have to know how to swim. You'll get off in 3-4 feet of water, and that's how the whole thing is. Of course, if you're talking about small kids who aren't tall enough, they'd need to have some level of swimming ability. Not to worry, though, its a piece of cake.

[Numbers]

New Year's Day and we were up early for Cozumel. We had originally booked a swim with the dolphins directly with Dolphin Discovery, but that had to be cancelled due to the aftermath of the hurricane (just got the refund, by the way). We then decided to book through Princess a trip to the Mayan ruins in Tulum.

 

As has been pointed out many times on these boards, the pier in Cozumel was destroyed in the hurricane, so it is necessary to tender. What hasn't been pointed out (or if it has, I missed it) is that those of us who booked mainland excursions go directly from the ship to the mainland and never set foot on Cozumel island. That didn't bother us, but others we spoke to were a little upset. Just be forewarned.

 

They used a large ferry to bring us to Playa del Carmen -- it was one ferry for all the mainland based tours. As advertised, the going was a bit rough. We have never been seasick, but having read horror stories about this crossing, we chose to bring along some of the less drowsy version of Dramamine and took it as a prophylactic. We ended up fine, but there were several folks we saw who got sick. It was also hot and stuffy as there was no A/C or air flow. More on that when I describe the return trip.

 

Once at Playa del Carmen, the groups separated into their appropriate buses and went on their way. Our trip included a stop at a little shopping area that included free shots of tequilla. We did not indulge, but others did. On a hot day, I'm not sure that was a wise choice. From there it was on to Tulum.

 

Our guide was quite knowledgable, and we followed him off the bus and to the ruins (about a 15 minute walk, level ground, but quite hot). The ruins themselves were magnificent. I know that purists would tell you that Tulum pales in comparison to other, more extensive ruins elsewhere, but since this was our first such trip, we were extremely impressed. The only criticism I had was that we didn't get enough time at the ruins themselves. I believe we had about an hour with the guide and another 45 minutes or so on our own before we had to head back to the bus. Extremely enjoyable, though. Once on the bus, they gave us a small snack and a drink and we headed back to Playa del Carmen, with a very brief bathroom break at the same shopping area as before (with the same free tequilla). Then it was back to Playa del Carmen, where we were told we had about an hour to stroll around, but we had to be on the ferry (the only one) at 4:30 sharp. Although Playa del Carmen is a lovely place (I would definetly consider it for a short, land based vacation in the future), I would personally have preferred to have some of that extra time back at the ruins. Oh, well...

 

We then got back on the ferry and waited, and waited, and waited... Turns out that a couple of the excursions were running late (the golfers, for one). There is a difference between holding the ferry for an entire excursion group vs. some fool that ignores the stated time, however, there were some folks on board that were not so understanding. It didn't help any that it was hot and, even though docked, the ferry was doing a fair bit of rocking around.

 

When we finally got going, a number of people started getting sick (not sure if it was the rocking, the heat, the tequilla, or some combination). A number of people started harassing the crew to open the doors to get a breeze, despite clearly marked notations on the doors in both English and Spanish that the doors needed to be closed during sailing. Eventually, the crew was cowed into complying, at least temporarily. As we got close to the Coral Princess, the crew closed the doors again (presumably they didn't want the Coral's crew to see the doors open against the rules), and bedlam ensued (it wasn't quite that bad, but its the best word I could come up with on short notice). A couple of people opened the doors themselves and refused to let the crew close them again. To make matters worse, the ferry's captain was having a hard time coming alongside the Coral Princess and had to make several attempts, thus extending our time on the ferry by another 20 or so minutes. When we finally reached the Coral, people were talking about class action lawsuits, etc. I agree that a lot of this was not handled well, but lawsuits??? To their credit, the crew had alerted the ship, and medical staff were on hand to help off a few people who really got sick.

 

By the time we got off the ferry, it was clear that we were going to miss our dinner seating. We therefore called down to the Bayou Cafe and got 7:00 reservations and had the chance to shower and change before eating. We had been to the Bayou on the Island Princess and loved it. It was just as good this time, and the non-hurried service was just the thing after a hot, tiring day.

 

Overall, I'd still give the Tulum trip high marks, and I understand that Princess doesn't run the ferries and isn't responsible for the pier being destroyed. In one sense, I give them credit for dealing with the destroyed pier in an efficient manner, but if our experience was anywhere near typical, they need to come up with a new plan.

 

Next installment will cover the end of our trip.

[mmsoko]

Had to go to third page to see if it was posted yet.

 

Still waiting;)

[Numbers]

Sorry for the delay -- nice to know that someone is reading this stuff, though. Actually, there is not much more to report. After our dinner at Bayou Cafe, we pretty much collapsed for the evening, and found ourselves with just one sea day left. Weather was beautiful again and the pool was crowded, but we went up there for awhile anyway and had a nice time. Actually spent more time that day on the Promenade Deck reading in the shade and the breeze. Simply heaven!

 

We decided to get one of the photographer's pictures of us blown up to 16 X 20 -- just arrived the other day via DHL and its great -- they did a nice job, although not at all cheap. Then we just meandered around the ship, had a lovely last dinner with our new friends, and went to the farewell show.

 

Next morning, we hung out in the Explorer's Lounge waiting to disembark. We were towards the end of the list, but that was fine as our flight wasn't until 4 PM. Found our luggage quickly, and were out the door in just a few minutes -- no sweat. Went to the airport and learned that, on Northwest at least, they will not allow you to check baggage until 3 hours before your flight (I know that there are other options, but we weren't planning to go anywhere in Fort Lauderdale, so we didn't take advantage of them). The problem with this is that you obviously can't go through security with all that luggage, and there is essentially nothing other than a newstand and a couple of vending machines outside security in the terminal. Not an ideal situation, but we lived with it. Finally checked luggage, went to lunch, then onto the plane and back to the real world.

 

To sum up, a wonderful trip. We loved the Coral Princess, but as noted earlier, don't have any other experiences to compare it to (the Island Princess being essentially the same ship). Would definetly recommend Princess, the Coral, and this itinerary to anyone. Princess is a class act, and we were very pleased with the whole experience. As far as compaing to other cruise lines, we'll fix that soon enough -- our next trip is in March to the Southern Caribbean on RCCL's Adventure of the Seas. Then, the big trip in March 2007, Celebrity Xpedition to the Galapagos!!!!

 

Hope all of this was worthwhile reading. All of the Cruise Critic posters have been so helpful with information, that this review is meant as my "thank you". I'll continue to surf these boards for the next week or so and will be glad to answer any questions anybody has. Happy travels!

[SF]

Numbers,

 

Is there a charge to eat at the Bayou Cafe? Also, as I mentioned above in another post I'm curious how to get to the "secret" forward balconies on the lower decks. Is there a special door you have to go thru? Would love to be able to have a clear view in order to take some pictures. Last time it was so crowded it was hard at times to take pictures.