Good cruise/bad excursion
Coral Princess Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America
10 Night Roundtrip Panama Canal (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)
Sail date: March 17, 2013
Ship: Coral Princess
Cabin type: Oceanview
Cabin number: P525
Traveled as: Large Group
Reviewed: 11 years ago
Review summary
We have been on several Princess cruises and have never had cause for a complaint. However, our Panama Canal excursion was very disappointing. We were told by a Princess excursion staff member that we could expect to return to port with 2 hours to spare for shopping, etc. Instead, we were gone for approximately 9 hours and didn't return to the ship until almost 8:00 pm... exhausted and hungry. At the outset, our bus was one of the last to arrive at the 'ferry" boat (expected something better!) and we had a hard time finding seats for our group of 6. We had to sit in uncomfortable seats on the lower deck where it was very hot and crowded. The narrator of the tour was on the upper deck, we had a difficult time hearing him, and he referred to a map we had no way of seeing. The lunch served was mediocre at best, and we were continually bothered by a crew member trying to sell food items, hats, photos, etc. While we enjoyed traveling through the locks, we never expected the boat ride to last 5 hours. And then we had to sit for another 2 hours on our return bus trip - this was not well represented in the excursion description. When we finally returned to the ship, we had missed the show we planned to attend and had to rush to get ready for dinner. We believe Princess should offer us some compensation for this unpleasant experience. On a more positive note, we really enjoyed the 2 other excursions we took - ziplining in Costa Rica and expecially the sting ray/snorkel experience in Grand Cayman. Also, our dining room staff was excellent! Our head waiter, Marius, waiter, Thuwat (Sp?), his assistant, Iryina, all went above and beyond to ensure that we had a wonderful dining experience at every meal. We cannot praise them highly enough!Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
Liked the size of this ship.
Ports of call
Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida
Panama Canal (Cruise Into Canal)
Colon, Panama Did not visit port