11-28/12-8 2010 Emerald Princess Review

[ccrain]

This is the summary review for our Emerald Princess cruise. When the formal review gets posted, I will paste a link here. The travelog part can be found at:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1314935

 

in the "Live From..." thread.

 

Emerald Princess

11-28-10 and 12-8-10 B2B

 

C751 Aft Suite

 

Summary Cruise Review (Travel Log Follows)

 

Overall

 

In the top 4 of our 20 cruises. And not just because of the suite either, although the suite perks of Sabbatini’s for breakfast, dining room menu room service and the extra room did not hurt at all. We were never bored, had a blast and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and even in 20 days, still could not do it all.

 

That is the mark of a great cruise.

 

Service:

 

Top notch. From Elena in Sabbatini’s to Armen in the dining room to the room service personnel to Carlos, our room steward, to the bar staff in all the lounges and up on the decks, service was simply outstanding. No issues in getting glasses of water or diet coke. All friendly, smiling, eager to please and a pleasure to interact with.

 

The Ship:

 

The Emerald is a full Gem Class Super Grand. Probably the pinnacle of the Fincanteri Super Grand designs first produced in the Caribbean Princess and culminated in the Emerald, Crown and Ruby. It has the extra Riviera deck of people, no shopping cart handle Skywalkers, Club Fusion, with the Casino on Deck 6, the Crown on Deck 7 and with the Wheelhouse forward of Explorers to make room for a larger photo gallery and the Crown Grill. The ship is absolutely gorgeous and we love the Club Fusion concept and how it got used on the ship. The walking/jogging track on top of Skywalkers is a great idea, the gym is state of the art with Precor elliptical and treadmills and the Promenade, while still narrow and with the stairs detour to Deck 8, is still a great walk around the ship.

 

Based on the Emerald design, we will try the two new larger ships, if only to see how they are. After swearing off the Grand class in 2004, and then finding out the secret to avoiding crowds, we really enjoy the extra amenities of the Super Grands and will sail on them, and their larger siblings, again.

 

Food:

 

Good to very good in the dining room. The Horizon Court was also surprisingly good as well. I’m not a Horizon Court lunch fan, but the cold salads at lunch were exceptional. The most noticeable thing about the food was that it was very well seasoned to our American tastes, which meant sweeter desserts and a little more salt, pepper and heavier on spicing. Horizon Court dinners were quite good as well. But of course the best part was ordering off the breakfast, lunch and dinner menus to the suite to eat on the balcony overlooking the stern wake. Bonaire was probably the highlight of the dinners on the balcony because the ship was docked till late and we were able to eat in beautiful silence while the town lit up as the sky darkened. We even had guests on the balcony one night as Ken and Merrily, the on board ballroom dance instructors, joined us for dinner. The room service staff dutifully delivered a cart full of food and I served as we talked and ate while the ship slid through the water. Aft balconies are simply the best.

 

The lamb was outstanding. I had lamb 5 times in the first ten days including Crown Grill and Chef’s table. It was all really, really good.

 

Chef’s table was the food highlight and was worth every penny. This was our 5th or 6th chef’s table, and we never tire of the experience.

 

We love anytime dining and not feeling obligated to show up at a certain time. On a couple of occasions we had a light dinner in Vines, drinking wine, having sushi from Vines and salads from the International Café. Very light, very nice, very tasty.

 

Entertainment:

 

I didn’t really care for the new production shows. Not as much as the ones in the past like Caliente, one of my favorites. And it wasn’t the acting or the dancing or the singing, it was the writing. One of the better ones, Boogie Shoes, had great potential, but had a couple of non-sequitor transitions in the writing that just made me go ‘huh’? Of course it also had a couple of memorable moments, the best of which was the cowboy pole dance and the boots segments. Motor City was very good, as it is one of the older ones and one of our favorites as well.

 

The comedians were by and large ok. Rolling Jay Moore’s adult show kind of flopped, but his regular show was hilarious. Billy Vader was good, but when he plays off Tim Donovan, its one hilarious ride.

 

The little vignettes in the Piazza are definitely worth seeing – again and again and again. From Etienne the juggler, to Alyessa the world champion hoola hooper, they are very entertaining and typically, the performer does several different routines, not just one, so it pays to catch as many as you can.

 

There was plenty of dancing. With Phoenix Rising in the Wheelhouse, Icon in Explorer’s trading off with the Orchestra and canned music in Fusion, we had no lack of dancing. In fact on the last day between line dance class, ballroom class, Fusion, Explorer’s and the Piazza, we put 13,600+ steps on Judy’s pedometer – over 4.5 miles of dancing. Smoke kept us out of Skywalkers at night, its one of the last lounges you can smoke in, but we were pretty tired by midnight so we didn’t miss it by much.

 

Activities:

 

This is where the Emerald, for us, really shined. Tim Donovan and his team made this cruise great for us. Tim was our CD on our #3 cruise and now our #4 cruise in our top 5, and all due to the jam packed entertainment and activity schedule. Plenty of non-trivia activities, even though we like to observe the musical trivia’s by DJ Mark. Line dance class with Miko or Alicia, ballroom class with Ken and Merrily, 50’s night, 80’s night, country western night, Halloween night, the Island Deck Party and Pub Night with Emma, Michael, Alex and Mark, plus MUTS as a backup – we always had something to do – usually two things at the same time! Pub night and the Island Deck party were the most memorable for us if we had to choose, but we enjoyed all the activities and the enthusiasm of the staff was infectious and just made for one great night after another.

 

Night after night we drug ourselves back to the cabin after midnight, sore and tired, still high from all the dancing and partying, but thoroughly satisfied and talking about what a great time we had. This is a symptom of a great cruise – needing a vacation to recover from your vacation!

 

The Itinerary:

 

We loved the itinerary. Especially since we’ve been to most of the islands before, we stayed on the ship, or got off for a short time, and enjoyed a leisurely pace uninterrupted by excursion schedules. The islands are beautiful, the people are friendly and certainly not as pushy as Jamaica or Mexico. The ship is our primary destination, but we do like to get off and wander around sometimes.

 

Princess Cays and St. Thomas were the highlights for us. Princess Cays because of the extensive facilities, beach combing opportunities and great lunch; St Thomas for its great snorkeling, clear water and huge/numerous fish. Treazzure, our sole excursion on this trip, was a great way to spend a day in St Thomas. The food, the snorkeling, the crew were just great and highly recommended – but allocate your time carefully. Unlike ship excursions, their 6 hour tour begins when they pick you up in Red Hook, not when you get off the ship. We were 15 minutes from missing the gangway!

 

Dominica, Antigua and Bonaire, three islands we’ve never been to before, were very nice. The shops of handmade jewelry at Dominica were bargains and the crystal clear water at Bonaire was just incredibly beautiful.

 

The Cabin:

 

C751 on the Emerald was the Martinique Suite on the aft starboard side of the ship. It has the two beams on the balcony which do limit chair placement, but nothing major. Aft balconies are our favorite. Hands down. Side balconies are windy when the ship is in motion – aft balconies are not – plus the wake noise is perfect for falling asleep to.

 

The suite was all and more that we hoped for. Roomy, especially the five piece two room bath, walk in closet, dressing table AND desk with a wet bar and dual sliding doors to the balcony, it was simple wonderful. The suite perks are just simply icing on the cake!

[ccrain]

Full Review and Travelog are up on the review website at:

 

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=76657

[Mary Ellen]

Thank you for letting us know.

[cruisehome]

thanks for the great review

 

we are thinking of doing the emerald next october

 

carol

[rundent]

Thanks for your review. You alluded to a secret to avoiding the crowds on a Grand class ship. What's that?

[Caribbean Sunsets]

Thanks for the review. I was on the previous cruise over Thanksgiving. I agree completely regarding the comedians and the Piazza entertainment. It was nice to grab a specialty coffee and enjoy the performances.

[ccrain]

Thanks for your review. You alluded to a secret to avoiding the crowds on a Grand class ship. What's that?

 

We chose anytime dining and eat early, around 530, which gets us out of the general flow of traffic, typically dictated by the end of the traditional dining settings.

 

By being flexible and out of the flow we miss a lot of the crowds.

 

If we don't get to dinner early, we either hit the HC or wait until later at night or just hit one of the alternative dining venues.