Review-Emerald Princess Baltics 7/18/11

[Genessa]

This was our 2nd Princess cruise in Europe, 1st in Baltics. Wow!

 

We spent 2 days prior in Copenhagen and 1 day after.

Arrived around 11:20AM for embarkation, were on the ship before 11:45AM.

We had never been on the Emerald before, but recently cruised on the Caribbean. I still prefer the smaller Sun class ships, but, except for breakfast the first morning in St. Petersburg, never felt a crowd.

 

The staff on Emerald were the most courteous and efficient we have seen in 12 Princess cruises. Passengers Service Desk, buffet servers, wait staff, everyone! Our steward - Chanakan on Aloha deck, was efficient and unobtrusive.

 

We chose Anytime Dining - our preference on port intensive cruises when my dh & I are travelling by ourselves. Longest wait time was about 5 minutes and that was on the first evening at "prime time" - 7:30 PM.

This cruise we skipped formal nights - didn't want to pack the extra weight of formal clothes - leave a little room in suitcase for souvenirs, lol. I was extremely pleasantly surprised by dinner in the buffet. I am not a fan of buffets. Generally a lot of mediocre food. But, on formal nights, they had the buffet set up in Caribe Cafe, behind Horizon Court, and laid out with starters, salads, soups. DH was disappointed with the seafood, but he usually is even in the main dining room.

 

We also ordered breakfast to the room several days - dh likes the egg/english muffin. Nice change from the buffet. We don't care for the main dining room breakfast experience.

 

 

We like the Lotus Pool and spent embarkation day there. The Lotus Spa staff, however, does not seem to appreciate people using that pool. Not that they said anything, but on occasion, the port door "out" of the pool area was locked and the bathroom was closed on the first day - luckily our cabin wasn't super far. On the first sea day, in fact, that pool was closed. We were told it was for maintenance, but I think it was not a coincidence. We used that pool most afternoons when we returned from port, but, you would think they could have scheduled work for a port day.

 

We noticed that our balcony connecting door had a clip added to it that would let you secure that door open, preventing the door clanging problem we have experienced on other cruises - good move!

 

We did not go to any entertainment, we were too tired most evenings, but did spend a little time in the casino. It was the emptiest I have ever seen on a cruise - not that I am complaining. The port lectures of John Lawrence were a don't miss - but if you did miss them, they were aired on the tv. Excellent information to supplement everything we had already gleaned from CC.

 

The ports were all terrific. We did a combination of Princess tours and private ones. Favorite Princess tour was the waterways in Stockholm, most disappointing, for me, was Kon-Tiki,Fram, in Norway - not that the excursion was bad, but when I saw how truly easy it would have been to do by ourselves and completely personalize it - less time here, more there. Next time. Best private was 2 day tour with Alla. Our guide Julia was amazing. We never waited on a line, anywhere, we got to see the Annie Leibowitz exhibition in Hermitage, along with extra time viewing Impressionists. We added a stop at a synagogue near the waterways cruise. It ended up being 3 of us, was supposed to be 4, but unfortunately one was not feeling up to the gruelling pace, and was it gruelling.

On our own, we really enjoyed Tallinn. Followed the walking tour posted by Lair Bair, by Jay Bruges, mostly, had also added in tidbits from Rick Steves. Added in the church museum and, on the recommendation of friends of friend, ate at PepperSack, rather than Old Hansa - food was amazing!

 

One more wonderful cruise!

Can't wait for our next Princess Cruise!

[Coolmama_1]

Great review. Thanks for sharing!!

[OnVacation11]

Thanks for the review. We also love the Emerald. It has the greatest staff of all the Princess ships we have sailed.

[Woobstr112G]

OP;

 

Outstanding review. Sounds like you had a wonderful cruise. I'm glad you enjoyed Tallinn. We were there a number of years ago and very much enjoyed the sights.....:):):)

 

Bob

[jg51]

Thank you, "Genessa," for the information that you provided. We're very glad to hear about your good experience, since we hope to sail on the Emerald Princess very soon.

 

It appears that you usually ate dinner in one of the main dining rooms, but that you ate at the Cafe Caribe buffet one or more nights. You did not mention the specialty restaurants, so we are unsure of whether or not you tried one or both. We are very interested in learning if Sabatini's on the Emerald is (1) still serving according to the old menu (in which one orders only an entree) or is (2) now serving according to the new menu (in which one orders each course). About a month ago, the news was that the new menu would be phased in, fleet-wide, over the course of this summer.

 

Thanks, in advance, for your reply (or a reply from anyone else who has very recently been aboard the Emerald).

[SJ27]

Great review, brings back good memories - we did this cruise on 26 June :)

[Grego]

Very nice review. We are monitoring other returning Baltic cruisers for their reviews as well.

 

Our particular interest is in the different port strategies for tours or doing it on our own and certainly in what do plan for currency-wise.

[Genessa]

Thank you, "Genessa," for the information that you provided. We're very glad to hear about your good experience, since we hope to sail on the Emerald Princess very soon.

 

It appears that you usually ate dinner in one of the main dining rooms, but that you ate at the Cafe Caribe buffet one or more nights. You did not mention the specialty restaurants, so we are unsure of whether or not you tried one or both. We are very interested in learning if Sabatini's on the Emerald is (1) still serving according to the old menu (in which one orders only an entree) or is (2) now serving according to the new menu (in which one orders each course). About a month ago, the news was that the new menu would be phased in, fleet-wide, over the course of this summer.

 

Thanks, in advance, for your reply (or a reply from anyone else who has very recently been aboard the Emerald).

 

we did not eat in any of the specialty restaurants so no idea about their menus - sorry.

[Genessa]

Very nice review. We are monitoring other returning Baltic cruisers for their reviews as well.

 

Our particular interest is in the different port strategies for tours or doing it on our own and certainly in what do plan for currency-wise.

 

 

we didn't get much local currency - used credit card - Capital One, most places.

Since we were staying 3 nights total Copenhagen, we did exchange $200, got a smidge more than 1000 Danish. Our hotel had free airport transfers, we used most of that cash paying for taxi to and from cruise ship terminal (240 one way, 260 the other). Bought our transportation tickets from hotel, charged to room, spent some cash in Tivoli buying Danish hot dogs and on Stroget for an ice cream after dinner. Coffee and yogurt and fruit or something from 7-Eleven (one place that didn't take our non-pin credit card). Bought some souvenirs at cruise terminal in Aarhus and spent the balance - on water and snack in airport

 

We also exchanged $100 into euros (60) on board the ship. We used that for all day transportation in Helsinki (14 euros for 2 people). We bought some kind of street food and ended up using the balance of the bills as part of the extra tip we left our cabin steward.

 

I did end up with some Norwegian change, but can't remember how I got it - it was either a place that took dollars or euros or Danish money, because we didn't change any currency into Norwegian money.

Russia we had booked a private tour and did not exchange any currency. Our tour was paid on 2nd day of tour, in rubles, on our credit card - I had checked out exchange rates the evening before and they were in the ballpark. We didn't purchase anything, but in the places where we "window shopped" prices were listed in rubles, euros and dollars.

 

 

So, long story short - you need some local currency for transportation, probably, and really not much else except women's bathrooms and men's stalls (urinals no charge). We found that most museums and places that have costs involved (restaurants, Tivoli Gardens) had free bathrooms and there are free public bathrooms near the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen.

 

My dh is not usually thrilled with public transportation, but it really worked out well. We ended up speaking with many locals, who couldn't have been nicer.

 

The only ports where I would use a tour again if we returned to the Baltics are St. Petersburg, where the only thing in Russian I can identify with any certainty are pharmacies (Anteka - sort of) and, since I wanted to see Fyrkat Fortress the ship's tour was an easy - if expensive - way to get there.

[Genessa]

Great review, brings back good memories - we did this cruise on 26 June :)

 

thanks SJ27 - I remember reading and appreciating your review.

[azgrandmax3]

Really appreciate all the info my husband and I are taking this tour next week.

[Genessa]

Really appreciate all the info my husband and I are taking this tour next week.

 

have a great time!

 

I wish we were going back. I just saw a show on tv about shopping in Tallinn and I discovered I missed a marzipan shop!!

Some people are chocolate addicts, me, I adore marzipan.

[erewhon]

Genessa,

 

Thank you for your interesting reports.

[Grego]

we didn't get much local currency - used credit card - Capital One, most places.

Since we were staying 3 nights total Copenhagen, we did exchange $200, got a smidge more than 1000 Danish. Our hotel had free airport transfers, we used most of that cash paying for taxi to and from cruise ship terminal (240 one way, 260 the other). Bought our transportation tickets from hotel, charged to room, spent some cash in Tivoli buying Danish hot dogs and on Stroget for an ice cream after dinner. Coffee and yogurt and fruit or something from 7-Eleven (one place that didn't take our non-pin credit card). Bought some souvenirs at cruise terminal in Aarhus and spent the balance - on water and snack in airport

 

Great information. This is the kind of stuff we need to know for our planning. Thanks.

[lovevacadays]

Thanks for the review. I'd like to do this cruise some day!

[srpilo]

Great review Genessa.

 

We did this cruise a couple of years ago on the Star, and I agree about Oslo, for us it was super easy to do it ourself and skip the Princess excursion.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for bring back nice memories

Srpilo

[Genessa]

Glad to be helpful - paying back some of the great info I've gotten here!

 

BTW, we were talking about our cruise with family tonight, and I remembered one thing I had forgotten when I wrote the review -

for anyone who is even thinking of skipping the life boat drill - the Princess staff that were stationed in the assigned areas were "checking in" everyone on their hand held card readers.

[IECalCruiser]

have a great time!

 

I wish we were going back. I just saw a show on tv about shopping in Tallinn and I discovered I missed a marzipan shop!!

Some people are chocolate addicts, me, I adore marzipan.

Thank you for your review. Searching the web planning for our cruise on the Emerald next year I discovered that Tallinn claimed to have created marzipan. At least one shop will be a mandatory stop for DW next year. Did you just miss one shop or did you miss the marzipan completely?

[cruisehappi]

Thanks for the review - I get to check out the Emerald in a couple of months. Glad to hear she's got a friendly crew.

[Genessa]

Thank you for your review. Searching the web planning for our cruise on the Emerald next year I discovered that Tallinn claimed to have created marzipan. At least one shop will be a mandatory stop for DW next year. Did you just miss one shop or did you miss the marzipan completely?

 

I missed the marzipan completely :(

 

and, when I "yelled" at my daughter's boyfriend for his friend failing to recommend it - friend lives in Helsinki and gave us pages of recommendations - practical and not - of things in Tallinn and Helsinki - he told me, no - marzipan was there!

 

and I missed it!

 

we'll just have to go back, someday, after the Med (not yet booked, but in the I think that's our next "big" cruise), but probably before New Zealand, LOL.

Or, maybe combine Tallinn with a river cruise in Europe somehow...

[granny49]

Thank you for your review. We did this cruise in 2008. We were on the Crown. We also used Alla for our tour in St Petersberg. This was one of my favorite cruises.

[IECalCruiser]

I missed the marzipan completely :(

 

and, when I "yelled" at my daughter's boyfriend for his friend failing to recommend it - friend lives in Helsinki and gave us pages of recommendations - practical and not - of things in Tallinn and Helsinki - he told me, no - marzipan was there!

 

and I missed it!

 

we'll just have to go back, someday, after the Med (not yet booked, but in the I think that's our next "big" cruise), but probably before New Zealand, LOL.

Or, maybe combine Tallinn with a river cruise in Europe somehow...

I don't want to make the thread a discussion about marzipan, but I wonder what the friend of your daughter's boyfriend recommended. I am aware of Kalev Mazipan, the Marzipan Museum and Maiasmokk Cafe but is there somewhere else? DW really loves marzipan and we will also have some Mozartkugeln while in Germany post cruise.

 

Thanks for your comments on local currencies. It is a pain the Denmark, Norway and Sweden don't use the Euro but with what we will be doing in those ports we probably won't need local currency. Looks like we will probably need a few Pounds and Euros for our three days post cruise in Germany.

[Genessa]

I don't want to make the thread a discussion about marzipan, but I wonder what the friend of your daughter's boyfriend recommended. I am aware of Kalev Mazipan, the Marzipan Museum and Maiasmokk Cafe but is there somewhere else? DW really loves marzipan and we will also have some Mozartkugeln while in Germany post cruise.

 

Thanks for your comments on local currencies. It is a pain the Denmark, Norway and Sweden don't use the Euro but with what we will be doing in those ports we probably won't need local currency. Looks like we will probably need a few Pounds and Euros for our three days post cruise in Germany.

 

those are the places he mentioned for marzipan.

And, if you want to eat - he recommended Peppersack for "medieval" food, instead of Old Hansa - which it is right across the street from.

 

the money was driving us crazy, until we just gave in to use credit card - which we don't usually do at home for small purchases.

[IECalCruiser]

those are the places he mentioned for marzipan.

And, if you want to eat - he recommended Peppersack for "medieval" food, instead of Old Hansa - which it is right across the street from.

 

the money was driving us crazy, until we just gave in to use credit card - which we don't usually do at home for small purchases.

I have also seen Peppersack recommended over Old Hansa on CC for "medieval" food. We have a CC that charges nothing for foreign exchange transactions so we will use that CC. We will be in Falmouth and Dover. In Dover on a CC post it stated that the cash line for Dover Castle was almost non existent while the CC line could take an hour so I will being some Pounds as well as Euros but hope to use the CC elsewhere. Our CC issuer has started offering a pin in chip card for U.S. card holders so I will pursue that option also.

 

Thanks once again for your review. We can't wait to board the Emerald in FLL for 27 days next April

[Host CJSKIDS]

have a great time!

 

I wish we were going back. I just saw a show on tv about shopping in Tallinn and I discovered I missed a marzipan shop!!

Some people are chocolate addicts, me, I adore marzipan.

 

My mom is actually from Aahrus, Denmark and I grew up eating marzipan. Love it! The best is a Danish brand by Anthon Berg, it's in a pink foil wrapper. It is my absolute favorite treat.