Elbow Room on Emerald Princess

[OCruisers]

No.

 

Honestly, every meal we've ever eaten in an HAL dining room seemed to take forever. Every. Single. One.

 

:D Have to agree with you on that!

 

No HAL bashing because we do like HAL ... but the service in the MDR is soooooooooooo slow. Seems worse in recent years. :rolleyes:

 

LuLu

~~~~~

[canadarocks]

Good to know about the MDR. We'll save breakfasts there for sea days! ;)

[lovevacadays]

So nice to hear that you were satisfied with your experience on the Emerald. I too find Princess' ships have a lot of areas for "hanging out" in. I have never really felt like a Princess ship was overcrowded. Keep in mind, though, that I have only sailed Princess on warm weather cruises.

[musicmom3]

The piazza is usually full during the day, but the IC itself (by the coffee bar) may or may not be.

 

I was pleasantly surprised that we mostly always found seating in the IC when we wanted it, the exception being when there was a backup of anytime-dining beeper people. From reading about the popularity of the IC, I had prepared myself to be shut out. It was to the waitstaff's credit that they figured out within the first couple of days that we were not interested in coffee cards, so we didn't have to hear a sales pitch every time we enjoyed the IC. And you sure are right about the piazza--usually full!

[musicmom3]

We love the rooms at the very stern of the ship but oh boy did these ever rock and roll and creak and shake. And...we have been on five trans Atlantics with never this kind of problem.

 

We were in the furthest cabin forward except for one on the Dolphin deck and it was like driving a three-wheeled car in there at night. My husband suggested to Princess, when he filled out his survey today, that they should just put the blacksmith shop in the cabin so we could tell them to pipe down. Seriously, for over half the trip, we didn't sleep much because of the incessant noise. I am a stoic sort of person but I actually found it scary at times. We did a transatlantic once previously, on NCL, and while there was some creaking, it was absolutely nothing like this. But then again, since we made all our ports on that trip (except Greenland), I was assuming that the seas then had to have been much calmer. Am I understanding you correctly to be saying that this noise is not typical on other ships when there are stormy seas? I had just told my husband it was no more transatlantics for me!

[DavidTravels]

Hi Musicmom:

 

We were on the Celebrity Constellation doing a northern Atlantic crossing (Dover to NYC) in Septermber and while the seas were rough and one day we had 30 foot waves it was no where near the noise and movement found on the Emerald Princess. Same with NCL Epic (Southampton to NYC) which was in June so seas were calmer.

 

Our three southern crossings from/to Fort Lauderdale/Miami have all been very smooth...I know it depends greatly on time of year/weather so no gaurantees.

 

We have done 28 cruises and this was definitely the rockiest. It didn't help that they decided to varnish the door leading to the Terrace Pool which was outside our room...the smell in the morning didn't help the feeling of seasickness!!

David Travels

[Anniesails]

We have completed several Caribbean itineraries on the Emerald and most recently, the Northern Europe (Baltic) trip. Never felt crowded. absolutely love the ship, upgraded to a minisuite the last time and will "never go back". Love the extra room and full tub in the bathroom. Happy sails!!!

[musicmom3]

Hi Musicmom:

 

We were on the Celebrity Constellation doing a northern Atlantic crossing (Dover to NYC) in Septermber and while the seas were rough and one day we had 30 foot waves it was no where near the noise and movement found on the Emerald Princess. Same with NCL Epic (Southampton to NYC) which was in June so seas were calmer.

 

Our three southern crossings from/to Fort Lauderdale/Miami have all been very smooth...I know it depends greatly on time of year/weather so no gaurantees.

 

We have done 28 cruises and this was definitely the rockiest. It didn't help that they decided to varnish the door leading to the Terrace Pool which was outside our room...the smell in the morning didn't help the feeling of seasickness!!

David Travels

 

This is interesting information! Perhaps I was too hasty in swearing off transatlantics. But if nothing else, I know now that we need to do a lot more research before selecting ships, itineraries, and times of year. And just the thought of that varnish is giving me a headache....

[musicmom3]

We have completed several Caribbean itineraries on the Emerald and most recently, the Northern Europe (Baltic) trip. Never felt crowded. absolutely love the ship, upgraded to a minisuite the last time and will "never go back". Love the extra room and full tub in the bathroom. Happy sails!!!

 

The space in the minisuite was a lifesaver for us, with those six sea days in a row. Although I liked the look of the storage in the balcony staterooms (we peeked in at one), the lack of a couch made the room feel a little small to me. If we travel with Princess again, I definitely would try to swing a minisuite again. For this trip, we had originally booked a Caribe balcony, but thanks to a sale, we wound up with a minisuite on Dolphin at $250 less per person than the original cost of the balcony stateroom. That was a nice position to be in!