Worst Cruise Ever

Coral Princess Cruise Review to Caribbean

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 40

Overall rating:

1 out of 5
Verified Review
Coral Princess

Panama Canal, Costa Rica, Caribbean

Sail date: October 19, 2016

Ship: Coral Princess

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

Immediately on embarkation, we were assaulted by a smell reminiscent of a dirty diaper pail on a hot day.  This smell remained for the duration of the cruise, was worse in certain areas than others, and often came blowing into our stateroom in the evening. When we asked guest services about this, the reply was, "we don't smell anything". By the end of the cruise, it was literally nauseating and there were certain bars my husband refused to even enter because the smell was so bad.  

Balcony stateroom deck 10  -  Inadequately air-conditioned.  When we asked about this, we were told that it's because it's hot outside. Isn't that the point of a/c?  Even after keeping our shades closed all day, it was so hot that we did not sleep well for 10 nights. Our shower flooded the bathroom every time we used it because the caulk around the drain pan was old and peeling. Carpet was loose from the walls. Toilet malfunctioned on the entire deck twice.  (To be fair, this was resolved relatively quickly)

One evening at dinner, the water tasted so horrific that it was undrinkable. We were told it was a chemical used to sterilize the water tanks. When we asked to have bottled water so that we had something to drink with our meal, we were told that the water wasn't harmful so we would have to pay for bottled water. 

I could go on with examples...however the bottom line is that the customer service was horrible. I understand that issues come up and there is no perfect experience, but the attempt by the staff to even address anything was essentially nonexistent.  We paid a lot of money for this cruise and the experience did not come close to matching the cost.  I have never been so glad for a "vacation" to end.  We always choose Royal Caribbean or Celebrity, but because they didn't go to Panama Canal, we chose Princess.  Never again. 

 

 

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5
Best part of the cruise was specialty dining at the Bayou Cafe. Staff was outstanding and food was delicious. Buffett had lots of choices and attentive staff.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

1 out of 5
Great staff at Bayou Cafe. Otherwise varied from adequate to poor.

Ship Quality

1 out of 5
Ship appeared to be clean, but that smell had to be coming from somewhere.

Cabin / Stateroom

1 out of 5
See above. Our cabin attendant was very friendly and personable, but not very efficient. We would often return to our cabin at 8:00, after 5:30 dinner, and our room would not yet be made up for the evening. On other cruises we have been on, we could barely get out of the room for dinner before they were inside doing the evening tidy up.

Ship tip

Lower your expectations. Maybe bring some nose plugs??? I sincerely hope that our experience was an anomaly and that you are pleasantly surprised with a great trip.

Ports of call

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida

5 out of 5

Oranjestad, Aruba

5 out of 5
If you go to the beach, don't pay for umbrella and chairs until you confirm that there aren't free areas available. At Eagle beach, the thatched umbrellas are public and free. You will be immediately approached by someone selling chairs and umbrellas, and it is not an inexpensive rental.

Cartagena, Colombia

1 out of 5
Be ready for aggressive hawkers. They literally wave their merchandise in your face. The heat was oppressive when we were there.

Colon, Panama

5 out of 5

Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

5 out of 5

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

3 out of 5
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9 Comments

Cruisers4Lyfe     3 months ago

Thanks for sharing

Gwbigdog    2 years ago

a1970penny    8 years ago

Just off the Coral Princess. Did smell the same aroma as we walked the hallway Mid ship toward the center lifts. Our cabin was on deck 9 forward & didn't have a in cabin problem with that odor.

BeightMe    8 years ago

It wasn't dirty diapers, it would have been depends.

deeanndayhoff    8 years ago

We have cruised on Dawn Princess, Crown Princess, Caribbean Princess and Emerald Princess and we didn't have any problems

PokerWife    8 years ago

What cabin were you in? We are on deck 10 next week?

eileenjo    8 years ago

That make sense other wise it would be wasted on an empty cabin.

tacord1204    8 years ago

How long ago did you cruise on Coral Princess & have this bad experience? I understand that in order for the a/c to work, you have to leave your room key in the slot. I've read some people use old hotel keys or reward cards to leave in the slots all day so their cabin remains cool.

eileenjo    8 years ago

That is scary we are booked in April 2017. Yours isn't the 1st adverse comments I have read. We have a balcony cabin on 11 I can't think of anything worse than bad smells and unpleasant staff I have cruised twice before with princess both times were perfect different ships the Sea and the Dawn. So I am worried

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