Great Panama Canal Experience, missed active nightlife

Coral Princess Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 59

Overall rating:

4 out of 5
Coral Princess

15 Night Panama Canal - Ocean To Ocean Eastbound (San Francisco To Ft. Lauderdale)

Sail date: November 17, 2019

Ship: Coral Princess

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: B416

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

Great experience and enjoyed the ports of call. Entertainment was focused to an older crowd, so we will not choose Princess again until we get to an age where we are not looking for nightlife on board the ship.

Embarkation

5 out of 5
Was very smooth

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5
Main dining room was great. Selection in buffet was limited, as to many pork and fish options.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5
We use sea days to relax, but the activities weren't exciting enough to get us to join in.

Entertainment

2 out of 5
Comedy shows were good. Other entertainment catered to an older crowd that left us younger and more vibrant people with little to enjoy.

Children's Programs

We have no kids

Service and Staff

4 out of 5
Most staff went above and beyond, but we were left to take care of ourselves too often with staff busy helping the older passengers that really needed their help. We were able to take care of ourselves and felt fine doing so.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5
We thought the ship was nice, but still looked dated. It probably looked good to the older crowd.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5
We chose this room for the balcony view going thru the canal. Balcony was perfect. Balcony was smaller than some due to the location, but perfect for viewing the canal. I wouldn't choose this balcony for a different cruise. The cabin was plenty big with enough storage. The bathroom didn't have cold water in the sink, which I hated brushing my teeth with hot water. The shower curtain in the tub/shower was always in the way. I'd rather a smaller area with a door than a shower curtain "attacking" you the entire time. Cabin had a great location to the rest of the ship.

Ship tip

Know your expectation compared to the average age of the other passengers

Ports of call

San Francisco, California

5 out of 5
We liked visiting SF for a weekend ahead of the cruise.

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

3 out of 5
We will try diving on our next stop here, but Cabo didn't excite us enough to want to vacation here.

San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua

5 out of 5
We truly enjoyed the excursion and this country during our visit. We will visit again.

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

4 out of 5
Good visit to Costa Rica, but rather the Atlantic side of the country.

Fuerte Amador, Panama

5 out of 5
Visiting the Embera village was a highlight of our trip.

Panama Canal Transit

5 out of 5
This was the reason we took this cruise and it didn't let us down. Very fascinating how it all works. I would recommend to everybody to experience this.

Cartagena, Colombia

4 out of 5
We had delays being able to get off the ship, which led to less time in port. We hope to visit again and see more of this city.

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida Did not visit port

Just left the ship and went to the airport to fly home

Disembarkation

4 out of 5
Slow getting thru customs, but everything else was smooth.
Was this review helpful? 59

3 Comments

Gwbigdog    2 years ago

Thanks for sharing

ThatGirlSteph    4 years ago

Sounds wonderful

cruisereckoning    4 years ago

Glad you enjoyed , the Panama Canal cruise is a great cruise.

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