Emerald Princess Review 1/25 to 2/4/2008

[scomyrwil]

I know this review is a bit late but here goes. We were on Vickie and Bernie's second leg of their B2B, so here are my thoughts. Grab the popcorn open a drink and enjoy.

 

Happy reading, I posted this on the review thread also.

 

Scott

 

We just returned from the Emerald Princess sailing on Jan, 25 through Feb.4. There were 4 of us, my wife and me (in our early to mid 50’s) and my uncle and aunt from New York who are in their late 50’s to early 60’s. One word can summarize this cruise, excellent!

 

Since we live in central Florida, my uncle and aunt flew in the day before and we all went out to dinner to celebrate our son’s 22nd birthday. He watched the house and dog while we were sailing. We got up early the next day and had a great drive to the port. Once there (1:30) we gave our luggage to the porter, I parked the car, met up with them and got in line for embarkation. This went very smooth and painless and we were on the ship in less than 30 minutes. We had a PS on the Caribe deck aft (beam included) while my uncle and aunt had a balcony cabin on the Riviera deck forward. We met our room steward, Wannaporn, from Thailand and she took care of our needs like getting a few more glasses and changing out our mini bar and whatever we needed. She was fantastic throughout the cruise and we did tip her well over the standard tips (which we kept active). My uncle and aunt did the same for their steward, Judy from the Philippines. We took a walk around to get familiar with the ship and then to our respective muster drills, again, very painless and fast. Then off to the Outrigger bar for our CC meet and greet sail away. Thank you Larry for arranging it. I just wish we could have stayed longer and meet more of the group, but we had to get ready for dinner. On our cruise we had a group of ladies from the Red Hat Club as well as a group of home improvement people from Canada. Great groups, lots of fun and very courteous. There were some children on the cruise and they were well behaved and you hardly knew they were around.

 

We had early traditional seating in the Boticelli dining room. Who ever selected our table mates deserves a promotion from Princess. We had a couple from the UK and a couple from Canada at our table. We all hit it off from the start and enjoyed the conversation, joking, and had just a fantastic time with them. Our head waiter was Magdelena, from Poland and her assistant Daniel from the Philippines. They were great! They were very helpful and efficient and we were always one of the last tables to leave because of conversations. They also worked the Da Vinci dining room for breakfast and always greeted us with smiles. We did go out to the Crown Grille one night and found the food and service to be something we would expect from a 5 star restaurant. My uncle and I had steaks while the wives had the lobster and other things. This was by far our best meal while on board and well worth the extra charge. If you have the chance, eat there.

 

The Emerald is a huge ship. Maybe a bit more crowded than the Golden which we sailed on last year in the Mediterranean. However, the ship and all of the public rooms were excellent albeit that many people were upset because the shows filled up early and they turned away a lot of people. They did add extra shows during the week to make sure those that were turned away got a chance to see the shows. While I only attended one of the shows in the theater, my wife, aunt and uncle were very pleased with all of the performances. I spent most of my time in the casino making my donations. Speaking of the Casino, there are 2 nights on the cruise that smoking is not allowed after 6 in the evening. If you are a smoker, you can go to the Speakeasy lounge for a smoke.

 

The Horizon Court had the standard fare for breakfast but the lunch menu was very good with its variety. We all got some food from there and then went to either the Trident grille or Pizzeria to top it off. We also went to the International Café for the cookies and other things which were excellent. We also ate in the Caribe Café and the food was also very good. Since we had a suite, we ordered a full breakfast for the 4 or us one day. It came on time and it was great to eat on the balcony in St. Thomas.

 

A summary of our ports of call: In all ports the weather was great, no rain, warm and breezy.

 

Princess Cays. Do not listen to the people who say you have to pay the extra fee to get the preferred service in a bungalow. This may have scared some away from getting one. They have about 12 of them and most were vacant. We had our own person, Richard, from the Philippines who treated us like royalty. We shared the cabana with Kathy and Mike and had a great time. They will take you to your cabana in a golf cart and set you up with what you want. Richard delivered a lot of drinks as well as so much food that it was shameful we did not finish it all. A great day!

 

St. Thomas. Since we have been there before, the day was devoted to shopping. The only thing that was a bit disturbing was that you had to get up early and go through US Immigration. You walk into the lounge; they scan your paper that was delivered to your room the night before, show your passport and get a card that says you passed! Once on shore my Aunt bought some Ammolite and my wife fell in love with a blue diamond ring. We ran into the person who gives the shopping lectures, Anna, and she got us a fantastic deal on the ring. While they finished the transaction, the manager of the store offered me a drink. My wife felt sorry that I had not bought anything so she bought me a nice golf shirt. Oh well, we both got something. Stopped at the pier to buy some liquid refreshment and other things. They have much better prices than those on the ship as well as selection.

 

St Kitts. We all took the ship sponsored tour of the island. I believe it was the best of St. Kitts and it was not the greatest tour. This island is very poor and this tour proved it. We did go to Brimstone Hill fortress which has excellent photo opportunities as well as a stop in Romney Gardens. We got back to the ship early enough to grab lunch since this tour really does not have a place to eat.

 

Barbados. The best tour we took. We took the Taste of Barbados&Scenic Drive with Lunch. The tour guide, the scenery and lunch were great. We stopped at a Mahogany factory which was very educational and we bought quite a few pieces which were originals that the artist signed. Well worth the price.

 

St. Lucia. Very rough seas as we had to tender to the port. The tenders were banging against the ship and it took a while to board as well as to get off at the port. We took the Best of St. Lucia by Land & Sea with Lunch. The first part of the trip was a catamaran ride which made a stop for people to swim for a while. The shore was very rocky and it was hard to walk around. The scuba section was canceled because of rough seas. We sailed to the Pitons which is an amazing site. We also took a drive to the active volcano that formed them. You cannot miss both of these sites. We then went to a plantation for a tour and lunch. These were OK but we missed the food on the ship. We then took a bus back to the ship. This was a full day tour. This tour was also very good. Would have been better if the sea was not rough.

 

Antigua. We took a tour from the registered cab on the island for half the price of a ship tour. Worth every penny. This is a beautiful island. We saw the whole island, took lots of pictures and just had a great time. We stopped and took pictures of the harbor and the active volcano on Montserrat. After that we just walked around the port and did a little shopping and had a few drinks. Great day.

 

For the days at sea we just went to the things on board. At night we went to the 50’s night and had a great time. We also went to the Martini demonstration where one of our CC members really “shook it up”. I had to buy the DVD to see our family at the 50’s night and the Martini demonstration. Also did a lot of shopping in their stores. Too many other things we did on board to mention which were great and funny.

 

Another thing that is not to be missed are the shows in the piazza. The performers were great. Especially liked the juggler and the person who did the old trick of pulling the tablecloth off without disturbing the dishes. The unique thing about this trick was he also put it back. That was great. The piano player and orchestra were also great.

 

The best day was the last sea day because it was Super Bowl Sunday. They had the ship decorated for the occasion and showed it on the MUTS as well as the Explorer’s Lounge. They were constantly serving food and both places were packed. Needless to say, what a game! The only bad thing was that we had pack the next day.

 

The debarkation process went very smooth. Since we had different color tags than my uncle, I went to the Passenger Service Desk and they gladly changed their tags for the same color as ours. No problem. We went to our assigned area at the time specified and were off the ship within 10 minutes. It was so nice not to hear the constant announcements that you can now leave the ship as well as not having people in the hallways and stairways. Excellent move on the part of Princess!

 

Would we sail on the Emerald Princess again? The answer between all of us was a resounding yes! We have started the planning.:)

[WahooNKS]

Excellent review Scomyrwil! We will be sailing Emerald Princess on March 25, same itinerary. Glad you included the info on the bungalows at Princess Cays and the restaurant reviews. Thank you!

 

WahooNKS

[GlockMan9c]

Great review... getting excitied.

 

Thanks!