Interactive Preview/Review of Emerald Princess Eastern Caribbean May 2 to 9, 2010

[7x5090g]

After breakfast we collected everyone and headed down to Michael Angelo restaurant to pick up our tender tickets. (Note your entire party, if you wanted to go in on the same tender, needs to be there at the same time in order to be assigned the same tender ticket). We got there around 10 ish and received number 17 before being told to sit and wait.

 

Normally, I tried to avoid ports that require tendering.

 

[My worst experience was on Voyager of the Seas (maiden voyage back in Nov 1999) at Labadee. Not only did we have to wait a long time before we can board a tender, we were sitting in the tender for 15 minutes breathing in diesel fumes before the tender even left the mother ship (they weren’t using the ship’s life rafts)]

 

Well none of the above happened. The tendering process was smooth. We only waited for 10 minutes and our number was called. We were led down the stairs just outside of MA onto deck 4 where we boarded the tender. Just a short ride later we landed on beautiful Princess Cays.

 

First impression of this port – WOW.

 

 

 

 

 

This was paradise. Since this was a private island, it really was an extension of the ship. You don’t need to take cash and your cruise card will get you through everything. (NOTE: if you want to purchase stuff from the locals or wanted to get your hair braided, you still need to pay in cash). Once we got off the tender, we veered left as that was where all the loungers were and the water sports rental hut was right there. We later found out that there was a much quieter beach also with loungers on the right (south side) beyond where the clam shells are. Very few people ended up there as that was not visible from the ship.

 

It took us a little while before locating a lounger with close proximity to shelter from the sun and restrooms (for the 4 seniors in our group).

 

And here I was on one of the loungers:

 

My son really wanted to get on an aqua bike so we ventured back to the rental hut. $29 for a half hour which I thought was expensive but seeing the smile on my son’s face was priceless. The guy helped us onto one and pushed us off but not before saying “Have a nice workout!”. I did not take note of that statement until 15 mins into our “ride” down the beach – that’s when I need to back paddle back to where we started, AGAINST THE CURRENT!!!:eek:. First off, the aqua bike steering is non-existent unless you build up some speed. My son is only 6 and his feet were barely touching the paddle so I was really the only one doing all the work. Half way back we rode by someone in a paddle boat who was asking if we could give them a tow as they were also struggling. I laughed…panted…laughed…choked… (you get the idea).

 

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[teripp]

The regular coffee really didn’t taste good. It was “brewed” from adding hot water to coffee syrup and that was another big complaint.

YYYIIIEEEE!!!!!! Not real brewed coffee !!! Oh man now I am totally at a loss. I was going to spend the money for a coffee card just for the brewed coffee (not a specialty coffee drinker at all) How was the "brewed stuff"???

[7x5090g]

Great job. I'm really enjoying this. We sail on the Emerald on Sunday. This will be our first Princess

 

I see you will be on the same itinerary as me. I will try to speed up my review so hopefully you get to see everything before you leave.:)

[7x5090g]

The regular coffee really didn’t taste good. It was “brewed” from adding hot water to coffee syrup and that was another big complaint.

YYYIIIEEEE!!!!!! Not real brewed coffee !!! Oh man now I am totally at a loss. I was going to spend the money for a coffee card just for the brewed coffee (not a specialty coffee drinker at all) How was the "brewed stuff"???

 

The espresso based specialty coffee is good for the price you are charged. The regular coffee is way on the low side of being regular.

[themerle]

Really enjoying your review! Looking forward to some more.

[u2cruiser]

Great this!! I feel like I'm there again :D

 

You look like you had a few too many hot dogs and not enough sun on that sunbed ;).

 

At this rate it will be ages before we get to St Maarten, but I'm not complaining :cool:. *spoiler* Did the Air France plane land over your head?

[brwneyedgirl72]

I see you will be on the same itinerary as me. I will try to speed up my review so hopefully you get to see everything before you leave.:)

 

I am sailing on May 30th - so I am really enjoying your review. I am so thrilled that you are also attaching the Patters - I appreciate you taking the time. It is really helping me get through the next 19 days! (yes...I'm counting....)

[Hollybelle]

My son really wanted to get on an aqua bike so we ventured back to the rental hut. $29 for a half hour which I thought was expensive but seeing the smile on my son’s face was priceless. The guy helped us onto one and pushed us off but not before saying “Have a nice workout!”. I did not take note of that statement until 15 mins into our “ride” down the beach – that’s when I need to back paddle back to where we started, AGAINST THE CURRENT!!!:eek:. First off, the aqua bike steering is non-existent unless you build up some speed. My son is only 6 and his feet were barely touching the paddle so I was really the only one doing all the work. Half way back we rode by someone in a paddle boat who was asking if we could give them a tow as they were also struggling. I laughed…panted…laughed…choked… (you get the idea).

 

Ahhh so you were the one we were laughing at as we relaxed in our loungers with margaritas in hand. :D I vividly recall watching the poor helpless souls on those aqua bikes throughout the afternoon. Keep up the great review... I'm waiting for my cameo appearance. :cool:

[7x5090g]

After barely making our way back to the beach within the allotted 30 minutes, I was really hungry. The 4 seniors already headed off to the buffet (Yes a BBQ buffet lunch was included) but they never came back. We later found out that they found a shady spot and sat down to eat, leaving DW pondering if they were ever going to head back to relief her. So I was sent down to the buffet for some food. The line up was long at the buffet place on the north beach (and again if we had veered right, the other buffet place on the south beach was practically deserted, so I was told).

 

 

After about 15 minutes, I came up with 2 full plates of hotdogs, cheese burger and a few mouth watering BBQ pork ribs YUM!. I gingerly carried the 2 plates back to the beach where my son and DW were and we pigged out. It was not until closer to 2PM before the seniors re-surfaced and were bragging about how comfortable they were in the shade after a nice lunch. Nice guys.

 

We stuck around for another 30 mins after lunch and decided to beat the line up for the tender and headed back to the ship. Well the line up had already formed and it was around 2:30 (last tender for the ship leaves 3:15PM). It wasn’t long, however, before we were back on the life raft heading back to the mother ship.

 

Line up for tender going back:

 

One last shot of the ship before boarding a tender going back:

 

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[BalconyGal]

General tip-staterooms with even numbers are on port side and odd numbers are on starboard side. If you are looking at the bow (front) of the ship, port is on your left and starboard is on your right. I always associated the word port as the shorter word between left and right.

 

I usually remember it as port and left both have 4 letters. :rolleyes:

 

Your review is wonderful, I can't wait for my Emerald cruise in 240 :eek: days!! Keep it coming!

 

The regular coffee really didn’t taste good. It was “brewed” from adding hot water to coffee syrup and that was another big complaint.

YYYIIIEEEE!!!!!! Not real brewed coffee !!! Oh man now I am totally at a loss. I was going to spend the money for a coffee card just for the brewed coffee (not a specialty coffee drinker at all) How was the "brewed stuff"???

The coffee at the international cafe is very good. The free coffee is the one you have to watch out for. :p

[7x5090g]

The coffee at the international cafe is very good. The free coffee is the one you have to watch out for. :p

 

The regular coffee just goes right through me:eek: If you even call that coffee.

[7x5090g]

After a quick shower back on the boat, DW and the seniors headed over to Da Vinci for some high tea as the Emerald pulls away from port (I did not part take in that activity until later in the week so my review of the high tea experience will come later). DS and I then took a little time to explore the ship and I came up with these shots:

 

Shuffle board (they only have room half way between deck 19 and 18 aft for a half board):

 

 

Here’s a nice pic of the ship and her stack as she steams towards St Maarten.:

 

Mini putt on top of the Skywalkers:

 

 

Upper promenade (or so called the promenade extension) that wraps around the ship bow to stern:

 

And here’s the gym:

 

The 2 aft pools (which regrettably I never touched):

 

That took us to dinner.

 

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[BalconyGal]

The regular coffee just goes right through me:eek: If you even call that coffee.

:eek::eek::eek: LOL

[u2cruiser]

*Pours wine for dinner onboard the Emerald*

Is it a bit too early in the day for you OneStarTattoo?

 

Wonder what's on the menu tonight? :)

[7x5090g]

*Pours wine for dinner onboard the Emerald*

Is it a bit too early in the day for you OneStarTattoo?

 

Wonder what's on the menu tonight? :)

 

Hmm Dinner.

 

Yes one of the main reason why I love TD so much is your waiter gets to know you. So here I was the second dinner at MA, our waiter Wisoot saw us coming and immediately handed out a plate of pasta with butter sauce knowing my 6 yo was likely starving by now. Well he was right. Yes Wisoot and his assistant Apirhat, after checking my notes I remember his name now (both from Thailand) were waiting for us as if we were their only guests (they do have 4 other tables to serve). We started noticing that 3 tables around us had the same party sitting at them (and for the balance of the cruise as well) so I guess we weren't the only one doing TD in an AD restaurant.

 

Menu for tonight (It's Caribbean Night):

 

 

 

 

Here's the Sea Scallops and Shrimp Cocktail (YUMMY):

 

And here's the Cioppino of Native Fish and Shellfish in Saffron-Tomato Both:

[7x5090g]

So tonight it's pirate party at Princess Pelicans so we hurried my son off to camp while the rest of the party were waiting for desert to be served. No I forgot to take a picture of the dessert menu (but will have them posted for other evenings later in the week).

 

Here's today's Princess Patter and the Pelican Press. For the live of me I could not remember what we did tonight so I am signing off for Day two right here. Tomorrow would be a sea day with lots of on-board activities

 

More to come...

Princess Patter Day 2.pdf

Princess Pelicans Day 2.pdf

[7x5090g]

Today was a big day as I missed the sailaway party for our CC group so it would be my first chance to meet with those that I had been chatting over the forum for the past 2 months. After breakfast, I sent my 6 yo off to Princess Pelicans. DW and the 4 seniors were off to do their own stuff as I headed up to Skywalkers for our formal Meet and Greet.

 

After being able to put screen names and real names and faces together, cruise director Tim Donovan (from the UK) and his deputy Colette (from down under) showed up and chatted with us for a while.

 

 

 

And of course yours truly got a nice picture taken:

 

By 11:30, most people had left and went on their business for the day. I knew the Wheelhouse Bar was serving a pub lunch (they did that on both at sea days) so I decided to check it out. Enroute I met up with the rest of my party who was watching the martini demonstration at the Piazza. I arrived just in time to volunteer as one of the tester of one of the martinis that he poured (he poured 8 different martinis in one go):

 

 

 

 

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[7x5090g]

Thanks to pcrum and her review (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1180459), I had decided to check out one of my favourite dish – Fish and Chips with mushy peas. Yes u2cruiser this was probably no where near what you can get where you live but having left the UK for 26 years, and having lived in Canada for so long, any chance to taste something in an English pub would be a blessing.

 

So here’s the menu:

 

No they did not have all the English beer in draught so I had to settle with cans. I picked the Boddingtons Pub Ale (seen here sitting next to my son’s beverage of choice and his thumbs-up approval):

 

Now as soon as the dish was served, I noticed immediately that something was wrong (see picture below):

 

Anyone wants to guess ?

 

YES It was the tartar sauce and ketchup – not the authentic way to eat fish and chips. Frantically, I waved down the waiter and demanded a bottle of malt vinegar so the situation was quickly rectified:

 

 

The taste was so so but I did get the fix. Besides the martini that I tasted was quite potent so mixing it with the can of English ale was making me a little light headed, but not for long. After lunch we once again dropped DS off to kids camp for the T-Shirt coloring activities.

[pcrum]

Glad you enjoyed the fish and chips. I'm with you on the malt vinegar....have to have it!! Enjoying the review!

[CruiseCheers]

Great review Andy, keep it coming. I have some good pictures of "The Noah Princess", that Holly or I will send to you.

 

Kim

[7x5090g]

Oops I forgot to mention another event on board that DW and the seniors attended while I was at Skywalkers. It was the fruit carving, towel folding and flower arranging.

 

So here are the missing pics of the event:

 

 

 

 

By the time we were done with lunch and dropping off my son at kids camp, we had missed the rum tasting at Crooner’s bar. We simply walked around and decided to stop by Crooners again at 2:15 to check out THE GREAT EMERALD PRINCESS BOAT BUILDING CONTEST. This was a sign up opportunity for anyone who wished to participate in building a boat using any material one could find on board. The criteria is that the boat must be able to carry 12 cans of soda, stay floated and needed to be towed from one end of the pool over to the other (and back). We would have till Saturday morning to complete and the contest will take place at 10:30 AM Saturday. We decided to give it a try just for the fun of it. (This was the event that CruiseCheers was referring to:

..I have some good pictures of "The Noah Princess", that Holly or I will send to you.

 

More to come on my review for Day 7).

 

Holy crap it's way past midnight now. I will continue this tomorrow. Please stay tuned.

[lilly_35_]

That's funny the picture you have posted on page 4 of the "Check-in Hall" my husband and I are in that picture in line. I have a hot pink backpack on wearing a white hoodie and jean skirt and my husband is to the left of me, tall and in a white t-shirt. I was reading your review since we were on this ship too and saw the pic... too funny!

[u2cruiser]

I am ROFL at your latest posts. :D The pictures bring it all alive.

You certainly had a busy cruise so far. Did you actually see the sea on the sea day? (see what I did there:p)

 

So you are British? You certainly have a very British SOH! I thought you had just attended college here from your earlier posts, and picked up the crazy humour. ;)

 

Fish and chips look quite good and they look like real chips, not oven chips?! Yep, bring on lashings of salt and vinegar. I'm very impressed they had proper malt. Would be even better if served in old newspaper :p

 

That blue Martini looks very err.... blue. Did you like it and what is it? I always think blue drinks are bubble gum flavour :( Must remember to attend that activity next time.

 

lilly_35_ do you give Mr. Hippo permission to display your photo? :cool: Did you enjoy your cruise? Spot any hippos onboard?

[linzi000]

Loving the review. Cant believe the excitment over fish and chips lol. Im going to avoid the pub luch when im on the emerald i think. Im fed up with fish and chips now :D

[u2cruiser]

Loving the review. Cant believe the excitment over fish and chips lol. Im going to avoid the pub luch when im on the emerald i think. Im fed up with fish and chips now :D

 

I avoided it too. Last thing I want on my cruise is bangers and mash etc. I don't even eat them here. The only time we eat fish and chips is when we return from a holiday. :D