Overall, this cruise exceeded our expectations. My husband and I have been on 8 other cruises together; this was the first on the Coral Princess and to the Panama Canal. We are Princess Platinum members, so we enjoy the free internet privileges. One suggestion on use of the Internet--free to Platinum and above members, 0.50/minute otherwise--is that in order to take advantage of email, you should set up an account easily accessible from the web before you leave home (e.g., yahoo, msn, etc.), and let you family/friends know the address ahead of time. (We have an account through RoadRunner which is not easily accessible via Web, and Outlook is not available from the Internet Cafe computers on the Princess ships).

Back to the cruise. Embarkation was difficult from Ft. Lauderdale. We later learned that Customs had established some non-standard limitations the day our cruise was boarded. The Princess personnel could have done a better job of communicating, and when we entered we asked where we go for Priority boarding and were told to stand in line with everybody else; about 40 minutes later we were told to come ahead. The entire boarding procedure took about an hour, so it really wasn't all that bad.

The ship itself is pretty outstanding in terms of public rooms and amenities. This was the first ship that I'd been on that had a basketball court. Also enjoyed having a Promenade deck that allows walking around the entire ship, which we've had on some ships before (e.g. Royal Princess) but not all. There were lots of lounges, and the atrium area (covering decks 5-8 in the center of the ship) is gorgeous, especially since it was decorated for Christmas (Dec. 2 boarding), much to our surprise. It has a special set of glass elevators that only go within the atrium area. Read more