Coral Princess Review

An Unfortunate Series of Events

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Coral Princess
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Burghrocks
2-5 Cruises • Age 40s

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Value for Money
Embarkation
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Entertainment
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Additional details

Sail Date: Feb 2016
Cabin: Mini-Suite with Balcony

Family of 4 (42, 41, 12, 11) in a mini-suite w balcony C721. Flew in the night before, stayed at Courtyard Marriott Ft. Lauderdale Beach which was nice except for getting stuck in the elevator the next morning.

This was our first cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale and I can see why it is a popular port. The airport, cruise port, beaches, accommodations, etc. are all so close to each other. I could see staying a few days before/after a cruise before flying back home. Embarkation was good. I saw an email the morning of that stated our embarkation should be delayed until 1pm "due to operational reasons" (the first clue this cruise might not go our way) but when we got there at 1pm, we pretty much sailed through and made it to our cabin without issue. We have left out of Port Canaveral and Tampa previously and this was definitely the fastest embarkation we have experienced.

The ship itself was nothing to write home about. It was similar in size to other ships we have been on but for some reason it seemed a little smaller. The main atrium area is not very big or open. It is quaint, but its not going to take your breath away. I will say that I liked the open balcony areas that run the length of the aft of the ship on the cabin decks. Those were nice and provided some great views. The fitness center was nice but a little small. We only walked through the spa but it seemed nice, like your average spa area on a cruise ship.

Cabin Review

Mini-Suite with Balcony

Cabin MD

Pros - Larger balcony, from the sliding doors to the railings. You could actually stretch out a lounger without having to angle it much.

Cons - Small for a mini-suite room. The only real difference between this and a standard balcony that I could tell was that there was a tub in the bathroom. That made the bathroom a little bigger but the tub was narrow and the shower curtain kept clinging to you. The caulking on the tub was peeling off or had already peeled off. The tub itself was not level with the floor of the bathroom, it was a step up so coupled with the higher walls of the tub, you had to be extra careful when stepping out of the tub because it was a long step down.

Not much storage for clothes. There were the hangars but then there were no standard size drawers anywhere. You had to store your clothes on the shelves of a closet. No place to put your shoes once you stored your luggage under the clothes that were hanging up.

Fold out couch was dirty. Once unfolded, you could look behind the mattress and it was dirty.

Why two tvs side by side instead of just one larger tv? They only give you one remote to control two tvs and the buttons aren't very responsive. It's not very possible to watch two different shows at once because the volume from each interferes with the other. Just remove the partition between the two televisions and replace it with one larger television.

Wet spot on the carpet by the doors to the balcony that never dried. Not sure what it was from but it was always there.

Lack of convenient outlets to plug in to. There are two very close to each other on the desk and then two more high up on the shelves where the televisions are. None by the nightstand to charge your phone at night. Also, if you have anything other than a standard sized plug utilizing one of the desk outlets, you cant use the other one, not enough space to plug anything else in.

Definitely not worth the upgrade from a balcony room, not sure how they get away with calling it a mini-suite, there really is not much more room.

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