Emerald Princess 11/1-11/8 Long Review

[deenanmoose]

Eight of our group of 10 flew into Ft. Lauderdale on Friday night. We stayed at Hollywood Beach. 4 of us stayed at the Marriott while the other 4 of us stayed at Riptide. If you need a 4 or 5 star, stay at the Marriott. I enjoyed the Riptide, but it is a 2 story motel with 12 rooms and may not be for everyone. Everyone there was great and we will be back there again. Both places are right on the Broadwalk, the beach is only a few steps away. There were lots of restaurants and shops within walking distance.

I was concerned about the time change as St Thomas and St Martin did not move their clocks back. The ship had us change our clocks forward to be in sync with our ports. We moved them back the evening before we made it to Grand Turk as they are Eastern Standard Time.

Sunday embarkation – went ahead to the port at Noon. Were on the ship about 1:00pm or so. There was a line, but it moved very quickly. I was really expecting to wait longer. Our room was ready so we dropped off our bags. We had 4 side by side mini-suites with balconies. My uncle and aunt were on the other side of the ship on the same floor. Sticky notes and phone messages kept everyone apprised of the group’s whereabouts.

The ship – It was great. Our 2nd time to cruise Princess with our 1st trip being on the Grand. I liked already knowing where things were. We walked around a little and did sail away above the main pool area. The forward, “secret” door on the Lido deck was closed that day.

The employees: I had read negative reviews on the general attitude of the employees, but I did not experience any of that. I always say hello, good morning, etc to everyone I see on the ship and almost every employee I met in the hallway, elevator, or on deck beat me to it. Every time I sat down in the buffet, I usually would get my own drink, but they were quick to get it for me also.

The food: I am not a picky eater and have always thought if someone didn’t like some of the food, just get something else. There are many, many choices. I did not like everything I tried, but I never left hungry! We ate the buffet mainly. The Horizon Court had waffles and a place to request omelets for breakfast. The Café Caribe did not. Of course we had pizza, burgers, chicken sandwiches, and hot dogs at the grill areas by the pools also. The soft serve ice cream by the pizza area was very rich and thick.

We did anytime dining one night with our full group of 10. There were lines of about 10 – 15 people at each anytime dining venue, so I went up for our group, gave our name and the number in our party and was given the “pager”. The hostess told me it would be about 45 minutes. It was only about 30 minutes. There were some people complaining about the pager system, but I thought it worked very well. We went 2 floors up to the Crooners bar and it worked fine there. The food was excellent and the service was great.

Bars – We do like to party a little and hit every bar except Adiagos. We went in, but with the piano player and dark lighting, our casual clothes seemed a little under dressed for the evening time. Every bar had great service and there was no skimping on the alcohol content!

Casino – Spent quite a bit of time there. Won some, lost some, ended up a little ahead for the week. I love the new system where you use your card to put money on instead of cashing out coins. You simply set up a pin for access. For example: You put $100 in a machine and after playing down to $80 you want to change machines. You “cash out” to your card and the money is transferred to your players account on your card. You then put your card in the new machine and get funds from your card. You choose how much to put in that machine. You can also get money from your “Cruise Account” directly to your slot machine which can be a little tempting!!

Ports of call:

Princess Cays – We were going to wait until the general announcement that you could board the tenders at your leisure instead of going down and getting a number. It rained most of the morning anyway, so after the rain we went over and stayed maybe 2 hours. The whole tendering process was painless. The snorkeling was good, but I would have used a float if I was going to be there longer. I did not do any shopping here. There were plenty of chairs everywhere. The cabanas looked very cute, but with 10, we just would not have fit. Glad I did not spend the money due to the weather. The beach was very clean and the water was great.

Sea Day:

Did the pub lunch at The Wheelhouse. There was a line but as we were willing to share with others, we did not have to wait long. The food was good, my husband and I had the fish & chips. It was a nice alternative.

St. Martin.

Decided to go to Orient Beach and just lay around. Getting a taxi was easy, he came back to get us as promised. We asked him to take us to Orange Fever which is towards the Orient Beach club. It looks like there are only a few places to access the area behind the beach for the taxis. While driving in looks it like you are going no where until you get to the beach. We rented chairs for the day - $7 each included 1 drink, chair with a nice thick cushion and an umbrella. We stayed for about 3 hours. The water was nice, the food was good.

St. Thomas

Wished we had more time here. The ship docked at 7am and left port at 3:30pm. We booked a catamaran for the day just for our group. It was awesome! We went on the Scubadu with Capt. Joe Mellen and had a wonderful sail/snorkeling trip which included lunch and drinks. We had 2 snorkels of about 45 minutes each and sailing in between. We used his taxi driver Rachal who was a great tour guide there and back! We were back to the cruise terminal in time to do a little shopping. We didn’t get to see much of the town, but I am sure we will be back.

Grand Turk

Beautiful water. Some of our group enjoyed the snorkeling right off the beach here. Some of us went straight to Margaritaville, picked out a table and chairs, and stayed for the duration. Everyone had a great time.

Disembarkation:

My husband and I did the self disembarkation. I had booked a 3pm flight back to Houston and we wanted to be home earlier if possible. We were off the ship by 8am and decided to try to do standby on an earlier flight back to Houston. We made it to the airport and on a 9:05am flight. I would not recommend booking this early of a flight because we were just lucky we made it. If there had been any small delay it would not have happened. I will book an 11:00am or after next time.

We did have rough seas a few days, but we are not prone to seasickness. We were rocked to sleep almost every night. If you are, I would suggest to start taking a preventative medicine and keep on it through the trip.

If you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them.

[Caribbean Sunsets]

Nice review. Glad the earlier flight worked out for you.

[cruisekitty7]

We live in Houston and are sailing on the Emerald in Jan. I booked a flight that leaves around 11am. Thanks for the great review. I am really looking forward the the Emerald. Did you eat at any of the specialty restaraunts? There is a group of 6 of us and I am just wondering how fast we should book our reservations.

[deenanmoose]

We did not try any of the specialty restaurants. I would just make the reservation the first day. I do not remember walking by either and thinking they were really full either.

[RoePost]

Thanks for the review...but just wondering we will sail on Emerald 11/29...what was the

entertainment like....where the production shows worthy...any comedians...Thanks.

[Coolmama_1]

Thanks for the review. Sounds like you had a good time.

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks to the Op for posting the review.....:):):)

 

Bob