Live Emerald b2b Jan 17 and Jan 27

[OutofNJ!]

Hi Vickie!

 

I've been following this thread and enjoying your perspective. We will be on the Emerald 2/16 sailing, and we saw that Billy London will replace Tim Donovan as the CD. It seems that we may have lucked out! You are so positive about everything else, the entertainment must truly be a disappointment! I hope Billy London will be better! We love the nightlife on the ship!

 

Enjoy the rest of the sailing and keep the Emerald warm for us!

 

Marybeth

[PotatoBug]

He also said he will never sail again with Tim Donnovan as the cruise director as we have never been so disappointed in the entertainment on board, thankfully the entertainment does not make or break a cruise but it certainly adds to experience.

 

How far in advance can even find out who the CD will be?

[vickie_bernie]

Hi Vickie!

 

I've been following this thread and enjoying your perspective. We will be on the Emerald 2/16 sailing, and we saw that Billy London will replace Tim Donovan as the CD. It seems that we may have lucked out! You are so positive about everything else, the entertainment must truly be a disappointment! I hope Billy London will be better! We love the nightlife on the ship!

 

Enjoy the rest of the sailing and keep the Emerald warm for us!

 

Marybeth

 

thank you

[vickie_bernie]

St. Thomas

WHAT we are docked at Havensight! This means no Water Island like last sailing. I know many on board love Havensight but we much prefer the quieter Crown Bay and the easy assess to the water taxi. Sure we could fight the traffic and head over to catch the ferry but we opt to just relax on the ship all day.

We start out with breakfast in the stateroom, then down to the International Café where we run into our new friends Millie and Jim and we end up sitting there for over an hour.

Bernie wants to finish his book so I decide to head ashore for a short time. I think I am only ashore for about an hour. It is hot out and I have become a slave to the air conditioning now.

I am back on board and am so excited to see Brian and Christine back. Bernie heads up to the Sanctuary and I decide to stay in the cabin and catch up on my blog and to watch a movie. I ordered room service (clubhouse and salad).

We have our friends Gwenda/Collin over for sail away from St. Thomas, what a beautiful view. Today we are sent chips/salsa/guacamole which comes in handy for sail away. We all agree to meet later for Captain Circle Party, but as we go down to attend we see the long line and don’t feel like waiting in it and run into Paul and Yvonne who didn’t get an invite so we gave them ours and decided to head to dinner right at 7:30 for a dinner for the two of us and we are lucky to get to be served by Audry again. Tonight is the Chef’s dinner and Bernie enjoys the goat cheese soufflé, mushroom soup and the scallops, all were very good. I had the mushroom soup and the fried chicken, but asked Audry to omit the French fries and give me a salad, well she brought me a HUGE salad, which I think I ate only 1/8 th. Of it. Francesco had another special treat for us, tomatoes and mozzarella, and then he served us some octopus, which I tried but decided I prefer looking at them underwater.

After dinner we head to Club Fusion to for the 70’s multi media trivia where we win!!! But it is a bottle of champagne and we decide to give it to the team up at the front that were so funny during the whole game so that they can enjoy it. We then head over to Explorer’s lounge to see the comedian Carl Strong, be warned don’t come late or leave early from his show or you will be targeted. He has his moments, but I guess jokes about farting and bowel movements are more of a guy thing because Bernie really thought he was funny, me not so much. He has an adult show tonight at midnight tomorrow.

It is now 11:00 and the ship has gone quiet, there is the Pub Night “If I Were Not Upon the Sea” show tonight but we’ve seen it many times and somehow the bed just sounds so much more inviting.

[ROWSE]

Vickie: Thank you again for making our wait time till Feb. 6th exciting! Sounds like the noro virus did not rear it's ugly head again, thankfully!!

 

Palolake: Do you remember us, we were on the Emerald with you in 2009. We took the Eli Echo tour together and when Vickie mentioned a Bill and Cathy, I wondered if it was you. Then I saw the Palolake and knew for sure.

Well I finally took your advice to get to Bonaire for that wonderful snorkeling. Wish you could be on this one with us too!!!

 

Kitty

[PotatoBug]

Vickie, reading about your b2b has inspired me to book the 2nd itinerary for next Feb. I don't know that we'll actually get to go, but maybe ...

[chamima]

Vickie, reading about your b2b has inspired me to book the 2nd itinerary for next Feb. I don't know that we'll actually get to go, but maybe ...

 

 

YEAH!!!!!!!!

See you then :D:D:D:D:D

[PotatoBug]

We'll see, Karen. First I have to tell DW and hope I survive :eek: ;)

[vickie_bernie]

Day at Sea

Sleeping in! I am too lazy to get out of bed, Bernie heads up to get some breakfast and he brings me a latte so that I can at least function. After a shower we head towards the International Café for a beverage. We see Tim Donovan and Billy London (his replacement) and welcome him on board. The Bijoux sail is happening this sailing and we take a quick walk thru but once again it is way too crowded and we walk out with nothing.

I head off to find a quiet corner to read and Bernie heads off to Trivia and when we meet up again we decide on lunch in the dining room. My first time during the entire 20 days and it was very very good. But I need to pace myself as we are dining in the Crown Grill tonight.

After lunch I feel like getting some sun and run into Paul/Yvonne and Brian/Christine but they are situated in a spot where you hear Movies Under the Sun (total waste of time) and the Neptune Pool and the band playing. It is like dueling sounds and it is driving me nuts and I head more forward so all I can hear is the band. I had a nice chat with a lady from Montreal about her cruise, for which she is travelling with her three teenage daughters!

Dinner is at 6:30 but before hand a quick stop in Skywalkers for a nice glass of port is in order. We meet up with Johan and Peter in the Crown Grill and we have a fabulous dinner with great wine, great friends and great food. Bernie had the foie gras, French onion soup, and the filet mignon, I had a nice salad, French Onion soup and the filet mignon. Yummy and of course the chocolate molten lava cake, Peter had two, yup two pieces of lemon pie and he ate both! But he did share a few bites, and it was to die for. Staff once again were amazing and it sure makes for a special treat.

After dinner it was a few more glasses of wine and we managed to make it back to our cabin just before midnight (the ship was deserted as not much was going on).

We are in Princess Cays tomorrow, our last day.

[vickie_bernie]

We'll see, Karen. First I have to tell DW and hope I survive :eek: ;)

 

that is great Rick and good luck with telling Diane.... you will love it.

 

We love the crew on board the emerald and would love to sail with them again

[palolake]

Vickie: Thank you again for making our wait time till Feb. 6th exciting! Sounds like the noro virus did not rear it's ugly head again, thankfully!!

 

Palolake: Do you remember us, we were on the Emerald with you in 2009. We took the Eli Echo tour together and when Vickie mentioned a Bill and Cathy, I wondered if it was you. Then I saw the Palolake and knew for sure.

Well I finally took your advice to get to Bonaire for that wonderful snorkeling. Wish you could be on this one with us too!!!

 

Kitty

 

Sure, Kitty, I remember you. What are you doing in Bonaire?

 

Cathy

[palolake]

We are in Princess Cays tomorrow, our last day.

 

Ah, Vickie, what a sad, sad day!!!

[PotatoBug]

that is great Rick and good luck with telling Diane.... you will love it.

 

Thanks Vickie! You and Bernie are doing South America next year, right?

 

We love the crew on board the emerald and would love to sail with them again

 

Except for the CD, right?

 

Enjoy your last full day. Might as well go for the burn now :rolleyes:

[cwayne]

Vickie,

Thanks for all your postings. I have cruised vicariously through your posts these last 10 days and they have kept me from being totally depressed since getting off on the 27th. We're going to do the partial Panama Canal next year on the Island Princess. When Wayne retires in a few years we will be able to cruise more frequently and hope to cruise with you again. Take care and many happy voyages to you and Bernie. :)

Monika and Wayne

[Miss Jolly]

We will be on Emerald on 16th Feb and are getting very excited. Can you please tell me if they have any type of laundry deals on the ship? Thank you. Thanks also for clearing up about Soufferies - a shame it is not just a short water taxi ride away. If we did catch the water taxi, is there much to see at the opposite end?

[PescadoAmarillo]

There were $20 a bag specials at least one time on every cruise.

[WannaCruise365]

Pescado..No luck on staying on the Emerald for another cruis? I remember you were waitlisted....hard to believe given the economy most ships are sailing full..light at the end of the tunnel..are you going to do a mass review of your winter cruises, hope so! :p

[PescadoAmarillo]

Pescado..No luck on staying on the Emerald for another cruis? I remember you were waitlisted....hard to believe given the economy most ships are sailing full..light at the end of the tunnel..are you going to do a mass review of your winter cruises, hope so! :p

 

No luck. When I checked last night, our waitlisted booking was marked CANCELLED, so we took that to mean there was no room in the inn. At some point, I think it was about the time we schlepped our bags to the hallway last night, I was finally ready to go home. However, now, sitting at the FLL airport for 5 1/2 hours (we were willingly bumped to a later, but direct flight), I can actually see a Princess ship from where I'm sitting and I want to be on it NOW!! My tummy is rumbling, food is ridiculously priced and NOT served with a smile, there's 10" of new snow at home. I miss my cruising life!!

 

I may do a review, once I dig out of the piles of mail, laundry, cleaning and, oh yeah, that little irritation called work. ;). There was a message waiting for me to sub this week- back at it!

[WannaCruise365]

"My tummy is rumbling, food is ridiculously priced and NOT served with a smile, there's 10 ft of new snow at home. I miss my cruising life!"

 

We felt the exactly the same last Sunday:mad:..other than no snow for us ....cruising is; for us literally the "Life of Riley"~:p And the only cure is to book another one..and start the countdown..Always enjoy both you and Vicki's travel journals~Thank you~

[PotatoBug]

there's 10" of new snow at home. I miss my cruising life!!

 

Then Highlands Ranch got about twice as much as Boulder ... :)

[PescadoAmarillo]

Then Highlands Ranch got about twice as much as Boulder ... :)

We just arrived home a short time ago. It's definitely worse in the southern (and, we were told, western) suburbs. We ended up getting voluntarily bumped again...I definitely see more cruises in the not-too-distant future with all the Southwest vouchers we now have. It's almost like living in Florida or CA or the Pacific NW now!

 

:D:D:D

[PotatoBug]

You might want to leave this afternoon - there's another storm headed in tonight. :eek:

[Two_UW_Badgers]

We had a good laugh while sitting around the coffee bar our friend from the Purser’s desk shows up (names will be spared to protect him) and a passenger interrupts us and asks to speak to him. We see him pull our friend over to the side and his first few comments are “we are very seasoned cruisers but I am very concerned…..” and that is all we heard but Bernie could see that this gentleman was very concerned about something and even took a napkin out and drew a map but we weren’t sure what was going on, until our friend came back with a look of shock on his face. Apparently this gentleman is very upset and concerned about an earthquake happening in the Caribbean and a rouge wave hitting the ship and what would the Captain do. Our friend is holding back the laughs and is actually thinking maybe he was set up. Well we will have to keep playing that up.

 

So funny- we were sitting directly to your right! My husband heard the incident with the napkin drawing and then we heard a bit of the staff member laughing about it with you afterwards. If I had known it was you, Vickie, I would have said something!

 

We very much enjoyed the 10-day cruise.

[Comeoncruisin]

we really loved meeting you too and Bernie just thinks you are so cute!

 

We are still under red alert but it looks good so far, I've been told that if all goes well it will be cleared if no one new breaks out with it.

 

Turnaround for in transit was a little longer than normal they allowed us back on the ship but we had to wait in Club Fusion as a group for about a half hour (juice, tea coffee papers were provided) until they finished sanitizing the entire ship.

 

We have a cigar smoker in the inside cabin right across the hall from us and the smoke is coming in our cabin! we are dealing with it thru the pursers desk as it clearly states no cigar/pipe smoking in your cabin.

 

Francesco is taking care of us again inDavinci

 

will write mroe later, internet is slow today

 

 

 

We have never done a B2B and were wondering how you get your card for the next leg of your cruise. Do you have to leave with everyone else and then wait to preboard again.

Thanks

[Comeoncruisin]

we really loved meeting you too and Bernie just thinks you are so cute!

 

We are still under red alert but it looks good so far, I've been told that if all goes well it will be cleared if no one new breaks out with it.

 

Turnaround for in transit was a little longer than normal they allowed us back on the ship but we had to wait in Club Fusion as a group for about a half hour (juice, tea coffee papers were provided) until they finished sanitizing the entire ship.

 

We have a cigar smoker in the inside cabin right across the hall from us and the smoke is coming in our cabin! we are dealing with it thru the pursers desk as it clearly states no cigar/pipe smoking in your cabin.

 

Francesco is taking care of us again inDavinci

 

will write mroe later, internet is slow today

 

 

 

We have never done a B2B and were wondering how you get your cruise card for the next leg of your cruise. Do you have to leave with everyone else and then wait to preboard again.

Thanks