Emerald Princess Captains Circle Activites

[DrJohn]

Dr. John- thanks for your speedy reply.

 

Not good news. We have several Emerald cruises booked for next winter. Perhaps I need to at least look at our options on Celebrity, as none of Princess's other Caribbean itineraries interest us. I wish they were doing the true 14 night itineraries on the Grand next year!

 

I hate to say it after all our years with Princess but if this is any indication of what they are planning to do we may be on Celebrity as well! For more detail on our experience check out my just published review at http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=79104.

 

 

John

[hansi]

We just returned from the Emerald Princess sailing 2/6-2/16. Nice cruise. Passed on the dining room for the first time in 30 plus cruises and ate all of our meals in the Horizon Court. I doubt we'll ever go back to the dining room. The food in the Horizon Court was outstanding. Service was the same. We were able to find a nice, quiet place each evening and didn't miss the helter/skelter experience of the dining room. Now on to the Captains Circle activities.

 

Each evening, the Emerald had an exclusive event in Skywalkers. This consisted of appetizers and a drink of the day. What a joke. The appetizers consisted of a vegie dip, chedder cheese, Sunshine Crackers, a white cheese, green olives/black olives and, so help me, a meat that looked like Spam. The drink of the day was port wine. Port wine is the drink of the day????

 

The welcome back event was on a Sunday night in the Piazza, decks 4 & 5. There must have been over a thousand people there. It was impossible to get a drink and I saw only one tray of appetizers being passed around. There was no place to sit. In the past, this event was held in Club Fusion and offered at 2 different times to accommodate everyone. You got to meet the senior staff, sit down, listen to some music, dance, etc. Not on this cruise. What made it worse was that there were many senior citizens on board this cruise and these people were unable to find a place to sit. I really felt sorry for them. After about 10 minutes of this, we left.

 

I know that the cruise lines are cutting back and I understand that. However, if you can't recognize your most loyal customers in an appropriate way, just forget about it.

 

That's a bit unfair. That "spam" you're referring to is beef tartare, a very expensive and delicious meat. And the cocktail changers every night. Oh, and some people actually like port wine!

[flamomo]

Well, I will be on the Emerald in a little over 2 weeks, and find the news of the 2 events being held in the Atrium rather disheartening. Seems like it'd almost resemble the "herd mentality of the champagne waterfall ...... mostly a lot of people milling around trying to snag as many glasses of free champagne as possible.

If that's the case, they'll be something to avoid.

I do hope the Skywalkers evening cocktail party has not changed, as we have enjoyed that on past cruises.

[PescadoAmarillo]

Actually, if it was port wine night, the 'spam' was not beef tartar. That's stilton night (my favorite). I can't imagine what the beef might have been, or maybe we're mixing up the drinks/food nights.

 

Dr. John- we just got an HAL mailing yesterday. Great prices on the Maasdam 10/11 night itineraries next winter. We were on the Maasdam in November and loved the smaller ship experience. We would love the Constellation cruises too, although they are priced about the same as the Emerald right now, and we don't get the OBCs we get on Princess. When we are doing 5 cruises in a row, these things matter. But it's good to know we all have options.

[DrJohn]

Actually, if it was port wine night, the 'spam' was not beef tartar. That's stilton night (my favorite). I can't imagine what the beef might have been, or maybe we're mixing up the drinks/food nights.

 

Dr. John- we just got an HAL mailing yesterday. Great prices on the Maasdam 10/11 night itineraries next winter. We were on the Maasdam in November and loved the smaller ship experience. We would love the Constellation cruises too, although they are priced about the same as the Emerald right now, and we don't get the OBCs we get on Princess. When we are doing 5 cruises in a row, these things matter. But it's good to know we all have options.

 

Steak tartar was a little different on the Emerald -- seemed to be a "season it yourself" approach and not as tasty. We're going to do Australia next March on Princess so will pass on the Caribbean -- will be good to get back on the Sun class ships. Hopefully the changes they are trying out on the Emerald won't be implemented fleet wide by then -- but if they listen at all to the passenger reaction we have heard they will stop the test soon. They are doing a lot of damage to the Princess reputation by using us as "lab rats."

[ROWSE]

We were also on the 2/6 Emerald with DrJohn; so good to see you and Kathy the few times we chatted.

 

I was platinum for the first time this cruise, and we enjoyed the Skywalkers perk. Wish we could have done it more than once, but we had anytime dining and quickly learned unless you were at the door about 5:30 you were in a long line later. I really think having the DaVinci Dining room be traditional till 7:30 p.m. is making chaos at MichaelAngelos.

 

John, I read your review, and thank you for it! Sorry it was disappointing to you. I am glad they let you have a standing reservation in MichaelAngelo's as they would not let our party of 4 do this. Maybe the night we tried was for formal night the next night and that was the reason. We did not try again as he seemed to be downright irritated we should ask. We just found getting there around 5:30 did the trick. I felt very badly for the people standing in the huge line we would see as we exited each night.

 

We did not think the Captain's Circle in the piazza was at all appropriate to show your past passengers you appreciate them. Seemed such a cattle drive it was more like showing us that we were a number to be dealt with quickly. We did get a drink, but then hightailed it to the theater as you really needed to get there at least an hour before the shows to sit with more than two people in your party. I will hope this is not the case on the Sapphire in 17 days.

 

Other than these couple of things, it was a wonderful cruise and beautiful ports.

[grandmaa]

We were also on the 2/6 Emerald with DrJohn; so good to see you and Kathy the few times we chatted.

 

I was platinum for the first time this cruise, and we enjoyed the Skywalkers perk. Wish we could have done it more than once, but we had anytime dining and quickly learned unless you were at the door about 5:30 you were in a long line later. I really think having the DaVinci Dining room be traditional till 7:30 p.m. is making chaos at MichaelAngelos.

 

John, I read your review, and thank you for it! Sorry it was disappointing to you. I am glad they let you have a standing reservation in MichaelAngelo's as they would not let our party of 4 do this. Maybe the night we tried was for formal night the next night and that was the reason. We did not try again as he seemed to be downright irritated we should ask. We just found getting there around 5:30 did the trick. I felt very badly for the people standing in the huge line we would see as we exited each night.

 

We did not think the Captain's Circle in the piazza was at all appropriate to show your past passengers you appreciate them. Seemed such a cattle drive it was more like showing us that we were a number to be dealt with quickly. We did get a drink, but then hightailed it to the theater as you really needed to get there at least an hour before the shows to sit with more than two people in your party. I will hope this is not the case on the Sapphire in 17 days.

 

Other than these couple of things, it was a wonderful cruise and beautiful ports.

 

Hello...We were recently on the Sapphire with the 4 smaller dining rooms,but only 3 until 8:15 as one is used for assigned first seating, and the International Dining Room. Be aware that you CAN make reservations for 3 days at a set time if you call the Dine Line when you first get on board...important thing to do if you do not have permanent seating..otherwise you will have to wait. Each dining room has a specialty that is not on the menu but the waiters do tell you about it. Have a great cruise..with no lumps and bumps along the way!!!

[Squire5000]

For what it's worth, we've cancelled our Emerald cruise for 02/12 and will look elsewhere. From this thread and some others we've been reading, Emerald is not the same product it has been in the past. We'll stick with Princess for our Alaska cruise this summer and a Crown trip in the Fall and re-evaluate our commitment to Princess after we have completed those cruises.