Grand Princess 2019 Drydock Video

Here is a very nice, long, narrated video about the Grand Princess during her last drydock in Portland, OR.  Enjoy!

Coral Princess - Public Deck Walk-throughs

Below are some time lapse, walk through videos on the public decks of the Coral Princess.

Promenade deck - Back to Front

Promenade Deck - Front to Back

Fiesta Deck - Front to Back

Lido Deck - Back to Front

Sun Deck (and some Lido deck) - Front to Back

Coral Princess - Trip Report - Final thoughts and more photos

On Friday and Saturday we sailed southbound under sunny skies and 60 degree temps.  With the winds and current coming from the north, we had calm breezes on deck and smooth sailing despite being surrounded by whitecaps.  For much of the journey we were on a parallel course with the Golden Princess and Royal Princess; Princess Cruises should have had a helicopter in the area to take a photo.  Around 1 in the afternoon on Thursday, the Star Princess passed between the Coral and the Golden Princess while heading north bound.  The Golden stayed with us until the evening of the 27th, and then sped up to make a eastbound turn toward San Franciscio.  The Royal stayed far off to our starboard most of the day on the 28th and then continued south as we entered the channel between Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands.  Since both ships were headed to San Pedro, I'm assuming she did this to avoid burning more expensive fuel as she headed well south and then maneuvered back to the east.

This cruise has had a lot of fun activities, great weather, and very good food.  By 6am on Sunday the 29th, we were parked at Pier 93.  We were off the ship by 7:50am, on a coach to LAX by 8:20, and at our gate at LAX by 8:55.  The biggest take away from our voyage was that it re-affirms our belief that the Coral is the best ship in the fleet when it comes to friendlyness of the crew, general uncrowdedness, and variety of outdoor and indoor venues on board.

Coral Princess Trip Report - Embarkation and Astoria

After a relaxing flight on United, we landed in Vancouver right at the beginning of the AM International arrival block – meaning lots of flights from many distant lands.  Fortunately, using the “eDeclaration” app on our phone allowed us to enter in all our passport information and clear customs in Vancouver very quickly.  In less than 20 minutes, we were on the Skytrain heading toward downtown very quickly.

Once downtown, we quickly headed over to the Seabus to head to North Vancouver and Londsdale Quay for some coffee, photos of the harbor, and some souvenir toys for the kiddos.  The Seabus always impresses me with how efficient and timely it is.  After a few photos from the top of a viewing tower, we headed back to downtown.  With the Golden Princess, Volendam, and Coral Princess in town I feared that the boarding process would be nightmarish so we opted to swing into Steamworks Brewery (a bit south of Canada Place) for a pint and some delicious yam fries with pesto mayonnaise while we hoped crowds thinned out.

Finally, around 1:30 we decided we should head to Canada Place and board the Coral.  Surprisingly, security screening was a breeze as was US customs.  What probably helped the most was that the Volendam and Golden Princess, both wedged in at the North and West docks at Canada Place, were stopping in Victoria for their first port calls, meaning that US preclearance in Vancouver wasn’t required for passengers of those ships.

By 1:50 we were on board and in our cabin – what a relief!  Perhaps one of the fastest embarkations we have ever experienced.  Lunch at the Horizon Court was not crowded and then we walked around and explored the ship.  The Coral Princess is well taken care of with new carpet from her last drydock giving her a fresh and updated look.  We have an aft, inside cabin on Baja Deck, and the location is excellent given that it is about 20 feet from a door to an aft observation deck.  If you are booking on a budget, any of the aft Baja inside cabins have a great outside deck very close by.

We were first away from the pier in Vancouver and made our way toward the Salish Sea and ultimately toward the strait of Juan de Fuca – and this is where we hit some pretty good waves and wind.  Most passengers were probably in their cabin at this point but those that were awake definitely got a reminder of the power of the Pacific Ocean.

Around 9am on Thursday morning, after riding a swift southbound current, we turned east to make our approach to the Columbia Bar and Astoria with a Regent Seven Seas ship behind us.  After about 1 hour of a manoeuvring and 1 hour of slow transit into the mouth of the Columbia, we sailed past the Astoria Cruise Pier, under the Astoria Megler Bridge, and into our anchorage.  Tender operations began around 12:30 and we made it to shore by 1:30. We were fortunate with skies that were partly sunny and 60 degree temperatures all day long.

In Astoria, we went for a jog up to the Astor column, climbed to the top, and then back down through town to swing by Reach Break Brewing and Reveille Cidery on 13th street between Duane and Exchange Streets.  We always enjoy our visits to Astoria and will be back next spring.   On to the photos...

Skytrain

Seabus

Coral Princess at Canada Place

Golden Princess and Coral Princess

Embarking

Nice carpeting

Inside on Baja deck

Aft outdoor area on Baja deck

Canada Place, the Volendam, and the Golden Princess

Golden Princess

Lotus Pool

Princess Theater

Sailing under the Astoria Megler Bridge (US 101)

Sanctuary Pool was closed :(

Regent Seven Seas ship following us

Astoria Column Park

View of the Coral Princess at anchor

165 spiral steps to the top

Brewery, cidery, and food trucks!

The card room.

Coral Princess - Trip Report - Day 1 enroute

We are waiting at the gate in Denver for our morning flight to Vancouver to join the Coral Princess on a 4 day coastal repositioning cruise with a port call in Astoria.  We will be trying out the Coral's new internet so hopefully we can provide a lot of updates along the way.

It will be a busy day at Canada Place with the Golden Princess, Volendam, and Coral Princess having turn around days, but it looks like the Coral has the larger east/south berth.

More updates to come!

Sky Princess Cabin Design Updates Revealed

We finally get a look at the new cabin motifs and color palates on the Sky Princess.  I've loaded the photo of the Sky as well as a similar room on the Regal.  All the furniture appears the same but the woods are softer, more earth toned, and less "yellow".  The style is similar to that of the new HAL Pinnacle class ships with a beach-wood style surfaces and accents.  A nice update.

Sky Princess

Regal Princess 

Schedule Updates

A question that we all wonder is "when will _________ update their schedule?"

Well the answer is not always the same but typically they are released at similar times.  So far this year we've seen the following:

• Princess - updated Americas fall 2020 to spring 2021 in May of 2019
• Princess - updated Alaska 2021 anticipated in August of 2019
• Holland America - Fall 2020 to Spring 2021 itinerary released in late July of 2019

Know of other update timelines?  Please mention in the comments!

Getting to the Forward Decks on the ms Amsterdam (Rotterdam, Volendam, Zaandam too)

This video guide will show you how to access the forward decks on Holland America Line's ms Amsterdam, as well as the ms Rotterdam, ms Volendam, and ms Zaandam.

Alaska Cruise - Day 6 and 7 (and 8) - At Sea, Victoria, and Disembarkation in Seattle

After enjoying stunning scenery while sailing out of the Taiya and Chilkoot Inlets during and after dinner, we sped up to continue our journey south to Victoria.  The entertainment on this cruise has been good.  There was a performance by the ship dancers one night, a comedian the next, and a duet that sang Beetles sons.  The last night involved the comedian and duet singers in a variety hour.

Since we had kids in ClubHAL I'll take a moment to review that.  Given that this voyage was a "1-off" 7 night cruise for a ship that typically sails 14 night or longer cruises, there were A LOT of kids, over 100 in the 3-12 age range, which is significant when you consider that with all berths full, the ship holds just under 1700 passengers.  It was apparent that the staff was short staffed initially, but they picked up another counselor in Ketchikan and the whole program was run very efficiently.  Our kids both loved it and I never saw the ClubHAL staff appearing frazzled.  The highlight of the kids program was on the last morning before Victoria; Cruise Director Bruce and the ClubHAL staff put on "ClubHAL Bingo" in the Mainstage.  Waiters walked around handing out cookies and strawberry milk and the kids had a blast.  We played 3 rounds and everyone took home a prize at the very end.  This was a terrific idea and I told the Cruise Director what a great concept this was.  It was nice to see him so into it, himself!

Our last 2 days were spent enjoying the many parts of the Amsterdam and observing how well taken care of.  We did eat at Pinnacle Grill for lunch and that was worth every penny, HIGHLY recommended.

We didn't get off in Victoria as we have been there multiple times, but word to the wise, sailing into the Strait of Juan de Fuca is very scenic and we had partly cloudy skies and mid 60's temperatures for it - perfect!  I enjoyed much of the last day with a bottle of wine and a collection of Jack London's short stories on the aft decks.  For those wondering, the Amsterdam has aft viewing areas on deck 2, 3, 6, 7, and 8 and it's possible to connect between all of them using a variety of aft staircases.  The deck 2 viewing area was down the hall from our cabin and was nice in port, but very loud when we were sailing since the openings in the hull faced down and collected the sound of the wake.  The deck 3 viewing area was probably the largest and had the teak, padded loungers.  The viewing areas on decks 6 and 7 were very private with deck 7 being smaller but providing more shade.  Note that the loungers on decks 2, 6, and 7 are the standard brown poolside loungers and are not padded.

While our cabin was in the aft of the ship, I was somewhat worried about thruster vibration entering and leaving port.  Never heard it.  Since the Amsterdam was one of the first ships with Azipod propulsion (where the propellers are on pods below the hull that rotate rather than fixed propellers with rudders) she is exceptionally maneuverable and has no need for aft thrusters.

On our final morning, we enjoyed breakfast in the dining room at 7 and utilized the Port Valet system which basically collected our bags the night before, printed boarding passes, and chauffeured our bags to Denver on the baggage carousel.  This free service which (airline baggage fees may apply, our credit card gives us 2 free bags on United so we didn't pay anything) made our walk from the gangway to curbside take less than 7 minutes, including the "customs check" which was a glance at our passports.  Prompt service by Already There car service and we were at the airport by 8:45.  We had to check car seats, but if we had not, we could have gone straight to security.  We made our flight at 11:10am with PLENTY of time to spare.  I wouldn't cut it this close if we were flying out on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday due to the larger RCL and NCL ships, but the timing worked great for us this day.

That's it for my detailed blog review.  There will be a few more posts I will add with more pictures and a video, but for now, thanks for following along!

ms Amsterdam model in the Crows' Nest.  We invented a fun game on board, it was see how many "old HAL" logos we could find.  I think we got to 25 or so if you don't count the carved logos in the loungers on deck 3.

Deck 6 aft area.

Deck 7 aft area.

Our "perch" in the Lido.  Best seat in the whole restaurant.

The lovely wrap around promenade on Lower Promenade deck.

Deck 9, aft.

Washington state.

Port Angeles, WA.

A relaxing way to spend an afternoon.

Sunset in beautiful Victoria - love this city.

IT'S LIKE THEY VACUUM THE FABRIC ON THE CEILING ABOVE THE STAIRS! 

The "last photo" from our cruise.