Emerald Princess was an epic disappointment. Never again on Princess

[memoak]

2 hours ago, TheMichael said:

 

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!

Try being through a hurricane on the Sun Princess 2001 of Cabo 

[KLM3164]

3 minutes ago, memoak said:

Try being through a hurricane on the Sun Princess 2001 of Cabo 

Or being through a hurricane on the Fair Princess in 1990 and the A/C system wasn’t working on this ship. Lots of sick people from the hurricane and all areas on the ship being hot and humid. #worstcruiseever

[TheMichael]

49 minutes ago, memoak said:

Try being through a hurricane on the Sun Princess 2001 of Cabo 

 

I guess technically we were dealing with "just" a bomb cyclone...couldn't pay me to cruise the Caribbean during hurricane season, though.

[shandryl]

On 1/2/2024 at 12:40 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!

Thank you for sharing your cruise experience. I laughed & cried at times/wiping tears from my eyes. This was an excellent read. MY GUTS HURT! 😂💗👍

[friend of Eeyore]

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!

 

Thanks for the review, OP, but I think you let yourself down on a couple of things

1) Going on an older ship, you're going to lose some of the bells and whistles. 

2) Only eating in the main dining room 3 nights - you missed a lot of good food.

3) Not complaining when the upcharge steak wasn't good. (We were on last cruise, so just after yours, i guess? Unless you just got off, unless then i had a greatly different cruise than yours. Hubby got the upcharge steak one night, and his was perfect. Almost as good as the one from Crown Grill.)

4) Sitting through the Wake Show - just why? Lol. This was my 25thnPrincess cruise, and I think I've watched 1 wake show. Maybe 2, and the second one was because our Cruise Critic meet and greet helped film part, lol.

 

I do have to agree about the buffet. I really did not like the lunch buffet most days. A couple of days I skipped lunch, a couple of days I went to the dining room, and a couple of days I ordered in a sandwich from room service. Pizza and tacos (Salty Dog grill had Street tacos) were good, and the rest of the time I picked through what I could find in the buffet. Last sea day was sushi, finally. Breakfast was almost worse, too - no real toast, no freshly fried eggs, and the supplies for the omelets kept getting lower and lower as the cruise went on.

 

And the service the last 2 weeks was impeccable. No problems being understood or understanding them, and they were very pleasant and trying to please us.

 

I'm not a Princess Cheerleader, however. This may be my last Princess cruise, because they've lost me with their trend towards bigger ships. I've tried other lines since 2019 (just haven't updated my signature). And I won't give up on a line before trying them twice. I will say though, OP, your praise of Celebrity has me a little puzzled. I went on two cruises with them, and I'd rate their food below Princess, quite frankly. If I were you, I'd try Princess again, on a newer ship.

 

On 1/2/2024 at 2:47 PM, Wishing on a star said:

I would shy away from Emerald, after seeing reviews from the last few years...

Perhaps that is why the one person posted that one comment????

But, IT SHOULD NOT MATTER....

All ships should be freshly restored and in good working order.

All ships should have some consistency when it comes to basic dining and service.

I am not a Princess cheerleader.  I was on one cruise with BAD food and dining, where we joked that maybe we should jump off and start swimming home!!!!

Consistency,  or INCONSISTANCY,  is a big issue.

 

I will say that the comments about staffing make me wonder if the difficulties and staffing shortages...  along with MANY now over on the SUN Princess, preparing for her inaugural...  have really had a huge and negative impact on staffing.

 

Our last cruise, on REGAL,  was great!!!!   ( a couple of 'princess shortcoming/embarrasments ). but really good overall !!!

We are looking forward to being on the new ship later this year.

 

We were on Emerald over Christmas/New Year's. We found the service and staffing to be impeccable. Don't know what Emerald trip the OP was on.

 

On 1/2/2024 at 5:42 PM, azbirdmom said:

 

Except what is happening with the Wake Show is by design.  They used to bombard folks with fliers in the room about stuff for sale, now they are doing it with the Wake Show.  And thankfully none of us are forced to watch it so it hardly intrudes on our cruise experience.

 

Things like food quality and service are things that they need to hear about.  We take our time doing the after cruise survey letting them know about what worked and what didn't.  And we also will say something on the ship if we are having a problem or if there is something that isn't up to par.  That's all we can do.  And from there we can make decisions weighing what is important to us, cost vs. benefit.

 

Is that why I had to throw away much less paper trash this cruise? Great improvement! And in 25 cruises, I've watched the Wake Show maybe twice.

[Wishing on a star]

Above.....   you said...." I do have to agree about the buffet. I really did not like the lunch buffet most days. A couple of days I skipped lunch, a couple of days I went to the dining room, and a couple of days I ordered in a sandwich from room service. Pizza and tacos (Salty Dog grill had Street tacos) were good, and the rest of the time I picked through what I could find in the buffet. Last sea day was sushi, finally. Breakfast was almost worse, too - no real toast, no freshly fried eggs, and the supplies for the omelets kept getting lower and lower as the cruise went on. "

All people do have different levels of expectations and tastes...

But, what you just described, IMHO, is simply NOT acceptable to me.

I do not know what the OP had for lunch and suppers onboard.

But, I do believe their post.

I have been on a couple of Princess Cruises with BAD food.

Service is also 'one of those things'

If you lucked out, then GREAT!!!!

We have had excellent room stewards and waitstaff that we returned to...

And we have also had 'bad'.   Seriously, we should have gotten up on one occasion and spoken to the Maitre d' and changed to a different table and area all together.

These things DO happen....

The OP here asked...

"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."

The answer is YES...  But, to the OP...  If there is one thing that Princess might be known for, it might be inconsistency.  

We have had poor food, and great food!

And,  will also say this...  for those of us who are more familiar,  we know what dishes that Princess does well...  ( that PIZZA! )  And what to avoid.  Choosing blind, could end up being poor choices.

I will say this, about the staffing issue...  There are a lot of new staff...  many current staff are now boarding the new SUN Princess.

If you saw issues with staff with less than adequate English and training...  I wonder if that might be an issue, at this particular time?

 

Edited January 9 by Wishing on a star

[Stosh68]

I couldn't get past the first few sentences.  Appeared to me that somebody asked ChatGPT to write a bad 5000 word review for Princess.