Live - Emerald Princess - July 8-20 British Isles

[nini]

3 hours ago, Triptkr said:

Tiki_Koro,

Thanks for putting in the time to document such detail about your trip.  Love the pictures!   We plan (fingers crossed) on being on the Emerald in November.   I am curious about a couple things if you have the time to answer:

--What kind of condition is the Emerald Princess in?  Is the exterior well maintained, interior updated, etc?

--How many passengers are onboard and how many crew are onboard?  What is the service like?  

 

Thanks for your time!

 

We were on the Emerald in May for the British Isles. The outside boasts a pretty rusty hull and very unpleasant to see. The inside appeared fairly well maintained. The cabins are showing wear and tear on the lamps (very scratched up) and the walls as well. Our balcony was in need of cleaning and maintenance but we loved our balcony anyway.

The only negative were the smokers from the promenade smoking area which is a new thing post covid and very upsetting when you book a corner aft balcony! The smoke floats everywhere!

Our sailing was at 2/3 capacity for both passengers and crew.

[Ken the cruiser]

On 7/9/2022 at 10:43 AM, Tiki_Koro said:

Just checking in. We made it to the ship and had the best night’s sleep on those amazing Princess  beds! WiFi has been awful, and I am having difficulty loading photos. I hope to find better WiFi and catch up on my reviews later today. 

Here’s a trick I have learned with CC, if you are running into the issue of your new post with pictures disappearing when you hit Submit.

 

First, click on the page recycle button at the to of the screen to refresh the page. Then go to the bottom of your thread where your new post magically disappeared. Click on that empty space. Your missing post should reappear. If it doesn’t, get out of CC entirely, then restart CC, go to your thread, and then click on the “empty” space again. If your new post does not reappear this time, it’s gone and you have to start your new post over again. 
 

My guess is there is a secondary “hidden” CC buffer area you’re actually typing your new post into. If for example during the process of creating your new post, you leave CC to say edit a picture or two and then go back to your new CC post and start typing or downloading pictures, that link from the visible space you’re working in got “disconnected” from the hidden buffer space when you temporarily left your CC page. This has happened to me MANY times on my Live from the Regal thread I’m currently posting to. 😁

Hope this helps if you’re having similar issues. 
 

 

[Triptkr]

2 hours ago, nini said:

 

We were on the Emerald in May for the British Isles. The outside boasts a pretty rusty hull and very unpleasant to see. The inside appeared fairly well maintained. The cabins are showing wear and tear on the lamps (very scratched up) and the walls as well. Our balcony was in need of cleaning and maintenance but we loved our balcony anyway.

The only negative were the smokers from the promenade smoking area which is a new thing post covid and very upsetting when you book a corner aft balcony! The smoke floats everywhere!

Our sailing was at 2/3 capacity for both passengers and crew.

Noooo!   Our stateroom is direct-facing-aft!   I'd forgotten about the smoking thing...

 

[nini]

11 minutes ago, Triptkr said:

Noooo!   Our stateroom is direct-facing-aft!   I'd forgotten about the smoking thing...

 

Sorry about that! We were on the corner on the Baja deck. We thought that would be "safe" as it was four decks up from the Promenade deck. There was cigarette smoke most of the time. Yuck!

[Triptkr]

5 minutes ago, nini said:

Sorry about that! We were on the corner on the Baja deck. We thought that would be "safe" as it was four decks up from the Promenade deck. There was cigarette smoke most of the time. Yuck!

Wow...we are on Emerald where I would imagine the smoke being worse than Baja.  

[nini]

24 minutes ago, Triptkr said:

Wow...we are on Emerald where I would imagine the smoke being worse than Baja.  

I am so sorry. Maybe if you complain? Many have to no avail.

[Triptkr]

Tiki_Koro,

Wondered if you would be able to tell me if the aft promenade is blocked off as an area for crew to smoke?

 

Thank you!

[High C's]

Obviously accessing the internet from the Emerald is not great, based on the absence of the OP.  Too bad, as he seemed very excited to be doing a Live From, and it looked like it was going to be a great one!  @Tiki_Koro - if you are seeing this, I hope you and your family are having a wonderful cruise!

[BuckeyeMark]

6 hours ago, Triptkr said:

Tiki_Koro,

Wondered if you would be able to tell me if the aft promenade is blocked off as an area for crew to smoke?

 

Thank you!

Just got off the Emerald (July 9) and we had a cabin on the starboard side way back towards the back ... and a couple of times we got whiffs of cigarette smoke.  Once it was pretty strong.

[Triptkr]

37 minutes ago, BuckeyeMark said:

Just got off the Emerald (July 9) and we had a cabin on the starboard side way back towards the back ... and a couple of times we got whiffs of cigarette smoke.  Once it was pretty strong.

What deck were you on?  Also, do you remember if the aft portion of the promenade was blocked off or do you think people were just smoking on the promenade starboard side?

Edited July 13, 2022 by Triptkr

[BuckeyeMark]

6 hours ago, Triptkr said:

What deck were you on?  Also, do you remember if the aft portion of the promenade was blocked off or do you think people were just smoking on the promenade starboard side?

Deck 9.  Cabin 727.  We figured it was someone smoking on a balcony close to us.  Never did make the circuit on the promenade deck to see what was going on there.  Sorry.

[rabin1]

Hi

Would you please see if you can find out what is going to be done to Emerald in drydock in October

Thank you

Kathy

[SweetD323]

On 6/30/2022 at 8:25 PM, durangokid said:

Bon voyage!  We were booked on the Emerald for September 5, 2023 but have been moved to the Regal.  Will be following your adventures and learning so we can plan ours.  And Happy 40th ~ I recently hit the 70 mark but feel 40 until I look in the mirror or try to do something that I shouldn't do.  LOL  I wish I had the energy I feel coming from your plans!  

My hubs and I will be on the Sept. 5 cruise.  Hope the run into you!

[geoherb]

When I lived in London for seven months after college, I worked near Fortnum & Mason. A friend and I would go there for scones and tea a couple of afternoons each week. When we went back in 2017 for our British Isles cruise, going back to F&M was high on my list. It ended up being a disappointment. The service was not as good as it was 32 years before and the prices were much higher.

 

I hope you are having a great time and will fill us in when you get a good internet connection.

[DougH]

Great review so far. I'm on the Emerald later this year and am wondering where you are doing the pre cruise Covid testing? Do they do it on the pier and at what cost?

[wowzz]

11 hours ago, geoherb said:

The service was not as good as it was 32 years before and the prices were much higher.

The prices were higher than 32 years earlier - what a surprise!😁

[ohnonotmeagain]

I prefer The Ritz for afternoon tea than F&M.

[geoherb]

11 hours ago, wowzz said:

The prices were higher than 32 years earlier - what a surprise!😁

 

Much higher than the rate of inflation. In Britain, inflation averaged 2.7% per year. What cost £2 in 1985 should have cost £4.64 in 2017. It was more than double the price it would have been if it had just increased the same as the national inflation rate. 

[wowzz]

4 hours ago, geoherb said:

 

Much higher than the rate of inflation. In Britain, inflation averaged 2.7% per year. What cost £2 in 1985 should have cost £4.64 in 2017. It was more than double the price it would have been if it had just increased the same as the national inflation rate. 

But you misunderstand how inflation rates are calculated. Items such as white goods, electronic devices, foreign holidays,  furniture etc, dropped drastically in price in real terms.  Other items, obviously increased in real terms.

Applying a single averaged inflation figure is somewhat naive.

[Coral]

On 6/30/2022 at 11:55 AM, jenf22 said:

We're on the same cruise and so glad someone is doing a live report.  My 15 year old son wants to work on his writing this summer and has said he will do a trip report as well.  I told him I would post it on here afterwards if it works out.  We'll see if he follows through.  I will be watching yours! 

Definitely encourage him to do so. It would be great to hear views from his age group.

[geoherb]

3 hours ago, wowzz said:

But you misunderstand how inflation rates are calculated. Items such as white goods, electronic devices, foreign holidays,  furniture etc, dropped drastically in price in real terms.  Other items, obviously increased in real terms.

Applying a single averaged inflation figure is somewhat naive.

 

I could not find a food inflation calculator for the UK, so I used the general inflation calculator. I later found a chart showing food inflation rates. In some years, the rate was negative. It averaged around the same percentage over the decades as the general rate.

 

Edited July 16, 2022 by geoherb

[wowzz]

5 hours ago, geoherb said:

 

I could not find a food inflation calculator for the UK, so I used the general inflation calculator. I later found a chart showing food inflation rates. In some years, the rate was negative. It averaged around the same percentage over the decades as the general rate.

 

Yes, food inflation was negligible until recently. But, the cost of the food in an afternoon tea is almost incidental. Labour costs, taxation,  utiliities , etc wil have increased dramatically over those 30 years.

[insidecabin]

We find cruises just as affordable as they were when we first started 25+ years ago.

In those old days 20 years ago the likes of Thomsons, Sun cruises, Island...  were knocking out late booking AI cruises for around £400pppw, they have all gone except Marella(Thomsons).
Marella were down to around £500pppw pre covid,  the recent ones have been a bit more as they are still  limiting capacity.

Princess round UK AI 12n were £1kpp I think we will see next years cruises get close once the late booking prices kick in.

If you grab redeployment trips like Enchanted they were stating at £100pppd for a balcony thats relatively cheap compared to options years ago.

P&O a good benchmark for the UK their low ball entry prices have been £50pppd for years, you can still find cruises in the £50-£55pppn range now

Its easy to find examples that are significantly more expensive the trick is finding the ones that are still sensible prices

[amajaa]

On 7/13/2022 at 10:16 PM, Triptkr said:

What deck were you on?  Also, do you remember if the aft portion of the promenade was blocked off or do you think people were just smoking on the promenade starboard side?

We were on her in June and no the aft portion wasn’t blocked off. However large portions of the promenade deck were blocked off at various times as they were working on them, or lowering a lifeboat for practice etc. in fact there was at least somewhere on the promenade deck blocked off most of the time. So we couldn’t do our usual of doing quite a few circuits. 

[wowzz]

45 minutes ago, amajaa said:

So we couldn’t do our usual of doing quite a few circuits. 

Deleted - wrong topic !

Edited July 16, 2022 by wowzz