lynxie

So why is the ship heading up the North Sea rather than to Southampton? Any ideas?

Sorry, forgot to address your other questions 

Yes, we were extremely fortunate to have plenty of available seating in the theatre, at times it was remarkable how many empty seats there were. Even the two big production shows had plenty of spaces (in the early showing anyway, I don’t know what the late one was like as we were in bed by 10;every night after all that walking!)

I’ve been on several other Princess ships and I thought the Sky was beautiful though we did feel the lack of Skywalkers to sit reading indoors with the sea views. It was a lot newer than we’ve been on before and felt very modern in comparison with the Grand or Crown for example 

23 hours ago, Traderboy said:

Thank you Lynxie for this information.

 

So Helsinki was cancelled and Berlin was a long way from the port.

 

what were the other ports like and how close to the destination was the berth?

Did you do an overnight at Copenhagen?

 

presumably the evening shows were easy to get into with the ship only half full.

what were your feelings about Sky Princess compared with othe4 a Princess ships?

 

Did everyone feel safe in the Baltic with the War going on?

 

Firstly and most importantly yes, we felt very safe and would not have known there was any trouble if we had not tuned into the news now and again to keep abreast of current events.

We did not do any excursions but made our own way ashore at every port, I’ve give you a brief run down on what we did but obviously there were plenty of other options!

Gdynia - we walked from the ship to the station and caught the train into Gdańsk- very easy and cheap to do, about 40 mins. Trains go every 10 mins or so. Explored the old town in the morning and then returned to Gdynia in the afternoon after buying a picnic lunch in a supermarket- enough food for 4 plus drinks cost the equivalent of £5! Walked around the town before returning to the ship about 5 ish

Visby was beautiful, a longish  and hilly walk from the ship but we’ll worth the effort. The town was also hilly and we spent some time exploring the  botanical garden. We’ll worth the visit as was the town museum ( good place for lunch!) 

Stockholm was a fairly long  train ride from the port (another fair walk too!), we did a HOHO bus and boat trip there. Wouldn’t really recommend the bus to be honest, the traffic was really bad (roadworks) and it seemed to spend a lot of time picking up passengers from hotels and an other cruise terminal! We also spent time wandering around the old town before catching the train back. There had been an incident on the railway and the train terminated a couple of stops from the port but luckily we managed by some fluke to catch a local  bus back to the right station and returned in plenty of time. It was a lesson on not leaving things too late!

The nearest we got to Russia was Tallin in Estonia, a lovely town with friendly people and lots to see.Easy flat walk from the ship. Spent a good few hours walking around, lots of cobbles. We saw the old apothecary and walked up some steep hills to the Russian church which gave us an excellent view over the town. 

After two sea days (we needed them at this point!) Our next port was for  Berlin, although we decided it was just too far so explored the pretty seaside town of Warnemunde, though we did take a train in to have a look at Rostock in the morning. All great and really enjoyable. Those who did do the excursion to Berlin said it was incredibly tiring - I think it was mainly those who had come from the US or Australia who did it as they might not get the opportunity again.

Next was an overnight stay in Copenhagen. Haven’t learnt our lesson in Stockholm, we decided to use the first afternoon to catch the train from the city centre  across THE bridge (it featured very heavily in a popular TV series in the UK. We took our passports as the other end is in Sweden (Malmo) where we had a coffee and brief wander around before we returned to the ship.No one asked to see the passports at any time but I think they may do spot checks.  There was a shuttle bus into the town from the ship, $20 each for a 2 day pass. The second day we explored Copenhagen using the HOHO bus and boat, this time it was good and we all enjoyed it. We saw the little mermaid and also walked along a bit further to see the Genetically Modified Mermaid statue which I thought was more moving than the original though not nearly as pretty. Back to the ship to recuperate before our last port - 
 

Kristiansand. Very short walk to the most beautiful town which was almost spookily deserted until we found out it was a religious holiday and everything was shut. It didn’t spoil the day though, the walk along the seafront past the water fountains was beautiful and we enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere. A good and quiet end to a very busy and active cruise!

Just one thing that might (or might not) be of use to you - the only place we drew local money out was Gdańsk, everywhere else it was easy to use either cards or Apple Pay for coffees souvenirs and fares. 
 

We had a fantastic time which was helped a lot by the good weather we had despite the bad forecasts. I don’t know how enjoyable it would have been walking in the rain…. I would imagine it would be difficult to fit in as much as we did had we had mobility problems. All the old towns were cobbled, sometimes very roughly and it would be nigh on impossible to get a wheelchair or scooter through the streets - and very uncomfortable if you did so. 
 

I’m afraid our Helsinki stop was cancelled so we never went there though we did enjoy Germany instead - bit misleading to call it Berlin though as it was a long way from there -at least 2.5 hrs on the train each way.  
 

We spoke at some length with a staff member who told us they didn’t like it when the ship was quiet as the time went so slowly  - they actually prefer a busy ship even though it’s more work for them. Some lunch times it seemed there were more staff than passengers!

I was on this trip with my husband and I’m pleased to confirm that it was absolutely wonderful – no complaints whatsoever. The staff, food and general ambience were all excellent and we felt very safe. More people were wearing masks than we expected especially in the lifts and whilst walking around the ship. We were on a sailing that was only 45% full however, and although this probably contributed to the speed of our drink ordering and lack of waiting times in the restaurants at times it did feel a little under populated (if that’s possible). All the ports were as expected and we enjoyed them all, again, we were blessed with good weather so that may have made a difference! If you have any specific questions I’ll be happy to answer them for you.

Our opinion on the medallion is that it’s better with than without though there were glitches at times. Wi Fi surprisingly good thought the cruise.

We had to fill in a customs form and leave the keys with the pursers office in case an inspection was needed, but it was a very easy transaction. Luckily we live near to the port, but you could nominate another person (or carrier) to collect on your behalf. You collect when there is no ship in the terminal so I wouldn't anticipate any problem, however obviously I'm not 100% sure as at this moment it has just left Hawaii so can't say for sure that we will be reunited happily in May!

My suitcase is currently enjoying a world cruise on the Queen Elizabeth without me! We disembarked in San Francisco last week and will pick it up on the ships return to Southampton mid May. I didn't see it publicised but you can leave a 23kg case on board and pick it up from the dock at the end of the cruise for $50. It seemed a bargain saving not only excess baggage charges but also trying to manoeuvre two large cases around the airport. I've left all my formal wear in it as well as a thick pair of winter boots needed in New York (may have been a mistake in hindsight as I've just seen the weather forecast for the next week here.....)

We were also on this cruise and it's interesting to read your review Babs. Whilst agreeing with what you have written on the whole, there were a few points I'd like to add.

The Everglades tour was absolutely terrible, by far and away the worst tour I have ever been on. I could go into details but suffice it to say that we were given a large refund as there were so many problems with it, just one example being that the airboat trip on the Everglades was less than 20' rather than the hour we had been told it would be. So many people complained we were told we didn't need to give details of our complaint by the tour desk!

Our Jamaican tour on the other hand was brilliant, we did 'The Best of' and thoroughly enjoyed it, thought it was good value for money and felt we'd had a good overview of the local area as well as a (very!) invigorating walk up the Dunne Falls.

We also enjoyed the other tours we did, in Aruba, Guatemala, and especially San Francisco.

We thought the ship was beautiful, the food great and most of the staff were very friendly and professional. Our table mates were lovely and we enjoyed most of the productions in the theatre. The insight lectures were fine though not always to our taste and did seem a little 'heavy' on occasion.

Having said all this, we have decided that Cunard is not for us in the future mainly due to the heavy emphasis on ballroom dancing. Sadly I am completely uncoordinated and it's just not an option for me, though I do like a bit of a boogie now and again! I'm not blaming the ship for this, we knew before we embarked that this would be the case, we just didn't realise that there would be only two evenings during our cruise that we would we be able to dance in the ballroom to more contemporary music. The yacht club was too small and noisy for us to find it enjoyable.

We certainly have no regrets about our holiday, seeing the Panama Canal was amazing and worth the whole trip on it's own!

We're meeting family who live in New York, so yet another reason to be getting very excited about the holiday!

OK, we're in!

Hi Babs

We're on the same cruise as you (from Southampton) and when we booked we were able to add on 3 nights in Las Vegas after SF. We also paid a little extra for premium economy flights home via Montreal. Like you, we got no 'extras' but thought the price we paid was very fair.

We've only ever cruised with Princess before and are a little apprehensive! Sorry if this s the wrong place to ask, but being a newbie I couldn't find a roll call for this cruise - am I looking in the wrong places or has it not been started yet?

Hi

Please can anyone tell me if it's ok to take a smallish suitcase filled with bottled water and Pepsi max on board the Emerald? We live close to Southampton and it seems the easiest way to transport it. If so, do we check it in with the other luggage or would we need to keep it with out carry on bags?

I will be buying the soda package but my husband only drinks Pepsi Max which you cannot get on the ship.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Thanks Anna for a really interesting report. Looking forward to reading more!

It was strange for us to drive to the port on Saturday and wave Isobel and Fiona off, knowing that we were so close to joining them. Please say hi to them from us if you are in touch.

Hope you really enjoy the rest of your holiday.