Emerald Princess - Thanksgiving Cruise

[iggy's mom]

Hi! DH & I were on the Emerald's Thanksgiving cruise. I plan to do a review, but it might take me a few days to get to it. If you have any questions, please let me know and I'll try my best to answer them.

 

We had a fabulous cruise! We did have weather issues (very rough seas) which caused us to miss Belize. It had been 7 years since we had cruised Princess and we were very glad we choose this cruise.

 

Clair

[paul929207]

Welcome back. Glad you had a good cruise

[jeffdal]

Had a wonderful time on this cruise. Bummed about Belize but made the best of it. The Houston port was so much better than what people made it out to be.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[AliMar]

Would love to know more about your Houston port experience... contemplating sailing from there, but all the negative weather related comments have me thinking twice about it... thx

[iggy's mom]

Had a wonderful time on this cruise. Bummed about Belize but made the best of it. The Houston port was so much better than what people made it out to be.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Agree! We found the Houston port to be easy-peasy. There was a bit of a back-up at parking but other than that we did not experience anything like what I've read about. From the time we parked until the time we checked-in, it took less than 30 minutes. Plenty of seating inside the terminal, at least when we were waiting.

[GradUT]

Iggy's Mom, I'm looking forward to your review. It will be nice to read something positive about the Emerald cruise out of Houston before we do ours in a couple of weeks.

[PathfinderEss]

Looking forward to your full review, welcome back.

[iggy's mom]

Sunday, November 23 - Port of Houston

 

Just has a bit of background, this was our (DH and me) 3rd Princess cruise with the last being 7 years ago. Since that time, we've done 4 Carnival and 4 Disney cruises. We are huge Disney fans, and DCL is our favorite. Although, I will be the first to say, I have never ever had a terrible day on any cruise!

 

We live a little over an hour away from the Bayport terminal. The drive was easy, with shockingly no traffic. I had read the horror stories about the Bayport terminal, and had preppared myself for the worst. Except for a bit of a back up at the parking kiosk, things could not have gone smoother. Parking, security, and check-in were done within a half hour. We had barely sat down, when an employee announced that they were going to start early boarding. She repeated a few times that staterooms would not be available until after 1.

 

Soon, we were on our home away from home! We had a few "chores" to do once we were on board. We each got an Unlimited Soda and More sticker. Next, we stopped by the dinning room to check-out our table. Turns out we would only eat in the dinning room three nights. Next, up we went up to the Spa, where we got our Thermal Suite (not sure if that's correct name) passes. Grabbed some lunch at the buffet, and took some picture before sail away.

 

If I eventually remember how to insert photos from Photobucket, I will insert them. Argh!

[iggy's mom]

My first impressions of the Emerald, was that she was a lovely ship. Very beautiful. I loved the Piazza area, as well as the color scheme throughout the ship. All of the different areas (restaurants, clubs, etc) I thought were tastefully done.

 

Sailaway:

There was an announcement that we were a bit delayed in leaving during to the fuel to being completed. Soon, though we were underway....however just as soon as we started to leave, DH and I turned to each other and said "are we going back?" The Captain made another announcement that due to a medical emergency we had to re-dock and disembark a sick passenger. Soon, though we were back underway. By this time, it was dark.

[jeffdal]

My first impressions of the Emerald' date=' was that she was a lovely ship. Very beautiful. I loved the Piazza area, as well as the color scheme throughout the ship. All of the different areas (restaurants, clubs, etc) I thought were tastefully done.

 

[b']Sailaway[/b]:

There was an announcement that we were a bit delayed in leaving during to the fuel to being completed. Soon, though we were underway....however just as soon as we started to leave, DH and I turned to each other and said "are we going back?" The Captain made another announcement that due to a medical emergency we had to re-dock and disembark a sick passenger. Soon, though we were back underway. By this time, it was dark.

 

I felt so bad for that passenger but it was good we could go back easily to have the ambulances pick him/her up. It looked like we were about 100 or so feet away from the dock when we had to go back. We were watching the sail away but after that decided to go back to our stateroom and get ready for drinks and dinner. We luckily got a window seat and got to watch our sail into the channel and look at Galveston Island lights along the way

[iggy's mom]

The remainder of the evening was spent at dinner, the main production show and exploring the Emerald.

 

Some general observations:

 

Production shows: DH & I were surprised at how empty the theater seemed each night for the shows. We are used to having to get to the theater early to get a seat, and we never had a problem with that on this cruise. We weren't too crazy about the 3 shows featuring the Princess singers and dancers. The female singers seemed strong, but neither of the males seemed to have very strong voices.

 

We both enjoyed the comedian on the last night. Neither one of use really cared to the entertainer who played the guitar and sang. For some reason we thought he was supposed to be a comedian. Not sure how we both got that from the Patter. He was the complete opposite.

 

Food:

DH & I decided before the cruise that we would check out the menu for that evening in the morning and if we didn't like the menu we would have dinner at one of the speciality restaurants. We wound up eating at the Crown Grill 3 times, and at the Crab Shack once.

 

Main dinning room: Our dinning room server seemed to put us on the "pay no attention to list". He was easily the worst server we had had on any cruise. Refills on water or soda never happened. He couldn't be bothered to answer any questions.

 

The food was good to really good. We each only had one item that we didn't really care for. Mine was one of the salads, and DH's was the lamb which was poorly prepared.

 

Crown Grill: We loved the food and the wait staff service at this restaurant! The gentleman running the restaurant left a lot to be desired on the customer service side. All 3 nights we ate there, we made reservations for 8:15. The first night, no problem. Greeted us with a smile, and "how you doings." The 2nd and 3rd times, he was very frazzled. Definitely had overbooked the restaurant both nights. On the last night he said to us that we had "been there too many times...didn't we want to try the Italian restaurant." I said no, and that he was the one who took our reservation. If he didn't have room, he should have said so. Come to find out, that he was taking walk-ins and reservations and some how on both nights it just got out of hand. Ok..I'll get off my soap-box.

 

Crab Shack: We wish we had eaten here a 2nd time. The food was great. Some much of it! Our server was great fun!

[OCruisers]

So enjoying reading your review of one of our favorite ships!

Thanks for your time to do this! :)

LuLu

[iggy's mom]

So enjoying reading your review of one of our favorite ships!

Thanks for your time to do this! :)

LuLu

 

Thanks! I should, hopefully, be able to add some more tomorrow.

[karin5]

Thanks for your great review. I'm looking forward to more of your posts. My sister and I sailed the Caribbean Princess out of Houston in March. We really liked the new Houston terminal. We flew out of Sacramento at 6:00 am on departure day, and arrived in Houston at 10:45am. We met the Princess bus transportation, and we're on our way to the port with no delay. We got off the bus, and within 20 minutes we were on the ship. It was incredible. I'd go out of Houston again anytime.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatal

[Cafabi]

Welcome back and thanks for the information! Glad to hear you had a positive experience. We are going in 2 weeks and I do have a couple of questions.

 

Have the Chocolate Journeys desserts reached the Emerald?

 

What time was the muster drill?

 

Thanks. Looking forward to your review.

[GradUT]

I'm enjoying your review and it's nice to read some positive comments about the Emerald as there have been so many negative ones lately.

 

We are booked for the Christmas cruise. Any recommendations for kid-free zones? (I understand the Lotus Pool is kid-free. Was it really?)

[fox02554]

I'm enjoying your review and it's nice to read some positive comments about the Emerald as there have been so many negative ones lately.

 

We are booked for the Christmas cruise. Any recommendations for kid-free zones? (I understand the Lotus Pool is kid-free. Was it really?)

 

I agree , it's wonderful to hear something nice:) , how sad would it be to start your cruise with nothing but dower thoughts and bad reviews on your mind :(

We are on the Jan 11th cruise and are looking forward to being warm , & having someone else cook supper & make the bed :D , a loverly ship , amazing ports of call are just icing on the cake

[iggy's mom]

Welcome back and thanks for the information! Glad to hear you had a positive experience. We are going in 2 weeks and I do have a couple of questions.

 

Have the Chocolate Journeys desserts reached the Emerald?

 

What time was the muster drill?

 

Thanks. Looking forward to your review.

 

Muster drill was at 3:15.

 

No, the Chocolate Journeys desserts had not yet reached the Emerald.

[iggy's mom]

I'm enjoying your review and it's nice to read some positive comments about the Emerald as there have been so many negative ones lately.

 

We are booked for the Christmas cruise. Any recommendations for kid-free zones? (I understand the Lotus Pool is kid-free. Was it really?)

 

Yes, from our experience the Lotus Pool was kid-free. The Wheelhouse Bar was kid-free except on the day we missed Belize. Families playing games during the afternoon then. Also, checkout Skywalkers and Asiago's (across from Sabatini's). During the day both were occasionally used for activities but other than that they were nice quite spots.

[jeffdal]

Yes' date=' from our experience the Lotus Pool was kid-free. The Wheelhouse Bar was kid-free except on the day we missed Belize. Families playing games during the afternoon then. Also, checkout Skywalkers and Asiago's (across from Sabatini's). During the day both were occasionally used for activities but other than that they were nice quite spots.[/quote']

 

Terrace pool is also adults only and the deck was kid free too. There was a passenger who would remind the occasional kiddo who jumped in.

[DavyJoneses]

Had a wonderful time on this cruise. Bummed about Belize but made the best of it. The Houston port was so much better than what people made it out to be.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Glad to hear that, we will be sailing out of Houston early next year.

[aggie1]

fox02554 - My DH and I will also be on the Jan 11 cruise. I was getting worried about the bad reviews, but now it is nice to read a good one. This is only our third Princess cruise. Can someone tell me about the Crab Shack? Is it a pay for place and does someone have a menu they can post? Looking forward to this cruise. BTW we live outside of Houston, but other side from the terminal.

[fox02554]

fox02554 - My DH and I will also be on the Jan 11 cruise. I was getting worried about the bad reviews, but now it is nice to read a good one. This is only our third Princess cruise. Can someone tell me about the Crab Shack? Is it a pay for place and does someone have a menu they can post? Looking forward to this cruise. BTW we live outside of Houston, but other side from the terminal.

 

Hey Aggie , be sure to pop over to the roll call fot the Jan 11th cruise , there are a couple Houston people going along :D 39 days & counting !!!

 

from what I have seen The Crab Shack is pop-up & for pay , one or two nights in one of the dining rooms , seems like it's KING CRAB & seafood .

[jeffdal]

I saw them setting up for it with fun tablecloths but no menu. :(

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[iggy's mom]

Monday and Tuesday - Sea Days

Sea days are my favorite! DH spent a lot of both days reading. We both visited the Thermal Suite at least once, if not twice, on both days as well. I spent my time exploring the ship and joining the various activities. I had read ahead of time that Princess doesn't have as many activities planned as some other cruise lines. I have to say I was glad I was prepared for this, otherwise I probably would've been a tad disappointed. Don't get me wrong...at no point was I ever bored. I just have grown accustomed to lot of different activities happening around the ship throughout the entire day.

 

Monday was the first formal night. It was our first dinner in the dinning room. We had a table for two, traditional seating, at 8pm.

 

Monday was also the first day the pub lunch offered. We did this on the last sea day, and really liked it.

 

On Tuesday, I discovered afternoon tea. I had missed it in the Patter on Monday. I loved it! I would do this 4 times during the cruise.

 

Tuesday was the first night that the Crab Shack was offered. It was well worth every penny of the $20 per person!

 

Other notes:

Cruise director was Kelvin Joy. I thought he was really great at his job. Very personable and friendly. He kept his announcements to a minimum and always had a smile and great attitude when he was out and about.

 

Monday night football was playing on the big screen out by the pool.