Embarkation: Canada Place was a zoo when we arrived, but we were herded efficiently through a long lineup and boarded around 1 p.m., within one hour of arrival. We carried on (and declared) four bottles of wine to enjoy in our stateroom and packed another couple of good quality Tetra-packs (one-litre boxed wines) in our luggage, no problem at all.
Stateroom: Our starboard forward Aloha balcony stateroom was clean and ready for our arrival; we met our very efficient and friendly steward Chet (from Thailand) and requested eggcrate mattress-tops and bathrobes. The eggcrates were delivered promptly and the bathrobes arrived the next morning. The tux/shoes that we had pre-rented were hanging in the closet as promised and were in excellent condition. We later discovered that the shower had a slow drain, but Chet arranged to have it fixed within a couple of hours of embarkation. Another issue was an outside pipe above our covered balcony that collected condensation and dripped rust; this was solved easily enough by wiping the pipe every couple of days. Our stateroom was below the Horizon Court. During the day, we heard very little noise from above, but almost every night, there were banging sounds (from the galley?) between 3 and 4 a.m. It startled us awake the first few nights, but then we got used to it.
The Coral Princess: Clean and easy to navigate. We especially enjoyed power-walking the length of the ship around the Sun Deck in the morning, and strolling the quite Promenade Deck in the humid evenings. Maintenance crews were constantly (but unobtrusively) cleaning, painting and varnishing. Ship's drinking water was excellent, no need for expensive bottled water.