coral princess advice please

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sarahUK

Guest
Hi Im from the UK. We did our first cruise in April on the Golden Princess.We are now hooked and have just booked the 10 day Panama on Coral for April 05. We have booked Caribe balcony cabin C406.Can anyone tell me if this is a good cabin. Princess have asked if we want to register for a possible upgrade or shall we definately keep this cabin.On the Golden we had an inside cabin so this will be our first balcony.

Thank you to anyone who can give us some advice.
 
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Lady Jag

Guest
Hi Sarah! :wave We were just on the Coral last month, the April 1st Panama Canal sailing. We're planning to sail on the Golden in your neck of the woods next July.

The Caribe balcony cabins have the largest balconies. C406 is a good mid-ship location and I highly recommend keeping a mid-ship location!! Our tablemates had cabins at the bow of the ship - around D250ish - and said they were kept awake all night from the pitching and rolling of the ship. Now, we were in 3.5 foot waves!! (If you can call those waves!) We were mid-ship on the same deck and hardly felt a thing.

The only problem with your travel agent putting "will accept upgrades" on your booking is that you could end up at the very back or front of the ship. Or, you could end up in a mini-suite with no balcony whatsoever. (The Coral has different deck plans than the Golden as you've probably noticed.)

If I were you, I'd keep what I had unless prices drop like they did for us. About 5 months before our sail date, it was actually CHEAPER for us to book 2 mini-suites than it was to book 2 Category BA's on the Caribe Deck!! We saved about $800 by switching to mini-suites. I know that's weird and not the normal way things go, but it was the same for our friends' sailing on the Island Princess the following week.

Keep an eye on prices at a few different websites. When you see a price change, call your TA immediately. If there's a less expensive MID-SHIP mini-suite that's available, get it then. Don't be at the mercy of Princess and let them decide where to put you unless you're one of those lucky few who are very flexible and don't care where they are on the ship!

Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions! :)
 
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sarahUK

Guest
Hi Lady Jaq
Thanks for your reply. Your advice has been very helpful. I think I will tell my TA no upgrades.I have seen a few messages talking about price reductions nearer the time but when I asked my TA she said she had never heard of this in England.Maybe I will call Princess myself nearer the time if the prices have dropped a lot and hope they might give us some onboard credit or something as we have to pay a lot for the cruises because of the long flight from England.Hope you enjoy Golden as much as we did.

SarahUK
 
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Cruise cutie

Guest
=yeah..I'm with Lady Jag..:grin..we did the Coral Princess 10 day Panama Canal on Aloha deck mini-suite A503..a "bump out "..there are only 4 of them on Aloha,Baja,and Caribe..we loved ours and in fact ;we will do it on the "Island Princess"..(sister to the Coral ) for a 15 day Hawaii cruise in 2007..mid ship is perfect and as Lady Jag said unless you want to gamble..... but we are the opposite of you..we are on a 2 week Back to Back on the Golden Princess in February ..and have hand picked our balcony room..(we would have loved a mini-suite but DH gifted me with an extra cruise only 7 months later as a bonus,cannot get too greedy!!..:lol).. hand picking your room ahead is a great luxury, so unless they offer up a mini-suite as an upgrade..I'm staying where I am for the 2 weeks as we love our cabin pick..Good luck..:)..Joanne
 
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Lady Jag

Guest
Sarah - Go to these websites every once in awhile and check for yourself. I know the pricing is different in the UK, but the majority of TA's here will tell you the same thing, "Price drops? What? Never heard of that." You have to be pro-active. At the very least, your TA should go to bat for you (sorry to use an American cliche), and talk with Princess and request a healthy shipboard credit. Try these sites for comparisons and then calculate in pounds:

<http://www.mycruisevalue.com>

<http://www.bestpricecruises.com>

<http://www.travelocity.com> (prices are really high on this site, but it'll show you which cabins are available and they're pretty good about showing price drops as soon as they happen)


Good luck! :thumb :wave :)
 
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sarahUK

Guest
Thank you Lady Jaq and cruise cutie for your help. We will definately keep C406 but I will look at those sites nearer the time. This is the first time I have been on a forum and put a message and Im glad I did.
 
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MortgageChick

Guest
Can someone tell me why the UK market is charged so much more for the same cruise and have a hard time getting price reductions.While on board last Sept one couple from England told me how much they paid for their cruise plus cost of air, and I almost choked on my lunch.

We live in Canada and always book through US agencies , as often the Canadian TA's cannot come close to matching the pricing.
 
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Lady Jag

Guest
I know what you mean, Sarah! :thumb I've learned so much from this site over the past 4 yrs!! Even when I have what seems to be the stupidest question, someone is always there to help. :)

MortgageChick - Wish I knew the answer to your question. Sure doesn't seem fair, does it? I wonder if UK passengers could use a US TA? I think I read somewhere that they can't, but it might be worth a try. :? :?
 
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sarahUK

Guest
The brochure price for Caribe balcony on the 10 day Panama next April is $4588 including scheduled Heathrow to Miami flight.
After Princess and TA discount we got it for $2752 per person. That is assuming exchange rate of $1.70 to the £. Does this sound expensive to what you pay?
 
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Lady Jag

Guest
Sarah - This is what I found for April 7, 2005 on the Coral Princess Panama Canal itinerary in a Category BA Caribe balcony cabin - prices below do NOT include airfare:

(you may need currency calculators to equate this to Pounds Sterling).


mycruisevalue.com $1750.00 per person

bestpricecruises.com $1745.80 per person

SO, if you're spending $1007 on round-trip airfare, your price is good.

Just remember that these prices will most likely change for the better OR the mini-suites will become cheaper than these prices. Keep your eyes peeled! :) BTW - I remember that we paid $2757 per CABIN (for two people in a Category AB mini-suite!)
 
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MortgageChick

Guest
$1000 in April for a return ticket London sounds a bit steep. I just booked a return ticket mid August ( a more expensive time for sure than April) Boston to London return for 499 USD. What would they charge for the cruise without the air?
 
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MortgageChick

Guest
Just a thought. Now Skyauction may not be everyones cuppa tea, but I have had some luck over there . ANyway, just for the heck of it I went in to their new member log in to take a look and see if I would be able to register if I was outside of USA/Canada and it has a choice for international. I knew that I had seen bids before from people located in Europe. Skyauction is definitely a US Travel Agency, so why can't Europeans use any US Travel Agency.

Sarah , if you want to check out skyauction.com it is kind of fun to see what the auction prices go for. Of course the last minute stuff would not be possible for you, but it is kind of entertaining if nothing else.
 
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sarahUK

Guest
$499 Boston to London? wow thats good. When we went on Golden this April, I looked up the price of our flights with BA and AA just for interest ,and the cheapest was $2040 return.
I could probably have found cheaper with other charter airlines but if I had booked independently I would want a reliable airline to get me there on time.
At least if Princess handle the flights then your covered if the flight misses the cruise.
I suppose UK is more expensive. When I was in Florida I couldnt believe the price of petrol, in UK its $ 1.36 per litre.
 
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MortgageChick

Guest
Hi Sarah,

Yup 499 . Booked it with Orbitz on NorthWest Airlines. We live in Canada but since our National Airline Air Canada gouges us about 1450 per person CAD $ to fly to London return and 3 of us are going, and AIr Canada is teetering on the brink of liquidation, we felt much better driving down the interstate to Boston for this one anyway.

The air fare deals are certainly there. We also booked Boston to Barcelona one way for Nov 10 for 220 USD plus 40 taxes.(Swiss Airlines) The price went down to 207 plus taxes now.

As for gasoline, here in Canada we pay 98 cents (CAD $) a liter.

Since we like to cruise 2 to 3 times a year it is imperitive that we save $ wherever we can.
 
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sarahUK

Guest
Maybe in the future when we are more experianced cruisers we may book our flights independently
 
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MortgageChick

Guest
I can't think of anything more enjoyable than becoming experienced cruisers. Unfortunate part is that it makes us realize that life is really not that exciting when we are not aboard a ship.

Oceanbreeze -October 1995-5 night W. Caribbean
Destiny -May 1999-7 night Eastern Caribbean
NCL Majesty- August 2000 -7 night Bermuda
NCL Sun-November 2001-13 night Repo Boston to MIA
Paradise-May 2002- 10 nights S Caribbean
Carnival Legend-Sept 2002-15 night Transatlantic Crossing
Royal Olympia Voyager-Feb 2003-15 night Amazon River
Rotterdam- June 2003-7 night Canada-New England
Enchantment of the Seas-Sept 1 2003-5 nights Cozumel and Belize
Costa Mediterranea- December 14 2003 Western Caribbean
Oosterdam-March 14th 2004- 7 nights Eastern Caribbean
Westerdam Nov 12 2004- 17 nights Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale
 
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FionaUK

Guest
Just thought that I would drop in and say that UK passengers can use many US travel agents including Cruise Brothers, Cruise 411 and cruise.com. I do this on a regular basis as I like to organise my own air !
 
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sarahUK

Guest
Hi FionaUK
What airlines do you use and where do you book them. Does it work out a lot cheaper?
Have you ever been delayed and been late for your cruise?
Where in Uk are you, Im Newbury, Berks
 
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FionaUK

Guest
We use American Airlines as they have a "More Room" policy along with US Airways, if you book your flights around 10 months in advance you can get a supurb deal eg £ 300 return UK to Florida. We usually have a couple of days before we sail but you can also purchasea "transfer" through the US TA and they will pick you up at the airport and return you for the homeward bound flight. Just use common sense and look when your ship sails and boards, we have had no problems.....so far!!
 
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sarahUK

Guest
Hi FionaUK
Thanks for the advice. We will definately look into independent booking next time
 
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