28-Day South Pacific - Round Trip From LA 03/30 to 04/27/2018

[roxievegas]

We have returned from our trip which was a total of 9,879 nautical miles or 11,333 Statute Miles or 18,239 Kilometers. We had eight stops and 20 sea days. This was a bucket list trip for us, but after this cruise we have decided that 8 sea days in a row at the end are too much and we will look for cruises that have more ports than sea days.

We left from Los Angeles, which is our home port area (we are in Orange County, Ca) It took four sea days to get to Hilo, then Honolulu, then Maui, and Kaui. Four sea days to Pago Pago, American Samoa, two sea days to Bora Bora (which turned into an overnight stop due to the cancellation of Apia, Samoa prior to leaving), Papeete, Moorea and then 8 sea days home.

We had calm seas, showers in Hawaii, hot and muggy in the French Polynesia islands.

 

This was our first trip on Princess, we have done 7 prior cruises with Celebrity, so I will compare to what we liked better for each liner. When I first booked this cruise in June of 2017, I got the sip n sail - balcony for $5799 pp (total of $11,998 with taxes ). After much thought we decided to change to inside cabin and see if we could a better price and move up before sailing. I later upgraded to an oceanview and finally in January I upgraded to a balcony at the price of $4199 pp - but all total $8788 with port charges and taxes. The best prices for this trip was 6 weeks prior to sailing - if you are not picky about your cabin. Our table mates purchased the cruise 3 weeks before and got an inside cabin for $2,000 pp and were upgraded for free to oceanview on deck 8. - So if you are looking for a deal, wait until the final 6 weeks.

 

prior to sailing I purchased the internet package 200 minutes at $99 and received extra 40 minutes. I purchased the water 3 cases for $20.70. We purchased all our excursions through Princess and paid $888.86, saving about $120.00 paying prior and not on the ship. I prepaid the gratuities at $766. Also bought independent insurance for $425.72. Before boarding we are into this trip for $10,978

 

Our balcony was on Baja deck 11 room 226. The size of room appeared to be smaller than Celebrity balcony. No couch, but like the set up of the closet being open with no doors to mess with. I measured the room by walking it heel to toe and come up with 9 feet wide and 21 feet long. You lose the area where the bathroom and closet sit about 6 x 9. The balcony was 9 X 5 with two chairs and one round side table. Plenty of storage, the area in the closet with hold clothes, with shelves and area below for the suitcases, or suitcases under the bed.

 

The things we liked about the ship (Emerald) was the international cafe (better than Celebrity) because they served sandwiches and salad for lunch and dinner - the coffee card was $31.00 plus 18%, and we bought two - every morning hubby got an americana and I got a brewed and we had one punch of the card.

 

The movies under the stars is nice, but never once got any popcorn

 

We did a future cruise deposit - you pay $100 refundable deposit per person and you have two years to book a cruise and then received a minimal OBC.

 

Food - out of 29 nights of dinners, we ate once at Share, twice at Crown Grill, twice at Vine, twice at Trigent Grill, and two times had room service, also ate buffet, so in all maybe ate in Dining room 18 times.

Share is $39 pp - we ate for free but I would not spend the money to eat there. The menu is limited and food is hit or miss.

Crown Grill is $29 pp - we ate once for free and one we paid. Much better food, quantity and variety than Share. Highly recommend.

Trigent Grill - good option for snack

Pizza - as most people have reported - not good - dough like cardboard, not real cheese. Not very flavorful

Buffet - hit or miss - much better on Celebrity

Dining Room - hit or miss - food much better on Celebrity

 

Service - as always the staff is great. We had a good room attendant, and two great food servers. No complaints with personnel.

 

I will come back later and complete this review with the excursions and stops on this trip.

[Thrak]

We did this cruise last October with the Sip and Sail. Wonderful cruise. We liked the islands much better than the Caribbean which we did in April. We actually love sea days so this worked out really well for us. For MUTS you can go and get your own popcorn but it's not all that great. Sounds like overall you enjoyed your cruise and Emerald Princess but would prefer fewer sea days. Thanks for the review and will be watching for your review of ports and excursions.

[roxievegas]

We did enjoy the cruise, but we would have preferred if they would have stopped again in Hawaii on the way home (I know that they would also have to go to ensenada, mexico to do a foreign port), but the 8 sea days need to be broken up. We have done a transatlantic and the sea days are enjoyable because you know that you have stops coming up.

 

The excursions we picked were mostly sightseeing. We have been to the islands of Hawaii many times, so we only had two excursions out of the four islands. The rest of the stops we did island tours.

 

please note: people who waited to get an excursion once on board found the excursions sold out. If there is something that you really want to do, I suggest you purchase it in advance

 

Hilo - ITO-200 Volcanoes National Park, Macadamia Nut Shop

paid $69.95pp - on board price was higher

this was suppose to be 4 hrs 30 minutes, but I don't think we were gone that long - we had rain and fog at the crater, so we could not see very much. We liked the drive and tour, but if the weather had been better we have enjoyed it more.

 

Honolulu - we did on our own. The taxi out front wanted $20 to take us from port to Waikiki. We took a city bus and paid $5.50pp for an all day pass - if we had shown my medicare card I could have paid $2.00. We walked the beach, had lunch and bought granddaughters trinkets.

 

Maui - we did on our own. Had to wait for all the excursion people get the tenders and then we got off and went walking around.

 

Kauai - LIH205A - Wailua River Cruise & Fern Grotto

paid $84.98pp

again had rain but we were on a covered barge style boat that took about 45 minutes to get to the Fern Grotto. Had singers and dancers on the boat to entertain us. I had been to the Fern Grotto before, but Hubby had not. Did not feel we got our monies worth out of this one.

 

Pago Pago - PPG105B - West Island Drive & Samoan Ava Ceremony

paid $59.95

did not find the island very exciting. Poor, but the people and children were all waving and yelling hello to us. We were in a old open style bus and it was hot and muggy, made the excursion very uncomfortable. The Ava Ceremony was a waste and the drive did not show us much to see. I would not recommend this excursion

 

Bora Bora - BOB105B - Island Drive, Anau Look OUt & Bloody Mary's

paid $59.95 - two hours 30 minutes

again in an open bus, very hot and uncomfortable. The area is poor, dirty and not what I was expecting. The nicest areas must be the outer islands with the resorts - I have no interest in coming back here again. Do not recommend this excursion

 

Papeete - PPT100A - Circle Island Drive

$99.95pp - very nice tour

we had airconditioned buses - nice stops for pictures and we liked this one a lot - I recommend this tour

 

Moorea - MOZ105B - Island Drive, Kia Ora & Belvedere

paid $69.95

we got lucky and the bus we were suppose to get on was getting too full, so a small van/bus that holds only 20 was parked next to ours and we got on the smaller bus. there were only 13 of us and it worked out great, because we were smaller, we could go faster, and make more stops for pictures. This is a nice island and we enjoyed the drive.. We had a nice driver/guide and we enjoyed listening to him. I don't know how well it would have been on the bigger bus, but I recommend this tour.

 

Overall - This was a good cruise. I feel that the food is better on Celebrity, but personnel is equal. I like the rooms better on Celebrity. We will choose our next cruise by the destinations.

 

It was nice to have the balcony when we came into ports, but other than that it was not used. I would recommend if price is a concern - take an ocean view.

[paul929207]

Thanks for the review. We have done this the last three years and loved it.

[Thrak]

I agree about booking excursions in advance. Our roll call group had booked a number of the private excursions way in advance so they were sold out when people got to the islands. There were also a number of folks who were disappointed to find that the Princess excursions were sold out as well.

 

For Bora Bora it's best to take a boat that does the circle around inside the reefs. Most have food and liquor included. Some have a meal on a private motu as well. You get tour of the beautiful inside waters of the island and stop to swim (or wade) with the sharks and rays and also get some snorkeling time if you like. There's not a great deal to see there otherwise. The "town" where you tender is very small with not much there.

 

Pago Pago... There is a US National Park to visit and we also went to $2 beach. It was actually $5 each and you would have to pay me a lot more than that to get me to go back to that "beach". Also some of the taxi drivers there will totally rip you off if you don't make sure to nail down the price in advance.

 

We will likely do these islands again but next time will probably be a Trans Pacific from Sydney to LA. :cool:

[BabsinTX]

Following with great interest. Hope to do this in Fall 2019.

[RMMariner]

Thanks for the review. We will be cruising in French Polynesia next year with another line. We gave the Princess cruise you were on consideration, but as you said just too many sea days. I do not mind sea days, but 8 in a row?

 

I wish Princess still had a ship dedicated to French Polynesia. The choices now are really quite limited.

 

I think Thrak is right, and I have a heard from others that not booking the tour you want in advance is a mistake.

 

I have always wanted to go to French Polynesia. Sorry to hear Bora Bora was a disappointment.

[emmak8]

Thank you so much for posting the review of your cruise. We would love to sail the South Pacific, but 8 sea days right before the end of the cruise would be too much for me. And I love sea days!! By the way, I was on the Emerald on the cruise before yours. 30 days around South America to LA. There were passengers who stayed on the ship for your 28 day leg. I wonder how they fared.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Excellent review. Thank you and welcome home to So. Cal. :)

[pegpowell]

We did this trip in 2011 and loved it. I don't think I was disappointed in any excursions. As for the sea days, we had a fantastic lecturer on board who gave several series of lectures during our sea days. He was one of the highlights of the trip. I guess we were really lucky.

[roxievegas]

Some extra thoughts I forgot to mention.

Prior to the cruise I took info from the boards and I went to the dollar store and i purchased

Magnets - came in a package of 8 - I would use them to put up notes for what we were planning to do for the day or remind if we had a dinner reservation.

Plastic trays - used them in the bathroom to hold makeup and other toilet items. Kept them off the counter.

Liquid laundry soap/fabric softner - small bottle was enough to do four loads - I did two loads, one after Hawaii and then again after Moorea - the laundry rooms were closed while in French Polynesia waters - their rules. I gave away the bottles when I knew I wasn't going to need them. Buy your laundry coins at the front desk = the machines in the laundry room was ripping people off.

Plastic Rain Poncho - worked great for keeping off the misty showers in Hawaii

Went on Amazon and bought the individual Crystal Light powder. Since I ordered the 3 cases of water, I used the powder to make Lemonade. I also took the packets to dinner and added it to my water. I bought to packages, but I only needed one.

Target - bought a inexpensive battery alarm clock.

Amazon - bought 18 paperback books by Michael Connelly. I read them all and my Husband was one book behind me. After we finished them we took them to the Library and left them behind.

Two 12packs of diet coke - since we didn't have a drink package, I had the lemonade, husband had the diet coke.

 

During the 28 days we only purchased two drinks from the bar - I didn't like either - they were the special drink of the day. My husband had wine at the Vine and you get free sushi. He loved it and he ate there twice

 

Luggage

We did not have to fly into LA so we could bring what we want, but we had two suitcases 21 inch for clothes. We also took a hard case 18 inch for the laptop, camera, cords, ipad, books. We had a small duffle bag that we used to carry the two 12 packs of coke. Two backpacks. At the end when we no longer had the cokes and the paperback books, we packed the backpacks in the suitcases and did the walk off at 7:05 a.m. with two bags each and were on the sidewalk getting into our pickup car by 7:30. Home by 8:30 a.m.

 

First thing to do when you get on the ship

the patter had a special for the Crown Grill - buy one meal get one free for the departure day only. Take advantage of it.

internet - first day only, 200 minutes plus the 40 minute extra for $99

 

We received a card on the first day that had a $25 discount for any purchase in any of the ship stores. Also received a $50 off a spa treatment on port day - did not use this one.

 

Room Service - mostly sandwiches, but food is good.

 

If you like sushi, the Vine is a good treat for the cost of one glass of wine.

 

My brother did the Windstar cruise for 7 days in Tahiti. He waited until last minute and got it for $1499pp. But if you do this then you have to fly to Tahiti or fly one way and then try to get a ship coming home.

 

I would consider doing this cruise again. But I would book last minute and get the cheapest room I could.

[Mud_Shark]

Loved the financial breakdown by the OP on the actual cost of the cruise. I also try to calculate the exact amount I paid as I am a budget type person.

 

Part of me really wants to do this itinerary but my wife would be another one that would feel stir crazy with 8 straight at sea days. I think I could handle it but not certain she could. She complained about the 5 straight days on the return to Vancouver from Hawaii a couple years ago.

 

We are still working too, so this is a long time to be gone. Not sure if we can make it work at this point, but it does sound good to have no long and expensive airfare.

 

It would be this cruise or the 14 day fiji cruise out of Australia. This one sounds better but might just be too long for us.

 

Don

[Tweedy]

I loved the cruise and found the 8 sea days at the end went much faster then the first four days. I’m finalizing my review and will add it to my blog. The dailies are up though and the link is in my siggy. Would definitely do an extended cruise again in a heartbeat.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Lucky TGO]

Excellent review thank you.

Tony

[JimnKaren]

Our 'retirement' cruise was like this. I gotta agree that, although I like sea day, those days getting back to California is a looong time. However, since it was a 'special' cruise, I put up with doing not much but reading.

 

Jim

[Micahs Grandad]

Will consider this down the road a bit. Thanks for the review

[Navywife26]

Thanks so much for the review. We are doing this cruise in October. I was excited before, now I can hardly wait. We love sea days.

 

Tammy

[caribill]

I agree about booking excursions in advance. Our roll call group had booked a number of the private excursions way in advance so they were sold out when people got to the islands. There were also a number of folks who were disappointed to find that the Princess excursions were sold out as well.

 

 

For the stops outside of Hawaii (and Mexico), the ship has too many passengers for the tourist infrastructure. When we did French Polynesia on the 700 passenger Tahitian Princess, there was no problem getting desired shore excursions. With over 4 times that many passengers on the Emerald Princess, it is no surprise that many passengers could not get excursions they were interested in.

[emmak8]

In 2019, is roundtrip Los Angeles still available? I don't see it on cruise planner.

[roxievegas]

2019 has March 30 with the Ruby

[Jilliebean28]

Following with great interest. Hope to do this in Fall 2019.

My husband and I are also planning on this cruise in Fall 2019!

[roxievegas]

One last comment - have trip insurance

We were told by other passengers that 4 couples got off the ship in Hawaii to fly home. Another couple got off in Pago Pago.

Since I am on medicare and hubby has HMO (were are U.S.) our insurance will not cover if anything happens on the ship or out of country. We got trip insurance for evac, medical - based on number of days and age it cost $425. Our credit card would reimburse us up to $3,000pp for cruise charges.

One night it was late and they made an emergency broadcast "911" to a cabin on deck 14.. 5 minutes later they repeated the broadcast with a different code. Don't know what happened..

The age group was probably average of 80's - lots of walkers, scooters and wheelchairs.

[Tweedy]

One night it was late and they made an emergency broadcast "911" to a cabin on deck 14.. 5 minutes later they repeated the broadcast with a different code. Don't know what happened...

 

 

We heard a passenger in that cabin had passed from a heart attack. It was the night we left Moorea although I didn’t hear the announcement as I was asleep (with ear plugs).

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[hillslife]

We were on the same cruise.... LOVE all the sea days, got lots of relaxing and reading in, some days were slow activity wise but enjoyable.

 

My biggest complaint was crowded shows ... you had to get there 45-1 hour early or you did not get a seat ����. Many frustrated and angry passengers

 

Just home from a 28 day Hawaii/Tahiti cruise ... the speakers were not up to par... the first 14 days it was a “car guy” so not much interest for the women and the last 14 days a forensic scientist.. we were excited about that, but his lectures were wayyyy to advanced and complicated and he was very disorganized and repetitive ..( and I’m a nurse) lots of DNA info... he hyped solving the Jon Benet Ramsey case for days, then in the end would not reveal his opinion due to liability issues:mad:

Edited April 30, 2018 by hillslife

[gwhitti]

"When I first booked this cruise in June of 2017, I got the sip n sail - balcony for $5799 pp (total of $11,998 with taxes ). After much thought we decided to change to inside cabin and see if we could a better price and move up before sailing. I later upgraded to an oceanview and finally in January I upgraded to a balcony at the price of $4199 pp - but all total $8788 with port charges and taxes."

 

 

For the OP. Did you did you lose the Sip n Sail when you changed to Inside cabin then changed to Oceanview? Did you finally end up with the Sip n Sail when you settled on a Balcony? Not clear on whether you ended up with Sip n Sail or not. Aren't Sip n Sail promotions only good on Balcony or above cabins?