Cruise Ship Reviews : Princess Cruises Reviews

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rwets saw things this way:


Excellent friendly staff and the food was outstanding, March 13, 2017
Reviewer: rwets

Pros: Quality of the people ...everyone is super positive

Cons: Spinning Bikes not available; only used 1.5 hours max. for 10 day cruise Unreal

Departure port: FORT LAUDERDALE

Region visited: Panama Canal

Cabin category: Balcony

Cabin number: e625

Good for children: No

Good for teenagers: No

I HAVE BEEN ON 6 CRUISES WITH 4 DIFFERENT CRUISE LINES OVERALL WE FOUND THE PRINCESS TO BE THE BEST FOR OUR DOLLAR. QUICK EFFICIENT CHECK-IN; ROOM WAS READY; MEALS WERE OUTSTANDING; GREAT STEWARD CLEANING THE ROOM; ABOVE AVERAGE ENTERTAINMENT IN THE EVENING; CRUISE DIRECTOR DID AN OUTSTANDING JOB OVERALL VERY IMPRESSED WITH THE QUALITY OF THE STAFF...THEY CARED!!! OUR PREFERENCE IS TO SAIL PRINCESS IN THE FUTURE. OUR MINOR DRAWBACKS WERE (1) NOT BEING ABLE TO USE THE SPINNING BIKES (2) SOUND FOR THE MOVIE UNDER THE STARS AT NIGHT WAS NOT ADJUSTED TO TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THE WIND/WEATHER DISENBARKING WAS FAST AND EFFICIENT; CUSTOMS WAS SLOW BUT BEYOND THE CONTROL OF PRINCESS. NOTE: OUR CRUISE APPEARED TO HAVE ONLY 3 CHILDREN; VAST MAJORITY WERE SENIOR CITIZENS THEREFORE NOT RECOMMENDED FOR CHILDREN OR TEENAGERS. HOWEVER, WE UNDERSTAND THE CHILDREN WERE TREATED EXTREMELY WELL AND WERE KEPT ENTERTAINED DURING THE DAY.

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safe77 saw things this way:


Great trip on an older ship, December 27, 2016
Reviewer: safe77

Pros: Relaxing, enjoyable, excellent service and accommodations

Cons: Ship infrastructure issues that simply detracted from an otherwise great cruise

Date of cruise: February 1, 2016

Departure port: Fort Lauderdale

Region visited: Caribbean - Western

Cabin category: Suite

Cabin number: C704

Good for children: No

Good for teenagers: No

Our first cruise. Just about everything that could have gone wrong, did! And yet we still had an absolute blast. We booked a full suite and were very impressed by the cabin and perks/amenities. Our cabin steward was very attentive and helpful. Food on the ship was outstanding, in terms of variety, preparation and presentation. The ship had just come out of dry dock and there were a number of issues, some that affected us and some that did not. Hot water was an iffy thing throughout the week. We left port with no water in hot tubs or swimming pools. The giant Movies Under The Stars screen never really worked. We missed 2 of 3 ports; one because a main propeller shaft bearing went out and the other because of high winds. And still we fell in love with cruising. Bottom line: We prefer smaller ships and Id sail on the Coral Princess again without hesitation.

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cruiser3649 saw things this way:


Great ship - Do the Panama Canal on this one, April 10, 2016
Reviewer: cruiser3649

Pros: Ship is roomy, great mini-suites

Cons: Anytime dining has fairly long times without a reservation

Date of cruise: March 26, 2016

Departure port: Ft. Lauderdale

Region visited: Panama Canal

Cabin category: Jr. Suite

Cabin number: D712

Great ship that's roomy with excellent mini-suites. Quality entertainment - great piano player currently onboard. Staff very friendly. Great loyalty benefits especially at top tier.

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bpittella01 saw things this way:


Major mishaps and minimal responsibility taken. Extremely disappointed, February 8, 2016
Reviewer: bpittella01

Pros: Dinning room food, guests on the ship.

Cons: Engine failure, missed ports, buffet food, plumbing issues, no A/C, pools

Date of cruise: January 30, 2016

Departure port: Ft Lauderdaie

Region visited: Caribbean - Western

Cabin category: Balcony

Cabin number: A521

Good for children: No

Good for teenagers: No

After being informed that this ship was dry-docked for 14 days prior to our departure, I am a bit confused as to what they were doing!? Aside from being stuck floating in Cuban waters for two days because of engine failure, missing two of our ports and receiving little information for what was happening, the entire experience was a disaster. Had it not been for the amazing people we met on the ship and a constant flow of drinks because there was nothing else to do, this would have been a horrible trip. For the first two days the only pool that was open was the largest middle pool, with no working hot tubs and hours of silence between a band and DJ that was a staff member working from a computer. As for embarkation, while watching the other ships leave port with music and dancing the Coral Princess simply sat there with low energy staff standing around to hours of silence. The promoted big screen TV for "Movie under Stars" did not start working correctly until the middle to end of the trip. I can get past the entertainment set-up, however non-working toilets, lack of sleep from no A/C and missing our excursions was a major disappointment. The biggest insult of all was the lack of understanding that many of us used our vacation time, may have been on special occasion trips or used funds that may not be available again for awhile and that we would have appreciated a small discount to spend more money on another cruise with them. Extremely disappointed and concerned if this is how Princess as a corporation responds to inconsistencies with their product.

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StanleyO saw things this way:


Brilliant holiday, July 22, 2014
Reviewer: StanleyO

Pros: Relaxing and friendly

Cons: Food not up to top standard

Departure port: Maimi

Region visited: Panama Canal

Cabin category: Balcony

Cabin number: E208

Good for children: No

Good for teenagers: No

Have had three holidays on the Coral Princess and really enjoyed each one. Staff always friendly and helpful and the places we went each time were interesting and well explained by the experts on board. Unfortunately, standards of cleanliness had slipped on the last cruise and the food was very mediocre.

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Kate Dews saw things this way:


The Coral Princess looks tired and in need of refurbishing, February 26, 2014
Reviewer: Kate Dews

Pros: Almost without exception, every member of the staff is trying to please

Cons: The condition of the ship

Date of cruise: February 10, 2014

Departure port: Fort Lauderdale

Region visited: Panama Canal

Cabin category: Jr. Suite

Cabin number: D333

Good for children: No

Good for teenagers: No

The second morning on board, we received three automated phone calls in a row, telling us there was a fire in our area of the ship and to go to the muster station. No fire...nothing wrong, but someone hadn't disconnected the alarm system from the phones for the crew's safety drills. Someone needs to get the crew check-list fixed. As we were enjoying our morning coffee, and not yet dressed, it was both frightening and an inconvenience to have to figure out what to put on, and take with us, in case we weren't able to come back to our stateroom. Thankfully, unlike several of our neighbors, with our life vests in hand we bumped into our steward, who greeted us with a smile, and asked where we were going. He instructed us to go back to our room, and said he would check into it. Later, when we voiced our unhappiness with passenger services, and I remarked that we might not be so compliant the next time if there really was an emergency, the young woman showed little concern, and treated our remarks as being trivial and unimportant. We chose "Anytime Dining," as always - but you couldn't make a reservation until 7:30 or later, and waiting for a table, regardless of the requested size, before 7:30 resulted in a wait from anywhere between 30 to 45 minutes. One of the waiters finally told us that due to so many passengers signing up for assigned dining, HALF of our/Anytime dining room - Bordeaux - had been allocated to them. If Princess offers "Anytime Dining," they need to see that those opting for that choice are well served in a timely manner. This was definitely NOT the case. One evening we were seated at a table for 10, and after 15 minutes, when no other passengers had been seated, and no one had come to take our order, we complained, and were then seated at a table for two. We felt that in general the ship wasn't up to par. This was our fourth Princess cruise, and our second time on the Coral, and we were very disappointed in how it looked. There was rust on the ceiling of our bathroom and our toilet broke, which took several hours to repair. The railing on our balcony was wobbly, and the sliding glass door wouldn't close properly, again requiring a workman to come, and more than an hour to fix. I dropped a lipstick on the floor, and when I picked it up, it was covered with pubic hair. The second time we tried to watch a movie "under the stars," the sound was so bad we couldn't hear any of the dialog - finally gave up and went to bed. Several passengers remarked that Princess seems now to be less concerned about service and amenities, than selling jewelry, spa treatments and art. Many people complained about the exorbitant price of the photos, approximately $25 each, and I can't help thinking that if they'd drop them to $12, they'd sell more, instead of having to throw away all those left unclaimed. Finally, and probably what made me the most unhappy, was that when our travel agent informed us that Princess had "upgraded" our cabin (a mini-suite), we assumed this "upgrade" meant for the better. I admit that we had forgotten about how the Coral is configured, and were very unhappy to find that our balcony was open and visible to all the decks above us. We embarked from pier 22 at Port Everglades, but returned to pier 2...a 10-minute shuttle ride from where we had parked our car. But no one was informed of this change, and we had no idea until we discovered it for ourselves after going through customs. This isn't acceptable. On the plus side, the staff was, as always, excellent, and we made some good friends with the three waiters in Crooners...Roel, Jafferson and Erwin. They made going there so much fun, and their dirty martinis were the best! In the evenings after dinner, the piano player/singer was just wonderful! We also thought the food and service in the dining room for both lunch and dinner, was excellent. And our evening at Sabatini's could not have been better, with an outstanding meal, and the best veal chop I've ever eaten. I'm hoping that our negative feelings re/this cruise are only due to this ship in particular. We will sail with Princess again, but not on the Coral.

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CominUpRoses saw things this way:


The Coral Princess needs refurbishing, January 24, 2014
Reviewer: CominUpRoses

Pros: The entertainment on this ship was excellent

Cons: The cabins are in poor shape with holes in the furniture, spots, dirt, worn out.

Date of cruise: January 8, 2014

Departure port: Ft. Lauderdale

Region visited: Panama Canal

Cabin category: Balcony

Cabin number: D626

Good for children: No

Good for teenagers: No

This cruise ship is in bad need of having the cabins refurbished as evidenced by the holes in the upholstery of our armchair, the grease on the fabric headboard, the spots on the carpeting and the horrible smell of the pillows. I have never been on a cruise where the staterooms were in such poor repair. The rest of the ship looked okay as far as repair, but could have used some sprucing up as well. We loved the entertainment on this ship, very talented people. We did enjoy the food, although it was just the normal cruise fare. We were very disappointed in the specialty restaurants, we ate in each one and were expecting something special for the food since we were paying extra for it ($25 per person) but the food was just the same level as you would get in the dining room. Our wait staff were excellent and we enjoyed interacting with them. Most of the wait staff are from the Philippines on this ship. Our cabin steward was just average and actually forgot to bring things we ordered a couple times (water and diet coke) so we had to order room service late at night to bring them. The ship activities were interesting and a good variety and that was important since we had five sea days. I think the Cruise Director and her assistant did a nice job and they were very friendly. We were very irritated by the fact that they charged money to go to the back of the ship to watch the transit through the Panama Canal. It was cordoned off as a special area where you had to pay $60 for the day to be back there. The way they nickel and dime their passengers trying to make a buck these days is ridiculous. Embarkation took longer than we expected but disembarkation was excellent and we got right off the ship so we could make our early flight. Overall, I would not sail on this ship again until the staterooms had been refurbished.

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gomontavista saw things this way:


Our previously preferred cruiseline continues to diminish in quality., January 8, 2012
Reviewer: gomontavista

Pros: Price

Cons: Service, food, onboard activities

Departure port: Los Angeles

Region visited: Panama Canal

Cabin category: Outside

Cabin number: 5310

Good for children: Yes

Good for teenagers: Yes

We have been on several Princess cruises (as well as NCL, Celebrity, Royal Carribbean, Carnival and others) and should reach Platinum level with Princess after this cruise. But, over the years, we have noticed a degradation of service and I believe it unlikely we will ever reach the top Black level of Princess' customer loyalty program. Service levels have receded over the years and while in the past, Princess provided engaging onboard programs, the emphasis is now on selling photos and jewelry. On ship culture seems to have become one of just going through the motions. No staff appeared to even want to provide a good experience to the passengers. In past cruises, staff often tried to interact with us, but on this cruise, they were very standoffish. Our first cruise, on the retired Royal Princess, was exemplary, but things have gone downhill ever since. In general categories: The ship. The Coral Princess is one of the newer Princess ships we have been on with the typical spaces found on medium sized ships including a large screen on the upper deck (servicable, but with a few broken pixels and sound subpar to what we have heard on Carnival). There is an outdoor pool and an indoor pool (movable top) which is reserved for adults. Two outside decks in the back are reserved for paying guests ($10 for a morning or afternoon). There was one upscale Italian restaurant ($20) and another New Orleans specialty restaurant ($20) which we didn't go. We wanted a steak and seafood restaurant, but none here. There is a theater at the front and a two level lounge at the back which often provided different shows with two showings each night. Some shows were repeated multiple days as well. Itinerary. Because of unrest in Mexico, we were informed that Princess chose to avoid the country, instead making a beeline from Los Angeles California to Puntarenas, Costa Rica, with 5 days at sea. Other ports included Panama, a refueling stop in Cartegena, Columbia (4 hours), and a short stop in Aruba (Compare this with our last Princess Panama Canal cruise which offered 3 additional stops in Mexico and another in Guatamala and a second in Costa Rica within 10 days - this cruise was 14). Food. In short, very disappointing. It appears that the cooking staff are international without any concept of American food. Pizza is served outside and the first reaction to the giant (24"?) flat pads was yuck. However, they tasted much better than they looked. Selection was minimal with cheese pizzas and pepperoni pizzas provided along with a varying additional selection (we recall a four cheese pizza (not good) and one or two other varieties served over the 14 day run). Note that the sparse pepperoni was not evenly distributed with some slices getting several pieces and some slices being very sparse. If you are used to getting pizzas with lots of toppings piled on, forget it. These were actually as flat and maybe thinner than a pancake. Without a sign, it was difficult to determine what was on the pizzas (Pepperoni is easy to spot, but the others could be anybody's guess. This was very disappointing compared with our cruise on the Regal Princess (5 yrs ago, Panama) which had a dedicated pizza restaurant also serving calzones in a relaxed atmosphere in a dedicated dining area or our Princess cruise to Alaska (from San Francisco) which had a part time pizzeria in a lounge area. Typical hamburgers, hot dogs (the typical stereotype - what's in the dogs - applies) and fries are served on the top deck. Soft serve was provided, but the machines could not handle the demand until well into the cruise. An enhancement ($$) to the soda card allowed shakes, but they used regular blenders which resulted in very thin shakes. They should have invested in a dedicated shake dispenser or a real shake mixer. The Horizon buffet was a typical cruise buffet experience with often rude staff (they scolded people caught in the unmarked queues the wrong way) and a lack of viable choices. While other cruises provided different foods on both sides of the restaurant and the front, they were the same here). In the past, cruise buffets would be decorated with carved fruit, but this proved sparse on this trip. There were no noodle bars, stir fry stations, nor other amenities offered on competing cruise lines. Breakfast was repetitive, with the same thing served every day, albeit with minor variations (sometimes rice, sweet potato hash (yuck), other hash mixtures). Breakfast sandwich was almost always ham and egg on a muffin. We ate around 9:30 and the once warm sandwiches were invariably soggy on the bottom and rock hard on the top. They had an egg/omelet station, but the other eggs were big premixed cakes of pour out of the carton blandness. Beverage service was poor. Orange juice was only available through the wait staff, who often quickly asked what you wanted, but rarely delivered anything, and at other times delivered something other than what you asked. I usually asked for orange juice, but only got it a couple of times. No refills were provided, and we seemed to be ignored when we tried to get some. There were only a few types of lunch meat which remained unvaried throughout the trip. Lunch and dinner provided variety but only a few outstanding dishes. There were a lot of Indian foods available - different chicken, multiple rice, curry, etc., but very few Indian passengers. No Mexican, and Italian pasta was the same everyday with a bland tomato sauce. Tortilla chips were unflavored, unsalted, and not cooked correctly, with bad sauce, if available. At one lunch, a sandwich bar was provided with a variety of breads and a few different meats, cheeses and garnishes, but it was obvious the staff was not accustomed to making sandwiches, and their assembly was entertainment in itself. We did not taste any since the line was long, and the slow assembly process was a joke (How hard is it to put sliced meat on bread?). At another lunch, there was a dessert bar (which we were told took 3 days to prepare), but it was little more extensive than a typical American coffee shop, and the staff had difficulty figuring out how to cut slices of cake. Lemonade was advertised and often requested, but only delivered once in 14 days. Traditional dining. The wait staff was okay, but spent a great deal of time waiting for the food trays to come. Dinner took around 1 1/2 hours for our assigned seating (with the room typically half empty). Appetizers were okay, but with middling variety (a different pate each day, all tasting the same. Soups were mostly broths with slight variation. I am not sure, but it seemed like a college cafeteria where what you didn't finish one day would be served the next day with a few different vegetables thrown in. Desserts were good if you like souffles and creme brulee (both very good) (different descriptions each night, but they tasted the same), but other choices were minimal. The baked alaska was disappointing. This is the first parade which did not have a flame - they used led lights, and the ones we got were not the same ones paraded (different shape - ours were very even and may have come from a box). Beverage service was lacking after the first night. Portions were small, but reasonable. The soup was hot once, but otherwise was just lukewarm. This is our first cruise without a midnight buffet, and although we had king crab one night, our waiter claimed to be surprised indicating that in prior cruises, it was not available. It was very disappointing NOT to have a Midnight Buffet (No Champagne tower on New Years Eve either although they did have a Champagne tower earlier on the trip). I did not have to worry about gaining weight on this trip. Bars. Very plentiful with reasonably good service, but we noticed that if they ran out of mix (e.g. Margarita Mix), instead of getting another box, they would add ice or orange juice, or leave the glass half full. There was a lot of drinking on this ship, so bar sales seemed good. On board shopping. "Sales" were very frequent, but not much new merchandise. On the Panama Canal transit, they had beer carts roaming on deck as well temporary stands on deck selling the same merchandise like street vendors (tacky). Entertainment. This was the first cruise which did NOT have live entertainment on deck on embarkation. Live entertainment on deck was limited to one hour on a few selected days. The atrium had a good classical trio (violin, bass, piano) and the guitarist (good) from the ship's band (mediocre) played on occasion. The bars had the typical groups each evening. Shows varied. Guest performers (magic, comedian, singer) were very good although the comedian missed his audience on his first performance (Southern California jokes are not good for a conservative older audience). The ventriloquist was entertaining. The hypnotist was fake (don't have an audience participant leave after the performance through a stage door). The ship's cast was very disappointing with singers well below typical for cruise lines and dancers high-schoolish (except one - the short one (Filipina?) - the only one who appeared to dance to the music). This was unfortunately accentuated when the ship regulars tried to do a Motown show the evening after Jimila, an excellent guest singer who sang Motown the night before. Activities. The worst of all of our cruises. No variety. There were a few lectures (not generally on topics related to ports of call), but no handicrafts nor much of anything else (prior cruises had activities to kill the time - drawing, needlepoint, other things). There was trivia everyday and a few bridge sessions, but in general, nothing of substance was scheduled. A few times, they tried on-deck activities. Photos. There were 3 formal days with multiple opportunities for photo sessions. They provided incentives to buy more photos (eg: buy 4, get 1 free, buy 3 more, get another free, etc), but once you reach the end, you start over. We would have bought more if offered a discount, but since the discount card started over, instead of spending a few hundred dollars more, our extra photos were disposed of. Service desk. Our bill was wrong (double billed for an item), and they really did not want to correct it. First reaction was that we were trying to pull something, but they manually went through all the ships receipts and finally discovered we were correct. Our credit was run on an imprinting machine, the first I had seen in several years. The counterperson "helping" us was busy with answering the phone and doing other stuff, so it took a long time to get our credit, and there was a long line behind us. Last day service. Forget about it. It appeared that they know you are getting off the ship, and it felt like the staff was done with everything - get the passengers off the ship and start with the new incoming clientele. Would we go on this cruise again. Probably. It was our daughter's best cruise yet, but because of other passengers she met on board, not the food, amenities, ship, nor ports of call. It was a cheap last minute cruise for us booked for the holidays. It was available and served its purpose. If we found a viable alternative (with available connecting flights), we would have gone elsewhere. Not a dream vacation, but still a vacation. Kind of like eating at McDonald's. It is not good food, but it will satisfy if you are hungry. Disclaimer (or disclosure). On a previous Princess cruise (Panama - 5 years ago on the Regal Princess), our luggage went overboard on embarkation. Princess did not know what to do, other than to tell us they were not responsible, blaming it on longshoremen (We placed our luggage into Princess' hands at the airport while we transferred by Princess shuttle to the Cruiseport). Princess currently makes it a point to disclaim responsibility for luggage at any time even if they are the ones handling it. After our cruise, Princess finally reimbursed us for our out of pocket (replacing our damaged possessions which were inventoried on the ship), but they refused to replace our trip, which continues to cause us consternation. Compare this with Carnival, who recently had a mishap on one of their cruises - they refunded their passengers as well as provided their passengers with a free future cruise. With a refusal to reimburse us for our lost vacation, Princess has become second tier for us in our future cruise vacations, but we will still consider them as an alternative.

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bigenna saw things this way:


We loved this cruise, October 31, 2011
Reviewer: bigenna

Pros: Very interesting seeing the Panama Canal

Cons: Food is too good and plentiful - gained weight

Date of cruise: October 11, 2011

Departure port: Fort Lauderdale

Region visited: Panama Canal

Cabin category: Balcony

Cabin number: E701

We really enjoyed our time on the ship. Our stateroom was near the back, on Emerald Deck, just to the rear of the lifeboats. We were far enough back that they did not obstruct our view in any way. Our covered balcony had a little table, two regular chairs, and two recliners - very comfy. The weather was good so we spent some lovely mornings there, enjoying the quiet. Even though we were virtually on top of the Universe Lounge, noise was not an issue at all. The dining room service was excellent, as was the quality of the food and the variety. We tried "anytime dining" on this cruise and overall really liked the experience. It was an opportunity to meet a lot of interesting people and provided flexibility re: the time that we wanted to eat. The only con, if any, was that unlike "traditional" dining, your waiter does not get to know you and therefore you don't get the unexpected little extras he would provide, knowing your tastes and preferences. But, having said that, all you have to do is ask and any of the staff will be more than willing to try and accomodate your wishes. The entertainment was very good. The Princess dancers are very talented and put on a variety of very good shows. They also had some dancing lessons on the ship, which we tried quite a few of. The instructors, Joyce and Sam, were very patient with us and provided easy to understand instructions. We happened to be seated with them at dinner one night and got to know them a little better. Very nice couple, and Sam never danced until he was 67 years old. (would never have had any idea that he was near 80) I would not hesitate to recommend this cruise and ship.

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tecjb saw things this way:


Wonderful cruise with great ports, September 7, 2010
Reviewer: tecjb

Pros: Ship was wonderful; right up to the glaciers; ship's naturalist was great

Cons: The embarkment process in Whittier was terrible.

Date of cruise: March 10, 2023

Departure port: Whittier

Region visited: Alaska

Cabin category: Balcony

Everything other than the embarkment process was great.

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huskerdan25 saw things this way:


Coral Princess Alaska Northbound, July 28, 2010
Reviewer: huskerdan25

Pros: Ship, food, crew, service

Cons: Nothing

Departure port: Vancouver

Region visited: Alaska

Cabin category: Balcony

July 10 ? July 17, Alaska Northbound. My wife and I went on this cruise and had a fantastic time! The Coral Princess is a beautiful ship and it is the smallest ship we have cruised on so far (the others were the Sapphire Princess and Caribbean Princess). We plan to cruise in this class of ship again. At no time did the ship ever feel crowded and there were times when it seemed like we were the only people on board. We loved it! The upgrade fairy visited us at check-in and we were very grateful! We had booked P505, an outside cabin with a large window that did not have an obstructed view. We had decided that since we had decided so late to book the cruise (we booked in late March) that we would save some money for the excursions and not book a balcony. On our previous cruises, we booked balconies. At check-in, I got the cruise cards and the ship layout card and it had A441 on it. So I told the person checking in that there must be a mistake as we had booked P505. He looked at the computer again and told me no, that was the correct cabin. Apparently we had been upgraded and had found out at check-in! WOW! We were so excited! What a great surprise and it greatly enhanced our experience. I will share more in the lessons learned section of this review. We flew non-stop from Denver to Vancouver on July 9 (we always travel to the embarkation port a day in advance) as we didn?t want to do the Seattle and then transfer plan to get to the cruise ship. I am glad we went straight to Vancouver. Getting through customs was a breeze and we took the Canada Line (light rail) to downtown and walked five blocks to the Sutton Place Hotel. Beautiful hotel and we really enjoyed our stay there. I wish I wasn?t a diabetic as I would have gladly gone to the Chocoholic buffet they hold on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We didn?t get to the hotel until about 3 p.m. so didn?t have much time to really check out Vancouver. Being a Friday afternoon, the crowded downtown area reminded me of New York City. We walked down to Canada Place in time to see the Celebrity Millenium about to leave. Vancouver is a beautiful city and if we could do it over again, we would arrive earlier the day before or a couple of days before so we could enjoy the city. Embarkation We were so excited to be on a cruise again that we decided to take a taxi from the hotel down to Canada Place at 10 a.m. We ended up being the very first people in line at about 10:15 a.m. and we waited about 30 minutes before we could go through security and customs and to check-in. Things went quickly and smoothly and we were on the ship by 11:30 a.m., right after the platinum and elite passengers boarded. I had read of some nightmares around boarding at Canada Place but there were only two ships on July 10, the Coral and a Holland America ship (the Zuiderdam, I believe). Boarding was a breeze. And of course, we got the surprise news of being upgraded to a mid-ship balcony on the Aloha deck. Ports of Call Ketchikan: We had booked a tour of the city and Totem Bight with Northern Tours that left at 9 a.m. We were off the ship at 7 a.m. so we walked around town including Creek Street and did a little shopping before the tour. We really enjoyed the tour of Totem Bight and our tour guide, Leoti, was outstanding. She told us the stories behind many of the totem poles and the clan house. She also gave us very interesting information about Ketchikan and the area. We paid $35 pp for this tour and felt we got great value for the tour. We were back on the ship by noon for a 2 p.m. departure. We had hoped to catch the Great Lumberjack Show but the show times didn?t work for us. Juneau: We pre-purchased round-trip tickets on the MGT ?Blue Bus? to Mendenhall Glacier since we did not want to be rushed as many tours are. We paid $14 pp for the Bus and it took us very close to the visitor center while the city buses dropped people off much further away. We really enjoyed walking a number of the trails including the Nugget Falls trail and we got great up-close photos of the glacier and Nugget Falls. We visited the visitor center ($3 pp). We spent a total of 3.5 hours at Mendenhall and did a lot of walking but we really enjoyed not being rushed. We then returned to town and ate lunch at Traci?s King Crab Shack. We absolutely loved the crab bisque, crab cakes and the crab legs. We spent a total of $49 for our lunch including drinks. Well worth it and the crab legs were amazing! Can?t recommend Traci?s highly enough and it was located very close to the ships. After lunch, we walked up to see the old Russian Orthodox Church and then did some shopping. Around 2 p.m., it started to rain and it continued the rest of our stay. We decided not to take the Mt. Robert?s Tramway with it raining and decided to go back aboard the ship and relax. Of the three ports of call, this was our least favorite but we still enjoyed ourselves. Skagway: We booked the Chilkoot Tours Carcross Rail and Bus tour, the most expensive tour we took on this cruise at $239 pp. It was worth every single penny! We totally enjoyed the train ride on the the White Pass and Yukon route train that took us all the way to Carcross along Lake Bennett. The train ride was incredible with scenery you can?t appreciate unless you are on the train. We stopped at the Bennett station for a very good lunch of beef stew, cole slaw, fresh bread and apple pie. We also had time to visit the one church in Bennett. Then back on the train for the final 27 mile push to Carcross, all along Lake Bennett. In total, we spent about 4.5 hours on the train. We got on the bus at Carcross (there were just 3 other couples) and went to Emerald Lake and the smallest dessert in the world. We had a couple on the Millineum who had to be back on board by 4:30 p.m. so we had to rush back to Skagway but part of the way back, they transferred to another van from Chilkoot and we got to enjoy the rest of the trip in a more leisurely pace. The guide/driver was hilarious and had all of us laughing with his stories on the ride back. He dropped us off in downtown Skagway and we checked out the shops and walked back to the ship. We stopped at the Skagway Fish House for some halibut and chips and then back on the ship in time to get ready for dinner. Glacier Bay: One word?..amazing!! And we were blessed with blue skies and sun. I am so glad we chose this itinerary because I got some incredible photos here and we enjoyed room service for lunch while enjoying Glacier Bay from our balcony. College Fjords: Another beautiful, somewhat sunny day. Here I was able to get photos on an eagle sitting on an iceberg watching sea otters swim by and three seals resting on an iceberg. Glaciers weren?t quite as dramatic as those in Glacier Bay but nonetheless beautiful. We got into College Fjords around 5 p.m so spent most of the day resting. Whittier: Since we didn?t have a land tour planned, we flew back to Denver from Anchorage non-stop on Frontier. Used the Alaska Transfer Service and the drive to Anchorage was very comfortable and enjoyable. Once we got through the tunnel, the cloudiness and fog from Whittier was replaced with partly cloudy skies and beautiful sunshine. We enjoyed the scenery on the trip to Anchorage. Disembarkation Since we had our own transfer plans, we were allowed to walk off the ship anytime between 6:30 a.m. and 8:45 a.m. We decided to leave the ship around 8:15 a.m. and the process was very smooth. Walked off, got our bags and out to the bus for Anchorage. Since everyone taking the bus was off the ship and ready to go by 9 a.m., we were able to leave an hour earlier and arrive at the airport an hour earlier than planned. The Ship and Crew ? Coral Princess What a beautiful ship and the crew were very friendly. We constantly got greetings and smiles. Our steward, Ramon, from the Philippines, was outstanding! We made three requests of him by paging him and he always responded within a couple of minutes. We asked for an egg crate after the first night because the beds were a bit hard for us. We also asked for more pillows as the pillows were pretty flat. The third request was due to our toilet deciding not to flush. He and those who fixed the problem were very responsive and got it taken care of within 30 minutes. Our head waiter and assistant waiter were also from the Philippines (I, myself, am half-Filipino). Jose and Jerome were excellent. We were lucky to have great table mates (thanks, Lee and Jane and David and Judy!). Everyone had a great sense of humor and Jose quickly fit in and had us laughing quite often. His recommendations each night were spot on. We got excellent service and it greatly enhanced our dining experience. The Food We did something we hadn?t done on previous cruises and had lunch in the main dining room (Provence) when we boarded the ship. Glad we did instead of fighting the crowd in the buffet. Enjoyed our lunch and it was the start of an enjoyable dining experience. We had late traditional dining in the Provence (we always do traditional dining) and we felt the quality of the dishes to be very good. There was only one dish that I found unsatisfactory the whole cruise and it was the barramundi. For some reason it had a strong fish smell and taste. I love fish but this one didn?t go over well with me or our table mates. Otherwise, I enjoyed the food very much and every night ordered two main dishes because it was so hard to pick just one The day we were in Ketchikan, we decided to eat in the Bayou Caf?. Excellent. The steaks were great as was the lobster tail that was $5 extra ($15 pp fee). For $40, we got a great dinner and really enjoyed the spices. We did not eat in Sabbatini?s since I am a diabetic and stay away from pasta (yes, it is very hard to do!). We are breakfast and lunch in the Horizon court with one lunch being room service on our balcony. Overall, we found the food to be of very high quality and taste. Entertainment We did not make it to any of the shows on this cruise. With late traditional dining and not finishing dinner before 9:30 p.m.(shows were at 8:15 and 10:15) and with us getting up at 5:30 a.m. each morning, we just didn?t feel like going to a show so late. So, sorry, can?t comment on the shows at all. Naturalist Our naturalist was from the University of Georgia and while I enjoyed the content of the lectures, he had a delivery that put most of those in attendance to sleep. I had hoped that Murray (Yukon on the Cruise Critic forums) would have been on board as I followed his blog during this trips on the Coral in previous weeks. The park ranger in Glacier Bay did a great job with her presentation and, overall, I enjoyed the lectures. Weather I think we were very fortunate with the weather on this cruise. We chose mid-July because of our belief that we would have the best chance of good weather and it turned out that way for us. While most mornings were always foggy and cloud covered, six of the seven days we saw blue skies and sun. The only day we did not was Juneau and it rained quite a bit that day. Skagway was overcast when we arrived but once we got past the summit on the train, we got beautiful blue skies in British Columbia and the Yukon. Glacier Bay was the nicest day of the cruise and we enjoyed the warmth of the sun on our balcony! Overall Best cruise we have taken so far by far! I enjoyed the fact that it was more of an educational cruise than our past cruises. The scenery just can?t be matched on other cruises (except maybe for the Antarctic cruises) and I absolutely loved the Coral Princess. This was truly a completely stress-free vacation from day 1 to our return home. I took about 800 photos on this cruise and I will have memories of a lifetime. We will most definitely return to Alaska and next time, we will do a land tour to Denali and Fairbanks. Princess has given us three great cruises and has never let us down. We are booked on the 14-day roundtrip cruise to Hawaii on the Golden Princess for Thanksgiving 2011 and will continue to cruise with Princess.