I have an 11" Celestron Nexstar, the predecessor to the CPC. It's a great all-round instrument with decent planet views and satisfying deepsky. For the latter you'll definitely want to take it to dark sky sites where it does a great job on nebulae and clusters and shows quite a bit of detail in the brighter galaxies too.
Good for webcam imaging of planets too for which you don't need an equatorial wedge. Here's an example:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ad.php?t=10578
It's very stable in the altaz setup, and as Harb said, quick and easy to get aligned and viewing. Quite heavy - for me it's the maximum weight that I could possibly manage as a portable setup. If this is an issue, you should consider the 9.25 which is less bulky and many say has better optics for planetary (slightly longer f/ratio on the primary) and is still good with deepsky. This might well be a better purchase for a first telescope. The 9.25 will have quicker cooldown too. When nighttime temperatures are dropping substantially the 11" can take 2 hours to cool down enough to give its best images. Not ideal if you just want a quick look.