LIVE from the Emerald Princess - August 4-11, 2024

[Honolulu Blue]

2 hours ago, Alwayshome said:

Have heard Customs in Portland is a mess, especially for those without Princess excursions. Will be interesting to hear what you experience. Thanks for sharing your journey.

It's funny that I saw this post as this was placed under my cabin door:

 

 

Apparently this is what's about to go down. I've heard of similar inspections by others, but this is the first time it's happened to me. 

 

We'll see what happens. If it goes according to this written plan, it shouldn't be TOO bad, but as always, the devil is in the details. 

Edited August 8 by Honolulu Blue

[Honolulu Blue]

After receiving my correspondence from Princess & US ICE, I headed off to the trough. Expectations were muted for Italian night. But I was able to cobble together some good selections. The pork loin was good. The meatballs were better than good. The potatoes hot the spot. But the star was the dessert - a peach pie that wasn't quite like any peach pie I've ever had. The filling was sticky and there was a hint of some spices in there. Pretty good,  I thought.

 

Also good was this random map I found near the entrance. Have I missed this on all my previous Princess cruises?

 

 

I tried some things this tine around. I tried the water from that black cooler with the shot glasses. It was pretty good. I then tried watching a video near the forward pool or hot tub. That worked out all right. Not much foot traffic and the big screen wasn't too distracting.

 

I then returned to the room to find my room properly turned down. Thanks Daniel.

 

Here's tomorrow's newsletter:

 

 

I doubt I'll go back out this evening,  so I wish you all well as day turns to night.

Edited August 8 by Honolulu Blue

[WELDON]

I was on this cruise last week. The immigration inspection took hours. My group number was 29 and scheduled for 2:15. I went early and the crew member at the entrance where you go in to see the inspectors asked if it was just me (I travel solo) and she let me go through early. I didn't get off the ship until 3. The ship is in Portland until later in the evening. 

If you had an excursion, you departed early and then upon your return, you went to the immigration inspection.

[phabric]

My cruise is the 10 day cruise August 2025 from Boston to Quebec City.

Portland is our first and only USA port after Boston then all Canadian ports.

We plan on taking a Princess excursion.

 

I wonder if we will have to go through what you had to go through at Portland?

Edited August 8 by phabric

[vickie_bernie]

 

31 minutes ago, phabric said:

My cruise is the 10 day cruise August 2025 from Boston to Quebec City.

Portland is our first and only USA port after Boston then all Canadian ports.

We plan on taking a Princess excursion.

 

I wonder if we will have to go through what you had to go through at Portland?

 

I was on this itinerary a lot last year.  Was on for 3 months.

 

Since u board in the US you won't have an issue in next US ports.  For canada You have to fill out Canadian form before first stop in Canada then you are fine as you Don't go back in US.  You stay in Canada.

 

Going reverse   Quebec to Boston guest will have to clear US customs at first US port.  It Is bad when it is bar harbor as it is a tender port and you can't get on tender until you have cleared.

 

Last year  there was a trip where , as a non US citizen it was a mess,  I didn't clear until 1 pm! So ended up staying on the ship. 

 

It all depends on the officials and Princess is at their mercy.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Vickie

[phabric]

Thank you helpful information.

 

Any suggestion for Princess excursions?

[EDVM96]

32 minutes ago, vickie_bernie said:

Last year  there was a trip where , as a non US citizen it was a mess,  I didn't clear until 1 pm! So ended up staying on the ship. 

What is this sh|t all about? Is this a Massachussets thing?

Never happened in Florida on Caribbean cruises.

 

 

Edited August 9 by EDVM96

[vickie_bernie]

9 minutes ago, EDVM96 said:

What is this sh|t all about? Is this a Massachussets thing?

Never happened in Florida on Caribbean cruises.

 

 

 

It has to do with leaving the country, and when you re enter the US you need to clear customs.  For Canada New England you may start in the US like in New York or Boston but you visit nova Scotia or new Brunswick.  Often the stop after them is a stop like Portland... so you have to clear US customs.  

 

For Caribbean you leave the US, usually from Florida and you may visit numerous countries.  your first time back in the US is when you are getting off and then you clear customs.  

[vickie_bernie]

42 minutes ago, phabric said:

Thank you helpful information.

 

Any suggestion for Princess excursions?

 

On there are tons.  I worked as the Destination Expert on board.  I recommend you attend the port lectures given by the Destination Expert.  I believe the emerald has Jase, and he is good.  

 

Currently on HAL lecturing.

 

Have an excellent trip. 

[WELDON]

This isn't for customs. It has to do with immigration. You show your passport to the inspector and have your picture taken. Everyone regardless of residence needs to go through this. Customs is bringing items into a country. 

[geoherb]

Thanks for posting. Are you sailing solo? I went solo on the Island Princess in June and had a great time. I was more of a morning and afternoon trivia person. I think this was the first cruise where I did not win any.

 

I'm also more of a dining room person. I like to be waited on. We're booked for the Emerald at the end of the month for the Boston to Quebec cruise. It will be my first time sharing a cabin in five years. DH has had to stay home while I've cruised a few times solo since the pandemic. This will be his first cruise since our transatlantic on the Crown in October 2019.

 

 

[Honolulu Blue]

7 hours ago, vickie_bernie said:

I worked as the Destination Expert on board.  I recommend you attend the port lectures given by the Destination Expert.  I believe the emerald has Jase, and he is good.  

Thank you for your commentary here. I can confirm our port lecturer is Jase, and that he is good. 👍He will be giving a lecture on Portland this afternoon. I'm sure it will be interesting. I plan to attend.

 

[Honolulu Blue]

6 hours ago, geoherb said:

Thanks for posting. Are you sailing solo? I went solo on the Island Princess in June and had a great time. I was more of a morning and afternoon trivia person. I think this was the first cruise where I did not win any.

 

I'm also more of a dining room person. I like to be waited on. We're booked for the Emerald at the end of the month for the Boston to Quebec cruise. It will be my first time sharing a cabin in five years. DH has had to stay home while I've cruised a few times solo since the pandemic. This will be his first cruise since our transatlantic on the Crown in October 2019.

I'm sailing solo. And I'm glad you enjoyed your last solo trip. You'll probably enjoy your upcoming trip on the Emerald at the end of the month.

 

There's trivia during the morning and afternoon, but it has always been in categories that don't appeal to me. YMMV.

[Honolulu Blue]

Good morning all you visitors to this AWARD WINNING thread! 🏆

 

I watched the Wake Show. First, especially for @wallyj, Lloyd did confirm multiple times that he is leaving this ship on Sunday. 

 

He also said that Holly will be the Cruise Director on your sailing. He said that he'd worked with her for several months and that she would be "fantastic" and there would be "a smooth transition"- even though they have different styles. So, I assume this is a picture of your CD Holly:

 

 

She seemed pretty perky in the typical Carnival CD style. She also peppered Lloyd hard with questions on the show two days ago. I find no reason to think she won't be fine as a CD. Have fun!

 

Also from the Wake Show, we had special guest Fortuna Luck, the casino mascot.

 

 

Yes, I totally thought of Daphne from Scooby-Doo when I saw her. I don't think it's a coincidence. 

 

In other news, I had another delicious breakfast at the trough. They didn't have watermelon today, but I had everything else from the past days. There were plenty of seats today. Everyone else must be worn out from our three consecutive port days.

Edited August 9 by Honolulu Blue

[Honolulu Blue]

I'm back in the cabin after the morning cleaning. I got a chance to read the disembarkation flyer.

 

 

This mostly seems like standard stuff, though I will note that the 9 pm time for having luggage out is the earliest I've seen.

 

Self assist passengers (of which there shouldn't be a whole lot) seem to have an easy time - show up to the appointed spot and head out when allowed. I like this.

 

It's also nice to know that I should expect a survey soon.

[wallyj]

4 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

I'm sailing solo. And I'm glad you enjoyed your last solo trip. You'll probably enjoy your upcoming trip on the Emerald at the end of the month.

 

There's trivia during the morning and afternoon, but it has always been in categories that don't appeal to me. YMMV.

Usually the Let’s get Quizzical trivia in the morning and afternoon around 4ish are ‘General Knowledge’ so a variety of subjects opposed to themes like Friends, Harry Potter, Broadway, Music genre, etc.

 

As @geoherbhas posted in one of his last live froms, there can be ringer teams composed of top traveled guests who have heard many of the same questions on previous Princess sailings, so the trivia experience loses excitement, especially if one team is always winning.

 

Hope you enjoy your last few days and thank you for highlighting  ‘Holly’.

 

Not all Asst Cruise activities staff want to take on the responsibilities to become the CD.

[Honolulu Blue]

1 hour ago, wallyj said:

Hope you enjoy your last few days and thank you for highlighting  ‘Holly’.

 

Not all Asst Cruise activities staff want to take on the responsibilities to become the CD.

Thank you for your kind words. I'm always glad to be of assistance. I plan to do my best to enjoy these last two days, plus a sliver of a third.

[Honolulu Blue]

I tried the dine line to make reservations for dinner tonight and tomorrow. It reminded me that if I wanted to make rezzies in the MDR that I should do so in the app. That's not what I wanted, so I hit 1.

 

After a short wait, I got a nice lady to give me what I wanted. Sort of.

 

Bad news and good news. The bad news is that the only reservation time for the Gastropub tonight is at 8. I passed on it, preferring to go with Plans C and D. But it seems that word has gotten out about the Pub. Or maybe they're all cashing in their package privileges while they're onboard.

 

The good news is I got a reservation for Planks BBQ at 5:30 tomorrow night, my first choice time.

 

 

Elton John trivia is scheduled at 6:30 and I should be able to make it out in time for that.

 

Ribs and cake are calling my name! 

[Honolulu Blue]

As the hours tick away, let me tell you about what I did (or tried to do) in the last few hours.

 

I tried to get into Club Fusion to see Jase Walsh and his Portland lecture, but I arrived late and couldn't find a seat that I liked. 

 

 

I'm not thrilled about the seating arrangement there, in general. I'll note that some Carnival ships have a similar layout in their aft lounges and I dislike those just as much. 🤮 The lesson seems to be if there's an event of importance that's to be held in Club Fusion,

get there a minimum of a half hour early. 

 

There's some chance this lecture could be made into a VOD that's available to watch this evening. I'll look for it.

 

I went back to the cabin,  did some miscellaneous stuff, then went down to the Piazza for the horse racing.

 

This was another mistake. Not the event itself, but only getting there 20 minutes early. The Piazza on Princess ships I dislike because they're loud all the time, crammed with people most of the time, and in this case, there wasn't nearly enough seating. 

 

So I went on the deck above, near Guest Services. There was no seating anywhere in the area, but standing by the rail offered a decent view. The only bad part was standing up as long as it took to run this event.

 

Our hostess with the most was a lovely lady named Lovely. 

 

 

She said she had six dogs and named the horses after them:

 

1-Lucky

2-Miracle

3-Freddy

4-Pharoah

5-Minnie

6-Stranger

 

 

No money changed hands at this event. Instead, raffle tickets were given out for those who picked a winner.

 

 

Those lucky enough to hold the number of the winning horse had their tickets dropped in a bin. One would be picked, and they won a Princess swag bag.

 

 

The jockeys were assistant cruise directors C.S. and Holly. They moved the horses around as required. 

 

 

I had seen C.S. before at a couple of the trivia events. And if this is your first post in this series, Holly appeared on one of the Wake Shows, and she is going to be the lead CD on the next sailing. 

 

Let's put a gratuitous picture of Holly here for @wallyj:

 

 

OK, back to the action. How each horse moved was based on three dice that Lovely rolled every so often. If a 1,3 5 was rolled, then each of those horses would move one space. A 1,3,3 meant the 1 would move one space and the 3 would move two spaces. And a 1,1,1 meant the 1 would move three spaces and the other horses not at all. 

 

There were 16 spaces and the first horse over the line was declared the winner.

 

BTW, Lovely rolled the dice and called the results VERY quickly, quicker than anyone else I had seen. Thise jockeys had to work hard!

 

In the first race, the 2 and 4 went over the lime on the same roll. This was declared a dead heat and both sets of winning tickets went in the bin.

 

 

In race 2, the 4 won easily, by himself this tine.

 

 

And in race 3, the 6 won by several spaces.

 

 

And that ended our journey to the race track. I hope you enjoyed it.

 

P.S. The social media influencer meet is going on as I write this. It remains on the app's calendar though it didn't make the paper calendar. I'm playing hooky, but I hope those that attend get what they want out of it - some likes, a few subs, maybe a sponsor. 🙂

Edited August 9 by Honolulu Blue

[Honolulu Blue]

I had a late lunch or early dinner at the grill. I had another BLT, this time without cheese. Both the patty and the fries were freshly prepared, which made them taste even better. They still weren't up to Guy's standards, but were pretty good nevertheless. 

 

I didn't find the need for Plan C, which would have been a slice of pizza (or two) from Slice. That burger and those fries filled me up thoroughly from then until breakfast. 

 

Speaking of breakfast, I had the same old thing today for breakfast. It was all good, though the watermelon was getting mushy.

 

We've docked in Portland and have been here for about 45 minutes. 

 

 

The sun is out now after a cloudy start. I assume the remnants of Debby are off to the north and east.

 

I've got a few hours until my date with immigration. I can't get off until then since I didn't purchase an excursion here. I'll pass the time somehow. 

 

Today's newsletter is attached below.

 

[Honolulu Blue]

On 8/4/2024 at 12:54 PM, phabric said:

Can you mention at each port if there is anything at the port - example -  places to get lobster rolls/or other seafood items, or stores?

There were restaurants and/or stores at each of our Canadian stops that sold seafood.

 

But here in Portland, it seems there were seafood joints everywhere on the street just outside the terminal. Here are some snaps. I apologize for any duplicates:

 

 

No recommendations. I wasn't hungry.

[cnd crsr]

17 minutes ago, Honolulu Blue said:

There were restaurants and/or stores at each of our Canadian stops that sold seafood.

 

But here in Portland, it seems there were seafood joints everywhere on the street just outside the terminal. Here are some snaps. I apologize for any duplicates:

 

 

No recommendations. I wasn't hungry.

What time did you  finally clear immigration? 

We were scheduled for 10:40 made it by11;20. Most of our group of 7 went ashore shortly after that. Two of  us aboard... one feeling rotten, one just out of quarantine ... due to see doc at 4 to see if we have another covid case.

[Honolulu Blue]

I killed time on Lido and in my cabin until my group's number was called at 12:20. Considering that they estimated our group would be called ay noon, that wasn't too bad.

 

One audible is that instead of heading to Club Fusion, we were directed to the Wheelhouse Bar. I was secretly pleased with that, as my cabin is closer to there, and I was more familiar with the location.

 

Some helpful crew guided me to the proper entrance and the lovely one Lovely took my ticket. Then it was a matter of following the line to the table where the immigration folks were.

 

The lady who helped me asked if I was a solo traveler. When I said yes, she said that she was too and gave some of the advantages of traveling that way. I have to say I agreed with her. But I didn't have time to tell her because while we were talking, she took my picture with her little camera and scanned my passport. And that was that.

 

From the call to being released took 20 minutes. Not that big a deal, and certainly far easier than it could have been.

 

I went straight out the door into the terminal area. I stood in line at the information booth, where a helpful guy guided me through Portland and specifically the part we were in. He also gave me a map. I thanked him for everything and wandered around.

 

 

I went this a way, then I went that a way. I encountered a lot of cruisers and locals, a lot of restaurants, but not a lot of trinket places. So I didn't buy any. Maybe next time.

 

 

And one more map where my friend points put where we'll be heading in a couple of months (not on Princess).

 

 

I've got dinner and maybe some entertainment in a few hours, so I'm going to get some rest and cool off. It was hot here by northeastern standards - low 80s when I got out, and climbing. 🥵

 

 

[loge23]

23 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

Our hostess with the most was a lovely lady named Lovely. 

Lovely aka (according to her) Big Mama, always brought the fun on our Emerald cruise in June!

Her asides on the mic are hilarious!

[Honolulu Blue]

1 minute ago, cnd crsr said:

What time did you  finally clear immigration? 

We were scheduled for 10:40 made it by11;20. Most of our group of 7 went ashore shortly after that. Two of  us aboard... one feeling rotten, one just out of quarantine ... due to see doc at 4 to see if we have another covid case.

We were scheduled for noon, were called down at 12:20, I got through at 12:40, made it off the ship a few minutes later.

 

I'm sorry to hear part of your group isn't feeling up to snuff. Get well soon. 🙏