Coral Princess Review
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Vancouver, Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, College Fjord, Whittier --> Anchorage, Denali, Fairbanks. Vancouver looked like a nice city to visit. We should have left a day earlier and stayed one night there before the cruise. Boarding the ship was smooth - no lines. The Coral is probably the smallest cruise ship I have been on but it was very nice. The grill and pizza place was where we at most of the time. The few times we tried the dining room it took forever to get our food. We've been on a lot of cruises and this was the first time we had experienced this. The staff all spoke very good english and were very helpful. The entertainment was very Vegas-like. I could take it or leave it. A nice touch was that they offered beer from Alaskan Brewing. Most cruises I have taken it is the usual light, fizzy yellow beers offered with the token Guinness. The shopping was pretty bad. Every stop had the same 5 or 6 stores offering the exact same stuff. They also had the same jewellery stores at every stop - who cruises to Alaska to buy jewelery??? We started looking for the locally owned/operated stores and gave them our business. Most of the stored have something indicating that they are locally owned/operated.
DO NOT expect fast internet anywhere on this trip. I had to do some work on the trip and the connection was very slow. I even brought my Verizon usb modem and I did not get 3G anywhere so it was very slow as well.
Ketchikan was nice and we did the Canopy tour excursion. It was fun but I will book all excursions outside of Princess next time. More options and better prices. I would recommend the canopy tour.
Cabin Review
Balcony
We were originally booked on the Aloha deck with an uncovered balcony. We got this changed to C626 which is right next to the stairs and elevators. We never heard any noise from either so that was good. The balcony was half-covered and was nice when it was raining. I could step back and still get good pics/views of the glaciers and scenery.
The was a faint odor in the room but I'm not sure what it was. Seemed to be coming from the drapes. Shower was very small. I'm not a large person and I had trouble showering in there.
Most of the activities on the ship are on the middle decks so if you like to take the stairs keep that in mind instead of booking on a higher deck. There is a door at the back of the ship in the Caribe deck that opens onto a small deck that was not crowded at all. We could get good views of the glaciers from there.
Good room. I would book it again.