Review of Emerald Princess - Warning LONG!

[COLGATE]

My wife and I decided to treat ourselves to the September 14 Baltic Cruise on Princess' Emerald Princess. It was our first time on Princess, having cruised several times before on HAL, Celebrity and Cunard.

These are just some comments and observations which I hope will be of help to any cruisers planning on taking this cruise.

Embarkation - Took place in Copenhagen. Transfer from the airport couldn't have been smoother - you come out of Customs and the good folk from Princess are right there to steer you to the bus to take you to the ship (buying the transfer is, in my mind, a very good deal - a taxi will cost you at least $60.00). After a short 20 minute ride you're at the terminal and after a very brief wait, you're checked in and boarding. Unlike HAL, the staterooms are already ready so you drop off your hand luggage and go and have lunch. Shortly thereafter the luggage arrives.

On Board -

Life Boat Drill is painless. Unlike HAL and Celebrity you are mustered to different collection places in the ship, and given the "chalk talk" as to how to use your life vest, etc. No standing on the Promenade
deck at lifeboat stations, nor call for attendance. Painless.

Stateroom - We took the standard outside stateroom. A little smaller than HAL but better organized. Closets don't have doors which creates tons more space when you're hanging clothers. Shower is tiny (don't try and turn around) but beats trying to get in and out of a tub. Stewards are friendly and conscientious.

Dining - We opted for the traditional second seating in the Botticelli Dining Room. The service was as good or better than Celebrity or HAL, as was the quality of the food offered. (I know there have been negative comments re the food on Princess, and don't know if this being the last Baltic cruise of the year had any impact). We didn't try one dish we didn't like, although I've got to admit that the 2nd formal night (i.e. Lobster tail night) was do predictable that the waiters were astounded that we ordered something else! Particularly notable were the desserts - a myriad of them every night, and since we had trouble choosing, our waiter on his own took to bringing us one of each to try! Definitely bad for the waistline.

Lunch in the Cafeteria was not as good as on HAL or Celebrity. Many have commented on the strange design of the food "pods" where everyone ambles in and then buts in and out of line at each station with no rhyme or reason, and it's definitely annoying. The quality of the food was definitely below standard, but there were many more options than on the other lines. No one went hungry, for sure!

A negative note on Room Service here - Princess, unlike HAL and Celebrity has an extremely limited Room Service Menu (except for those in the full-price suites). The one night where we were so bushed that we just didn't want to get dressed and go upstairs to eat we had to rely on Room Service, and somehow a Club Sandwich and a Hamburger just didn't do it for me for dinner! I think Princess should re-think this policy.

Entertainment seemed to be at least, if not above average for this type cruise, and people seemed to be having a good time everywhere we went.

Ports of Call-

Copenhagen - it's a beautiful city, but hold onto your wallet! The whole impact of a low dollar plus high European costs becomes evident immedialy in the airport. I grabbed a small bottle of Coke at a 7-11 - $5.00! Everything else was commensurate. Try and stay in the City Center if you can, the Airport Hilton is tired and shows it. The carpet in the halls smells like a Motel 6 and the rooms, as a tablemate so aptly put it, looked like they were put in by the lowest bidder IKEA. We thought we'd try the weekday lunch buffet at the Hilton Lobby, until we translated the price and came up with $60 per person! The city itself is lovely and you can see everything you want to by taking the Hop on- Hop Off bus from just past the Central Station.

Stockholm - Just the approach to Stockholm is a show in itself, working your way through an archipelago of some 25,000 islands until arriving at the Swedish capital itself. Stockholm itself is constructed on 14 islands. Important note!!! Don't, don't don't get a tour. Get off the ship and head straight for the Hop on Hop off BOAT! This makes the great circle that stops at every possible tourist destination and the distance between each part is so small that you're never disoriented. If you're in a hurry to get to the VASA museum, you can go there first, and you'll be way ahead of every tour group. Same with the other stops. Don't miss the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace daily.

Helsinki - We took the ship's tour - a big mistake. On top of it being a lousy day, the guide spent the whole tour on what was basically a stream of consciousness babble about all the qualities of Finland - how much a teacher makes, etc,. etc. The first 15 minutes or so were vaguely interesting but all this was done at the expense of telling us next to nothing (or nothing at all) about the buildings and landmarks we were passing. She was limited to such illuminating discourse as "There's the Railway Station".. "There's another view of the Railway Station", etc. etc. ad infinitum. Possibly the worst was when we were at last left for 35 minutes on our own, we were never shown the important Russian Uspensky Orthodox Cathedral ("Finns don't like Russians").

Tallinn - A real gem of a medieval city. Believe the guide books which tell you that you can walk from the ship to the center of town in about 15 minutes - it's true. You can then stroll around this beatifully maintained medieval city on your own and shop for amber, but be aware that a lot of the walking when you get to the city gate is steep uphill. It's worth about 2 hours tops, and you can be back in time for lunch.,

St. Petersburg - What can you say? This is the highlight of the trip, and rightfully so. One important note - I don't know if Princess has finally given up on their con job of telling people that were on other tours than the ship's tour that they could not disembark until the ship's tour had cleared - they certainly put that warning in all their daily publications. However, I as ready for a fight and called the ships' desk the night before to enquire about that policy, and was told that we could disembark as soon as the gangway opened at 7:00 or so. We went down to it and in fact nobody bothered us.

Another note - the information you are given states that Russian Immigration wants a photocopy of the information page of your passport - I don't know if it was just us, but the Russian authorities gave it back to us. You do have to fill out a small immigation form and you are given a little red card when you go thru immigation. Be careful and don't lose it! There's a hefty fine for those who do. You may not even see it, since the Immigration officers stick it inside your passport when they return it to you, so look for it and hold onto it.

We used DenRus for the so-called Economy Tour, and cannot say enough favorable things about it. We were on the go from 7:00AM to 5:30 PM straight, and saw virtually everything there was to see given the limited 2 day time frame. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and competent and I think it's the best money I've ever spent. (Note - my daughter took the same tour three years ago and used Red October with almost identical results. so I think you can feel comfortable using either). DO NOT use the ship's tour - you will spend much more and get much, much less in return.

Gdynia - We almost didn't get off the ship, but decided to take the advice of previous cruisers and take the train from Gdynia to Gdansk. It's a little bit of an adventure, but well worth doing. You get a taxi from the pier to the train station (about $15 US). Change $20 US into Polish Zloties - then buy a RT train ticket for $18). Train takes about 30 minutes, drops you at the Central Station in Gdansk. From there, about a 5 minute walk to the Old Town, a street of over a mile lined with absolutely breathtaking Medieval homes and buildings and teeming with commerce, restaurants, etc. It's so well maintained it almost looks like it's something Disney created, but this is the real thing, and photo ops abound. Well worth doing.

Oslo - Our only other bad weather day. Took the ship's tour which wasn't as bad as the other ones but still not worth the money. We got to see the Viking Long Boat museum and some other points of interest. Oslo is clean, green, and very, very expensive. Edvard Grieg park is a real letdown, since the "monument" to Grieg is a horrendous collection of some thousands of steel pipes which hang down and create a horrible noise when the wind blows. The obligatory castle is right where the ship docks, and you can explore it yourself. You can look at the City Hall (another 'point of interest') from the ship, a large brick monstrosity which has been deemed the ugliest building in Norway too. Save your money and, if you're so minded, get the Hop On Hop Off Bus to take you around.

Disembarkation in Copenhagen - Again, painless, although Princess is very remiss in not giving passengers vital information regarding what is expected of them. We knew from experience that the suitcases had to be packed and left in the hall by 'x' time, but nowhere was the time laid out. I finally caught a steward and learned that it as 10:00 (not midnite as in other lines). But the morning disemarkation was very rapid and orderly. Note - if you had bought the transfer from the ship back to the airport you will have saved yourself not only considerable $$ but also a 40 minute wait in line to get a taxi.

[Clutterlady]

Thank you so much for this well balanced review! The Baltic's is difinetely on my bucket list! We cruised on the Emerald in March and she certainely is a beautiful lady. The Horizon Court does take a little time to get the hang of stations....

[Shogun]

Hi there,

Thanks for posting.

yours Shogun

[Treven]

Ditto; I found the points easy to understand. Hopefully I'll be able to do that cruise before too many years.

[AlaskaGolden]

Thank you for the review!

Did you try Café Caribe instead of the Horizon "pod" food court?

[Adventures ahead]

Thanks! Great information. We're doing 10-day Copenhagen June 2010 with another couple.

Were prices you gave for train (~$18) each or per person? Was $15US for taxi for the car or per person? Sounds like the taxi took US. Should we get local currency for spending in town?

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review.

[cynbar]

Thanks for your review. Please consider posting it also under the "Reviews" section of these boards so it will be readily available to those planning next year's Baltic cruises!

[Colo Cruiser]

How much are the transfers in Copehagen?
How much was the hop on hop off there?

[califlady]

COLGATE.....Nice review! I have booked the same cruise on the Star for next June. We are spending our first night at a hotel in Copenhagen, but I would really appreciated it if you could tell me the cost per person of Princess' transfer from the ship to the airport after disembarcation.

[jean s]

Thanks for the informative and well written review. The Baltic cruise is next on our "big trip" list.

[tequilasunrise]

Thanks for the review!

[sunshine nana]

Great review. The only different experience that we had was we liked the Hilton and had free evening drinks and am buffet (we were there on points, so it was all free). And we self diembarked at about 7 am and had no wait for a taxi to the airport which was about $40 US. This was in early Aug.

[COLGATE]

Sorry not to have been more specific. RT train was US $9 per person. The taxi is about $15 for up to 4 people from the pier to the station, about $10 for 4 from the station back to the pier. (You may be able to get the outbound taxi for $10 if you walk from the pier to the street, but it's quite a long way and a little complicated - we bit the bullet and agreed to pay $15 to one of the taxi drivers right by the ship).

[COLGATE]

Originally Posted by sunshine nana

Great review. The only different experience that we had was we liked the Hilton and had free evening drinks and am buffet (we were there on points, so it was all free). And we self diembarked at about 7 am and had no wait for a taxi to the airport which was about $40 US. This was in early Aug.

Thank you for mentioning the breakfast buffet. You are correct, and that brings up another point I missed. If you use the Hilton, be sure to get a rate which includes the breakfast buffet - many sites like Expedia, Orbitz, etc. will show one rate or the other, but generally not both. It is most definitely worth the few $$ more to get the rate with the free breakfast, given the high cost of food in Copenhagen.

[COLGATE]

Originally Posted by califlady

COLGATE.....Nice review! I have booked the same cruise on the Star for next June. We are spending our first night at a hotel in Copenhagen, but I would really appreciated it if you could tell me the cost per person of Princess' transfer from the ship to the airport after disembarcation.

The cost of transfer by Princess was $39 per person.

[COLGATE]

Originally Posted by Colo Cruiser

How much are the transfers in Copehagen?
How much was the hop on hop off there?

If memory serves, the Hop On Hop Off was $25 per person. Hope this helps.

[lahoban]

Thanks so much! I've been waiting for an Emerald review.

[TuxedoMan]

Thank you for the review. Leaving in a few weeks on the Emerald and your review was very helpful

[COLGATE]

One more oddity of the Emerald. If you are dining in the traditional dining room (i.e. Boticelli on Deck 6), there is no straight through passage from front to rear of the ship on Deck 6 - you will need to go up to Deck 7 and then go down a flight of stairs (or use the elevator) one floor to get to the Dining Room. Strange design but, when in Rome...