Back from First Cruise

[makawe]

Hi folks,

 

Back from my very first cruise after months of reading threads/reviews and planning. Our family of five spent 11 days on Emerald Princess doing a South Pacific circuit. Whilst I had convinced myself that I would instantly become a cruise addict, I did not. We had many enjoyable moments on the ship but also many moments where I sought the cool sanctuary of my small interior cabin to escape the heat, the crowds, the 'busyness' of cruising

We spent one night pre-cruise at the YHA The Rocks after flying in from Wellington the day before. We loved the YHA, such a great place to stay, basic but clean accommodation for our family, a very large lounge lobby area with free wifi, clean communal kitchen and a rootop with a view looking directly out to the harbour. We arrived with the Radiance in port. She looked lovely. We missed her departure but had a cheap and delicious meal at the YHA. The next morning I woke up early hoping to catch our ship coming in but was too late and when I arrived at the roof top, there she was, such a glorious sight. We were a bit stunned over her size, We skipped breakfast, repacked our bags, I did a load of washing (this was to become a daily chore for me) at the hostel and then checked out. Dragging our bags down to OPT (an easy walk) we spent the next two hours wondering around circular quay. Some went off in different directions but we found some amusement at the Contemporary Art Museum.....some really bizzare art pieces that we still find ourselves laughing about and then an entertaining street juggler/unicycle performer that amused us for 45 minutes under a hot Sydney sun.

 

We watched passengers coming off the Emerald their cruise over whilst ours was about to begin. It was exciting.

 

Embarkation on Emerald was very quick. We bag dropped very early and the quick and efficient bag drop crews had whipped the unfolded luggage tags from my hand and seconds later had secured them onto the bags before I had figured out which part of the page to fold first. The only hold up for us were our Kiwi passports which had to be entered manually and so took around 15-20 minutes for our group of five. We took our first group picture with the Emerald as the backdrop as we made our way aboard. Wow we had finally arrived, after journeying with pescadoamarillo for days, weeks, months on the Emerald, we were actually there, being welcomed aboard.

 

After navigating our way to our room we inspected the cosy interior cabin at the aft end of Aloha deck and then inspected the twin cabin one over which housed our teen boys. It was slightly larger than I had expected and the bathroom was compact but fine for us and loads of space for our stuff. Ok I will admit that we overpacked, even after reading advice repeatedly telling us NOT to take so much stuff, the advice to pack your bag and then only take 1/3 of that is spot on. I basically lived in two shorts and two t-shirts for most of the cruise.

 

I loved our cabin location, initially I had booked aft on Caribe but then changed to aft on Aloha, got the cabin next to the lift but wasn't bothered by the small amount of noise from it, in fact I never noticed any noise and thought the small shaking and rumbling I felt just part of the normal ship noise, somebody a whole lot smarter than me i.e. hubby figured out it was the lifts but the noise really was minimal and didn't effect sleep quality. Two levels up and we were in the horizon court buffet, so handy. We were confused by the layout forward where you had to go from 7 to get to 6 and 5. I loved walking along the promenade outside after dinner at night, the ocean, the breeze...magnificent.

 

There were a lot of children and young adults on board including my own age 14, 16, 18 but I did not notice any being unruly or rude at all.

 

Tender service for me was fine except for Champagne Bay where the pier could only support one tender at a time. We did not realise this and if we had known before hand we would have made sure to be up early on the first tender instead of the mid-morning one where we waited around 2 hours for transport to Champagne Bay.

 

I suffered from 'ship shock' the first two days and felt terribly crowded, however it wasn't until we were off Emerald on one of the port stops where we could see the huge numbers getting on and off that I could appreciate that the 'crowds' I felt on the first two days were but a fraction of the total passenger count. The ship is big so people seemed to spread themselves out quite comfortably although some areas remained congested i.e. the IC and the buffet at peak times.

 

Both my husband and I felt a bit 'off' most of the time, not sick exactly but not 100%....certainly nothing that stopped us availing ourselves of the many opportunities to eat, eat and eat some more. We enjoyed dining in the MDR with our kids every evening and lunch was usually at the Trident Grill or the buffet. The menu changed daily although the everyday favourites were available too, we loved the salmon and the pasta dish. Our favourite menu was the Italian one where most of the staff dressed in some sort of Italian outfit for the whole day comprising a long-sleeved knitted jersey which I thought would be most uncomfortable for them to wear in the heat...and boy was it hot. We loved our dinners at the MDR, we never had to wait more than 5 minutes to be seated and even though our waiters changed every night we had great service all the time.

 

We got a soda package for four of us and our 18 year old availed himself of the all inclusive. We easily got value out of the soda package but not sure if our son managed to drink enough to break even, not a bad thing. Bar service was generally pretty quick and efficient but either I was unimaginative or the mocktail menu limited because I really only found one drink I really liked which was the Key West Cooler, had heaps of those.

 

We were completely zonked by around 9pm each night so didn't make it to most of the shows although we did catch "Magic To Do" which I fell asleep in and which my family didn't warm to. I missed a whole different aspect of the ship at night because I couldn't keep myself awake. However I did experience early morning Emerald Princess and that was lovely, up at 5.15am to watch the wake or sunrise and have a quiet breakfast by myself at Café Caribe reading my book. I then had second breakfast when the rest of my family woke up and sometimes third breakfast too.

 

Pizza was yum, big thumbs up. Towards the end of the cruise I discovered their delicious granola which was perfect with hot milk and their soft serve ice cream was surprisingly good, I enjoyed that more than the ice cream at the IC. Food was plentiful, we ate far far too much. The buffet was ok, not great, but not bad either. We never made it to afternoon tea, we were so full and we had breakfast a couple of times in the MDR which was also good.

 

We found much of the activities e.g. trivia, quiz, and others not to our taste. We found overall the Princess entertainment not quite suited to us, we didn't like the live band or the music in general being played at the bars, however I did enjoy the violinist playing in the Piazza. My husband was annoyed at the frequent 'sales pitch' dressed up as seminars held every day.

 

MUTs was great even though we only managed to watch one night movie.

 

We found the pools quite crowded during the day and the best time to swim was early in the morning, we enjoyed the port days more than the sea days and by day 9 of our 11 day cruise we were all ready to come home......we missed our cat! We loved our port stops, Lifou was great, a beautiful island. We snorkelled at Jinek bay for around an hour and a bit and then slogged our way to the cave pool with my kids mumbling 'it better be worth it' to me in the sticky heat....well it was worth it. I don't get some people complaining about the small fee you pay to go there, we paid $30 pp for the snorkelling and the cave....if you were to take a tour to do the same thing on another island it would most likely cost at least triple that amount. The cave was amazing, so cool and refreshing, we loved it. We had an independent tour to Escapade Island in Noumea but the highlight of that tour for us was the great buffet lunch, snorkelling was pretty average and then stupidly my son got some sea urchin spines stuck in his foot so we caught an early ferry back to the wharf and then walked a short 10-15 minutes back to the main terminal and to the ship where we waited another couple of hours for the doctor. Son was treated by a paramedic who was able to extract most of the spines from my son's foot and get this.... not charged, not sure how we got away with it.

 

We missed Mystery Island because it was too rough, I was so disappointed I spent three hours in my room sulking before I ventured out. Our favourite port was Vila, and took a great tour doing the cultural show, water falls and blue hole swimming, topped off with some incredibly cheap duty free shopping, fantastic. Champagne Bay was the most beautiful beach I have ever seen, even with hundreds of people packed into it. I wish we could have arrived early as then we could have taken a few tours.

 

Our room steward Wong was great, friendly and very hard working especially cleaning my teen boys room, my son complained that she shoved all his clothes left lying around under the bed....I just laughed, that's what you get. I washed a load of washing every day, not a chore for me. The laundry was just down the hall and I never found I had to wait to use either the washer or dryer. I left Wong a large tip in appreciation of what she had to put up with. I felt all the crew to be hard working and pleasant, they were always busy early in the morning, cleaning, swabbing, setting out the deck chairs etc. My son though had one unpleasant experience at the IC in the early hours of the morning.

 

I felt that perhaps the "Princess" experience targeted an older demographic but there was still plenty to enjoy on the ship. Talking with past cruisers all said they felt the Emerald too big and crowded and they preferred the smaller ships such as the Sun Princess and Sea Princess.

 

We did enjoy our time aboard but we were ready to come home well before the cruise was finished. I will always have a special place for Emerald and I feel quite nostalgic about it when I look back on our trip. We had a great time but I'm not sure I'm sold on cruising. I think perhaps RCCL or Celebrity or even Carnival may be a better fit for us.

 

We returned home to our usual life and hubby returned to work. He came home one day and said I think the Emerald was in port today (Wellington) because I'm sure I saw the Zumba guy, and I said, I think the Emerald is doing a NZ cruise circuit and sure enough it was. I was like OMG the Zumba guy like he was a dear friend we hadn't seen in a long time.

 

I say this first experience has not made me a cruise addict, why is it then that I still visit the board every day, sometimes several times a day and why is it then I am looking forward to the cruise I booked for my granddaughters and I aboard Carnival in May? I loved the South Pacific circuit we did and I would do it again if given the chance. We loved Vanuatu.

 

Oh and let's not forget those gorgeous gorgeous pillows, my goodness my head was in heaven and the mattress was so comfortable too. The upper bunk was certainly less comfortable and I slept a couple of nights in it and found it really hard to negotiate the ladder down.

 

Oh and we saw an ambulance evacuation at Noumea and Port Vila.

Edited February 9, 2017 by makawe
Added info.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Emerald probably wasn't the best of the Princess ships to do your first cruise on if you felt it was too crowded.

 

I had that feeling of not quite right on our first couple of cruises. I think it was mostly caused by the food being richer than I was used to, and I probably ate too much as well. These days I've learnt to pace myself. But the motion of the ship may have contributed to that feeling a bit. Again, I've got used to that.

 

I hate to tell you, but I think you might be slightly addicted. :p :D

[aussielozzie18]

Thanks for your cruise report. I enjoyed reading. Your honesty makes me laugh - "I sulked for 3 hours on hearing that we were not stopping at Mystery Island". I would probably have done the same! We visited Champagne Bay on our first cruise. It's a shame RCI no longer stop there.

[Vader1111]

Thanks for your cruise report. I enjoyed reading. Your honesty makes me laugh - "I sulked for 3 hours on hearing that we were not stopping at Mystery Island". I would probably have done the same! We visited Champagne Bay on our first cruise. It's a shame RCI no longer stop there.

Probably due to the same problems that the OP experienced, with long delays due to the limited wharf at the shore end. The Voyager class ships are just too big, with too many passengers.

 

It is a shame though. Champagne Bay is my favourite of all the South Pacific ports.

 

As an aside, what is "the IC"? Not an acronym I am familiar with.

[cheznandy]

IC is Interntional Cafe.

 

Thanks for the review on your experience.

We found the Emerald very crowded in public areas, we didnt have many children on ours in November, so lots more adults wanting to do everything at the same time.

 

We found the MDR great as well and never had to wait to be seated for Anytime after 7pm.

 

Hopefully you can try a few different cruiselines and find one that suits.

[MicCanberra]

Thanks for your review.:D

 

Sounds like Royal or Carnival may suit you better if you decide to cruise again.

[Tara Jane]

I agree with Mic, Royal or Carnival. Our favourite is celebrity but we are "oldies"

I have taken my grandaughters now aged 11 and 7 on cruises and i think p & o suits their ages best. The P & O kids program is wonderful. The oldest was 7 when she went on her first cruise which was Dawn Princess, since then we have stuck with P & O when cruising with the girls.

[cheznandy]

I agree with Mic, Royal or Carnival. Our favourite is celebrity but we are "oldies"

I have taken my grandaughters now aged 11 and 7 on cruises and i think p & o suits their ages best. The P & O kids program is wonderful. The oldest was 7 when she went on her first cruise which was Dawn Princess, since then we have stuck with P & O when cruising with the girls.

 

If we were taking kids, it would definately be Royal or Carnival. We loved Celebrity too:)

Taking our little 5 yr old grandson on Carnival in a couple of weeks, only 3 nights but his first little cruise!!

Going to be a shock for us as our son is coming and my Aunty......all in 2 cabins! Havent done that for a few years, thankfully it is only three nights, boys in one cabin girls in the other:p

[Tara Jane]

You'll have a great time and he hopefully will be able to enjoy the water park features. Great for all ages including the toddlers. My biggest issue was getting the girls out of kids club to feed them!!

[makawe]

You'll have a great time and he hopefully will be able to enjoy the water park features. Great for all ages including the toddlers. My biggest issue was getting the girls out of kids club to feed them!!

 

Yep their great water park for the kids and excellent deal around $550 p/p for 8 nights outside the school holidays sold me.

[MicCanberra]

Celebrity is my favourite, however it is much to similar to Princess as in age demographics and doesn't have all the activities and slides like royal, Carnival and even P&O can offer.:D

[erewhon]

Thanks for taking time to review your cruise.

Have you considered a cruise on a smaller sized ship, to become fully addicted to cruising?:D

[mrs and mrs]

Cool as MAK, told ya not to be a slave to that washing, anyways I'm the same .The islands are cool, its the only cruise we will ever go on again ,maybe Alaska, and that's it. So be it hope the fam enjoyed and for what its worth, we have never seen a badly behaved teen, or kid, or child on 4 cruises, hope they enjoyed.

 

Would love for you to keep sticking around here.

 

Love ya style Mahwah.:):cool:

[makawe]

Cool as MAK, told ya not to be a slave to that washing, anyways I'm the same .The islands are cool, its the only cruise we will ever go on again ,maybe Alaska, and that's it. So be it hope the fam enjoyed and for what its worth, we have never seen a badly behaved teen, or kid, or child on 4 cruises, hope they enjoyed.

 

Would love for you to keep sticking around here.

 

Love ya style Mahwah.:):cool:

 

yeah I'm not going anywhere......think I'll stick around for a while, I've got an upcoming Carnival cruise to anticipate. Hope you get to do Alaska M&M....not me though, I'm allergic to the cold.

[makawe]

Thanks for taking time to review your cruise.

Have you considered a cruise on a smaller sized ship, to become fully addicted to cruising?:D

 

I am considering it but then the choices would be if I stick to the local area....

 

Carnival (taking a second cruise with them in May)

P & O (not loving either their prices or their reviews and dislike you have to pay a whole heap extra to do the fun stuff on the newer ships)

Princess - Sun or Sea (coming off Emerald not sure I suit the target demographic)

RCCL - Explorer and Voyager are too big, and Radiance doesn't have the island itinerary that I like.

 

I'm finding it a lot harder to find a cruise that has the itinerary I like, on the dates I want and on a ship that isn't too big and isn't necessarily aimed at an older demographic.

[MicCanberra]

I am considering it but then the choices would be if I stick to the local area....

 

Carnival (taking a second cruise with them in May)

P & O (not loving either their prices or their reviews and dislike you have to pay a whole heap extra to do the fun stuff on the newer ships)

Princess - Sun or Sea (coming off Emerald not sure I suit the target demographic)

RCCL - Explorer and Voyager are too big, and Radiance doesn't have the island itinerary that I like.

 

I'm finding it a lot harder to find a cruise that has the itinerary I like, on the dates I want and on a ship that isn't too big and isn't necessarily aimed at an older demographic.

 

Keep looking and the right cruise will show up for the right price.

Sometimes, it is a compromise to go on a non preferred line but the price may be a persuader.

[vrogers]

Loved reading your great review, can't wait until your next cruise and hopefully another review. It's always great to read other people's thoughts on ships and cruising. It would be a strange old world if every one of us had the same views about things, and it maybe that cruising is not your cup of tea, but saying that would love it if you did review your carnival cruise...cheers V

[DizzyLizzy5]

I enjoyed your review - we are leaving on the Emerald in 3 weeks, for our first cruise and also staying at the YHA at the Rocks the night before.

 

Hoping the Emerald is a good fit for us. One of the travel agents asked me a few questions when I was booking and deciding on which line and he had no hesitation in recommending Princess. We are young 50s, not really into the party scene but like a variety of entertainment.:)