::: Review::: Emerald Princess 10/19-10/29 Eastern Caribbean

[cornish1]

Congratulations Guys

 

Your photos are wonderful and you look so happy. My husband and I were married on 21st October and have just celebrated our 38th anniversary. We went to Paris for our honeymoon. I was a teacher when we got married and we had a school production wedding. We were married by the school chaplain, the headmaster played the organ, the older children sang songs from the show Godspel during the signing of the register and the PTA organised the reception in the school hall. A really special day to remember as I am sure you will remember your wonderful time on Emerald.

[wishful thinking]

Congratulations Guys

 

Your photos are wonderful and you look so happy. My husband and I were married on 21st October and have just celebrated our 38th anniversary. We went to Paris for our honeymoon. I was a teacher when we got married and we had a school production wedding. We were married by the school chaplain, the headmaster played the organ, the older children sang songs from the show Godspel during the signing of the register and the PTA organised the reception in the school hall. A really special day to remember as I am sure you will remember your wonderful time on Emerald.

 

That is absolutely WONDERFUL. What a really special day.

[spingal]

I am really enjoying your review!! I am on the Emerald at the end of March. Was your Barbados excursion through the ship or did you book independently?

 

Thanks! And congratulations on your marriage! :D

[jools28]

Thanks for this great review and congrats on your marriage.

 

We too would like to know who the tour was with in Barbados we will be on the Emerald Feb 6th to 26th. :D This time we will do the balcony dinner either Mike's birthday or Valentines day...... Look forward to the rest of your story.......Julie & Mike

[jillocb]

We booked our cruise in Barbados through Calabaza. Book early because they only take 12 people on their catamaran per day. I would give them 5 stars....6 if it was possible. They make you feel like family. Calabaza Cruises. Sorry I forgot to mention that earlier.

 

Definitely do the Balcony Dinner! My husband (!) and I are not rich, we are newlyweds which means we don't have a lot to throw around. The Balcony Dinner was something that is a not to be missed experience, in my opinion. I might have said it before but it's like being on your own private island, with your own waiter and as much food as you can eat (and more!!)

[Spender Nui]

Enjoying sharing your honeymoon. Keep it coming.

[GIGGIRL]

Thanks for sharing your experience and congratulations. My DH and I are sailing on the Emerald 3/18 for our 20th anniversary. Think a surprise UBD is in order :) Sooooo, looking forward to it!:D

[JanaJohn]

We also drank. They had rum punch (which apparently was better than the rum punch on St Lucia) and local beers. Those local beers were GOOD! The best I tried on all of the islands.

 

I'm with you....I love local beers! I'll try them anywhere I go. They taste so much better than your run of the mill Bud, Miller, Coors, etc which I can drink at home anytime. So when I travel I always look for the local brews! On our next cruise we won't be in Barbados so I won't be trying any Banks lager but I'll keep it in mind if I ever head that way.

 

Congratulations on your marriage and thanks for your review! The pictures are GREAT too!!!

[LollyMoz]

Now this is what I call a review. Love it and love the photos! Wonderful! Congratulations on your marriage. :)

[jillocb]

 

Not much to say on this one. We got off the ship around 11am to look around. We didn't do much except get a couple of local beers and do some shopping of the local vendors.

 

 

We were back on the ship early on this one and I went to the pool while he went to shoot some hoops.

 

After we cleaned up and had dinner, we watched Monday Night Football.

I do have to say, I loved MUTS for one reason and one reason only. We could sit outside, drinking an awesome drink and watch NFL on a big honkin' screen. Now THAT was fun. Otherwise, not a huge fan of MUTS. The good thing is if you don't like it, the Emerald has plenty of other places to go, other pools to use where you don't hear it. I find it amazing the amount of people that complain about this when all you have to do is get up and move... But whatever. It was a lot of fun to watch football on. :)

 

This is from the Pat's game on Sunday

 

Check out that rainbow!

 

[jillocb]

Never sit in the front row for a show when you are the youngest people in the audience on a cruise ship. You will undoubtedly be picked on by the person or people in that show. That is all I'm saying. At least I got a free DVD out of this....thanks, James Michael.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And for those of you that were there for that spectacle, "I've got an orange! I've got it, I've got it..."

[gardener718]

First of all, congratulations on your marriage, and may you have many, many happy years, with just a few tears and lots & lots of cruises. Although nothing ever compares to that first cruise, each one has its own memories.

 

I will be on the Emerald Jan. 7, 2010 and really looking forward to this cruise. :) I am traveling with someone (special) who has only cruised once many years ago and will see things through his eyes. :D

 

I have been to most of these ports & know they are depressed & doing something else (usually through a private tour company) or staying on the ship is pretty much a better choice.

 

Your review is wonderful and so are your pictures, (say any chance you could send me a cd of them, :o lol) it certainly would take the pressure off and I would not need to worry about taking any. lol (except asking others to take pictures of the two of us of course). No one would know and they are WONDERFUL! :D

 

Hope to see more!

 

Thanks again for the time & effort that went into the review & the posting of pictures. (not something that I have mastered)

 

Enjoy your memories & relive them often.

[Colo Cruiser]

James!!!!!

 

What a hoot!! :D

[ladylynne]

absolutely loved james michael!

[karinad]

Thanks for the great review and pictures! We were on this cruise with you, and my dh and I both had a great time. We were all so lucky that we had pretty good weather and missed Tomas. I pray for the people on the islands that were hit. Best of luck to you and your new husband!

[Oahucruiser]

One of the best reviews ever and especially great with all the photos. You write with such joy. Easy to see how much you enjoyed everything and being a newlywed.

[sharkwl]

Hi Jillocb! Nice review! We loved James Michael too! We were standing right near you and Gilda was soooooo happy you got picked and not her! LOL! You did a great job on-stage!! Wasn't the Calabaza catamaran cruise with Gina just awesome! Nice photo of Gilda and I! LOL! We really enjoyed your company and hope you had as much fun on this cruise as we did! Happy cruisin! :)

[1 HappyCruiser]

 

 

 

Food

 

 

Princess' Famous Fettucini. I added more pepper to mine but there is plenty of cheese! You only get the cheese bowl if you get it as your Entree

 

btw- You can ask the waiter for a cheese bowl even if ordered as an appetizer - They just don't fill it quite as much. ;)

[jillocb]

btw- You can ask the waiter for a cheese bowl even if ordered as an appetizer - They just don't fill it quite as much. ;)

Good to know for next time, that actually might make me quite happy. Hahaha! I loved that cheese bowl!

[jillocb]

There has been a lot of talk about what happened when we got to St Thomas. Here are the facts I know that the Captain relayed to us. A pilot could not get to the ship. We had to send a tender to pick the pilot up. We finally docked around...11am, I think it was?

 

Anyways, this didn't affect us but we know it affected other excursions. Two to St Johns were cancelled. We weren't affected because again, we didn't do an excursion in St Thomas. It was actually really to be on the ship that morning when everyone else was waiting to get off, I had practically the whole aft pool to myself! That pool was always crowded. Seriously, I got up for an early breakfast at 6:30 one day and all of the chairs had towels on them already. Gah...hogs!

 

 

Here you can see three ships lined up ready to come in to port, as well:

 

So, I sat there, at my own private pool, and watched the rest of the boats come in. We had docked behind a Carnival ship and then the Carnival Dream docked behind us.

 

 

We got off the ship and got this shot of the Emerald flanked by Carnival ships.

 

Oh my gosh, it was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo crowded in St Thomas and we were soooooooooooooo tired of shopping that we ran to the nearest bar.

 

Yum! Not as good as Barbados' beer but close! And yet, to our chagrin, another island beer that is brewed in the states. Booo!

 

 

More of what we did in St Thomas to come...

[jillocb]

Some scenic shots of St Thomas before we got crowded out of the town. There were FIVE ships in port that day!!

 

 

 

 

 

I want this house.

 

[jillocb]

Hope I'm not boring you...

 

We decided to walk back to the ship from the downtown shopping (read: crowded) area.

 

Along the way, we found these. I do believe Banks has met it's match with Blackbeards Ale!!

 

at:

 

 

Not a bad place to work, if you ask me:

 

 

We stumbled back...and got properly welcomed back.

 

At 3pm or so, we made it back on the ship. St Thomas was a very drunk stop. I really think it helped us get past the crowds. We met a girl from Boston working at the Drunk ... I mean Fat Turtle. Asked her if she had heard of Kenny Chesney's song Boston. Anyone? Anyone?

 

Then, we went to the buffet, ate more food than I think we ate in one lunch sitting ever and ... took a nap. Next thing I knew, we were out of port!

 

View of one of the Carnival ships after dark.

[Sanibel*Gal]

Boring us - No Way & OMG - We were in St. Thomas once with 5 ships too and it was a zoo! One minute we were walking along downtown & the next thing we know there are hundreds maybe thousands all around us.:eek: Very claustrophobic & it was almost impossible to find a cab back to the ship.

 

Love the pic of James Michael - we sat & talked with him for a while one late afternoon in the Wheelhouse. Nice guy too - did you know he was a cage fighter???

[metairiegal]

I'm lovin' your review and pics! Less than 2 weeks and I'll be on the Emerald! :D

[jillocb]

absolutely loved james michael!

 

We did, too! He was our favorite of all of the entertainers by far.