Review october 11th on emerald

[rjrice1]

My family and I stayed at the Embassy Suite the day before. Walking distance to everything; manager reception everynight from 5:30pm - 7:30pm. Served wine, beer, mix drinks and etc. Had a view of the ships. Was able to see the Emerald come in on Sunday.
Sunday we arrived to the port at 11:00am. At the pier I gave one of the porters my case of water and was informed they no longer allow this. Did give him a nice little tip and however did inform me I may not get it. A very nice security girl let us in teh the same area of the elite. We were given number 1; we were allow to board shortly after the elite passenagers. The boarding took longer since the ship came from a translantic cruise.
Shortly afterwards we got to our cabins; we had an obst. view E418 and there was no obst. a nice oceanview. Shortly afterwards our luggage arrived to our room. Water included. TA gave us those coupon books. Some of them were worth it. Coffee buy one get one, $20.00 off pictures. (they even let me use three coupons then get one free. Cost $15.00 for 4 nice pics)
A few of us from the meet & greet met for a sail away party that was nice. Met a few before the formal meet & greet.
Seafood buffet wasn't bad, they had a pretty good selection as well as prime rib and other stuff.
Princess Cay, try to get to the theater early as they give you numbers and that is how you tender. Soda cards do not work on the island; they do offer ice tea (unsweeten) and water. Fresh fruit, burgers, hot dogs, ribs, salads, fresh fruit and desserts. I brought my own floating device from home, instead of using theirs. Good snorkeling, they have. Some vendings, bring small change. Going back to the ship wasn't bad at all. Everyone left at a different time.
Sea Day; was relaxing; some people mention pools being crowed; I did not find it that bad. There was not a lot of children on board, and the ones that I did encounter with were more polite and respectful then some adults. This was also the first formal night. DH and I looked around at the crowd trying to get pictures, into the main dining room (had anytime). Very crowed and congested in every dining area. My DH and I decided that we would skip the first formal (he wasn't disappointed either)
Went up to the buffet, then did the movies under the stars. It was the Proposal. Very funny and clean.
St. Marteen: we took a tour with Bernards Tours. Went with another couple from the roll call. Well worth it. He took us to the dutch side, french side. Shopping, to Gallion beach---a clothing beach. App 15 people on the beach. Very nice and quiet. After the beach we tour more of the island. During the tour we were offer cold drinks, water, soda and beer. (included in the price) Then off to see the low flying planes. Got to see one small plane fly over the beach, then a huge AA line jet fly right over our heads. Real cool. Driver return with more cold drinks. Rum and punch.. or should I say a little punch with rum. This tour was well worth your $$$$.
Back to the pier and off the Front St. Took the water taxi for $6.00pp. Now this is the place to get your cigarettes and liquor the cheapest price than the other islands. So if you need these things get them here.
Back to the ship. Went to the dining room for dinner, needed a table for 5 and didn't have to wait. Service was good as well as the food.
Did the comedy show. Pretty funny.
St. Thomas-- we did a tour with SunnyListon. Went with another couple from the roll. This dirver was loads of fun. He played music and sang with us. Went downtown for two hours shopping, mainly jewerly. As I mention St. Marteen was cheaper for cigarettes and liquor. (don't smoke or drink but bought it for others.) Tour the island, went to the banana rum factory. Drinks there were $7.50. Now you had a choice to go to the beach for two hours, shopping or to the pier. The driver will pick you back up at the beach. Now this was a formal night. We decided to go to formal night. However I did make reservation early in the am for anytime dining. They had lobster tails that night. There was a few other choices.
Grand Turks, we just hang out at the pool, had nachos and hot wings. Walked around and back to the ship early.
Some of the other things we did do was attend on tea party. You don;t have to dress up. It was fun.. They will give you coffee. And they feed you more food. Nice for anyone of any age.
International cafe, was great. Jimmy the bartender made my day. Will go there for my morning coffee and just to see a nice smile. At the cafe ther was so much to offer throughout the day.
You will never go hungry. On deck 15 there is pizza, ice cream, on one side. The other side hamburgers, hotdogs, chicken, fries, and etc.
Buffet on deck 15 open 24/7.
During the movies the serve popcorn, pizza, cookies with milk.
Hope this helps. If you have any questions feel free to ask.
Enjoy your cruise. If you go to the international cafe please tell Jimmy I said hello. (he call me Catherine & DH Lou)
Cathy

[Amcdon]

Thanks for your review. I'm going on the Emerald Dec. 20th and I can't wait!!

[Stacey779]

Thanks so much for your review! It's very helpful.

I have a question about your day in St. Maarten. We're also doing this same itinerary and doing a tour with Bernard. I was wondering what time you got back to the ship. You mentioned you went to Front Street - was that part of the tour, or did you do that on your own after the tour? Did you feel rushed trying to get back to the ship?

[Magellan321]

Thanks so much for your review. We will be on the 10/25 sailing and can't wait. Which dining room did you eat in? I'll make sure to look for Jimmy at the IC.....we usually start and end our day there.

[cruzmax]

Thanks for the review - we'll be onboard this Sunday!
Question about your case of water.....Can we not take bottled water on the ship, or is it allowed, but we can carry it ourselves? I don't have a problem carrying it myself, just need to know.
Thanks for any info.
Pam in KY

[caribill]

Originally Posted by cruzmax

Question about your case of water.....Can we not take bottled water on the ship, or is it allowed, but we can carry it ourselves? I don't have a problem carrying it myself, just need to know.
Thanks for any info.
Pam in KY

You can take all the bottled water you want onto the ship, either as luggage you give to them (with proper luggage tag) or hand carried.

[Whimsy]

Very nice review.

Can you tell me a little more about what was in your coupon book? We were offered one of these on our new booking and am just wondering what is in the book.

Thank for taking time to share.

[morgiemoo]

Thank you so much for this review. I will be on The Emerald on 11/22 (not soon enough). Glad you enjoyed youe cruise. Have great day.

[mom2tcdx2]

Thanks for your review, sadly I have such a long time before we sail on the Emerald Princess. We have wanted to book the ship since she came out and finally get to sail next September. I think I am something like 321 days away. We however have decided to splurge and booked a Vista Suite, I sure hope we are happy with that choice.

[rjrice1]

Originally Posted by Stacey779

Thanks so much for your review! It's very helpful.

I have a question about your day in St. Maarten. We're also doing this same itinerary and doing a tour with Bernard. I was wondering what time you got back to the ship. You mentioned you went to Front Street - was that part of the tour, or did you do that on your own after the tour? Did you feel rushed trying to get back to the ship?

No we did not feel rushed. Very long tour but fun. Got back to the pier around 3pm then took the water taxi ourselves. Back to the ship about 5pm. Did not go to the main dining room, too tired.
Cathy

[rjrice1]

Originally Posted by Whimsy

Very nice review.

Can you tell me a little more about what was in your coupon book? We were offered one of these on our new booking and am just wondering what is in the book.

Thank for taking time to share.

Coupon book had some nice ones. Buy one get one coffee cards, if you have at least one punch left on it you can use it on another cruise. We drank mainly fresh brew coffee and that didn't cost any punchies. Pictures $20.00 off (so it end up costing $5.00 per pictures--if you wait till the end, you buy three and get one free so you only pay $15.00)
Casino buy one get one free slot machine tournament. That was fun and on sea day, you can share the free one with someone else, black jack Spa coupons I thought most of the coupons were pretty good. I did share the coffee ones since we had four booklets.
Cathy

[rjrice1]

Originally Posted by caribill

You can take all the bottled water you want onto the ship, either as luggage you give to them (with proper luggage tag) or hand carried.

We were told that princess no longer allow it to be part of the luggage, however we took our chance, gave the porter $10.00 tip (we had a total of four pieces of luggage 2 cabins) and he did tell us we may not get it. WE DID. Wonder if it was the $$.
Cathy

[cruiser boo]

Thanks for the review. Do you have any idea what time the exercise room opened on Emerald? It seems to vary ship to ship. How many bikes (upright & reclining)?
Were you able to get free lemonade in HC?
thanks

[Stacey779]

Originally Posted by rjrice1

No we did not feel rushed. Very long tour but fun. Got back to the pier around 3pm then took the water taxi ourselves. Back to the ship about 5pm. Did not go to the main dining room, too tired.
Cathy

Good to know - thank you!