Coral Princess April 13, 2006 - Cruise Line Fans: Cruise Forum, Reviews and Chat From Real Cruisers

dobie · 12-26-2005, 06:46 PM

I am Dobie, husband Roger, from Tucson Arizona. Anyone else joining us on this partial Panama Canal transit? We'll be seeing some new ports that we are excited about. We've been on the Coral's twin, the Island, and really enjoyed it!!

patperry · 12-26-2005, 09:33 PM

Hey Dobie...Thanks for the invite.

I'm Pat and my mom Dolores will also be cruising on the Coral. It'a our first Princess cruise, but not our first cruise experience.

dobie · 12-27-2005, 10:15 PM

Hi Pat!! I am sure glad you found your way over here, I love this board, it is fast and doesn't freeze up, and everyone is really friendly!! Are you traveling with just your mom? Rog and I loved the Island in March....met so many nice people, and the ship is just beautiful, so we are expecting the same from the Coral...I am 50, Rog is 59, we have not been looking at shore excursions yet, have you? We tend to not book with the cruise line, we like to do independent ecursions....do you have anything planned? The roll call at the other place was rather short....do you have anyone's emaill addy that you want to invite here? We try to keep it friendly over here

patperry · 12-28-2005, 06:28 PM

Hi Dobie... I'm 54 and mom is 74, we've been traveling together since my dad passed 5 years ago. We both love to cruise. But we've done land vacations too, Las Vegas, San Diego, Carolinas. Since I'm still working we have to plan around my vacations or in the summer. The only thing we definitely want to do is the train to the Pacific terminus of the canal and something in the Lotus Spa on a sea day.

The only email I have is Rick's, since we live in neighboring cities. But I'll send him a message to come on over.

StrayKat · 12-28-2005, 08:08 PM

Hi,
Do you use any particular excursion tour company? Could you please recommend anyone or how do you find reputable ones?

Thanks,
Kat

dobie · 12-28-2005, 10:38 PM

Pat, we sound very similar! My mom is 75 and she joined us on the Vision in Oct (our 75th birthday present to her)....she is very active and we wanted her to join us for this one, she was actually booked in Jan but cancelled...

Straycat, are you joining us? We have a few friends who were on the Galaxy over Thanksgiving doing the same itinerary...they went with Charlie Soto and went on a great tour plus the rainforest whatever you call it--parachute something---where you glide over-----what we generally do is just get online, read what others have done, and either rent a taxi and driver when we get off, or book something ahead of time (like Randi's Happy Horses in Mazatlan). We don't pay in advance, or make sure that there is a cancellation option just in case the ship does not make it into port. In Jamaica we generally get a taxi and head over to Sandals....alll inclusive resort....snorkeling, sailing, beach activity, food, drinks....and they sell you a day pass for $45.

Pat, hope Rick joins us here!!

StrayKat · 12-29-2005, 11:54 PM

No, but paragliding sounds like fun. We parasailed in Acapulco and it was awesome.
Want to see Dunn's Falls in Jamaica. Someone on another board mentioned someone named Taylor as a tour guide in Jamaica.

patperry · 01-01-2006, 10:33 AM

Happy New Year to all my fellow cruisers !!

Pat

dobie · 01-01-2006, 11:43 AM

Good morning and Happy New Year Pat!! Spent a quiet evening at home last night, did not even stay up till midnight!! I think I'll go read the paper now....sounds like an exciting day, huh??

KathyB · 01-01-2006, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dobie

I am Dobie, husband Roger, from Tucson Arizona. Anyone else joining us on this partial Panama Canal transit? We'll be seeing some new ports that we are excited about. We've been on the Coral's twin, the Island, and really enjoyed it!!

Hi - We will be disembarking as you embark. Will be on the Coral on the April 3 sailing. This will be our 3rd partial transit....once on the Island and once on the Coral. We love the Coral. She's our favorite Princess ship. Same as the Island, but there seems to be something different about the Coral. Might be the crew. We have done the train ride, the Ocean to Ocean and the Emberra Indian Village excursion. Really enjoyed all three, but if you want the get the real history of Panama and the Canal, the train ride is the way to go.

To those of you who are not aware, the ship goes through the Gatun Locks and anchors in Gatun Lake. From there only those who have excursions can leave the ship and get tendered to shore to meet their tour. Someone asked about private tours, but I'm not at all certain if that's possible from there . There is not much there and you really need to be on a tour since the ship leaves the lake and goes back to the pier. We took a ship's excursion each time. After all those with excursions leave the ship, she turns around, goes back through the locks and docks at either Golon or Cristobal where she waits for those who were on excursions to return. No tours from there....not enough time and not recommended. However, both ports have rather nice shopping areas at the pier. There are also entertainers dressed in native costumes performing all around the area. It's quite nice. I would not recommend leaving the pier area into town. Not the nicest places to be.