gottagocit

We were on that cruise and never heard any mention of covid onboard by the captain or crew. I did see 2-3 tables per deck in front of doors and some people were coughing in public areas more near the end of the voyage but I wouldn’t consider that to be a indicative of a “lot” of cases. For him to speak of it over the PA system on the Hawaii voyage I’d say things must have changed two weeks later. I’m curious where you heard that.

We found when trying to book specialty restaurants in advance of our recent cruise on the Emerald that we had to prepay in full for the reservations even though we had lost of OBC. We opted to wait until boarding day then it was charged to our onboard account (OBC). It may not be a huge deal for you but is something to be aware of.

One thing to consider is you are not allowed to use your “device” while seated at a blackjack table so using the app to order is out unless you stop playing and step away from it for a moment or two to place the order.

We’ve found the sideways interiors to be much better for sleeping in rough seas than the traditional interiors and have one booked in early ‘25 for a New Zealand voyage.

Perhaps.

A cruise critic poster just completed a nicely done and detailed world cruise live thread and had very good things to say about the crew onboard. The thread is still easy to find in the first couple pages on this board. They are in the dining room each night of their 100+ day voyage and unless I missed some posts, only had positive things to say/write about the experience. Might be worth perusing the thread for their experiences.

Open your Princess app and check the Journey tab for the official all aboard time. Most likely it will be 30 minutes before the sail away time but check to be sure. You likely have that info in your final email from Princess. Given a choice I would not want to board that late on the first day.

We found the cabin nightlights on the Emerald to be great! The ones beside were just right to see your way to the bathroom area and they turned off a few seconds after activation. Not too bright at all. The one at the bathroom door was very helpful as well.

While sailing around New Zealand in 2019 my DW received notice of an emergency phone call from home by way of a message on our cabin phone from Passenger Services. The message stated we had an emergency call and to contact PS for details. During a quick call to PS we were told her dad had called and requested we call home asap. It was obvious something was wrong. Using WiFi calling we called him and found her mother had suddenly passed. The crew of the Majestic was very helpful and offered free phone and WiFi usage to make arrangements to get home while they worked with NZ authorities to allow us to disembark at our next port (Wellington) and begin our long trip home. Depending on how long you’re onboard I’d consider getting the WiFi package in order to give you peace of mind and stay in touch if you aren’t used to being out of touch that long. If you use an apple device you can then send free “I-message” (think text messages) back and forth to stay in touch.

You know it just occurred to me that I never saw the first little duck onboard outside one sitting in our cabin stewards cart. I had intended to look for them after the discussions on our roll call. Oh well maybe next cruise.

I should have noted the promos we were able to use were only available on “basic” packages and not ones with the drinking packages.

All mentioned were strictly cruise only packages. We always make our own hotel arrangements.

We just disembarked from the Emerald Princess yesterday morning after an 18 day Panama Canal voyage. The future cruise office was staffed with 4 people and was open 8am-8pm on sea days and 4-8pm on port days which was many more hours per day average than we’ve ever seen previously. They were extremely helpful and able to get great promo rates for us on two ‘25 Australia and New Zealand cruises that were well below rates found at Princess.com

I’ve seen several posts on the Princess board asking for help in determining what is a earliest departure time one could safely book at LAX. This week used the Princess LAX transfer at San Pedro following our Panama Canal cruise and made note of the actual time at several points along the way. Maybe this will help some looking for advice. I may should add this info to the west coast departures board but will add it here since I know there’s been questions here. Our United flight to Houston scheduled departure time was 1:09 pm. Worth noting we disembarked on a Thursday morning (ie: traffic) 9:10 Appointed gathering time in Elite/Platinum Lounge 9:00 Our group called to begin disembarkation 9:08 Located luggage in terminal and entered immigration queue 9:28 Cleared queue and began ~150 yard walk to bus 9:38 Boarded bus 9:52 Bus loaded and leaving 10:35 Arrived at airport terminal 1 (Southwest) 10:42 Arrived at terminal 2 (Westjet) 10:45 Arrived at terminal 3 (Delta) 10:49 Arrived at terminal B (International-didn’t stop) 10:49 Arrived at terminal 4 (American) 10:53 Arrived at terminal 5 (American,JetBlue) 10:55 Arrived at terminal 6 (Alaska- didn’t stop) 10:57 Arrived at terminal 7 (United) Quickly checked bag (prepaid) with curb agent 11:32 Through security screening (no TSA Pre) and at gate 71B I believe “early walk off” passengers were allowed to begin walking off around 7:30. The earliest Princess airport transfer scheduled disembarkation times were 8:50 am if I recall correctly. Once we cleared the terminal parking area traffic, while heavy, was always moving until we reached the congestion at each airport terminal during our transfer but I can’t say if the early walk offs found the same or not.

We also used the Princess airport transfer but our driver didn’t have quite as many issues as yours I guess. For those who’ve I’ve seen in these boards asking questions about a “safe flight time” out of LAX I made note of the time at various points during disembarkation and airport check in. I may should add this info to the west coast departures board but will add it here before I loose my notes. Our United flight to Houston departure time was 1:09 pm. Worth noting we disembarked San Pedro on a Thursday (ie: traffic) 9:10 Appointed gathering time in Elite/Platinum Lounge 9:00 Our group called to begin disembarkation 9:08 Located luggage in terminal and entered immigration queue 9:28 Cleared queue and began ~150 yard walk to bus 9:38 Boarded bus 9:52 Bus loaded and leaving 10:35 Arrived at airport terminal 1 (Southwest) 10:42 Arrived at terminal 2 (Westjet) 10:45 Arrived at terminal 3 (Delta) 10:49 Arrived at terminal B (International-didn’t stop) 10:49 Arrived at terminal 4 (American) 10:53 Arrived at terminal 5 (American,JetBlue) 10:55 Arrived at terminal 6 (Alaska- didn’t stop) 10:57 Arrived at terminal 7 (United) Quickly checked bag (prepaid) with curb agent 11:32 Through security screening (no TSA Pre) and at gate 71B I believe “early walk off” passengers were allowed to begin walking off around 7:30. The earliest Princess airport transfer scheduled disembarkation times were 8:50 am if I recall correctly. Once we cleared the terminal parking area traffic, while heavy, was always moving until we reached the congestion at each airport terminal during our transfer but I can’t say if the early walk offs found the same or not.

Oops! Sorry.

Not sure it’s been mentioned but the Cruise Director David and Asst DJ both said on the voyage that it was their last on the Emerald for that time being. Both were taking some time off following our stop yesterday in LA.

Nice job with this thread Jaycruising. It’s hard to believe we are on our final day before disembarking tomorrow morning. I want to add a few thoughts about this voyage. We have thoroughly enjoyed our first cruise since the start of the Pandemic in March 2020. The entire crew and staff of the Emerald have been wonderful. Without exception they have all worked so hard to make sure everyone had an amazing cruise. We have already filled out more of the comment cards (positive) than we have for any of our previous 16 voyages and have a couple more to do today. The staff has told us the number of passengers were approximately 2,200 on this voyage or about 800 below capacity of 3,000ish. In general the ship never felt overcrowded with the possible exception of the piazza during some of the fun activities held there. Yea they do appear to be understaffed in some areas but it’s a hard wielding group based on our observations and the ship seems to be in excellent condition. The entertainment team is so energetic and make the simplest onboard activity fun. The food has been excellent and nicely varied day to day in our opinion. We’ve eaten in the main dining rooms almost every evening (except formal nights and a couple other evenings) and the staff there was excellent. We were able to reserve a private table for 3 each day after seeing the menu at pretty much our first choice of time (usually early). The future cruise desk is one area that has increased staffing making it much more accessible and helpful than on any of or previous voyages. Gone are the days of one person with limited office hours each day and a long line of people waiting to see them. With a rotating staff of 4 people they’re usually open on sea days from 8am-8pm and port days 2pm-8pm. Our cabin steward had been fabulous and serviced our cabin what seemed like several times per day and kept it spotless. We’ve seen some awesome shows by very good entertainers including 3-4 comedians and singers. A couple of the production shows weren’t our favorite but other two were very good. The voyage itself was very memorable as the Panama Canal route was one we’ve wanted to take for years. It didn’t it disappoint. We did a mix of a couple ship tours, renting cars twice and doing walk-abouts and enjoyed each port stop without brewing the bank. At the start of our voyage we didn’t notice any signs of sick passengers but over the last several days we can hear awful congested coughing around us in some venues and some still have no regard for spreading whatever they have to others and insist on being at every event while coughing over and over without any pretending to cover their exhaust port in the least. It is very frustrating to witness such disregard for others and their selfish actions. Luckily there weren’t a lot of such passengers but one is too many these days. We’ve seen some isolation cabin around the ship with their small tables in front of the doors but usually no more than 3-4 for deck. In summary we have had a great cruise and are happy to be back cruising again although we do have a couple land based trips planned later this year. Thanks to the staff of the Emerald for making it a great cruise and thereby ensuring we will be cruising again with Princess in some fashion but still won’t give up on asking for the return of the coffee cards and some of the amenities lost by loyal passengers. We did purchase (and book) two future cruise deposits onboard so I’m counting on no further eroding of our perks to keep us coming back. And please find a way to “encourage” sick passengers to stay in their cabins and to use better hygiene while onboard. Yes I know this is a large ask…

Often we’ve found the lowest rates quoted by the airlines directly are “basic economy” and not “economy” while easy air doesn’t quote BE. Be sure there not the case as there’s a large difference in the two.

Would this be your first trip to Europe? Not sure what you mean by “would be safe”. Rome would probably be the starting point I would choose of the most common embarkation ports. Embarkation is actually done at the port city Civitavecchia located about an hour away from Rome. If you’ve never been to Rome, two days wouldn’t be near enough to see much of it. We’ve spent several weeks there and always find new things to experience each time we go. For your first trip there plan on at least 5-6 days if possible. It’s nothing like visiting a port city in the USA given the 2,000+ years of history waiting for you to see and take in. If you’re coming from Texas it may not be an issue for you but many visitors to Southern Europe find the heat of mid summer to be a real problem. When to go may depend on your tolerance for humidity and high temps. Be aware that some hotels and air B&B’s may not have A/C so choose your lodging carefully. Can’t advice as to MSC vs Princess.

Yes I mean there were no paper cups or paper napkins used or provided anywhere on the ship in any location. Coffee was only served in glass or the ceramic cups for the time we were in Antartica. Many of those who didn’t have one purchased the Princess insulated travel mugs to have coffee if not drinking it in the IC or dining rooms. The ship also had to burn a different fuel oil that was biodegradable when traveling in the area just in case there was an accident resulting in a large spill. This was the procedure in Feb/Mar 2020 just as the pandemic was ramping up and before everything shutdown. Can’t attest to whether this was the case during this years Antarctic voyages or not.

When cruising in Antarctica waters the onboard paper “to go” cups and all paper napkins are not allowed as a precaution against them ending up in the waters of the area. This was our experience on the Coral Princess in 2020.

Not any longer. As of April it is now only good for 1 year…

You can now purchase the FCD’s in the medallion app when onboard and it shows up on your profile within a couple hours. You also get an email a short time afterwards.

We sat down with the rep today on the emerald and she was able to save us > $700 each on a booking we were considering for a ‘25 pacific crossing from down under to USA over the best available rate shown on Princess.com I admit I did not expect any savings based on previous experiences but she searched every possible promo in her system and found us a very good discount. There’s so much to be said for talking to someone face to face when planning voyage vs trying to get help over the 800 call line after a call back or long wait. This is also true of using a TA over the phone. The ships are growing their onboard future cruise staff to offer better service and longer hours at the office there. There are 4 staff in the Emeralds group for this voyage. Their customer service was so much better than on the phone. I’ve been one who has been critical of Princess customer services lately but am giving credit where it’s due in this case.