Coral Princess Review
Lovely cruise through the Panama Canal on the Coral Princess
Rating by category
Additional details
We were looking for a complete transit through the Panama Canal and opted for this particular cruise because we have had good experiences on Princess and because this 2-week cruise, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, seemed to offer some good deals on pricing between the cruise line and the travel agent. The Coral Princess is one of two Princess ships designed specifically for the canal, and on cruise critic, I read better reviews of this ship than the Island Princess.
Embarkation was smooth and our cabin was fine. We were slightly upgraded from an outside room with an obstructed view to one with no obstruction.
We asked for the 5:45 dinner time, but discovered once on board that it had been changed to 5:15. I would have preferred that the time had not been moved up sooner as it made some afternoon activities tight.
Cabin Review
Oceanview
As expected, for frequent cruisers. Good use of space. Could stand to improve the quality of the shampoo/conditioner. The bed was very comfortable.
Port Reviews
Huatulco
I went off on my own in Huatulco. I walked over to the beach from the ship--an easy walk. Later, I went on one of the independent taxi tours around the city with another couple. It was $30 for the 3 of us, and we drove around for 2 hours, which was very reasonable. We got to see a number of the highlighted spots in the area.
Cartagena (Spain)
We took the Princess shuttle (which was late and poorly organized) to the emerald "museum" and were forced to go through a stupid tour that lasted way longer than we wanted to be there. It's ridiculous, because they don't even leave you enough time to shop if you seriously want to buy an emerald. We should have just been able to go to the walled city, and there should have been numerous time options for buses back to the ship if you wanted to stay less time.
Aruba
We took a taxi on our own to Eagle Beach. It was lovely.