Take a Ship's Tour with Us !

Now that we have been on board the Coral Princess for more than two weeks, it feels like we have moved into a small floating neighborhood. Our room D-618, is our new home and the rest of the ship is our new backyard but with no snow to shovel nor grass to cut, we will take advantage of the low maintenance. We even have a barbershop, jewelry store, clothing store, alcohol sales and medical supplies, entertainment and bars. We seem to be all set especially with the "Drink Package" including the delivery service which includes any location on the boat. Today we had nothing planned so I wanted to use today's blog to outline our new neighborhood and some of the services that we are now privileged to receive. Sorry for the long blog but it covers a lot of where we're hanging out. I hope you get through it all. I had fun pulling it all together.

Take a tour of Our Home and Neighborhood  

Our Ship Overview

Coral Princess is smaller than today’s mega‑ships, which gives her a friendly, relaxed feel. Built in 2002, she is the smallest ship in the Princess fleet of 17 and carries just over 2,000 passengers and 900 crew, so you start recognizing faces quickly. The ship's interior design is classic with warm wood tones, deep blues, and lots of cozy corners to sit and relax. Wide outer decks make it easy to step outside for sea views, take a morning walk, or just a quiet moment at the rail. Most sea day mornings Jan and I walk around the outside of the ship and log about 4 km's and that's after 45 minutes of a stressful workout in the fitness room with trainers.

There are touch screen panels located around the ship to allow passengers to find their way around as well as to identify what's on each floor. It's very interactive.

The Atrium – The Heart of the Ship

The atrium is the ship’s social center, with open balconies, glass lifts, and constant gentle activity. Mornings are calm and bright and afternoons bring small events and music while evenings feel a bit glamorous as everyone heads to dinner or take in a show. It runs from level 5 to level 8 with views down the center of the ship.

There's several stores (tax free they say when at sea) and most are on level 6. They run events daily to attract passengers to participate in 'guess the price" games etc. Really, they're looking for you to buy that $10,000 diamond ring for your spouse. I'm glad we do our shopping at Thrift Stores.

We pass through the Atrium several times a day, stopping to listen to different kinds of music or just sit and people‑watch. It's definitely the centerpiece of the Coral Princess.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/71f626_829187f4e8d34ebfaf74e746024a6f97/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

The string duet in this video is calming and found it appropriate to video the the design and atmosphere in the Atrium with this musical background.

Bars & Lounges in the Atrium

This bar is a “meet you there” kinda spot. It’s right in the middle of things on the bottom floor of the Atrium where live music drifts throughout most of the day and rises up to all floors in the Atrium. The Good Spirits Bar is close to the guest services desk and future cruise desk. It's also the perfect spot for a pre‑dinner drink, but in our opinion it takes too long to get something, so we go elsewhere for our Old Fashioned or Golden Margarita. There's never a shortage of bars on this ship.

Wheelhouse Bar

This bar has the feel of an old ship with wooden walls, comfortable chairs, big couches and a dance floor. There's small meetings held in this bar during the day but in the evenings it's a hangout for those attending the stage shows in the main theatre, as it's located next door. There's memorable photos and paintings on the walls and in one spot I actually found an old Sextent used by mariners to navigate the oceans, well before maps and GPS guided the way.

Explorers Bar

In the evenings, the Explorer bar is a hangout for trivia games, musical venues and karaoke. It's located beside the Universe Theatre which is at the aft of the ship and also close to the private restaurants. It's a fun place to spend lots of time, especially before a stage show.

Theatres and other Venues

The main Princess Theatre, located at the front of the ship, hosts the big shows with singers, dancers and guest acts. A smaller theatre called the Universe Theatre handles Tai Chi, Pilates, Hula dance lessons and game shows during the day and comedians, musicians or stage dance shows in the evening. There’s almost always something to do at the Universe Theatre especially if you feel like being social.

Main Dining Room & Buffet

The main dining room is called The Provence and it's located aft and serves a special menu each evening with white table cloth service. Additionally there is a Buffet Dining area on the 14th floor called the Lido and overlooks the bow of the boat. The buffet is our go‑to for flexible, casual meals—especially breakfast, or quick bites between activities.

There's two other spots to compliment your eating habits. One is a pizza bar, said to be one of the best pizzas on cruise ships (we found it good) and an ice cream bar. Just too much to eat on the ship.

We were given fair warning by one of our Blog readers - - -"You come on as a passenger but go off as Cargo" ------ especially when you visit too many restaurants.

Outdoor Decks & Pools

The pool decks are lively on sea days, with pools, hot tubs and plenty of loungers in sun and shade. Jan and I are not pool goer's nor hot tub users so we have not participated in any pool activities, however, we do head to the promenade and outer decks for walks or just to stand at the rail watching the sea.

Other Important Places On Board

There are several other places on board that are interesting and offer quiet relaxation, puzzle games, card games or just reading. These include a library, a reading room, an exercise room, casino, laundry rooms for passenger use, a card room, a classy smokers room, a business center for passenger use and even a Chapel.

On the upper 15th deck there's a basketball court, pickelball court and other spots for those interested to partake in sport, but we have stayed away from that. Maybe after a bit more time on the ship we might migrate to an event on the sports floor.

The Sanctuary

The Sanctuary is located on the 14th floor on the ship's upper deck. Passengers in The Sanctuary benefit from a small pool and two hot tubs plus various cabanas. Exceptional service is available here for sea days when the weather allows.

Life in Mini‑Suite D618

Please jot down our new address especially if you wanna come and visit us. We are located at D-618 Coral Princess Avenue on the 9th floor. This has quickly become our new home. and yes, we try to do the stairs every time we go up or down. On this ship there's 14 listed floors (there is no number13) and the 15th floor is simply an outdoor deck. The Lido Buffet is located on the 14th while most activities and private restaurants are on decks 6 and 7.

Our room has a proper sitting area with large sofa and table, plus the queen bed area has plenty of storage underneath for our empty suitcases. It feels more like a small hotel room suite than a typical cabin. We brought magnetic hooks to hang things on the walls which save storage and also it makes it easier for Jan to find her jewelry. We prepared a map, a list of ports that we will visit with travel details and daily temperatures and these are also attached to our wall with magnets. We have lots of cupboard storage now as well as a large closet for hanging our clothes. It all works.

Our balcony might still be our favorite spot when we get to locations where we can sit and enjoy the scenery, but so far it has been hot, windy and overcast as we cruise through the Pacific. Although they will deliver us morning coffee as well as breakfast for sail‑ins, sail‑aways and sunsets, we will likely take advantage of this as we head from port to port. Maye we'll sit on our balcony as we cruise under the bridge with the Sidney Opera House in view.

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The Medallion

Princess Cruises' Medallion is a free, wearable chip-sized disc that serves as an access point to information about us. Medallions are blue, gold, red, silver and black in color (depending on your Captain's Club loyalty status) and are laser-etched with our names, the name of our ship and the date of our sailing. We are gold standard now and likely Silver by the end of our cruise. It's determined by the number of days you sail with Princess.

The Medallion is scanned by thousands of sensors on the ship, enabling cabin doors to be unlocked by the time we arrive at our room door, or pay for purchases when we arrive at a bar. There's a small digital screen outside our cabin door that knows when we arrive and depart and it automatically lets us in.

The Medallion also helps crew members improves their service levels. For instance, Eric, our cabin steward, carries a smart devices that tell him when both Jan and I have left the room, allowing him to be more efficient about keeping our rooms cleaned more quickly.

Ordering food and drink: 

We use the Medallions for on-demand food and beverage service. In the MedallionClass App, there's a section called OceanNow. From there, we order from a menu of food and beverage items and have it delivered to us almost anywhere on the ship. We order from the online app and it gets delivered to us because they can find passengers wherever we are.

Getting around: 

We use the Medallions for onboard navigation via the OceanCompass App or with interactive wall portals that "recognize" our Medallions, and it offers real-time wayfinding and location services.

We use our OceanCompass App on our phones to do the same thing. We can also save a Cruiser name to our app and can locate their position on the ship so we know what bar they are on or even if they are in their rooms wanting privacy. It's our on the water GPS.

Our Final Thoughts on our Room and Coral Princess

Coral Princess is our new neighborhood and our home at sea. The size of the ship, the cozy bars and lounges, the open decks, and especially our mini‑suite make the trip feel relaxed and personal and we're gradually meeting new neighbours.

Tomorrow we'll be at Raiatea, French Polynesia for a port day and we're looking forward to tour this island.

Now you have a good idea of where we're on sea days, and after our port visits.