Emerald Princess 10 day Caribbean starting 6/9- semi live

[MountainEER74]

2 hours ago, tulok said:

That is what we did. We went to a house phone at the Excursions desk and I asked for the dining line number. They were able to get us into all the casual restaurants and even move our Sabatinis reservations so we could make Planks work. Steamers and Planks are on opposite days.

Thank you. I have always gone to specific restaurants to change reservations.  Didnt know there was a dining line.

[tulok]

I just realized I didn’t take a

photo of the food for the UBD. As others have said, it is a lot of food. It was good, not great but not disappointed that we tried it. Our top and 2 door down neighbors decide tonight was a good night to open and close the sliding glass door over and over.

St Kitts was a perfect place and 6p

was a great time. 

I asked for my DH to have a martini with appetizers but they served it with dessert. Only hiccup. I asked for steak and grilled shrimp instead of lobster as I don’t eat lobster and received it. We had a lot of photos taken and fresh flowers on the table. 

[tulok]

[MsSoCalCruiser]

@tulok I’m glad you enjoyed your anniversary dinner. I was going to say that you have to share photos or it didn’t happen… 😂

Edited June 16 by MsSoCalCruiser

[tulok]

No Pickle Martinis to be found on the Emerald. 
 

Today was Tortola and it was a beautiful day. Took an excursion to The Baths and it was a nice tour. A little physical for a few but most were able to hike without any issues. We had 45 mins to swim and it was refreshing on a hot day. 

Tonight was Crown Grill. It was good but service was slow. Don’t have to worry about eating too fast. I would recommend making a reservation as everyone without one tonight was turned away while we were there. 

Make sure you go to Fusions early as it is packed by show time. 

Vines is a great place to relax when everywhere else is crowded and you just want a glass of wine and talk.

 

[tulok]

Pool chair hogs was up and out this morning. This was at 745a. All chairs around all the pools were taken (saved) Who knows since when? We wanted the shade so we came upstairs and around a corner so we are away from morning to mid day sun.  I am not chair hogging, they have gone to get a drink and will be right right back.

[tulok]

@MsSoCalCruiser This picture is for you. IC they get the order from a back tray not the case. So why they couldn’t have a tray of sandwiches or egg muffins without cheese 🤷🏼‍♀️. 

[Nattyg1723]

14 hours ago, tulok said:

No Pickle Martinis to be found on the Emerald. 
 

 

 

Thank you for investigating! Filthy Martinis it is, then 😆

[tulok]

3 hours ago, Nattyg1723 said:

Thank you for investigating! Filthy Martinis it is, then 😆

Slightly dirty for me 😜

[MsSoCalCruiser]

8 hours ago, tulok said:

@MsSoCalCruiser This picture is for you. IC they get the order from a back tray not the case. So why they couldn’t have a tray of sandwiches or egg muffins without cheese 🤷🏼‍♀️. 

Thank you so much for thinking of me!

[tulok]

Vines menu-

[tulok]

Vines was able to make us a small plate of vegetables, cheese, and olives to share. It was a nice small plate before dinner. I will say almost everyone has been very friendly and accommodating. 

[tulok]

Last night was very low key. Second formal night and if I was to guess I would say 60% were dressed up. Saw a few tuxedos and formal dresses. Also saw tshirts and shorts. One person had a faded tshirt and very worn shorts walking into the reserve dining room, I just watched to see if he was turned away, and he was not so almost anything goes on formal night. That wasn’t a dress code opinion just a statement. I do love seeing all the lovely dresses especially on the other people that seemed to have embraced dressing up. I would say 90% of the teenagers and younger were dressed up. Some in what could have been prom dresses.

 

I was not impressed with how Princess holds formal night. Depending on your reservation times, you miss anything in the Piazza and the menu is not anything special. The only thing that is noticeable is all the photographers taking up walking space to hold small photo shoots. 

[tulok]

Time to start packing and to get ready to disembark tomorrow. We did sign up for EZCheck so we do not have to worry about our bags and can help SIL and BIL with theirs. We have to walk off early as they made their flight reservations at 11:15a so they are worried about getting to the airport on time. They do not travel very much so all is new to them. I have the private shuttle meeting us so it should go without issues. 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

Safe travels to you all and thank you for taking us along. I enjoyed your review! 

[tulok]

The cruise has came to an end.

Last night was a nice night at Vines. If you like champagne, I believe they have the best tasting one on the ship and you can only get it there;  JCB.  After the head chef’s presentation in the Princess theatre they took everyone through Michelangelo kitchen.

I will give my final review and answer the question if I would sail with Princess and Emerald again. I did not include a lot of negative comments because I try  not to dwell on the negative while on board. Plus I will add comments from those in our party that this was their first cruise with any line.

For those that are about to board, have a fantastic trip and I am jealous as that looks like a fun itinerary.

[tulok]

One more before review. South FL Shuttle did a great job getting us to the hotel from the airport, hotel to the port and port back to airport. If you have 6 or more. they charge 15/pp (private) and it was worth it to not deal with transportation.

[tulok]

Review: 
Cabin: C727 Princess was nice but nothing stood out except the size of the balcony with a standard balcony price (deck 10).  I visited my BIL reserve mini and yes it was a nice size with the sofa but for me I would prefer my balcony to their sofa. As for the walk in the reserve dining room, my BIL used that a few times when they didn’t make reservations with us and they liked it. We had reservations and never had to wait. My BIL did like his cabin more but they spent a lot more time in it than we did. That’s why there are so many categories of cabins. The sensor lights were over killed as if all turned on when going to the restroom at night, it looked like the sun came up. Nothing a few pillows blocking the nightstand didn’t solve. The shower was odd and even experienced one so small on a ship but we are not large so it worked. My other BIL is 325lbs and he had a harder time but made it work. He said he had to step out to turn around. 😬.  Our shower drain was very slow to drain from the start of the cruise. We told our steward and he reported it. It took 4 days for them to clear. The a/c was not working well upon the start. They came quickly and we were told they changed the airflow. It was still warm in the night as if the air was turned off at night. My SIL was next door and she stated the same thing and then we heard others on deck 10 complaining about their warm cabins. Storage was fine and the old tv shelf helped a lot. We didn’t have any issues with plug in space.  This was our steward’s first cruise, first time working on a cruise ship. We loved talking to him.

 

On Board: We loved the size of the ship. It had the right amount of restaurants to bars to outside areas. The number of kids and teenagers to much older to us was even. We liked the demographics of the passengers as most dressed for dinner, formal nights, didn’t see wet bathing suits inside. The CD was good as was his staff. We enjoyed trivia. My biggest negatives was the schedule of activities to dinner times. My biggest negative was the amount of time it took to eat. Gastro Pub took almost 3.5 hours from at the table to leaving. By time the food was served the fries were cold. This made us miss most of the earlier activities and 1030p shows were just too late for us. The coming around trying to sale wine tastings were annoying as at one lunch we were asked 3 times. The photographer sets were in the way of walking as was the jewelry sales. 

I love the medallions and how well it worked. I thought the premier package was worth the price. I wish the breakfast buffet had more no carb selections. I am glad that the buffet had no-sugar desserts but didn’t know that until the 8th day I asked and the employee pointed to the sugar free desserts. The signs do not say sugar free. I wished the IC had healthier options but the regular coffee was so much better than anywhere else on the ship.

 

My first time cruiser DH family - enjoyed the cruise. They hate the lines (we know patients is needed, they must learn it) especially embarkation and disembarkation. I agree it needed more organization and staff helping the lines. My SIL already booked RC Wonders as it was parked next to us twice and she wants to try a large ship. To each their own. At least Princess didn’t turn anyone against cruising.

As for my first Princess. It was nice. If the itinerary and price was right, I would sail on Princess and Emerald again.  Our next cruise is on SilverSea as anymore by time you add up all that is included on luxury, and with their sales, there isn’t as much price difference as one would think. We like everything to be included. Did we have to have the premier or excursion in every port. Of course not, but this is how we like to travel. We are not gamblers so we don’t care if they have a casino. River cruises are still our favorite type of vacation but Princess gave us another option to watch. I would put it up there with my feeling of Celebrity. We will never sail NCL again.  These are all my opinions. I never make decisions on other opinions but review and learning from CC experiences. 

I hope to sail with many of you in the future. I learned so much from the Princess board. Happy Sailings!

 

[voljeep]

9 minutes ago, tulok said:

My biggest negative was the amount of time it took to eat. Gastro Pub took almost 3.5 hours from at the table to leaving. By time the food was served the fries were cold.

😬 ... no way 

[tulok]

1 minute ago, voljeep said:

😬 ... no way 

the assistant server kept us with full glasses so we made it through. 🍻 Not sure how we walked out on our own. 😜

[paddingtonbear]

I don’t understand why cruise ships and hotels don’t have an enforceable policy for chair hogs. So disappointing. 
 

thanks for your review. 

Edited Saturday at 12:53 PM by paddingtonbear