Just back from the Coral Princess 4/3-4/13

[harrynterry]

We have just returned to the real world from another great cruise! I have posted a review in the review area but thought I would come over here and post as well. Our party consisted of DH, myself and my sister (her 1st cruise). We are all in our middle 50's and DH & I are experienced cruisers.

We flew in a day early and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express by the port. We walked to the water taxi after checking in and toured the Intercoastal, viewing the amazing homes and yachts. After a quick breakfast the next morning we took a cab to the port. We arrived early but planned just to enjoy the activity. We were shown into the terminal and since we are Platinum we were given #1's for the first boarding group. We were on the ship met our cabin steward, tipped him, requested lounge chairs for the balcony and egg crates for the beds before noon. Our cabin was D726, the aft mini suite on dolphin deck on the port side and we loved it!!! Then off to Horizion Court for lunch and a tour of the ship before back to the cabin to unpack. We had Any-Time Dining and liked that alot. We don't want to be scheduled anymore, at times we just like to watch the sunset or sail way from our balcony before dinner. We did most of the shows in the evenings and ate in the dining room for dinner all but one evening. We were invited to the Captain's lunch 4/12 at Sabatini's. We were in the top 40 passengers on this sailing for most days sailed with Princess. This was our first invitation to this and it was fun. They even let my sister the 1st timer go with us. I got a late start on this tonight so I will continue tomorrow with part II of the great adventure.

[palolake]

Could you tell me how much it was for the taxi to the pier? Was the hotel ok? I'm already trying to decide to if we should take a taxi or their shuttle. We are staying at the Holiday Inn Express next year before our Coral Princess cruise. Can't wait for part II !

[cruzzers]

Please don't forget to finish your review. We are anxious to hear all about your experiences.

[sea_breaze]

Could you tell me how much it was for the taxi to the pier? Was the hotel ok? I'm already trying to decide to if we should take a taxi or their shuttle. We are staying at the Holiday Inn Express next year before our Coral Princess cruise. Can't wait for part II !

 

Hello Palolake- Not sure if you remember us from the Sun (Kevin & Kim). Met you, your husband, daughter, and son in law in Antigua. Glad to see you've booked the Coral. Took my daughter on her last November for her graduation present. If you liked th Sun, you'll love the Coral. Favorite ship thus far. Costa Rica was awesome. Enjoy. Kevin.

[palolake]

Refresh my memory. I remember the name from our roll call and I'm thinking we finally met you at the bar after our unscheduled late stop in Antigua. Wow, I have problems remembering my own relatives names!

I really hope that Princess decides at some point to change around their ships. We only do 10 day or longer cruises and we've about had it with the Sun Class ships. We love them but we want to try something new. We sailed on Celebrity to Hawaii in January because we wanted to try a new ship. That's also the main reason we are sailing the Coral. We've always been "more for the itinerary than the ship" people but we have never been able to go on anything other than a Sun Class ship with Princess. We are getting excited to sail on the Coral. She sounds just right, size wise.

I hope the OP hasn't forgotten us!!!!!!!!!!

[sea_breaze]

Yeah that was us in Antigua. Have you looked @ RCCL Brilliance of the Seas 10/11 day cruise out of Miami? In case you haven't seen it, "Dobie" has started a "Live from the coral thread" and is reporting daily from his/her cruise.

 

One thing I wanted to mention about your Panama canal transit. If you want a great view while going through the locks without alot of people, take the tenth floor (I think it was Dolphin deck) all the way forward to doors that says "crew only" Go through those doors and presto. There were a few passengers out there but not many. Much better view then from balcony or upper decks.

[palolake]

Thanks for the tip. Any shore excursions we shouldn't miss?

[sea_breaze]

We stayed on the ship in Panama-anchored in gatun lake. You can only use Princess shore excursions here and none of them looked very enticing. Humidity was extremely high. Ship had temperautre @ 82F and I was convinced it was in the mid 90's. Heard mixed reviews on board about ship excursions.

There is a shopping complex @ Cristobal that you'll have a couple of hours to walk through right next and I mean right next to the pier. Literally 20 feet once you get off of the ship. I found kind of neat because of the native indians that were present.

 

Costa Rica- By far my favorite stop of all of the cruises we've been on. So much so we are going back for a land base vacation over the Christmas holiday.

 

Would definately recommend some sort of tour. We used Charlie Soto and went on the canal trip, banana plantation, monkey sanctuary, and stopped @ a beach for lunch. Charlie did a good job. Very nice man.

 

One thing I noticed on the canal trip was that we were in smaller boats(6-8 people) with Charlie and you really felt like you were part of the river. The ship excursions were were in large boats,50 or so people and you could tell they were kind of falling over each other to see the wildlife. So I would highly recommend a private tour here.

 

Costa Ricans are very friendly- well educated people and never felt unsafe for a minute. Love this place.

 

Hope this helps.

[palolake]

Thanks. I've been reading about Charlie Soto and others and I think that's the way to go. We are also thinking about doing some ziplining on this cruise but we could do that in Jamaica.

Still waiting for the rest of the story realestatecruisers!!!

[sea_breaze]

I think what you are going to find is that ziplining in Jamaica can only be done through the cruise ship and I believe it was $100.00. Ziplining in CR was $40.00 and most of the tour operators will offer this in their tour package.

 

Good luck.