Emerald Princess 10/25 Sailing

[Jan08Bride]

We were a family of 7 adults on the Oct. 25 sailing of the Emerald Princess out of Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. Prior to sailing on the EP, we stayed overnight at the Marriott Courtyard Ft. Lauderdale Beach. The hotel was very nice, clean and had a great location. We were right in the middle of restaurants and shops. The beach was across the street. The pool area was very nice and quiet.

Embarkation - Easy enough. My parents and sister are Platinum members and waived to us as they ascended the escalator leaving us puny Gold members behind . They were on the boat within 15 minutes of arriving at the pier. (We arrived slightly before noon. The rest of our party had a bit of a longer wait, but were on the boat before 1pm. There was some delay with another passenger in our line to check-in, causing several staff members to be distracted and pulled from their locations to address the problem. We had our picture taken and were in our cabin within minutes.

The Cabin - Fabulous. Everything was as it should be. We had B-409, B-423 and B-429. Our cabin steward, Calixto, was very good. While he didn't make any towel animals for us, he did lay out our Yankee t-shirts prior to the first WS game. This was thoughtful.

Entertainment - Good. The hypnotist was amazing. The comedians were good. I only saw one of the two, but the other members of our party saw both and enjoyed them. Also, the singing and dancing shows were very nicely done as well.

Casino - Average. We were only partially pleased with the casino. My husband usually enjoys the texas hold 'em tournaments and looks forward to them. However, he was not interested in their electronic table and didn't participate. He said it takes something away from the game. To each his own. They did have penny denomination slots, but in a tight cramped section. Texas Tina is my favorite, and came through again for me! They do not use vouchers. Instead you can use your sea pass card as a Player Bank and debit and credit money to the machine you are using. It was a little confusing at first. In order to cash out you have to bring your card to the cashier who will give you the balance on the card. This was very popular on the last night of the cruise and made me wish for the voucher machines. Video Poker machines were only at the bar (unless I missed some). They had the standard games.

Food - Fantastic. Crown Grille was absolutely outstanding. Sabatini's is a slow dining process, but the food is great.

Drinks - reasonably priced and a great selection.

Wine Tasting - We did the expensive one. It was our first wine tasting ever. It was great. $25/pp and the wines were top of the line. Silverado and Opus I among them.

Wine Bar - Nice. We stopped here one afternoon for some champagne and another day for wine and tapas DH loves sushi so he enjoyed the selection.

IC - Great. Very nice selection of snacks and desserts. Gelato was only $1.50 , but we were just too full to ever try it.

Sanctuary - Best part of the ship. We spent an afternoon and a full day here. What a great place to relax. Next time I would get a week pass. Their adults only pool (with wave simulator) is free to all guests and there are about 10 lounge chairs around the pool that are also free of charge.

Ports - Princess Cays - we had a bungalow that held 6 and the waiter, Arnold, brought a wonderful lunch spread, including cookies for dessert! The only con - Sand flea bugs! There was a can of OFF in the bungalow, and I sprayed it everywhere, but we all wound up with bites. Not cool. I threw everything we wore/brought back from the island in the shower to prevent having any extra cabin mates for the remainder of the cruise. I don't know if there is anything they can do about that, but they really should. Otherwise, PC is great. -St. Marteen- We went to Dawn Beach. Nice waves, beautiful water. Chair rentals and umbrella were reasonable priced. I think around $20 for the day for the set. DH rented snorkel equipment for $5. There were facilities and a restaurant/bar. It was on the Dutch side. There were a few topless ladies (fyi). Locals try to sell you stuff. A simple no thank you will send them on their way. We were docked here with the Carnival Glory and met a nice party of 4 on the beach from that ship. They gave us a great tip for - St. Thomas - and we headed to Emerald Beach there. The cabs drop you at the Best Western resort and you rent chairs from them. There is a restaurant/bar and facilities. - Grand Turk - I could have done without. The shopping was not very good and the beach was rocky and crowded. The pool area was loud. I went back to the Sanctuary. Just not my cup of tea.

Halloween - Lots of people dressed up, including us. Very fun.

Sports - There are a lot of tv screens in bars/lounges, but they don't play any sports. The only one was the Speakeasy (cigar lounge). Not ideal for us. Football under the stars is great, but there was a delay in getting Baseball on any tv. One of the playoff games was blacked out. Then the next one was only on in the cabin, and then they got the next one under the stars, and the rest thereafter. There were a lot of people out there for the game, even after a formal night, hanging out and cheering on their team. It was a lot of fun. (Even if I did fall asleep for a couple innings - The chairs and blankets are so comfy it couldn't be helped).

Movies in the Room- Twilight was one of them! Yay! lol

Spa - There are discounts during the week, so if you haven't pre-booked do not worry. I went for the 20-20-20 special which really is a one hour massage for $99. A day later I got a special flyer in my cabin for additional discounted treatments from the spa. The prices were pretty fair, but I had other plans.

Overall we had a wonderful time on the EP and are continuously happy with Princess cruises.

I will post some pictures also. If you have any questions, I will try to answer them.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review.

[Jan08Bride]

Pictures

[Jan08Bride]

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[Jan08Bride]

[imae39]

Great pictures. Sunsets/sunrises are fabulous. We are Platinum and board Dec. 20 with daughter and family who are first time cruisers. Guess we will just board with them so we don't get separated.
In which bar did you have those olives? They look good.

[sasa]

Thank you so much for taking the time to post your review and great photos. I think you've made me look even more forward to our Emerald cruise!

BTW, I completely agree with you about the sports/cigar lounge combo.

[nschille04]

Love the photos! Thank you so much!

[cruzmax]

Thanks for the photos! I'm looking for a new (easy) camera.....may I ask what camera you have?
This was our 1st Princess cruise, after several RCI, Celebrity, Carnival. We loved the differences, always good to try something new, and we will be back.
For anyone interested, we were on Caribe Deck, Balcony Cabin C251 - we loved the larger balcony, spent a lot of time there!
Pam in KY

[Grego]

Nice job. The concensus is the Grand Turk is a less that great stop. We are hopeful that we'll be able to wander around and get some good photos at least.

[Clutterlady]

Thank you so much for your review and the great pictures! Glad you enjoyed the Emerald Princess as much as we did I believe they do have several banks of video poker machines, as that's what I usually search out first. If the casino was crowded, I can understand how you could not find them!

[cruzinchris]

"...Embarkation - Easy enough. My parents and sister are Platinum members and waived to us as they ascended the escalator leaving us puny Gold members behind..."

My sister was on this cruise with me as a "blue card". She was able to embark with me (Platinum), attend the pre-dinner cocktail gatherings in Skywalkers, and the Captain's Circle Party on the second formal night. I checked with Passenger Services on embarkation day to make sure that it was alright for my sister to attend these functions - no problem.

Thanks for your review and the fabulous photos!
Chris

[jtagphillycruiser]

Thank you very much for your review as well as the pictures. We sail on the Emerald on 11/15/09 and it can't come soon enough. Beautiful ship.

[morgiemoo]

Thank you so much for the review and the pictures. My family and I will be on the Emerald on 11/22. Now I know what to expect...A GREAT VACATION!!!!!!

[hillhouse]

Thanks for the review and pictures! Our family group of 8 adults is sailing this itinerary on the Emerald in January and I'm sending them a link to this thread.
We did the same cruise on the Crown earlier this year (and loved it), but the other 6 are first-timers, both with Princess and the Eastern Caribbean.
So, thanks from the rest of our group, too