Coral Princess
Dulcie Hall

Age: old enough to vote, too young for Medicare
Occupation: domestic engineer
Number of Cruises: 8
Cruise Line: Princess
Ship: Coral Princess
Itinerary: Panama Canal

My husband and myself just returned from our 10 day Panama Canal trip on Coral Princess. After reading other reviews regarding the balconies not being private I was worried because I had gone to the extra expense of getting a mini suite (B218). Toward the front of ship, 11th floor, on the left side. First let me recommend the mini suite, not for every cruise but for us it was well worth it. Our balcony was 1/3 larger than others, we had only 1 other balcony that could see in ours, if you go further back, ie 220 or higher its fine. but be careful of Aloha deck as people walking above can look over and say hello. We were lucky as we had met the people in the deck above ours, he was a cigar smoker like my husband and a very nice couple. Next cruise we will specify the right side of ship again, we like to see the port that we pull into and not another ship. If you like looking into other ships then you will like the left side. The room itself was very nice, had a queen size couch, which made into a full size bed. Also had a coffee table where morning coffee was enjoyed every day. The couch was soo much better than chairs, we did have 2 chairs also. It was great having 2 tvs. We wish we had 2 remotes. Our room steward, Alex was great and Princess has a wonderful way for him to introduce himself as he delivers two glasses of champagne. Fruit delivered to the room again is wonderful. May I suggest that if you have coffee delivered to your room in the morning, have them deliver some cut up fruit also and put this in your room fridge so that when you return to your room after a day of tours, the cold already cut up fruit is WONDERFUL.

The indoor pool was great as we had some rain. Princess does need to do a better job cleaning the pool it has a pretty bad dirt line especially on the tiles, as well as some tiles missing on the steps leading down into the water. The staff was wonderful but I couldn't help but get the feeling something wasn't right. In the past when I would ask when do you go home, the response would be "Oh, in a few months" or they would specify the month. This time the response was how many months, weeks, days and almost down to the minute. This made me believe several of the crew was not very happy. As to formal night they are the same as always but I do wish they would have the second one on one of the nights that we are out at sea. They did this with the first formal night and it makes it soooo much better for the passengers as we do not have to hurry back from a day of touring, swimming, etc to bathe and clean-up. One thing that I got to do this trip was tour the galley. It was great fun. Princess

I HATE TO SAY THIS, BUT YOUR MEALS ARE FALLING BEHIND. Prime rib was cut sooo thin, it MIGHT have been 1/2 inch thick, vegetable selection was very poor and lobster thermodore was, well let's just say bland as heck and if you found more than 2 pieces of lobster in it you were lucky. 4 people at our table had it with all the same results. they are relying way too much on chocolate mousse. It was used as the anchor in too many deserts. I love chocolate mousse, but you do get tired of it. They do need to work on preparing a variety of deserts, like they use to. We ate most of our meals away from the Horizon Court buffet. We just got tired of the cattle stampede and everyone going every which way and not looking where he/she was going. The Eggs Benedict was FANTASTIC and so is the French Toast, coated with corn flakes. Food was served hot and if you didn't get enough you were always offered more. There was a chicken dish, seasoned with mustard that was really nice and as always the steaks were fantastic and cooked to perfection. We did not try the extra restaurants, but one couple at our table who did was not overly impressed, but did say it was "ok". Overall this was a more relaxing cruise than others as we did not book a tour at every port. We had a good time and hopefully will book another mini-suite on our next one.

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