Emerald Princess getting better ?

[immsters]

We just got off today. Our A/C was working but not overly cold. We just kept lights minimal and curtains closed. It was doable but not ideal. We had no cold water for the entire cruise. Luckily if we set it at the coolest temp it was cool enough for a shower. If you put it on hot it would be scalding. We did not complain because we heard of others who had the same issue and ended up losing the hot completely. We opted to keep it the way it was.

[mamaboss]

We just got off today. Our A/C was working but not overly cold. We just kept lights minimal and curtains closed. It was doable but not ideal. We had no cold water for the entire cruise. Luckily if we set it at the coolest temp it was cool enough for a shower. If you put it on hot it would be scalding. We did not complain because we heard of others who had the same issue and ended up losing the hot completely. We opted to keep it the way it was.

 

Just curious immsters, what deck or cabin were you in?

[Poipu1]

Who is the CD on Emerald now?

[hrhdhd]

We just got off the Emerald, C714. Had no hot water the first night and no cold the second morning. We called and the water was fixed, although the cold never did get terribly cold.

 

We also complained about the A/C--it never really got cold in the cabin. No one came by that we know of, and over the 8 days it was consistently warm.

 

I did not like the new mattress (too soft for my taste), and it would have been nice to have the new linens. Our sheets were spotted and stained.

 

Shows were middling--the comedian was terrible and the "vocalist" emptied a full Princess Theater in his 45 minutes. ;)

 

Having said that to provide information to those sailing in the future, we did enjoy ourselves overall. This itinerary was great (8 days, 4 at sea, the ABC islands), the food was good to great, and the holiday spirit was alive and well on the ship.

Edited December 28, 2015 by hrhdhd

[cruisin patriot]

We were in Caribe C307.... other family members were in inside cabins near us on Caribe and they had no AC either

[immsters]

Just curious immsters, what deck or cabin were you in?

 

We were in D603.

[immsters]

Who is the CD on Emerald now?

 

Cruise director was Frank Castiglione. I thought he did a great job. We thought the comedian was very funny. The new show was terrific. Kory Simon in Crooners was wonderful and really got the crowd involved. We tried Share which was delicious but limited and we left hungry. Not sure we would do again for the $39 charge. The Salty Dog gastro pub was wonderful. Good food and plenty. We left full. Well worth the $19 charge in our opinion. The few problems with our room did not in anyway diminish our cruise experience but I know others had worse issues than ours.

[Magellan321]

I surely hope that they figure the A/C out before the last week of January!! I could melt an iceberg these days...so it better be cold air

[cruisewiththekids]

Also just returned from the Emerald Christmas cruise. I have mixed feelings about the cruise.

 

The bad: We periodically did not have hot water throughout the cruise. We did not enjoy the new show at all -- the performers were fine, just the show concept itself was bizarre. I also thought the dancers were much better than the singers. We enjoyed the other two singing/dancing shows, but all in all thought the entertainment was weak. A couple nights was just a singer, which I don't really think rises to the level of a "show."

 

Crown Grill was just okay, one steak terribly overcooked. Room steward was unfriendly, as were our servers in the dining room. Desserts were very disappointing, save for the cookies at the buffet. Was looking forward to the gingerbread souffle and was quite disappointed. Had no gingerbread taste at all. But I've found in general cruise lines don't do desserts well.

 

The good: Lucked out and got two of the new adjoining cabins on Aloha deck, which worked really well for our family. Food was overall good, probably better in the dining room than buffet. We are forever spoiled by the buffet on the Regal. New mattresses were nice. Enjoyed visiting the ABC islands.

[CruisinCouple2010]

We just got off the Emerald, C714. Had no hot water the first night and no cold the second morning. We called and the water was fixed, although the cold never did get terribly cold.

 

We also complained about the A/C--it never really got cold in the cabin. No one came by that we know of, and over the 8 days it was consistently warm.

 

I did not like the new mattress (too soft for my taste), and it would have been nice to have the new linens. Our sheets were spotted and stained.

 

Shows were middling--the comedian was terrible and the "vocalist" emptied a full Princess Theater in his 45 minutes. ;)

 

Having said that to provide information to those sailing in the future, we did enjoy ourselves overall. This itinerary was great (8 days, 4 at sea, the ABC islands), the food was good to great, and the holiday spirit was alive and well on the ship.

 

 

We too just returned from 13 nights on the Emerald. Our A/C did work fine on Riviera Deck however for the first 24 hours we had no hot water it was finally fixed after we called. Did not call when first on board because an announcement had been made that water line was being worked on. Thought they would correct the problem Agree cold water was not really available we just used our bottled water from our mini bar. I also did not like the mattress, if they were new they were way too soft and not to my comfort. Also agree about the bedding sheets ours were also old and stained.

 

Food this time for our taste was just okay nothing special. Buffet was not that great very crowded. Will be sailing on her again in February, just hope all the kinks are worked out.

[framer]

Dec 19, - 27 sailing, 1st the good, best room steward ever in 16 cruises, he knew what we wanted before we ever asked. My wife a bit OCD and has all her shoes in order on the floor, mine are a bit in a pile, he organized them like my wife's.

 

Room service for us was 1st rate. Had breakfast everyday in the room with request for scrambled eggs and bacon, not on their menu, plus other things on their menu and always got everything asked. Delivery time was within 5 minutes of requested time. Did lunch the last sea day as wind was low, food was 1st rate and fresh.

 

Bed was fabulous, new room carpet, all the carpet I was seemed new, laundry service as fast and perfect.

 

Tip: AC, keep the drapes closed when not in the room and close the bathroom door.

 

The very minor bad, water temp was not hot 1st day it was adjusted and usable 2nd day but cold was not cold but hand washing warm at the coldest. I don't drink bathroom water so I was good.

 

Food in main dining room, was fine but I was disappointed in the new choices. Were being forced to try Curtis Stone cheap crap. I want the Princess anytime standbys put back. They had no Beef Wellington and lobster on the 2nd formal night:(. The Christmas turkey dinner was a joke, think TV-dinner.

 

Service everywhere was excellent including the dining room.

 

framer

Edited December 29, 2015 by framer

[floridalover5623]

Dec 19, - 27 sailing, 1st the good, best room steward ever in 16 cruises, he knew what we wanted before we ever asked. My wife a bit OCD and has all her shoes in order on the floor, mine are a bit in a pile, he organized them like my wife's.

 

Room service for us was 1st rate. Had breakfast everyday in the room with request for scrambled eggs and bacon, not on their menu, plus other things on their menu and always got everything asked. Delivery time was within 5 minutes of requested time. Did lunch the last sea day as wind was low, food was 1st rate and fresh.

 

Bed was fabulous, new room carpet, all the carpet I was seemed new, laundry service as fast and perfect.

 

Tip: AC, keep the drapes closed when not in the room and close the bathroom door.

 

The very minor bad, water temp was not hot 1st day it was adjusted and usable 2nd day but cold was not cold but hand washing warm at the coldest. I don't drink bathroom water so I was good.

 

Food in main dining room, was fine but I was disappointed in the new choices. Were being forced to try Curtis Stone cheap crap. I want the Princess anytime standbys put back. They had no Beef Wellington and lobster on the 2nd formal night:(. The Christmas turkey dinner was a joke, think TV-dinner.

 

Service everywhere was excellent including the dining room.

 

framer

 

It sounds as though your AC was almost acceptable.

What deck were you on?

[framer]

The biggie is keep the bathroom door closed. The negative pressure that flow to it will take out the AC faster than it can come it. Also on any ship with a balcony cabin hot weather and a beating sun on your balcony door can just be too much to keep room cool but with bathroom door open it will be worse.

 

This applies to every ship I've been on.

 

On open balcony door and an open bathroom door will quickly drain the cool from your room.

 

framer

[floridalover5623]

The biggie is keep the bathroom door closed. The negative pressure that flow to it will take out the AC faster than it can come it. Also on any ship with a balcony cabin hot weather and a beating sun on your balcony door can just be too much to keep room cool but with bathroom door open it will be worse.

 

This applies to every ship I've been on.

 

On open balcony door and an open bathroom door will quickly drain the cool from your room.

 

framer

I'm not sure I agree with the keeping the bathroom door closed since the cabin door vent on style ship has a big vent at the bottom anyway which is used for an air return. You could always block off the bathroom vent with a wash cloth until it's needed for ventilation.

Keeping the drapes closed always helps with the AC.

We were on the Emerald on year where it was cooler in the hallway then in our room.

I'm hoping this next trip will be considerably better.

[jerseyaxn]

Yes the bathroom door being closed helps

[windsor26]

We did a 3 week cruise during August/Sep this year on the Emerald and had the best time and the best crew

Our M&G had 13 officers attending and they stayed for over an hour chatting to everyone one on one After that they knew us and used our names when we met them throughout the ship

The food was good - we did not need the speciality restaurants - the buffet was clean well served and food hot and varied

The entertainment was normal for Princess we did not have any new variety shows but the comedian made me laugh out loud which is new on a cruise ship

The ship was clean and no noro I did not come across an bathrooms out of action nor her of people with air condition problems

 

So sad to hear of everything people found bad in the weeks after we got off in Rome Our cruise is up there with the best we have taken

[rob2102]

We did a 3 week cruise during August/Sep this year on the Emerald and had the best time and the best crew

Our M&G had 13 officers attending and they stayed for over an hour chatting to everyone one on one After that they knew us and used our names when we met them throughout the ship

The food was good - we did not need the speciality restaurants - the buffet was clean well served and food hot and varied

The entertainment was normal for Princess we did not have any new variety shows but the comedian made me laugh out loud which is new on a cruise ship

The ship was clean and no noro I did not come across an bathrooms out of action nor her of people with air condition problems

 

So sad to hear of everything people found bad in the weeks after we got off in Rome Our cruise is up there with the best we have taken

 

Sounds great. Hope our cruise will be just as good, never been disappointed.

[jerseyaxn]

I'm can't wait to sail on her February 6th

[sunshine100]

We were on the 8 day xmas cruise--very disappointed with many, many things on this cruise. I am sorry, but it is totally unacceptable to not have hot water for 5 days of an 8 day cruise. Everyday, we would tell our room stewart and we would go to front office to tell them. And then they would document it in the computer and we got different answers--like, there are others having problems, too, or your deck and another deck are having problems,etc. we were in E311--and we had no air circulating in our cabin--no air conditioning...maybe the ship should have stayed in drydock another week! Staff was not happy--i think many issues were going on all over the ship. Very disappointed with the food on this cruise, also. Really, Princess???? turkey for xmas--I have never eaten turkey on xmas day in all my life!! No lobster on an 8 day cruise??? A very negative experience all week long--i had so looked forward to this ship since we had never sailed on this class of ship, we actually purchased a future cruise credit and kinda sorry we did, although we probably would only sail on regal or royal again. :mad::mad: OH, and by the way, we received a phone call the day before we were to disembark from customer service saying they credited our account for the inconvenience--a 100.00 room credit--really???? 5 days with no hot water and no AC....

[Max49]

Sorry to hear that. What a way to ruin a vacation.

I can't afford too many vacations, so I can't afford for any cruise company ruining a single vacation for me while I'm a captive customer.

We'll be on the Crown for a week in March, keeping my fingers crossed.

[floridalover5623]

We were on the 8 day xmas cruise--very disappointed with many, many things on this cruise. I am sorry, but it is totally unacceptable to not have hot water for 5 days of an 8 day cruise. Everyday, we would tell our room stewart and we would go to front office to tell them. And then they would document it in the computer and we got different answers--like, there are others having problems, too, or your deck and another deck are having problems,etc. we were in E311--and we had no air circulating in our cabin--no air conditioning...maybe the ship should have stayed in drydock another week! Staff was not happy--i think many issues were going on all over the ship. Very disappointed with the food on this cruise, also. Really, Princess???? turkey for xmas--I have never eaten turkey on xmas day in all my life!! No lobster on an 8 day cruise??? A very negative experience all week long--i had so looked forward to this ship since we had never sailed on this class of ship, we actually purchased a future cruise credit and kinda sorry we did, although we probably would only sail on regal or royal again. :mad::mad: OH, and by the way, we received a phone call the day before we were to disembark from customer service saying they credited our account for the inconvenience--a 100.00 room credit--really???? 5 days with no hot water and no AC....

 

I can fully understand your frustration with the AC problem. We were in cabin E327 (7 cabins down the hall) on Nov 2013 & experienced the same exact thing. Just a week or two ago I read that there was someone in E327 and problem still exists today. There's obviously something wrong with that zone & they've known about it for years & can't correct the problem. After numerous visits from maintenance there was no improvement & we were lucky to get reassigned to another cabin on the same deck. I'm thinking that that group of cabins (E327 through E311) all have similar AC problems.

We obtained that cabin as a guarantee, if that makes any difference.

Oh btw we did not receive any compensation for our 3 days in hell but I was so happy to get to a normal cabin at that point I didn't really care.

Edited January 8, 2016 by floridalover5623

[napunani]

We sailed EMERALD PRINCESS December 19-27, 2015, in Caribe 742, unfortunately not without mechanical and service difficulties and our surveys back to PRINCESS expressed our dissatisfaction.

 

Mostly, we were disappointed, as this was totally out of the ordinary standard that we have enjoyed on our previous PRINCESS experiences. We saw many cutbacks from our June 2015 cruise to this cruise.

 

Our first evening on-board, no hot water in our cabin - sink or shower.

The next morning, only scalding hot water, in the sink, shower and toilet! We called the Front Desk to report it and was scolded that it was just a consequences of the dry dock and that we would just have to get accustom to it and if we needed to shower, we could do so at the Spa. For 2 days, we were forced to shower and brush teeth at the Spa because the water was dangerously hot. Inconvenient, but we got through it and on the third day, we had normal water temps and were able to regulate it at our will.

 

Overall we felt the service was lacking compare to all other PRINCESS experiences. Hubby had a soda package and he had servers turn away when he showed his card and requested a soda. The Horizon Court service was minimal. Waiting nearly 30 minutes for a glass of juice or cup of coffee.

Our fixed dining server was good, but clearly overloaded with two tables of ten (one of those tables were ten teens and pre-teens) and six tables of two.

 

During the last sea day, a extremely interesting documentary (without a moderator) of the early December 2015 dry dock was shown in the Princess theater to a standing-room only crowd (why it wasn't scheduled more than once puzzled us). Interestingly it captured what was accomplished throughout the ship and the logistics to support such a project. In additional to the hull inspection, repair and painting, propeller maintenance, upgrade to the MUTS screen, new carpet was installed in public areas, but not cabin hallways or cabins. Every cabin received new mattresses. All theater seats were reupholstered. Theater lighting and graphics updates. Sabatini's transformed into Share and the Wheelhouse addition of The Salty Dog Gastropub.

[cheeseclan]

We were on the Emerald for the NYE cruise and had a great time. There were a few things that need to be addressed but overall it was wonderful. I can say that i totally forgot to look at the new Share restaurant and did not hear of too many people eating there. Did see the Salty Dog and it looked okay but never too many people in there either.

 

The cons:

Had to wait for bath towels the first day in order to take a shower. Did not get them until about an hour before dinner. This is not acceptable.

Also had to wait for pool towels throughout the whole cruise. The room steward would get us 3 at night, after the 2nd day, but if we used those on a shore excursion and tried to get more by the pool: forget it. The deck attendants were rude and would always say there are being washed or dried.

 

 

The pros:

Ship looked nice and refreshed.

Cabin steward was a very nice man who took care of everything for us.

Food in the dining rooms was excellent every night.

Head waiter took great care of me with my lactose free options.

Many more sorbet flavors.

Staff was nice throughout the ship.

Captain would give great midday notices and kept us up to speed.

Got us to St. Kitts, tender, even though we could not dock with the winds.

Great NYE parties, 3 in all.

Three great production shows.

Had no problems with water, hot water or AC.

 

We really enjoyed this cruise and would definitely do it again:)

 

One last thing: my husband heard an officer talking to a cruiser telling them that there were a lot of problems after the dry dock. One of the biggest was that a lot of crew members could not get to the ship so they sailed short handed.

 

Hope this helps.

[jerseyaxn]

We were on the Emerald for the NYE cruise and had a great time. There were a few things that need to be addressed but overall it was wonderful. I can say that i totally forgot to look at the new Share restaurant and did not hear of too many people eating there. Did see the Salty Dog and it looked okay but never too many people in there either.

 

The cons:

Had to wait for bath towels the first day in order to take a shower. Did not get them until about an hour before dinner. This is not acceptable.

Also had to wait for pool towels throughout the whole cruise. The room steward would get us 3 at night, after the 2nd day, but if we used those on a shore excursion and tried to get more by the pool: forget it. The deck attendants were rude and would always say there are being washed or dried.

 

 

The pros:

Ship looked nice and refreshed.

Cabin steward was a very nice man who took care of everything for us.

Food in the dining rooms was excellent every night.

Head waiter took great care of me with my lactose free options.

Many more sorbet flavors.

Staff was nice throughout the ship.

Captain would give great midday notices and kept us up to speed.

Got us to St. Kitts, tender, even though we could not dock with the winds.

Great NYE parties, 3 in all.

Three great production shows.

Had no problems with water, hot water or AC.

 

We really enjoyed this cruise and would definitely do it again:)

 

One last thing: my husband heard an officer talking to a cruiser telling them that there were a lot of problems after the dry dock. One of the biggest was that a lot of crew members could not get to the ship so they sailed short handed.

 

Hope this helps.

That explains a lot of the service problems people had who sailed on the first cruise after dry dock.Seems like they still need to fix some things but have made a lot of progress

[floridalover5623]

 

 

 

The pros:

 

 

Had no problems with water, hot water or AC.

 

 

 

One last thing: my husband heard an officer talking to a cruiser telling them that there were a lot of problems after the dry dock. One of the biggest was that a lot of crew members could not get to the ship so they sailed short handed.

 

Hope this helps.

 

What cabin & deck were you on?