Live from Emerald Princess Jan. 8-18

[jeanandjim]

Boarding was smooth. Got to Park and Go at 10:40. In the lounge waiting to board at 11:15 and were escorted to the ship at 12:15, one of the first eight on-board. We were told everyone has to go to open air deck fifteen and wait for the announcement that our staterooms were available, but being the adventurous ones we went to Passenger service desk to see about an upgrade. We were told they would contact us tomorrow, so we'll see. We noticed down below that the International cafe and Good Spirits bar were open, so after stopping by the dining room to get our dining preferences entered we sat down with a drink and some food in the Piazza and listened to the violinist. Good way to start our cruise. Up to Lido Deck to play some cards and wait for room openings, which came around 2PM. Got settled in, and went back up to Lido for sailaway party. I will be available to answer questions, but don't get on-line very often, so will answer questions in a delayed fashion. We have been removed from our Cartegena stop, so will have an extra day at sea, not a problem for us. Our Turks and Caicos stay has been extended because of the extra time. Yeah, I guess. Only 1 Princess Theater show tonight, a comedian, at 9PM. We had been assuming 6:30 and 8:30 shows, so will see what happens in the next couple days and adjust our dining time if necessary. Tomorrow is Formal and tonight we had guacomole and chips in the PES lounge So here we go, anyone else on this cruise feel free to add information that you have.

Jim

[beg3yrs]

Would love to know if you see the dancers perform. They were absent from the last two sailings...

[Melblank]

I will be getting on as you get off so I'll be watching your updates, thank you! Do you know why Cartagena was canceled? That bums me out

[jeanandjim]

39 minutes ago, Melblank said:

 Do you know why Cartagena was canceled?  

"Officials in Colombia recently enacted new and unexpected policies that require cruise guests to be tested for covid-19 in order to go ashore. This is inconsistent with our port agreement but .....this is the position they have taken." 

Jim

[somogirl]

Enjoy your cruise! Just have to say that I spent my childhood summer vacations in Tomahawk at Somo Lake! Nice to see you on cruise critic. 

[12cruise2]

Thank you for doing this thread!  Our neighbors are on this cruise but are not cruise critic members, far as I know.  I will follow along to see what's  going on.  We are avid HAL cruisers, 9 weeks on the Nieuw Amsterdam since 9/1/21 and loved every minute.  We are also elite Princess cruisers, but miss the Pacific Princess and other, small ships that they have sold; we used to sail on PP almost yearly and miss it so much.  We cruised the Emerald to Hawaii and Tahiti several years back and thoroughly enjoyed our cruise; also the Ruby and Sapphire, when Sapphire was very new--we did Singapore to Sydney, a wonderful trip for sure.

I'll be enjoying your thread.  Again, thank you.

[Chuckst]

We are going to be on this ship next week. Has it been very crowded? Is everything open? Thanks

[12cruise2]

My friend onboard just emailed me to say there are about 1000 on board; maybe rain tomorrow while at Grand Turk.  She also commented that people are being good about mask-wearing.

Edited January 9, 2022 by 12cruise2

[jeanandjim]

12 hours ago, 12cruise2 said:

 We cruised the Emerald to Hawaii and Tahiti several years back and thoroughly enjoyed our cruise

We were on the fall 2017 sailing to Tahiti. If you were on that one we ran the slot pull. Made many friends from our roll call, some of whom we still see yearly.  Thank you somogirl for your kind thoughts, we truly love the area about eight months out of the year. We escape to the sea and a florida condo for the first four months each year.

 

Formal night tonight  roughly 80% of the couples were in ties or better with 20% of us in formal wear.

 

Rock Opera a hit tonight with a full cast including dancers. They are only doing one show a night since our passenger count is 953. There are more than a thousand crew members so no need to wait for anything.

 

everything is open as far as we can tell. PES lounge has been under-attended but they are there serving our needs. They serve everything, no letting hands move in to pick up olives, etc.

 

People, in their pods are keeping masks off while in their groups, including us two. But when approached by a server or another guest, masks are being put on. I think this is the best way of handling social distancing. I have not seen anyone approached about this issue, but crew 100% are maintaining mask wearing. Princess theater 100% mask wearing no complaints.

[#1Nanna]

On 1/8/2022 at 7:46 PM, jeanandjim said:

"Officials in Colombia recently enacted new and unexpected policies that require cruise guests to be tested for covid-19 in order to go ashore. This is inconsistent with our port agreement but .....this is the position they have taken." 

Jim

We are on this cruise after you. This info is disappointing but as everyone knows cruising right now requires flexibility. Thank for the info!

[caribill]

On 1/8/2022 at 6:29 PM, jeanandjim said:

Boarding was smooth. Got to Park and Go at 10:40. In the lounge waiting to board at 11:15 and were escorted to the ship at 12:15, one of the first eight on-board. We were told everyone has to go to open air deck fifteen and wait for the announcement that our staterooms were available.

 

 

Does that mean no dining room was open for lunch on embarkation day?

 

[jeanandjim]

6 hours ago, caribill said:

 

 

Does that mean no dining room was open for lunch on embarkation day?

 

That is correct!

Jim

[alexdw]

On 1/8/2022 at 7:29 PM, jeanandjim said:

Boarding was smooth. Got to Park and Go at 10:40. In the lounge waiting to board at 11:15 and were escorted to the ship at 12:15, one of the first eight on-board. We were told everyone has to go to open air deck fifteen and wait for the announcement that our staterooms were available, but being the adventurous ones we went to Passenger service desk to see about an upgrade. We were told they would contact us tomorrow, so we'll see. We noticed down below that the International cafe and Good Spirits bar were open, so after stopping by the dining room to get our dining preferences entered we sat down with a drink and some food in the Piazza and listened to the violinist. Good way to start our cruise. Up to Lido Deck to play some cards and wait for room openings, which came around 2PM. Got settled in, and went back up to Lido for sailaway party. I will be available to answer questions, but don't get on-line very often, so will answer questions in a delayed fashion. We have been removed from our Cartegena stop, so will have an extra day at sea, not a problem for us. Our Turks and Caicos stay has been extended because of the extra time. Yeah, I guess. Only 1 Princess Theater show tonight, a comedian, at 9PM. We had been assuming 6:30 and 8:30 shows, so will see what happens in the next couple days and adjust our dining time if necessary. Tomorrow is Formal and tonight we had guacomole and chips in the PES lounge So here we go, anyone else on this cruise feel free to add information that you have.

Jim

Please keep updating on your cruise. I am booked on the Emerald Princess on 18th doing the same cruise and not sure if I should cancel especially if they are not going to be admitted to some ports.

[jeanandjim]

1 hour ago, alexdw said:

Please keep updating on your cruise. 

Currently in Grand Turk. Staying longer than planned due to extra sea day coming up. Casino is open, must have an agreement with port. Possibly local casinos are closed. Having breakfast in world fresh market place. Every thing is portion size cups, dishes, glasses. Don't handle any serving utensils. Served hot dishes, eggs etc. by a server.

[alexdw]

4 hours ago, jeanandjim said:

Currently in Grand Turk. Staying longer than planned due to extra sea day coming up. Casino is open, must have an agreement with port. Possibly local casinos are closed. Having breakfast in world fresh market place. Every thing is portion size cups, dishes, glasses. Don't handle any serving utensils. Served hot dishes, eggs etc. by a server.

Thank you

[station10fd]

The roses guest services send a few days ago are opening beautifuly. 

[jeanandjim]

2 hours ago, station10fd said:

The roses guest services send a few days ago are opening beautifuly. 

Lucky you and the ducks, feel free to D any comments as we go along

Jim

 

[jeanandjim]

18 minutes ago, jeanandjim said:

 

 

Edited January 11, 2022 by jeanandjim

[jeanandjim]

 This morning we are traveling between Cuba and Haiti. Mountains of Haiti are high off our port balcony. Forgot to mention we did get our upgrade and only had to travel half a block to get here. We feel very fortunate. Missed the comedian last night, and spent too much time in the casino, but we are still ahead of the game. It is strange being on a ship where you do not have to wait for an elevator and no one is pushing and shoving.

Jim😎

[nini]

@jeanandjim Thank you for sharing your time and comments for this cruise.

 

Hopefully, we will be on the Emerald in May for a British Isles cruise (they say the third time is the charm). From other posters on recent Emerald cruises, it has become a major concern about the crew smoking area being moved to the aft Promenade deck which is really becoming an issue for the guests in aft cabins. Do you know if this is still the crew smoking area? Thanks!

[station10fd]

2 hours ago, nini said:

@jeanandjim Thank you for sharing your time and comments for this cruise.

 

Hopefully, we will be on the Emerald in May for a British Isles cruise (they say the third time is the charm). From other posters on recent Emerald cruises, it has become a major concern about the crew smoking area being moved to the aft Promenade deck which is really becoming an issue for the guests in aft cabins. Do you know if this is still the crew smoking area? Thanks!

The aft for this sailing has not been blocked off for crew smoking.  Sections of the promenade have been blocked for deck refinishing,  so no laps on the promenade. 

[LACruiser88]

Thank all of you for posting!  We are monitoring the posts as we will board on Feb 12th for 29 days...

[Chuckst]

did they cancel any of the excursions in Panama

[station10fd]

As far as I know, they have not. Here’s the flyer they left yesterday. 
 

On edit, anytime I try to quote someone. The page goes crazy and I can’t post. 

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

We are on this cruise. Around 930 passengers and 1010 crew members. There’s no wait for anything. Very nice! We are disappointed that Cartagena was canceled, but this isn’t Princess’ fault. It does mean only four ports for a 10-day cruise. Everything is going very smoothly. Ship is extremely clean. We were concerned about a vibration on the aft end after some earlier cruisers on the Emerald reported an issue. We haven’t noticed any vibration so it must have been fixed. Our only complaint is the bed. This is our 11th Princess cruise and it’s the worst bed we’ve ever experienced. It’s lumpy and saggy. I have a sore back every morning.