This was our second cruise on the Coral Princess. Our first experience was cruising Alaska on the same ship. For this cruise the ship was quite fully booked, with many families and children aboard for the holidays. The ship was festively decorated and immaculately clean. We departed from Port Everglades in Ft Lauderdale. There were eight ships and 23,000 people leaving port that day! Once Princess allowed passengers aboard ship the process went fairly quickly. It seemed to take some time for our luggage to arrive to our cabin. We had a balcony cabin on Aloha deck, A 334. Comfortable bed, and our steward (Moore) did an excellent job looking after us. Aloha is just below Lido deck, where the pool is located. We enjoyed the view from the 12th deck, but there was a fair bit of noise on Lido deck starting 5AM every morning. For disembarkment Princess offered 'EZ check' for certain airlines. This included airline check in with luggage sent directly to the airport, and no overweight baggage fees for $25/guest! The small print does say that all guests will not be able to check in using the ship's remote system, which was our experience. I felt that reception did a poor job of providing communication about our status. We didn't fully understand until 9PM the night of departure. We had to decide how to handle our overweight luggage! When we went to MIA, American Airlines had no knowledge of such an arrangement with Princess. Not a pleasant way to end our cruise.

We chose 'anytime dining' at Bordeaux. The first few dinners had long lines waiting for a pager to get a table. We were unable to book reservations in advance. Mima from Peru was hostess extraordinaire, and worked very hard to get everyone seated quickly the other nights. It was generally easier to get a table after the shows began. We requested and received a table for two every evening. Tables were quite close together, so there was always cross conversation taking place. Horizon buffet offered a variety of excellent choices for breakfast, but became a bit repetitive. The baked goods were always outstanding! Pizza and the grill by the pool were great. Chris, from Peru, was an excellent bartender at one of the pool side bars. We opted for the beverage package, at $50/day which covered all drinks under $10. There was also a discount offered for full bottles of wine. This package also included all specialty coffee, including cold bottles of Illy cappuccino, bottled water and soda. It did not cover bottles of water from the fridge in the room...which made no sense to me! We enjoyed the bar at La Patisserie, just outside Bordeaux. Roger, Vyron, Darpan & Mark were really attentive hosts. The billing system is not standardized in all areas of the ship, and we were occasionally charged for items included on our package. I would recommend reviewing your statement often and deal with any errors promptly.

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