Emerald Princess Cruise Journal - Southern Caribbean Dec. 9 to 19 with Photos

[AryMay]

No matter that my intentions are always to write a quick review…each time I’ve done this it has turned into an epic account of our days at sea. (I refer you to the links in my signature if you don’t believe me.) This time I will just start with a disclaimer…it will. be. long. Therefore…if you are so inclined, just skip ahead to the photos and I will understand. This cruise was our first on Princess…all previous cruises have been on Carnival. Throughout the review I will be making comparisons between the two. I actually made a list of where I thought each cruise line excelled...and where they fell short.

 

Our crew consisted of myself and my husband, Bob, from Minnesota along with our friends Kent and Laurel from Illinois. Our friendship dates back to the mid 1970’s when Laurel and I were college roommates…and Bob and Kent were roommates. Over the 35+ years since we have stayed close (in friendship…but not geographically) and have vacationed together a few times. A cruise to the southern Caribbean was first discussed back in 2009, but due to some health issues and a huge storm that sent three huge trees crashing through Kent and Laurel’s roof, those plans were abandoned. The money they had saved for the cruise was spent on rebuilding parts of the house instead. :( Kent actually carved a huge giraffe out of one of the tree stumps that was left and it is named, Aruba, in memory of the cruise that never happened.

 

 

As it does, life got in the way and it wasn't until this past spring that we once again started talking about sharing a cruise. All of our previous six cruises have been on Carnival. Kent and Laurel traveled with us on the Carnival Paradise, their only cruise. We have visited many of the Caribbean islands, but Dominica was one island on our bucket list so in the planning I started looking for cruises that visited this island.

 

I discovered the 10 day Emerald Princess Southern Caribbean Medley…and at about the same time also ran across Pescado Amarillo’s blog. I read…and then re-read every post and decided this itinerary was ideal. This wonderful couple spends their winters at sea on the Emerald Princess…and she faithfully blogs about each and every day.

 

Initially we chose the February 7th sailing, but ended up switching to the December 7th cruise instead. In searching for airfare, we found cheaper rates going two days early…enough that the savings would pretty much cover the cost of an extra night in a hotel. As the days and weeks passed, we were able to take advantage of some price drops in both the airfare on Southwest and also on the cruise fare as well. I really liked the idea of doing a Southern Caribbean cruise out of Florida. Our last cruise on the Carnival Victory left from San Juan and the airfare was a killer!

 

[AryMay]

Friday, December 6 – Minneapolis

 

We live about 3 hours from Minneapolis/St. Paul. Having adult kids living in the Twin Cities area gave us a bed for the night, but finding a ride to the airport was a little tougher with their busy schedules. Luckily one son is a hotel manager and had connections that enabled us to leave our car at a hotel near the Mall of America and use their shuttle to get to MSP.

 

Saturday, December 7 – On to Ft. Lauderdale

 

The temperature was -17º (with a MUCH lower windchill) on Saturday morning as we drove in to the city to drop off our car. I’ll admit that I was just a little nervous that we would return to a car that wouldn’t start AND a freezing cold house back home. (Our furnace had been having issues and would just randomly quit.)

 

 

Check in at MSP was a breeze and the flight…with a layover in Atlanta…went smoothly.

 

 

 

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale around 6 pm and when we stepped out of the terminal to get a taxi it was almost a 100º increase from what we left morning. Ahhhhhh…wonderful!

 

By being Hilton Honors members, we were able to get what I considered a pretty good deal on the Embassy Suites hotel on 17th Street. The one other time we had sailed out of Port Everglades we had stayed at nearby Hyatt Place but even trying to book that hotel through Value Trips dot com as we had done previously proved to be more expensive than what we found for Embassy Suites.

 

 

When we checked into the hotel, I waited maybe 2 minutes at the most, but yet the gal at the desk apologized over and over for making me wait. For my “trouble” she gave me a gift bag containing bottled waters and several snacks PLUS a code for free internet (normally $10/day.) The daily free manager’s reception was still in progress so she offered to keep our bags while we grabbed some snacks and a drink. The snacks were just that…goldfish crackers, chips, salsa, etc. and the drink of the day was a Bahama Mama. Not enough to call it a meal, but hey…it was free!

 

Kent and Laurel had arrived earlier that afternoon and we joined them in their suite and watched a little football. Having the extra space in the two-room suite was nice for the four of us to hang out together.

 

 

Our rooms were on the 11th floor and from the tiny balcony off the bedroom you could get a partial view of the port. The balcony was not large enough for furniture or anything, but it looked like the balconies on the 12th (top) floor were usable. There was also a door at the end of the hallway that lead outdoors to a concrete “balcony” where we could go to get a better view of the ships in port.

 

 

Although we hadn't eaten dinner, none of us really felt like going to a restaurant, so instead we walked across the street to the Harbor Shops and grabbed a frozen sandwich from the Publix grocery store and took it back to the hotel. The suite had both a refrigerator and microwave…and even a Keurig coffee maker (although the coffee cups were still hotel quality coffee.) After leaving the frigid cold temps of Minnesota I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to enjoy a walk in the warm evening air.

[canadarocks]

I'm so looking forward to your review and photographs! We'll be onboard the Emerald for a B2B soon.

 

The Giraffe is awesome by the way!! :cool:

[AryMay]

Sunday, December 8

 

The Embassy Suites offered a pretty extensive breakfast buffet in the atrium, including made to order omelets, bacon, sausage, potatoes, pancakes, French toast, etc. There was quite a crowd at breakfast but still empty tables available.

 

 

 

 

[AryMay]

After breakfast we walked around outdoors, checking out the pool and surrounding area. There was a koi pond and it looked like the fish were ready for their breakfast!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AryMay]

While watching the fish, Bob happened to look up and saw a bright green iguana at the top of a tall palm tree. I was excited to use the zoom on my new Canon SX-50 camera and when we looked at the photo later we noticed that there was not one, but two iguanas!

 

 

 

 

[Colo Cruiser]

Very nice!!

[AryMay]

Our plan was to spend the day on the water taxi. I had a general idea of where to go, so we started walking down 17th Street to the Causeway Bridge.

 

 

We crossed over to the left side and walked below the bridge to the Hilton Hotel and found the water taxi stop. This took about 15 minutes from the hotel. From here we had a good view of the cruise ships at Port Everglades…including the massive Royal Princess and Allure of the Seas.

 

 

 

An all day pass on the water taxi cost $22 for an adult and can be purchased right on the boat using cash or credit cards. However there were several people getting on at the Hilton Marina and no one ever came around to take our money.

 

 

Our sun hats were a dead give-away that we were pale tourists from the north!

 

 

We rode for awhile and then decided to get off at the Las Olas Blvd. stop and walk around a bit. We told the guy on the boat that we hadn’t bought a ticket and he just said…oh go ahead, you will have to buy one to get back anyway!

 

Las Olas Blvd. had some high end shops and outdoor cafes, but really didn’t have anything of interest to us so we went back to the stop and re-boarded the next taxi to come along.

 

 

This time we did pay, but the guy was new and forgot to give us the ticket…we had to remind him later before we got off. We wanted the ticket because the pass was good for all day and we wanted to return later in the evening.

[AryMay]

The boat captains give a running commentary on what you are seeing…who lives in what mansion, who owns which yacht, etc. Pretty interesting to us Midwesterners…the wealth in Ft. Lauderdale is mind boggling!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Woobstr112G]

Thank for taking the time to recount your cruise in words and pictures.....:):):)

 

Bob

[AryMay]

By 1:30 we were getting hungry so got back off at the Hilton Marina and headed back towards the hotel. On the way we stopped for lunch at Shula Burger. Nothing special, but it filled our tummies.

 

After a short rest at the hotel, I logged into the Port Everglades webcam on my iPad. As each ship started to leave the port, I would run to the end of the hallway and watch in person! I had never paid much attention to the webcam so I was surprised to see how they zoomed in on the people on deck as the ships pulled out of port.

 

After our late lunch, no one was ready for dinner just yet so we walked back to the Hilton Marina and boarded the water taxi again. We actually did some of the same route that we had done in the morning, but in the dark it was fun to see the homes decorated for the holidays. By the time we got off the boat, hunger had returned and we stopped at Carrabba’s Italian restaurant on the way back to the hotel.

 

 

 

 

 

[AryMay]

Monday, December 9

 

How exciting to wake up and see the Emerald Princess docked at Port Everglades! We took our time eating breakfast and then shuffled stuff around and re-packed the luggage. We had received an email from Princess with staggered boarding times based on the deck where your cabin was located.

 

12:30pm - Caribe & Riviera Decks - Cabins on these decks begin with C & R

1:00pm - Baja, Plaza, & Lido Decks - Cabins on these decks begin with B, P, & L

1:30pm - Dolphin & Emerald Decks - Cabins on these decks begin with D & E

2:00pm - Aloha Deck - Cabins on this deck begin with A

 

Our cabins were on the Riviera Deck which meant we were scheduled to board at 12:30…but I took this as only a “suggestion” and in our excitement we headed down to the lobby around 10:45.

 

A hotel employee stopped us and suggested we take the hotel shuttle…only $8 per person…to the port. From my research I knew a cab would cost around $10 for two so I declined her offer. We had checked earlier to see if any taxi vans were available so the four of us could travel together and were told “no”…only cars so we were prepared to take two cabs…one for each couple.

 

As we made our way outside to find a cab, she approached us again and made a new offer... “you can take the shuttle for $5 each…and have the shuttle to yourselves.” This seemed like a pretty good deal so we got our luggage loaded, got into the van, and then waited…and waited…as they proceeded to fill the van to capacity with other cruise passengers. At this point we didn’t feel like complaining about the misleading offer…and kept our mouths shut. We did confirm with the driver that we were being charged $5 and he agreed.

 

A few of the group were first dropped off at a Celebrity ship, and then the rest of us were taken to the Emerald Princess. From that point we pretty much kept moving…we handed over our luggage to the porters, went through security, filled out health forms, got checked in, and then found a seat to wait.

 

 

We were in boarding group 8 and after about a half hour, our group was called. (Not sure, but it was probably close to noon by that point.) Can you tell by this smile that Bob was happy to be cruising?? ;)

 

 

 

Once onboard, the elevator situation was a bit of a mess. Many of the elevators were “off limits” for use by staff hauling luggage and the few left didn’t seem to be working correctly. To add to the problem, the up/down buttons on each side worked independently of each other. So…everyone pushed both buttons which caused many elevators to stop needlessly. (The elevators continued to be a source of aggravation throughout the week!)

 

 

We finally made it to the Riviera Deck…deck 14…but technically deck 13. (The number 13 had been skipped.) Our inside cabins R724 and R728 were almost all the way aft and chosen because they were right by the door to the Terrace Pool. I figured since we didn’t want to pay for a balcony cabin, the location near the aft pool would be a good compromise.

 

The downside to this plan…we discovered that the port side of the Terrace Pool was a designated smoking spot. That meant as we walked out the door and up the stairs to the pool we were usually met with a cloud of cigarette smoke. This was a convenient route to get to the buffet, but I found myself trying to hold my breath to get through. Eventually we found it was much better to just take the inside stairway by the elevators instead.

 

A Christmas decoration had been placed on the mailbox of every cabin on the ship.

 

[sonnenstrahl]

Thank you very much :)

[AryMay]

This might be a good spot to stop and make a list of where Princess excels…and where I feel Carnival comes out ahead. This is only MY opinion so disagree if you want. After only one Princess cruise I am certainly no expert!

 

In no particular order, here are some things I noted:

 

Cabin Size: My first thought as we entered our cabin was “oh my gosh…this is so small!” On Carnival we have experienced many types of cabins…inside, port hole, obstructed French door, oceanview and balcony…all were larger than this inside cabin on the Emerald. On our last cruise on the Carnival Victory our oceanview cabin was 220 square feet with a couch. Even comparing Inside to Inside, Carnival definitely has more space…186 sq. ft. compared to 160 sq. ft.

 

Cabin Layout: As the cruise went on, I did come to appreciate the Princess layout even though the cabin was smaller. I really liked the open closet that separated the bathroom from the rest of the cabin. I usually got up earlier than Bob and having the separation meant I could get dressed without disturbing him.

 

Storage Space: I like that Carnival cabins have more drawers which are are more versatile and easier to access than the shelves in the desk on Princess. The deep shelves required getting down on my hands and knees to reach stuff in the back and the tiny shelves on the side were not very useful either! The desk on Carnival has multiple drawers that are useful for storing clothing. The one drawer I missed the most was a center drawer on the desk to store small items, pens, papers, etc. Without it, I had a hard time controlling the clutter on the desk top.

 

Closets: Princess wins here. There are three separate closets in a Carnival cabin…all right by the hallway door…and directly across from the bathroom door. You could only have one open at a time and they always seemed to be in the way. Also the full length mirror was inside one of these closet doors so to use it you had to open the door. I found it much nicer to have the mirror on the wall in the Emerald cabin.

 

Bathroom: Very similar on both ships, however I prefer the adjustable shower head on Carnival. In fact, I enjoyed it enough that I had the same type installed in my shower at home. Carnival also provides a basket of goodies in each bathroom. Just small samples, but still fun to get. Both cruise lines have gone to the large pump bottles of shampoo and body wash…I’m not a fan.

 

Safe: On Carnival ships, the safe is locked using a magnetic card. (I would use an expired gift card.) That meant that in addition to your ship card, you had to keep track of a second card to open the safe. If Bob happened to have the card, then I was out of luck. The Princess safe used a number combination…much more convenient.

 

Beds: Carnival wins by a mile. The only negative thing I can say about the Carnival beds is that they are so comfortable I have a hard time getting up at morning! I love the pillows and duvets! Even with an egg crate mattress pad, the Princess beds were hard and uncomfortable and the pillows were flat.

 

Since we were in a quad cabin, all of the bedding for the bunks was stored under the beds…including ladders. That meant that there was no room for our larger pieces of luggage and they had to be stored in the closet. Perhaps we could have asked to have the bedding removed, but I hate to be a bother to the steward. This is not necessarily a problem with Princess…just our particular cabin.

 

Bathrobes: Better on Carnival…nice heavy robes already supplied in the cabin. I had to request a robe on the Princess cruise and after two days finally got a thin, chintzy thing that had seen better days.

 

Towel Animals: Provided every night on Carnival…none on Princess. No, my cruise was not ruined because I didn’t have towel animals...but I still like them.

 

Food: For the most part, we are very easy to please and were happy with the food and restaurants on Princess. It was nice to have staff serve us our drinks when we ate in the buffet, but I also missed having self serve drinks at other times of the day. I think it would have been OK to help ourselves, but I didn’t feel comfortable doing this. We bring along large insulated mugs and on Carnival would fill these with ice and tea/lemonade in the buffet to enjoy by the pool or in the evenings.

 

I absolutely LOVED the International Café and only wished I could have sampled everything! I shudder to think how many calories I would have consumed if our cabin had been located close by! On the other hand, if we had been closer, I would have bought a coffee card and enjoyed good coffee every morning. As it was, I knew I would never make the long hike to just get coffee and I made do with Horizon Court coffee which was only one set of stairs away!

 

In comparing the food in the MDR I didn’t feel either cruise line was superior…but again if I don’t have to cook or clean up it doesn’t take much to make me happy. The one exception was the lobster which is a real treat when we cruise. The lobster I had both in the MDR and in Sabatini’s was not as good as what I’ve had on Carnival…and I missed having the melted butter to dip it in.

 

Princess does come out ahead with their pizza however. Oh. My. Word. I am so glad I tried this early in the cruise and was able to get it multiple times. And actually I really like Carival’s pizza…but Princess’ was even better.

 

Serenity Area/Sanctuary: Not sure if these are comparable or not, but the adult-only Serenity Area on Carnival is free whereas the Sanctuary on Princess comes with an added charge. We did not use the Sanctuary so no opinion on this feature.

 

Main Theater: Although we love the evening entertainment and big production shows when cruising, I am not a fan of the theaters on Carnival ships. The lower level seating is bench seating and by the time I’ve sat through a whole show I usually have a back ache. The upper level seating is theater style chairs which are more comfortable but with multiple poles throughout sometimes your view is blocked. Princess wins on this one.

 

[AryMay]

So…my conclusion…Carnival and Princess each have their strengths and weaknesses. But…none of the things in the previous post are significant enough to sway me one way or the other when booking.

 

What will be a consideration is the overall cruise experience…and the price.

 

Being a former math teacher, I am very meticulous about keeping track of costs for our cruises…and I mean EVERY PENNY. We have avoided Princess in the past just because we assumed it would be considerably more expensive than Carnival…but decided we would splurge this time.

 

Surprise, surprise! When all of the costs were totaled, this 10 day cruise (plus 2 hotel nights) was almost the same price as our 7 day (with 1 hotel night) Southern Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Victory in January 2012! Granted, the airfare to San Juan was very high and we had an oceanview cabin vs. inside, but when I looked at just the basic cruise cost (no taxes or anything else added in) and figured the price per night they were so close!! (Also thanks to a price drop on the Emerald that we received about a month before the cruise.) Here is the breakdown:

 

Carnival Victory 7 Day: $479/7 = $68.43 per night

Emerald Princess 10 Day: $704/10 = $70.40 per night

 

I will admit that most of the time Princess will be more expensive than Carnival, but my numbers prove that this isn’t always the case.

[AryMay]

So…if cost weren’t a factor, which do we prefer? Carnival…or Princess? For us, either one would be fine. Our decision would be based on cost and itinerary. And although we be OK booking on either, we did notice a huge difference between Carnival and Princess ships and their passengers.

 

On the Emerald we joked that we felt like we were on a floating nursing home. Not sure of the average passenger age, but it was OLD. My guess is that the time of year had a factor to play in this and not all Princess cruisers are old and gray and use walkers. There were almost no kids on the cruise. We are booked on the Coral to Alaska this coming summer and it will be interesting to see how the demographics compare.

 

Bob and Kent both wished there were more physical activities offered. They had fun participating in the egg drop contest and did the Goofy Golf competition but there weren’t too many other things that appealed to them. Had we been on Carnival they would have enjoyed the miniature golf, water slides, shuffle board, etc. I think they tended to get a little bored on sea days.

 

The décor on the Princess ships was much classier and elegant than the glitzy Carnival ships. We also noticed how clean the Princess ships were. The Emerald was decorated for Christmas and was just beautiful. From this standpoint, I prefer Princess over Carnival.

 

There may be other comparisons I think of, but for now I need to get on with my report and photos. I do have all of the Princess Patters from the cruise so if anyone has any questions on activities and/or entertainment offerings, just let me know.

[AryMay]

OK...back to Embarkation Day on the Emerald!

 

I am a little bit (OK…a lot) anal when it comes to trip planning and had scoured the Princess boards looking for any little tidbits of information that would come in handy. Thanks to my research I knew that one of the three main dining rooms would be open for lunch at embarkation and off we went. (No mention of this in the Patters, however.) Took us a bit of hunting, but eventually we found the Michaelagelo Dining room. We were seated with others at a large table and by the time we finished eating the dining room was empty.

 

After lunch we explored the ship a bit and then gathered our lifejackets for the muster drill. Our muster station was in Club Fusion (Deck 7 Aft). Being in the air conditioned lounge was nice. On Carnival we have always had to stand in the hot sun…but at least they no longer make you bring your lifejackets to the drill.

 

After the drill we made the guys run the lifejackets back to the room and then we all met up for sailaway. Heading out to sea has got to be the best feeling ever!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AryMay]

Sailing along with us was the pilot boat...

 

 

and a Coast Guard boat.

 

 

My sister back in St. Louis watched the sail away on the Port Everglades Webcam and she was able to pick us out of the crowd. Here is a photo that I “clipped” from the webcam video online after we returned. That's Bob and Laurel waving at the camera.

 

 

Some reflection photos...

 

 

 

The Carnival Freedom followed us out to sea and brought back many great memories. One of our favorite cruises was on the Freedom to Panama and Costa Rica.

 

Edited January 16, 2014 by AryMay

[Colo Cruiser]

Can't wait for more! :)

[Tweedy]

Loving the photos

[Vexorg]

Definitely interesting so far. I still haven't posted a lot of my photos from this cruise, maybe I'll have to do so.

[AryMay]

We are under a blizzard warning here in Minnesota today...the wind & snow makes this cruise seem like it was sooooo long ago! Continuing on...and still on Embarkation Day!

 

While Laurel and I unpacked and got ready for dinner, the guys went down to the Piazza to see Duo Push...two guys who were described as “an impressive display of strength and balance.” They came back raving about how awesome they were! Bob also enjoyed listening to “Playtoven”, a couple playing violin and cello who entertained in the Piazza most evenings before dinner.

 

 

Not only was this our first Princess cruise, but also the first time to NOT have the traditional assigned dining. We have always loved getting to know our wait staff, but chose Anytime Dining on this cruise to give us some flexibility. I was under the assumption that we could get a table for four on any night at any time. WRONG. The first night we showed up around 6:15 and were told it would be about a 30 minute wait unless we were willing to share a table. Not wanting to wait we agreed and were placed at a table for six with another couple.

 

Fortunately our dinner companions were friendly and talkative, but getting served seemed to take forever. As we were eating I happened to notice Pescado Amarillo (the blogger I mentioned previously) sitting at a table nearby with her husband. Feeling a bit like a stalker, I walked over and introduced myself. She was very gracious in spite of me interrupting their dinner and I was so glad to finally have a chance to meet her!

 

Dinner had taken so long that we were getting worried about making it to the Princess Theater for the Welcome Aboard Show so we opted to skip dessert. That gave us a good excuse (like we needed one!) to stop by the International Cafe after the show and sample some of their delicious goodies.

 

 

 

None of us are party people so we called it a night pretty early.

[msmoger]

Thanks for the detailed review and the great pictures. We're taking this itinerary in April (port order is reversed). I really love the Emerald.

 

BTW, THANKS for the font and paragraph spacing. You can't believe how much easier it is on these old eyes of mine. ;)

[JF - retired RRT]

Dinner had taken so long that we were getting worried about making it to the Princess Theater for the Welcome Aboard Show so we opted to skip dessert. You can make reservations for ATD. Or tell your waiter you are trying to make it to a show and they will get you out on time.

That gave us a good excuse to stop by the International Cafe after the show and sample some of their delicious goodies. And (never tried it) I have been told that you can ask for dessert to be sent to your cabin for later - don't try that with anything that melts.

:D

Hope this is correct info - have only done the "waiter" trick.

[OnVacation11]

We were on the same cruise. Thanks for bringing back great memories. It indeed seems like the cruise was months, not weeks ago !