Going on the Coral Jan 17, 2005

[Getting Away]

We are booked on the Coral Princess for the 10 Day Panama Canal :). Looking for information on what tours are good ones.

The ports are:

Limon

Panama Canal (Gatun Lake & Colon)

Grand Cayman

Cozumel

Belize

Ft. Lauderdale

Any information on what to see and do would be great :) .

Thanks

[Nitemare]

I'd suggest you look at the Ports of Call boards here at Cruise Critic for advice on excursions.

 

Good luck, you'll love this cruise!

[mbw1024]

I just got off the Coral today but I'm exhausted! Will write you tomorrow with some info of my experiences. And photos too if you are interested!

 

mary beth

[ger_77]

I'll be anxiously waiting for your review of the Coral - we're sailing on her in Feb/05 and are new Princess cruisers, so it will be exciting for us. Tell all - the good, the very good, and the excellent! Oh, and if there are a few bad things, toss them in as an aside :) Seriously, I'm looking forward to your opinions on the ship, your accommodations, and the excursions you took.

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[OrlEngr]

I just got off also ....

 

 

We did the following:

 

Costa Rica - White Water rafting ... It was only level 2 rapids .. decent rapids ... no big drops ... but fun

 

Panama - Ocean to Ocean Tour ... I'm an engineer and enjoyed ... my wife got a bit bored

 

Mexico - Xcaret ... This was a neat park ... almost too much to do during the time there ... If you want to strictly snorkel ... I would go somewhere else ... but this gave a chance to do multiple things ... sort of a zoo, swim with dolphins (extra $$), snorkel, nature park ...

 

Belize - Horseback riding ... nature trails .. not much wildlife ... got to see a caged Jaguar, lots of birds, spider monkey at the ranch. Good lunch

 

Each trip took almost the entire time in port and gave very little time for shopping. Enough time to get a T-shirt ... which was fine with me!

 

I loved the Coral and the overall trip ... you will have a great time!

[mbw1024]

I loved the Coral and I'm already thinking of taking her to Alaska next season but if so I better start planning.

Also got to see the engineer/groom around the ship as well (Hi OrlEngr!).

 

I just thought the ship was beautiful and from my experiences around ship I never saw a thing out of place. Staff was very good about continually keeping the public areas spotless.

 

Sabitini's was excellent. I just felt it was a great dining experience and certainly worth the money spent. The waiter we had (Paul) was terrific and made sure he explained all the courses we were getting as they were served. Loved the atmosphere here.

 

Bayou was good as well. Had the filet and tail as so many recommended here and was not disappointed. The night we were there the service seemed to be a bit chaotic and people kept apologizing to us for delays but to be honest we were in no rush so we were unphased.

 

Our favorite spot was Crooner's in the evenings. If you go there meet Freddie and Cshilla (Sheila). They were great to us.

 

As for tours we arranged a day with Oscar in Costa Rica and I highly recommend him. When I get time I plan to post under "ports" about that trip. We also did Ocean to Ocean and both really enjoyed it. In Cozumel my boyfriend did the Atlantis dive while I shopped and then we went to Paradise Beach for the afternoon. Very enjoyable day.

We got screwed up in Belize and if I had to do it over again, I would do a Princess tour in the port. I was not 100% comfortable with the independent tour operators in the port.

 

I had PC dining for the first time. Still not 100% sold on that but I did enjoy being in the pool at 7pm and not at all concerned about rushing to dress for dinner. Most nights we just showed up and always got a table for 2.

 

If you have other specific questions about the ship I'd be happy to help while it is still fresh in my mind! And I have all the Patters and stuff from the spa, etc handy if you need information.

 

Oh, we also did the Canal Breakfast and really enjoyed it.

 

Mary Beth

[Getting Away]

Thanks for the offer and yes we would be very interested in hearing about your trip and seeing some pictures.

Thanks Again

[mbw1024]

I don't usually use Snap Fish but was having trouble with the other sites I use for Photos. I hope this link works.

Haven't had time to edit or caption so feel free to skip the boring people ones or ask questions!

The man at the banana plant is the "famed" Oscar who I found thanks to these boards.

 

The first 10 or so were taken the day prior to sailing in FLL. We stayed at Yankee Clipper.

Hope the link works.

 

http://www.snapfish.com/share/p=46411099356742960/l=36142485/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

[LARGIN]

MBW1024. Great pics.. I see you were in an AA mini.. We will be in B229 on the Island in April. How did you like your room? Any problems I should know about being that it is so far forward.

[mbw1024]

I was in B207 so you can't get much more forward than that. I had no problems at all. We had some choppy waters but nothing too bad. The last night when we were all packed our hangers were all clanging together!

 

I loved our location!

BTW, how were you able to tell that was an AA mini?

[LARGIN]

I was in B207 so you can't get much more forward than that. I had no problems at all. We had some choppy waters but nothing too bad. The last night when we were all packed our hangers were all clanging together!

 

I loved our location!

BTW, how were you able to tell that was an AA mini?

One of your pics shows you standing in front of your room. I could see the room number B207.. I know the Coral well (2 cruises this year) so I knew that was a AA mini

[Getting Away]

Thanks for the wonderful Pic's. It looks like you had a great vacation.

Thanks Again

[nannyny2002]

Great Pics! Makes you feel as though you're there...... perhaps, sooner than I think!