Live From: Emerald 3/1/15 sail date Western

[undercat]

Thank you Steelers0854 and satxdiver for your live posts from the Emerald! Have a safe return home!

[wernew2cruising]

We will be on Emerald in 2 weeks. Thank you for the "live" reports.

 

Does the Emerald have the new mattresses I've been reading about or are the beds rock hard? Thanks!:)

[wernew2cruising]

 

Hopefully we will be able to get into Bayport tomorrow morning. Luckily we drove and our car is in the parking lot.

 

Is the parking secure? In a "gated" lot? Covered?

[caribill]

Is the parking secure? In a "gated" lot? Covered?

 

Depends on your definition of secure. It is unattended when a ship is not in port. No fence around it.

 

Although it is not covered, you can rent a car cover for the time you are there. Parking staff will put it on your vehicle and will remove it the morning you return.

 

In the second picture below you can see cars with the covers on them just right of the center of the picture.

 

Here is picture taken in the middle of the parking lot

 

 

And a picture taken from the ship. Area on the left is for port workers and BVE participants.

 

And a closeup of those covered cars:

Edited March 8, 2015 by caribill

[Rancher Dave]

when were those parking lot pics taken? Would expect it to be fuller with two ships using the terminal now.

[caribill]

when were those parking lot pics taken? Would expect it to be fuller with two ships using the terminal now.

 

Feb 2014.

 

Here is a picture from when two ships (on different days) were using the terminal.

 

[satxdiver]

The Bayport parking lot and terminal is surrounded by a high fence.

[Steelers0854]

Does the Emerald have the new mattresses I've been reading about or are the beds rock hard? Thanks!:)

 

 

I am pretty sure the mattresses are the new ones. They are very comfortable.

[satxdiver]

The Emerald has arrived back in port on time today. Safe travels to everyone both those leaving the ship to return home and those arriving and about to embark.

[happy cruzer]

Thank you for your life report. We have done cruises from Galveston many times we leave in 30 days for our first from Houston. Your report is very helpful.

[azbirdmom]

The Emerald has arrived back in port on time today. Safe travels to everyone both those leaving the ship to return home and those arriving and about to embark.

 

Welcome home! Glad that the fog stayed away at the end your cruise and that you made it to all of the ports. Thanks for taking the time to post!

[PrincessNancy]

Thanks for the excellent "live from" report. Glad you had a fog-less ending to your cruise!

 

"I went to the Chief Engineer's talk today and he said that the Emerald was the only ship to use the Houston ship channel on Sunday when they arrived late and that the Emerald was the only ship to leave the port of Houston on Monday. He did not think the port opened for traffic until Tuesday. I can say that when we finally let go the lines and started out the channel, the fog was very thick and the ship's fog horn could be heard repeatedly. He said that with the modern navigational equipment aboard the Emerald, they could negotiate the channel without any problem. The problem was getting the Port of Houston authorities to agree."

Interesting to hear about the high-tech navigation ability of the Emerald!

[oucarrie]

Thanks for the live reports and photos of the menu and patters. We board the Emerald in one week for our first Princess cruise and this has been very informative as to what to expect, dining plans etc.

[caribill]

Thanks for the excellent "live from" report. Glad you had a fog-less ending to your cruise!

 

"I went to the Chief Engineer's talk today and he said that the Emerald was the only ship to use the Houston ship channel on Sunday when they arrived late and that the Emerald was the only ship to leave the port of Houston on Monday. He did not think the port opened for traffic until Tuesday. I can say that when we finally let go the lines and started out the channel, the fog was very thick and the ship's fog horn could be heard repeatedly. He said that with the modern navigational equipment aboard the Emerald, they could negotiate the channel without any problem. The problem was getting the Port of Houston authorities to agree."

Interesting to hear about the high-tech navigation ability of the Emerald!

 

Having no other ship on the channel makes it easier. No ship to possibly crash into.

[Garn]

Let me add my thanks as well for the reports. We'll be boarding in just under 3 weeks (!), and the postings were very helpful.

[mycruise2000]

Thanks for the live report and happy you all had a nice cruise instead of fog delay.

 

Do you happen to know the prices of wine per bottle on board.

 

Thanks

[MJC]

Another thank you for your "live from" thread. We've been sharing info from it with our roll call. So many people are benefitting from your efforts, and we really appreciate it.

[Steelers0854]

Do you happen to know the prices of wine per bottle on board.

 

 

 

Thanks

 

 

I think it was roughly $25-45 per bottle. I know they have package options of like 3 and 4 bottles but I don't remember how much those were. Not many people bought them because they couldn't sell them while we were stuck in port.

[triple7tahoe]

The Platinum/elite circle party was Friday night. It was well attended per usual and was on formal night. The captain was there and spoke. We learned from the crewmember that there were 719 platinum and 177 elite aboard on this cruise. The three most traveled pax were:

 

top pax: 100 cruises for 1397 days

second: 1137 days cruising

third: 632 days cruising

 

While two of the winners were couples, the second most traveled was an older single lady. She had a uniformed officer with here for the party.

The second place woman is named Thelma and lives in Houston. She spends most of this time of the year on whichever Princess ship is in the area, for two or three cruises and then returns home for a week. The officer you saw with her at the party also escorted her to the MTP luncheon. Very pleasant lady that we have had the pleasure of sailing with in the past. I am sure she is happy we left as she is used to being the #1 Most Traveled on these shorter cruises.

It was a very pleasant cruise and came to an end much too quickly.

[MsailawayBB]

Just want to say thanks for taking the time out of your cruise to share with those of us waiting for ours. Booked on Emerald Princess April 5, 2015.

[woomera]

we had any time booked and decided to go on the wait list for the 6pm, is that a mistake and should have stuck with anytime? we dont want to wait 40 min to be seated.

 

 

I'm on Emerald right now and have been using my iPad all week in our cabin. Didn't seem to be any slower than using the ships' computers.

 

We had fantastic weather all week and a great cruise! Have a wonderful time.

[caribill]

we had any time booked and decided to go on the wait list for the 6pm, is that a mistake and should have stuck with anytime? we dont want to wait 40 min to be seated.

 

Can't predict in advance how many of your newest 2000 best friends want to go to anytime at the same time you want to.

 

Since it varies from cruise to cruise, you may have no wait at all every night or a wait every night or a wait on some nights.

 

If eating at 6 PM in traditional is OK for you, go for it. (Note that the 6 PM is a place holder. It could be 6 PM, but it might be 15 minutes earlier or later depending on the ship.)