HaveDogWillTravel

I’m on the Emerald now and have gone to the lounge most nights. There has been someone at the door every night I presume checking your status as they have their reader thingy. The food has been, in my opinion, quite nice. It is in skywalkers so lovely venue. Well attended but easy to socially distance. We are experiencing an uptick in CoVid on board (stewards have busted out the bleach in large quantities). Not surprising on day 10 of a 19 day sailing. I took a picture of the drink specials. They have been the same every night.

I ate at Salty Dog pub on Emerald tonight. I asked the supervisor about sharing and he double checked with the bar manager before telling me sharing would be allowed. This ship has no Alfredo’s. I am going to go to Planks and will ask about sharing there too. I sail on Sapphire in Dec for 34 days. That ship has Alfredo’s. I definitely can not eat a whole pie and will want to share. My thought is once I have paid for food it belongs to me fair and square and I should be able to do whatever I want to with it. The gentle and polite conversation will start with the restaurant manager and move up the chain of command from there. I really can not believe (figuratively speaking of course …..I think everyone is telling the truth) people are being told they can’t share a pizza they either paid for a la carte or that they paid for in a package.

Thank you!

Thank you for the kind words @cr8tiv1 I do try to tell all sides of it. I do want to clarify that after 6 days on board this morning was my first food experience that was not the ship’s best performance. I am now sitting in adagio at a cocktail demonstration of the drinks the bartenders entered in the fleet wide competition. I think it’s going to cost $35 and there’s 3 or 4 drinks. Thus is the first one called Sink or Swim. And it is exceptionally good!

I went to breakfast in DaVinci this morning and asked 2 different restaurant managers. The first one, who is at the door when you arrive (sorry his name starts with a P idk his full name) said Mauris was a waiter not a rest manager. The second RM I asked, Claudia, said that there were several crew by that name from Romania. I am sorry I can’t answer your question. On a different note, I first went the buffet, the part of it in the way back, for breakfast. The scrambled eggs were cold and the pancake was hard. I couldn’t eat it. I told them the eggs were cold and it seeems the warming plate was not on. Then I headed to DaVinci to try my luck there. It was still only7:30 am and there was no line. I immediately got a private table away from others which was quite nice. My waiter, Romano, seemed mostly asleep. Weird. He did his job but there wasn’t even a pretense of trying to be engaged in it. Two over easy eggs, one English muffin and one blueberry pancake. The eggs and English muffin were cooked properly but I could taste the oil used on the eggs & it was a bit off putting. The pancake was also cooked properly, however most of the blueberries were hard or chewy. No bueno. My eggs Florentine first day were quite good so I was surprised by my overall lackluster experience. The room service salads have been very nice. I do not recommend the vegetarian sandwich however. Leo Rossi, Knights of Rock enrichment lecturer, will be giving 9 talks this cruise. He’s doing 2 shows just on the Divas. I’m excited for all the new material he is finally going to have time to use!

There really isn’t a happy hour. There’s the platinum elite suite lounge from 5-7 every night in skywalkers. I don’t know if they have drink specials. My glass of wine wasn’t discounted. Last night they had 4 kinds of sushi, chicken Waldorf salad, cheeses, fruited, meatballs and some dessert thing. I ate everything but the dessert thing and it was really really good. That was dinner for me.

I am not sure but will ask for you.

Yes Mazatlan today. It’s hot in the sun but nice in the shade with a lovely breeze.

I’ll let the pictures speak to the condition of the ship. explorers explorers explorers explorers explorers out side explorers out side explorers promenade had to look hard but finally found a little rust. promenade promenade promenade promenade promenade promenade

In all fairness there was a tropical storm bearing down on so cal the 21st that some people probably chose to get out ahead of. I seriously doubt it had to do with food for the majority.

I am also on this sailing. I sailed Emerald July 1-6 as well. The ship is in fine condition. They installed newly varnished wooden rails on the forward upper decks yesterday. The decks themselves are in great shape! The furniture throughout is mostly excellent and new. I happen to be sitting in club fusion this morning while my steward does my cabin (Emerald deck mini ). The couch and chairs are in pristine condition (I’ll attach a photo). The table is in very good condition with just a small mark or two. I found the furniture in Explorers lounge to also be excellent. I saw one chair in skywalkers where the seat had a small stain. No big deal. My cabin is in perfect working order. The bed however does need to be replaced. I was given a first impressions card and just turned it in today (day 4). After giving kudos to specific outstanding crew and services I did mention the mattress. I’ll let you know if it gets replaced. I feel room stewards are really the most important crew member on board. I am fortunate to have a 20 year veteran who is doing an exemplary job. In my top 5 best ever stewards. yes I’ve noticed some new crew. It seems they’ve hired crew with very limited English skills and gave relegated them to room service delivery. I’ve met several now They try hard but they really can’t understand or communicate well. It’s ok and it’s all working out I have no complaints. I eat in MDR for lunch and breakfast about a third of the time and I’ve yet to make it there for dinner. I do not have a package. I activated ON on day 3 (took me that long to want room service). It’s been excellent so far. There is no tv room service so you must use the ap. Unless I just completely am missing it. I looked and could not find how to order on the tv. from the ap I ordered Caesar, garden and chef salads, burger with potato chips & chicken fingers. All were excellent arriving either hot or cold as appropriate in less than 30 minutes. Using my door hanger I wrote in a cheese omelet with 2 pieces of sausage and it came piping hot. Although both mornings my order came at 6:50 am when I selected 7-7:30. I asked my steward for a kettle and received one right away! I had brought in my ground coffee and Aeropress coffee maker and mug. I really prefer that to the ships coffee. I prepaid for 7 cases of water (for a 19 day hot as hot gets sailing!). I carried on a case of my favorite white wines (and my nice wine glass). I am using my OBC to pay for wifi and grats. I’m going to try planks and salty dog pub once each as well as Sabatinis. I would buy the plus package and not drag wine on but honestly I only like one or 2 of the whites princess stocks I just can’t drink the same thing everyday. Sooo boring. That said Pamela in Crooners is my favorite afternoon visit for a glass of Silverado Sauvignon blanc. So doing it this way I am still over $300 ahead. I am elite do my wifi is only $7.5 a day. I was going to start a live from but didn’t want the responsibility of it. Thanks for starting this thread. I’ll check in and answer any questions I can. club fusion club fusion carpet looks brand new too room service this morning using door hanger last night yesterday's breakfast using door hanger love getting on top of the bridge!!! Love those benches second sailing now with the best chicken korma on first sea day. Yes he brought extra cilantro and raisins too. eggs Florentine…. That’s a real poached egg! Not egg baked in cup officer board

I’m sure they will sort it out. The room service manager on the Emerald said (I am currently sailing her) they are not charging full suites for phoning room service even if you have no package or an old package. If they do charge you (on Ruby) I’d ask for the F&B manager to pay you a visit. A friendly chat with them or the HGM if needed should take care of it. Enjoy your vacation.

I just boarded Emerald today in LA bound for NYC. And since I’ve been packing, traveling and working my way through a Hurricane and rumbling with a “little” earthquake I haven’t caught up from where I left off reading here. Sorry if this info isn’t pertinent to this conversation. Today is the roll out of the new rules on Emerald. I was REALLY surprised to find a first day boarding guide advertising OceanNow as available on my ap and stateroom TV that will find me even if I move. And delivery is always free. I received no letter explaining the changes like I’ve seen others post. That’s bound to be cause for questioning or even complaint when it is clearly charging anyone without a package for that service. I feel bad for the crew if they are negatively impacted by this and have to deal with crabby people. I don’t have a package and I don’t care about paying $15 on this 19 day sailing to use Ocean now. On short 5-7 sailings I usually get a package bc the math works on those. Not so much on longer sailings. It also says if I don’t have a device I can ask a crew member to do it for me. I have crew friends on board that I’m going to ask if they can do that for me. I haven’t activated ON net. They know I won’t get upset if they can’t but I do know they are experienced long term crew who will know if it is possible. Sorry the new crew sometimes just don’t know what they don’t know if you know what I mean. Ok J out

No they can’t go on the other wall. If you notice the closet on the right hand side. The bed tucks into that cutout. If it were on the other wall the bed and the closet would cut off the living room entirely.

My CVP has told me exactly what @Steelers36has posted. Also remember there are ME minis at the front of deck 9 so if you book a guarantee you might get a forward one. That said I was able to book E731 and E729 for Dec 1 and Dec 19 respectively a couple of months ago. It was in the middle of the night for one of them and on a Sunday afternoon for the other. I was poking around even though they had previously been either sold out or just didn’t show up for week. Thanks to the OP for suggesting looking at regular balcony cabins. I will also try that in the future. I have no idea why weird windows open up for these cabins. They are not supposed to be anything but a guarantee. A policy I am firmly against btw.

I think you are misremembering. That aft area behind Sabatini’s and Adagios is one of my favorite spots….no smoking back there. Trade winds, the standing room only small spot for crew that pax can use if they want on the promenade and the indoor smoking lounge and casino while you are playing are the only smoking areas. i really have not encountered a lot of non compliance. I’m just so glad they stopped blocking off the entire aft section for crew to smoke on the Grand class ships. That was the worst bit when we came back after the “Pause”.

Anyone taking videos or photos is going against a direct order from the Captain. Seriously? Yes the pilots are heros but they really don’t depend on CC or FB for validation of their work

Exactly! .

@Cruise RaiderThanks for doing a live from. I hope you find your rombauer. Check Outriggers. There was that one cruise we took where that was the only bar that had it on the first day if you recall. Have a great time! Hugs

We never turned it on. And I never heard anyone else’s. I think there were head phones because I remember thinking isn’t that clever. No way are they going to allow noise in the sanctuary.

The price is for two people. If there’s another person you’d like to add they just need to pay the price of a lounger. Arrive early to board. If it’s a warm weather cruise especially. Arriving at the pier at 10 am will mean you might wait for the doors to open but you will be given the first group boarding pass after the priority groups. Go directly to sanctuary. Read the deck plans snd familiarize yourself. Ask about and think about the direction of the sun. Some cabanas are better positioned than others. The crew stationed in Sanctuary, in my many, many, many experiences there across the fleet are the most helpful, caring and highly trained (or are being trained under watchful eyes to highest standards). They will make you feel as if you are their only passenger while they are with you. Best of luck and enjoy.

@djwoolis quoting prices for a padded lounger (per person) in the sanctuary. The cabanas are a whole different ballgame. We spent a week in one on Discovery in April 2022 and really loved it. It’s been a minute so my prices might be off by a few dollars. We paid as I recall $220 per full day rental. No discount for booking the whole cruise. I don’t recall what half days were but believe it was more than just the $110 you’d think. I could be wrong about that. It comes with a full bar set up. One for the morning and one for the afternoon. We ordered half bottles if Bombay sapphire gin and got two every day. With mixers. And big bowls of fresh fruit. I’ll try to post pictures.

Agree completely. My CVP actually said I had better contacts (meaning social media) than him regarding what was really happening on the ships. I believe most people who are currently sailing will truthfully relay what their experiences are. I believe these experiences vary by ship and also by the crew they interact with. I understand this is why nothing seems to be consistent from cruise to cruise. Still I find this information in its aggregate form useful.

You can also ask your room steward to bring you the day’s MDR menus hard copy. I always do then I date them and save them as part of my memorabilia from that trip.

With the Plus package Ocean Now and room service is included so you will not be charged. But we all want to know what would happen if you had Standard fare where these are NOT included. Hopefully someone in a full suite with out a package will chime in soon.