Poor excursions not as depicted

Coral Princess Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 17

Overall rating:

2 out of 5
Verified Review
Coral Princess

10 Night Roundtrip Panama Canal (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: March 17, 2013

Ship: Coral Princess

Cabin type: Oceanview

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 11 years ago

Review summary

This cruise was diappointing mostly because of the excursion at the Panama Canal. It was promoted as a 6 hour cruise and the most desired by customers. The 6 hours turned into 9 hours, 5 on an uncomfortable boat sitting in plastic chairs and not even allowing our party of 6 to sit together. (Cram as many people as possible onto the boat is their motto) 4 hours on a bus, returning us at dark at 8:00PM and unable to go to the evenings entertainment we were most looking forward to. Also food was horrible (advertised as a light lunch --white bread with a square of ham, american cheese (made by the captain's family as I saw them bringing it onboard. Worse when we discussed with the shore excursion people they were unsympathetic and the Shore Exc. mgr was rude and undignified for Princess.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
except for the people in shore excursions

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Ship tip

small so as to maneuver in Canal made it fun to navigate for all activities

Ports of call

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida

5 out of 5

Oranjestad, Aruba

3 out of 5
very short stay limited beach time

Cartagena, Colombia

3 out of 5

Panama Canal (Cruise Into Canal)

1 out of 5

Colon, Panama

1 out of 5
never saw it as we were brought back after dark

Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

5 out of 5

George Town, Grand Cayman

5 out of 5
Was this review helpful? 17

4 Comments

Gwbigdog    2 years ago

DrCruiser    11 years ago

The staff was excellent but even the best people sometimes have moments of frustration where they don't act like "Princesses". :-) Of course they can't be held responsible for delays caused by traffic, construction, et cetera but they are responsible for how they respond to frustrations from people - especially if the people have legitimate complaints and/or are in pain. Empathy goes a long way in resolving bad experiences.

CanukCruiser    11 years ago

Couldn't agree less. Can't believe we are talking about the same cruise. The staff always behaved in the most professional manner and can't be held responsible for delays caused by traffic, construction etc.

DrCruiser    11 years ago

I totally agree on all points!

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