Emerald Princess was an epic disappointment. Never again on Princess

[TRLD]

34 minutes ago, d9704011 said:

I am on the Emerald right now.  Shows are (mostly) scheduled for 1930 and again at 2130.  On this sailing, it has been necessary to show up at least 30 minutes beforehand to get two decent seats together, at least for the early show  Perhaps it's because the ship is chock-a-block with passengers for a Christmas & New Year's cruise.

That is pretty much the norm on Princess, especially for production shows. More room at later shows. Celebrity does have higher capacity theaters as a percentage of  ship size.

 

 

Edited January 6 by TRLD

[cruisinsince75]

27 minutes ago, TRLD said:

That is pretty much the norm on Princess, especially for production shows. More room at later shows. Celebrity does have higher capacity theaters as a percentage of  ship size.

 

 

We did find the theater was very crowded on one of our CP cruise.  We were asked after the cruise how we found the shows.  I replied that we found most outstanding.  What we really meant was that we were out standing. 😀

[nini]

4 hours ago, KLM3164 said:

My first cruise with Princess was in 1995 and I can say it was “my worst cruise ever”. At the time I considered Princess to be a one and done. I said I would never sail on another Princess ship again. I eventually did give them another try when my parents booked a cruise on Princess and I really wanted to go with them. I’m happy to say that 2nd cruise did win me over and I’m now Elite with Princess.

 

In contrast to the original post, we are going on our first Celebrity cruise next month and they are really going to have to give me a big wow factor for me to sail on them again. I’m finding Celebrity to be very expensive. Cabins are more expensive, no MDR lunch on embarkation day unless we pay extra for concierge class (no thank you). Steakhouse is over $140 for 2 vs. $78 on Princess. I’m also going to miss the all-inclusive Plus and Premier packages that Princess offers. Everything on Celebrity seems to be a la carte unless sailing in suites which were just way out of line compared to Princess. The only positive thing I have to say so far for Celebrity is we were able to get a Sunset Veranda cabin and book an internet package at 50% off. We like the food on Princess so we will see in just over a month how the food on Celebrity compares. Based on the OP I hope the food on Celebrity is amazing!

When we were on Celebrity in 2018, we had a package like Princess Plus. We will not cruise with Celebrity again due to many factors. This was pre covid and we were very disappointed.I look forward to you review.

[Lady Arwen]

12 hours ago, KLM3164 said:

My first cruise with Princess was in 1995 and I can say it was “my worst cruise ever”. At the time I considered Princess to be a one and done. I said I would never sail on another Princess ship again. I eventually did give them another try when my parents booked a cruise on Princess and I really wanted to go with them. I’m happy to say that 2nd cruise did win me over and I’m now Elite with Princess.

 

In contrast to the original post, we are going on our first Celebrity cruise next month and they are really going to have to give me a big wow factor for me to sail on them again. I’m finding Celebrity to be very expensive. Cabins are more expensive, no MDR lunch on embarkation day unless we pay extra for concierge class (no thank you). Steakhouse is over $140 for 2 vs. $78 on Princess. I’m also going to miss the all-inclusive Plus and Premier packages that Princess offers. Everything on Celebrity seems to be a la carte unless sailing in suites which were just way out of line compared to Princess. The only positive thing I have to say so far for Celebrity is we were able to get a Sunset Veranda cabin and book an internet package at 50% off. We like the food on Princess so we will see in just over a month how the food on Celebrity compares. Based on the OP I hope the food on Celebrity is amazing!

Which Celebrity ship will you be sailing on?  We’ve been on Ascent all week and it’s been fabulous.  We’re Elite+ with Celebrity and it’s our number one choice of cruiselines with HAL being second and Princess third.

 

I hope you’re sailing on an Edge class ship, because they are very special ships.  We used to sail on both M class and S class, but we exclusively sail Edge class, now.  So many wonderful things to enjoy on these ships.  You just cannot compare them to Princess.  Yes, they are more expensive than Princess, sometimes by a lot, but to us it’s worth every penny.  Our loyalty perks with Celebrity are far superior to what we get with Princess.

 

If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer.  Trying out a new cruiseline can be a bit daunting.  Rest assured you will love Celebrity.  The hard part is going back to other cruiselines.  Wishing you a most wonderful time onboard your Celebrity ship.

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

13 hours ago, KLM3164 said:

Ascent.

BTW I forgot to mention I have a Live From thread in my below signature from when we went on the Apex, the 2nd of 5 E-class ships, in Nov 2022, which was one of our favorite X cruises ever.

[Lady Arwen]

38 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

BTW I forgot to mention I have a Live From thread in my below signature from when we went on the Apex, the 2nd of 5 E-class ships, in Nov 2022, which was one of our favorite X cruises ever.

We also sailed on Apex British Isles in September 2022 and it was just wonderful.  We had one of the Deluxe OV far forward #9100.  Awesome cruise.

[Host CJSKIDS]

Let's bring the thread back to the topic of Princess as it's starting to turn into a thread about Celebrity cruises!!

[Rick&Jeannie]

3 minutes ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

Let's bring the thread back to the topic of Princess as it's starting to turn into a thread about Celebrity cruises!!

Agreed!

[Koliver63]

On 1/2/2024 at 1:40 PM, SaltyDoggg said:

I knew of the reputation of Princess cruises was pretty legendary in the cruise world. They are the Love Boat after all. But I didn't know if they could stand up to the stellar track record I had previously sailing with 2 of the leaders in the industry, Disney and Celebrity. Let me cut to the chase... they do not. They're not even in the same stratosphere.

 

I chose Emerald Princess because it was an older ship, which I love and the Itinerary was epic! I watched every Emerald Princess ship walkthrough video, read all the reviews and I was sold that Emerald Princess was a great ship to try. I ca't begin to tell you how disappointed I was.

 

The food overall was awful, even putrid, but the food at the buffet was just horrific. The crew overall were great but everyone really lacked basic training and that rolls over to a bad guest experience. There is also a major communication problem between the crew and the guests. The language barrier is really frustrating to overcome.

 

Buffet. They were serving powdered eggs for breakfast at the buffet. You had to wait 20 minutes at the omelet station just to place your order, then another 15 minutes to get your omelet. And the Omelet was mediocre at best, not worth the wait. By day 2, I resorted to cereal and fruit for breakfast because everything else was just so awful. Same for lunch and dinner at the buffet. Items on the line looked gray and unappetizing. I ended up eating pizza and burgers outside at the Salty Grill and Slice for lunch because oddly, their pizza was phenomenal and that's coming from a NYC pizza snob.

 

The operation on how they managed that burger line at the salty grill was a joke. The idea of hot dogs and burgers are so you can get a bite quickly. It was literally keystone cops behind that line, trying to get food out to guests waiting 20 minutes for one burger with only 3 guests waiting. I would show up exactly when they opened at 11am, first person in line and still wait 20 minutes for a cheese burger because they were cooking everything to order. Not because they weren't trying, because they had no training and no backup. Management was oblivious. It was a joke. Ridiculous. No idea on how to deal with volume on a grill line.

 

Main dining room's food was Tasteless. Presentations were great but the food was just not good. Service was decent and crew were great. I only ate in the main dining room 3 times on a 14 night cruise because I was continually disappointed in the quality of food. I did an up-charge steak one night and it was terrible. You could taste the char on the steak and the vegetable, plus the texture of the steak was like mealy. The kicker??? The mashed potatoes were obviously instant. No butter, no salt. What kind of company does this?

 

Specialty restaurants were better, but bot great. Casual specialty restaurants also were better, but again. Nothing memorable. Thank God I had the Premium package because I could eat at the casual restaurant were were somewhat better but again, they had allot of issues with the quality of the food

 

Does Princess even have a corporate culinary program that ensures consistence across their entire fleet? If they do, they are failing. One ship's mistakes affect how their entire brand is perceived.

 

Entertainment sucked. Steel pan player was trying to play to backing tracks and all you could hear was steel drum with so much treble it was like sticking an ice pick in your ears. This guy was all over the ship too. I was running away from him because it was just not enjoyable. Could not find one band on the ship that played good ole rock and roll. This party band who just joined the ship with us did an 80's night on the pool deck and they were playing air guitar and lyp syncing because they did not know the material. It was pathetic. Even the guys who were mixing the band were embarrassed.

 

The constant upselling. The cruise director is so in love with himself that they have thing they do on the big screen called the wake show. Like a Good Morning America where they are constantly trying to get you to go to the art auctions, the jewelry sales, etc.. It's so in your face and obvious and ruins the chill pool deck vibe Between running from pool deck to pool deck to avoid the steel pan player and having to endure this Wake Show on the other pool deck. It was really annoying.

 

Mechanics. Everything is broken on that ship. Elevators were not working. Auto doors would close on you while you are half way through. Light sensors in the room going off for no reason in the middle of the night. etc. etc. etc.

 

Pool decks. There are 3 of them, each very narrow. It's challenging moving through those areas because all the loungers take up the space needed to walk from one end to another. Why do you need 3 small pool decks? They pack it in so tight, you cant navigate.

The ports were the best part of this cruise. Everything went off without a hitch. The excursions were so great. If it weren't for the ports and excursions, this cruise would be an EPIC fail. It's the only thing that kept me from rating it a 1.

 

In short, I would never sail Princess again. I took a chance and it really disappointed me. This cruise was not cheap either. Traveling as a single, I was paying double occupancy on a 14 night cruise in a balcony cabin. Do the math.

 

Princess does not know who they want to be either. They have this Duffy the bear character that walks around the ship waving to guests. What is that?? You're not Disney and you don't have Mickey Mouse. Plus there are hardly any kids on the ship, by design BTW. What are you doing with this character? Do you really think thats what people are looking for?

 

Also I spent allot of time getting to know some of their Elite guests with 15 or more Princess cruises under their belt. They seem forgiving of the inconsistencies on Princess because of all the rewards they are earning. That's a dangerous place to be for a brand. Princess feels their guests are happy, but they are really just complacent. Most I talked to are so brand loyal they they would never consider sailing with anyone else. Why should Princess try if their legacy guests don't care? I think Princess knows of the complacency and allows the ball to drop. It's so obvious for me where they are failing.

 

But what they are really doing is alienating the new generation of cruisers. Your legacy guests are gonna be gone someday soon and you will be left at the mercy of pulling in new blood, but i think it will already be too late by that time.

 

I'll be back on Celebrity and Disney if you need me... cheers!

I’m so sorry it was such a bad experience. Ugh. I have only been on 3 cruises so I am no expert but all 3 were on Princess. We did the Crown Princess as first cruise to the Med in 2018 and it was really great. Ship was a little older but elegant and we loved everything except the entertainment seemed a bit dull. We did Crown again in 2019 to the Caribbean - exact same suite and absolutely hated it. Food was horrible, ship was dirty and rusted…it didn’t even feel like the same ship. We sailed on Enchanted to the Med Spring 2023 and fell in love with Princess all over again. Newer ship, amazing food, heavenly mail suite spa, Chef’s Table, Incredible production shows and live music… entertainment was amazing…everything was perfect. So I think I learned to only sail on the newer ships with Princess. All that said, I am sailing on Celebrity Edge (first non Princess cruise!) in June in a sunset verandah cabin on deck 8 and am excited to see the differences. 

[Koliver63]

1 minute ago, Koliver63 said:

I’m so sorry it was such a bad experience. Ugh. I have only been on 3 cruises so I am no expert but all 3 were on Princess. We did the Crown Princess as first cruise to the Med in 2018 and it was really great. Ship was a little older but elegant and we loved everything except the entertainment seemed a bit dull. We did Crown again in 2019 to the Caribbean - exact same suite and absolutely hated it. Food was horrible, ship was dirty and rusted…it didn’t even feel like the same ship. We sailed on Enchanted to the Med Spring 2023 and fell in love with Princess all over again. Newer ship, amazing food, heavenly mail suite spa, Chef’s Table, Incredible production shows and live music… entertainment was amazing…everything was perfect. So I think I learned to only sail on the newer ships with Princess. All that said, I am sailing on Celebrity Edge (first non Princess cruise!) in June in a sunset verandah cabin on deck 8 and am excited to see the differences. 

Correction..heavenly thermal suite spa 🙂

[Koliver63]

On 1/3/2024 at 10:12 AM, Lady Arwen said:

 Currently on  Celebrity Ascent.  Wow!  10+ out of 10!  Gorgeous ship, spacious cabin with the absolute best bathroom, great food in all of the MDRs, service is stellar, as usual.  Not even getting off the ship this time.  
 

Princess, unfortunately, can’t hold a candle to the Edge class ships.  We’re sailing on Enchanted this summer to use up huge FCC, but I fear we’ll be disappointed.  However, we’re going with an open mind and the Premier package, so we can drown our sorrows in a few adult beverages.  

 

Happy New Year!

.  

I think you will love Enchanted 🙂. We sailed on her for 2 weeks in the Med last spring…it was perfect. Clean, beautiful ship with awesome, happy staff, very good MDR food (Not to die for excellent but still quite good), amazing production shows (5 Skies and Rock Opera), beautiful classical music in the jazz bar, really fun shows in Princess Live area, fun dance band in the piazza, hubby loved the buffet - food was fresh. The Enclave Thermal Suite, International Cafe, Chef’s Table and 360x Dining Experience were all stand outs for us. I hope you love it as much as we did! 

[Koliver63]

Just now, Koliver63 said:

I think you will love Enchanted 🙂. We sailed on her for 2 weeks in the Med last spring…it was perfect. Clean, beautiful ship with awesome, happy staff, very good MDR food (Not to die for excellent but still quite good), amazing production shows (5 Skies and Rock Opera), beautiful classical music in the jazz bar, really fun shows in Princess Live area, fun dance band in the piazza, hubby loved the buffet - food was fresh. The Enclave Thermal Suite, International Cafe, Chef’s Table and 360x Dining Experience were all stand outs for us. I hope you love it as much as we did! 

Don’t forget to try Crown Grille and Sabatini’s…both reasonably priced and a nice, more upscale experience. We have always enjoyed our meals there! 

[Lady Arwen]

Just now, Koliver63 said:

Don’t forget to try Crown Grille and Sabatini’s…both reasonably priced and a nice, more upscale experience. We have always enjoyed our meals there! 

We’ve sailed on Royal class ships numerous times.  We’re just using up a huge amount of FCC. For Enchanted we’ve booked all 7 nights in specialty restaurants.  Four in The Catch, two in Crown Grill and one in Sabatini’s.  Absolutely hate the smoke in the casino, which is why we’re going back to Celebrity.  With the Premier package, we will enjoy our coffees and cocktails.

[Lady Arwen]

1 hour ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Agreed!

Guilty as charged!  My apologies for being part of the hijacking.  Hard for me not to get excited about that other cruiseline.  Trust me, won’t happen again.

 

Happy cruising, everyone!

[Koliver63]

27 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

We’ve sailed on Royal class ships numerous times.  We’re just using up a huge amount of FCC. For Enchanted we’ve booked all 7 nights in specialty restaurants.  Four in The Catch, two in Crown Grill and one in Sabatini’s.  Absolutely hate the smoke in the casino, which is why we’re going back to Celebrity.  With the Premier package, we will enjoy our coffees and cocktails.

We tend to book them a lot too. I’m a big fan of specialty dining! If you get a chance to try Chef’s Table or 360X - they are both one of the best meals I have ever had. And I have had some meals in my life, lol. Enjoy! 

[KLM3164]

1 hour ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

Let's bring the thread back to the topic of Princess as it's starting to turn into a thread about Celebrity cruises!!

Sorry about that as I was the one that started us down the rabbit hole. 🐰 

[jwattle]

On 1/2/2024 at 2:07 PM, SCX22 said:

 

I have one anecdote about Stanley.  There was and old lady, bless her heart, who carried Stanley everywhere on the ship.  We sat next to her at Crooners one evening and we asked her about the Stanley she was carrying around.  She explained how she'd cruised everywhere on Princess with her late husband and how she misses her husband so much every time she's on a Princess Cruise.  She then proceeded to show us her Stanley bear.  She showed us a pocket she sewed on the back of it's captain's uniform.  There was a mini ziplock containing some of her husband's ashes and his wedding ring.  We didn't have the heart to tell her how crazy she was.

 

That's how attached some people are to Princess and how Princess can do no harm to some.

 

Bless your heart. I just want to say that what appeared crazy to "some" appears incredibly sentimental and wonderful to others. I only hope that my husband loves me that deeply, as to keep a bit of my ashes and ring after I pass.

 

 

 

On 1/3/2024 at 4:26 AM, SaltyDoggg said:

Have you ever cruised Celebrity ? Honestly, I find the pricing between Celebrity and Princess to be very similar. They market themselves like they are selling the same product but in reality, Celebrity has taken big steps to move forward, attracting more cruisers in their 40s and 50s while still keeping their legacy guests happy. I know that’s a delicate dance but they have done a great job of it. I’d like to see Princess follow suit. Good luck to you! 

I'll answer for him: @c-boy has cruised Celebrity 12+ times. You're welcome 🙂

[memoak]

Let’s face it whenever you are sailing multiple days crossing either the Pacific or Atlantic oceans you have the possibility of rough seas. That is part of what cruising is all about

Edited January 6 by memoak

[Teechur]

B Devil Cruiser:

 

The Majestic Princess has a large area at the front of the ship called The Hollywood Conservatory which is free to use and replaces the Sanctuary. It includes a covered pool, bar, cabanas, and windows looking forward and to the sides of the ship. It is located on the Sun deck #17 at the front of the ship.

Perhaps give it a try?

Edited January 6 by Teechur

[Teechur]

On 1/4/2024 at 8:10 AM, BDevilCruiser said:

 

 

 

Edited January 6 by Teechur

[Cruisintimer]

On 1/2/2024 at 10:40 AM, SaltyDoggg said:

I knew of the reputation of Princess cruises was pretty legendary in the cruise world. They are the Love Boat after all. But I didn't know if they could stand up to the stellar track record I had previously sailing with 2 of the leaders in the industry, Disney and Celebrity. Let me cut to the chase... they do not. They're not even in the same stratosphere.

 

I chose Emerald Princess because it was an older ship, which I love and the Itinerary was epic! I watched every Emerald Princess ship walkthrough video, read all the reviews and I was sold that Emerald Princess was a great ship to try. I ca't begin to tell you how disappointed I was.

 

The food overall was awful, even putrid, but the food at the buffet was just horrific. The crew overall were great but everyone really lacked basic training and that rolls over to a bad guest experience. There is also a major communication problem between the crew and the guests. The language barrier is really frustrating to overcome.

 

Buffet. They were serving powdered eggs for breakfast at the buffet. You had to wait 20 minutes at the omelet station just to place your order, then another 15 minutes to get your omelet. And the Omelet was mediocre at best, not worth the wait. By day 2, I resorted to cereal and fruit for breakfast because everything else was just so awful. Same for lunch and dinner at the buffet. Items on the line looked gray and unappetizing. I ended up eating pizza and burgers outside at the Salty Grill and Slice for lunch because oddly, their pizza was phenomenal and that's coming from a NYC pizza snob.

 

The operation on how they managed that burger line at the salty grill was a joke. The idea of hot dogs and burgers are so you can get a bite quickly. It was literally keystone cops behind that line, trying to get food out to guests waiting 20 minutes for one burger with only 3 guests waiting. I would show up exactly when they opened at 11am, first person in line and still wait 20 minutes for a cheese burger because they were cooking everything to order. Not because they weren't trying, because they had no training and no backup. Management was oblivious. It was a joke. Ridiculous. No idea on how to deal with volume on a grill line.

 

Main dining room's food was Tasteless. Presentations were great but the food was just not good. Service was decent and crew were great. I only ate in the main dining room 3 times on a 14 night cruise because I was continually disappointed in the quality of food. I did an up-charge steak one night and it was terrible. You could taste the char on the steak and the vegetable, plus the texture of the steak was like mealy. The kicker??? The mashed potatoes were obviously instant. No butter, no salt. What kind of company does this?

 

Specialty restaurants were better, but bot great. Casual specialty restaurants also were better, but again. Nothing memorable. Thank God I had the Premium package because I could eat at the casual restaurant were were somewhat better but again, they had allot of issues with the quality of the food

 

Does Princess even have a corporate culinary program that ensures consistence across their entire fleet? If they do, they are failing. One ship's mistakes affect how their entire brand is perceived.

 

Entertainment sucked. Steel pan player was trying to play to backing tracks and all you could hear was steel drum with so much treble it was like sticking an ice pick in your ears. This guy was all over the ship too. I was running away from him because it was just not enjoyable. Could not find one band on the ship that played good ole rock and roll. This party band who just joined the ship with us did an 80's night on the pool deck and they were playing air guitar and lyp syncing because they did not know the material. It was pathetic. Even the guys who were mixing the band were embarrassed.

 

The constant upselling. The cruise director is so in love with himself that they have thing they do on the big screen called the wake show. Like a Good Morning America where they are constantly trying to get you to go to the art auctions, the jewelry sales, etc.. It's so in your face and obvious and ruins the chill pool deck vibe Between running from pool deck to pool deck to avoid the steel pan player and having to endure this Wake Show on the other pool deck. It was really annoying.

 

Mechanics. Everything is broken on that ship. Elevators were not working. Auto doors would close on you while you are half way through. Light sensors in the room going off for no reason in the middle of the night. etc. etc. etc.

 

Pool decks. There are 3 of them, each very narrow. It's challenging moving through those areas because all the loungers take up the space needed to walk from one end to another. Why do you need 3 small pool decks? They pack it in so tight, you cant navigate.

The ports were the best part of this cruise. Everything went off without a hitch. The excursions were so great. If it weren't for the ports and excursions, this cruise would be an EPIC fail. It's the only thing that kept me from rating it a 1.

 

In short, I would never sail Princess again. I took a chance and it really disappointed me. This cruise was not cheap either. Traveling as a single, I was paying double occupancy on a 14 night cruise in a balcony cabin. Do the math.

 

Princess does not know who they want to be either. They have this Duffy the bear character that walks around the ship waving to guests. What is that?? You're not Disney and you don't have Mickey Mouse. Plus there are hardly any kids on the ship, by design BTW. What are you doing with this character? Do you really think thats what people are looking for?

 

Also I spent allot of time getting to know some of their Elite guests with 15 or more Princess cruises under their belt. They seem forgiving of the inconsistencies on Princess because of all the rewards they are earning. That's a dangerous place to be for a brand. Princess feels their guests are happy, but they are really just complacent. Most I talked to are so brand loyal they they would never consider sailing with anyone else. Why should Princess try if their legacy guests don't care? I think Princess knows of the complacency and allows the ball to drop. It's so obvious for me where they are failing.

 

But what they are really doing is alienating the new generation of cruisers. Your legacy guests are gonna be gone someday soon and you will be left at the mercy of pulling in new blood, but i think it will already be too late by that time.

 

I'll be back on Celebrity and Disney if you need me... cheers!

Wow, after reading this review it makes sense why you cruised solo. 😵‍💫🥴

[Z0nker]

On 1/2/2024 at 7:47 PM, d9704011 said:

I am currently on Emerald Princess.  Ship in good condtion, food and service good, amenities are good, entertainment fair; I am completely satisfied and I think you will be too.

We sailed Emerald in September. Ship was in great shape, food and entertainment were fine. Crew was friendly and hardworking. Maybe I should look back at our photos to make sure we were really on the Emerald? 

[Itried4498]

2 hours ago, memoak said:

Let’s face it whenever you are sailing multiple days crossing either the Pacific or Atlantic oceans you have the possibility of rough seas. That is part of what cruising is all about

I’d go further and add that any long distance cruise in which the ship is cruising at maximum speed is likely to be rough at times.  Did a transatlantic on Royal in late October and they had a notice explaining this, and had motion sickness bags placed throughout the ship.  Definitely not unique to Princess.

[Rick&Jeannie]

We were on the Sky for its transatlantic repositioning cruise this past November.  We had a few pretty rough nights where the ship was really rockin' & rollin'!  Never did we feel that this was the fault of the ship or Princess.  It's just Mother Nature and NO cruise line has EVER been able to tame her!  We actually thought it was pretty interesting.

[TheMichael]

8 hours ago, memoak said:

Let’s face it whenever you are sailing multiple days crossing either the Pacific or Atlantic oceans you have the possibility of rough seas. That is part of what cruising is all about

 

Did Alaska on HAL in September, and it was spectacularly rough the first night as we sailed up the Pacific side of Vancouver Island. Side-to-side, forward-to-back, with the occasional big shudder, and everything that could bump or bang bumped and banged (it wasn't the motion that kept me awake, it was the noise!). It seemed like half the passengers were sick the next day, making the ship quite uncrowded. The captain went as far as to reassure everyone that the ship was built to handle much worse.

 

We ended up sharing a table the next day with someone who's been on 40-odd cruises, and although she admitted it was the worst she'd experienced, she also said that wasn't by much!