Emerald Princess - did you like it?

[jt1120]

Looks like my fellow posters had a better time than we did. Food? Hit and miss. The breakfast in the buffet was not good. Hash browns that tasted like they were cooked yesterday, scrambled eggs that were anything BUT eggs, cold syrup for the french toast. Lunch and dinner in the buffet were better. Dinner in the dining room was also hit and miss. The steaks were just ok, and I expected better. Stay away from the lamb!

 

Entertainment: the party band seemed to be mailing it in. Maybe they've been on too long because they were not that good. The shows were just ok. Dancing and costumes were WOW, but the singing was kinda mediocre - we did not like the production shows we went to, so we only saw two of them. The comedian (Billy Vader) was better his first night than his second. A male/female duo we saw was entertaining, but they were in the (smoky) Wheelhouse Bar, so we didn't see them as much as we would have liked. <coff>

 

Service: very good. We ran into a couple of incidents, but minor compared to the overall. Very good and professional.

 

Ship: didn't care for the layout too much. The pool deck seemed cramped because it was smaller than the usual size of a pool deck. The theater layout was horrible, with seats that were very narrow and cramped. Our cabin (outside with verandah) was exceptional.

 

CD: we didn't care for James Lay. He would start something, then let one of his other staffers finish. Never saw that before. Assistants were better.

 

Overall: I'm not in a hurry to try Princess again, but will someday.

[curiouscat]

I'm on this next sunday and wonder about immigration and what other crowd experiences there were.......

 

The largest ship I was on was navigaotor of the seas(3,100 Psngrs) and we never got that "crowded" feeling....

 

 

CuriousCat

[emmy]

Sackman,

I am on the ship next week and I was wondering if you could answer two questions:

1) How long did immigration take at St Thomas (non-us).

2) Do you remember what day was Italian night and Caribbean night at the dining room. I was planning on booking alternative dining on those nights.

 

Thanks

 

I can answer this one as a non US for the Nov 16 sailing. It was the longest line I have ever seen for non US..I estimate about 500 - 600 if not more and it took us about 50-55 minutes to go through the line. When we got near the front as we entered the Wheelhouse there was someone there saying 'if you are Canadian go to the right' It was almost like an express line but we did not know until we got to that point.

 

There were many Europeans and British and Canadians on our sailing. The lineup for us started in the Theatre, past the shore excursion desk, through the atrium area, around through Crooners and then we ended up in the Wheelhouse Bar. It started at 8am and we got through the line by 8:55am.

[emmy]

emmy, thank you so much for the wonderful pictures. We are sailing on the Emerald on 1/5/08 and these pictures brought back great memories of our Crown sailing in 8/06. Also it was very cool to see pictures of our cabin, C-719.

 

When we were on the Crown we mostly did lunch at the International Cafe. Not only the little sandwiches and desserts, but also the quiches and salads were all very good.

 

I also wish they had hot foods on the room service menu so we could avoid the Horizen Court at breakfast time also. It is really a zoo getting your breakfast, but at least once you get it, you can escape to the cafe carib and find a place to sit.

 

sue

 

Thanks Sue ~ we took good care of your cabin. Love the size of the Caribe Deck balconies. Caribe deck is a great choice as you have a larger balcony.

It was a good location and easily accessible when you use the aft elevators.

[sackman]

Sackman,

I am on the ship next week and I was wondering if you could answer two questions:

1) How long did immigration take at St Thomas (non-us).

2) Do you remember what day was Italian night and Caribbean night at the dining room. I was planning on booking alternative dining on those nights.

 

Thanks

 

1) We spoke with some Australians we met on the cruise and they told us it was a freakish experience. I can't tell you for sure how long because I wasn't in the line myself, but I suspect it was a good 45 minutes to an hour at the minimum. All the while you'll be treated to the bitching and moaning from disgruntled passengers that accompanies any deviation from the norm. :rolleyes:

 

I find the entire process to be absurd, frankly. Wake the whole ship up at 6:30 to get them to stand in line and then go show your passport and turn in an immigration form. Exactly what is the purpose behind this exercize, anyway?

 

2) All the nights kind of run together, but I think Italian night was night 5 or 6 out of 10. I can tell you that night 9 had escargot, which wasn't actually on the menu. I don't recall a specific Carribean night. We had some table mates who went to alternative dining (Adagio & Crown Grill) and they thought it was great, but a little heavy. Meaning that there was simply too much food.

 

If you are in traditional dining, see if you can swing it to get put in Noli and Gabor's section. Seriously, they are two very good and attentive servers. Noli will end up running that place one day if she wants to.

[sackman]

I'm on this next sunday and wonder about immigration and what other crowd experiences there were.......

 

The largest ship I was on was navigaotor of the seas(3,100 Psngrs) and we never got that "crowded" feeling....

 

 

CuriousCat

 

It's not that the ship felt crowded. Aside from sea days where it's hard to find a deck chair, the ship doesn't really feel crowded at all. There are just certain things that get bogged down with sheer numbers of passengers. Another example - the food. Like I said, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great, either. It's simply impossible to put the time and attention into 3,000 meals that would make them great. Don't get me wrong, you're not going to starve. But if you've taken some cruises in the past, I think you'll find the food on the Emerald to be a step or two below what you have come to expect. I don't want to give the impression that I had a poor time. I didn't. I had a fantastic time and I don't really think there's anything Princess could do to make it better other than limiting the number of passengers to 2,200 or less. That kind of defeats the purpose of the mega-ship, though.

[wahokie]

Rick and Emmy fantastic pictures I leave 8 weeks from tody on the Emerald. Did you stay in Ft Lauderdale before your cruise? If so where?

[SueM.]

Thanks Sue ~ we took good care of your cabin. Love the size of the Caribe Deck balconies. Caribe deck is a great choice as you have a larger balcony.

It was a good location and easily accessible when you use the aft elevators.

 

Is our balcony part shade, part sun? I seem to remember that is what we were told. I love the size of it!! Of course for us almost any balcony is better then ours on the Crown, which was "beam 751".

 

Can't wait to cruise!!

 

sue

[coiran]

It's not that the ship felt crowded. Aside from sea days where it's hard to find a deck chair, the ship doesn't really feel crowded at all. There are just certain things that get bogged down with sheer numbers of passengers. Another example - the food. Like I said, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great, either. It's simply impossible to put the time and attention into 3,000 meals that would make them great. Don't get me wrong, you're not going to starve. But if you've taken some cruises in the past, I think you'll find the food on the Emerald to be a step or two below what you have come to expect. I don't want to give the impression that I had a poor time. I didn't. I had a fantastic time and I don't really think there's anything Princess could do to make it better other than limiting the number of passengers to 2,200 or less. That kind of defeats the purpose of the mega-ship, though.

 

How many other Princess ships have you experienced and how was the food in comparison?

Ron

[MaryPoppinz]

We had absolutely no service issues on Emerald Princess whatsoever. No dining problems (with Godwin Castellano, there are no dining problems), no cabin problems, nothing.

 

We've had the new menus before, but I really like them a lot. I missed the chicken and artichoke risotto -- either because I missed it or because they've dropped it from the 10-day menus.

 

We had a very positive experience with the Purser's Desk. The issue was very swiftly addressed in a satisfactory way, and one of the Purser's stayed in constant touch with us about it until that happened. I believe she checked the status three different times, the last time coming to the cabin to ask me directly about it.

 

I *really* enjoyed the crowd on our ship, too, though that obviously changes from one trip to the next. A lot of wonderful older people and a very nice international mix.

 

THe beds are very firm, and I"m not used to that. And I'm not a big fan of the new (?) pizza sauce. Other than that...a perfect cruise.

[emmy]

Is our balcony part shade, part sun? I seem to remember that is what we were told. I love the size of it!! Of course for us almost any balcony is better then ours on the Crown, which was "beam 751".

 

Can't wait to cruise!!

 

sue

 

The balcony was mostly sunny but you could get out of the sun under the overhang...1/2 covered half not...the best of both worlds

 

We were lucky and never saw our balcony neighbors on either side so no issues with noise.

[emmy]

Rick and Emmy fantastic pictures I leave 8 weeks from tody on the Emerald. Did you stay in Ft Lauderdale before your cruise? If so where?

 

Thank you... those beach photos are what are keeping me warm as winter has decended upon us here.:D

 

We stayed 1 night pre cruise in FLL at the Sheraton Yankee Trader and 1 night post cruise at the Sheraton Yankee Clipper. Both were secured via Priceline for $100. each night.

 

While we had a great view at the Yankee Clipper I felt the Yankee Trader was in better shape. I had hoped for a hotel near 17th street but was unable to get one via Priceline. I like that location better as there are stores for last minute stuff like water, wine and alcohol.

[sackman]

How many other Princess ships have you experienced and how was the food in comparison?

 

Ron

 

The original Pacific Princess, The Dawn, The Sun, The Regal.

 

Each of those ships is smaller than the Emerald, and each had better food. Again, it's a sign of the times. With so many passengers, the staff simply can't do any more than they do. It's a matter of scale. If you're trying to prepare 700 Filet Mignons in a 4 hour time span, there's simply no way to do it well. I'm not criticizing the staff at all. They do their level best with what they have.

[Northern Bear]

Looks like my fellow posters had a better time than we did. Food? Hit and miss. The breakfast in the buffet was not good. Hash browns that tasted like they were cooked yesterday, scrambled eggs that were anything BUT eggs, cold syrup for the french toast. Lunch and dinner in the buffet were better. Dinner in the dining room was also hit and miss. The steaks were just ok, and I expected better. Stay away from the lamb!

 

Entertainment: the party band seemed to be mailing it in. Maybe they've been on too long because they were not that good. The shows were just ok. Dancing and costumes were WOW, but the singing was kinda mediocre - we did not like the production shows we went to, so we only saw two of them. The comedian (Billy Vader) was better his first night than his second. A male/female duo we saw was entertaining, but they were in the (smoky) Wheelhouse Bar, so we didn't see them as much as we would have liked. <coff>

 

Service: very good. We ran into a couple of incidents, but minor compared to the overall. Very good and professional.

 

Ship: didn't care for the layout too much. The pool deck seemed cramped because it was smaller than the usual size of a pool deck. The theater layout was horrible, with seats that were very narrow and cramped. Our cabin (outside with verandah) was exceptional.

 

CD: we didn't care for James Lay. He would start something, then let one of his other staffers finish. Never saw that before. Assistants were better.

 

Overall: I'm not in a hurry to try Princess again, but will someday.

 

I agree with everything, no sense writing it again...

[MiamiTraveler]

1) We spoke with some Australians we met on the cruise and they told us it was a freakish experience. I can't tell you for sure how long because I wasn't in the line myself, but I suspect it was a good 45 minutes to an hour at the minimum. All the while you'll be treated to the bitching and moaning from disgruntled passengers that accompanies any deviation from the norm. :rolleyes:

 

I find the entire process to be absurd, frankly. Wake the whole ship up at 6:30 to get them to stand in line and then go show your passport and turn in an immigration form. Exactly what is the purpose behind this exercize, anyway?

 

2) All the nights kind of run together, but I think Italian night was night 5 or 6 out of 10. I can tell you that night 9 had escargot, which wasn't actually on the menu. I don't recall a specific Carribean night. We had some table mates who went to alternative dining (Adagio & Crown Grill) and they thought it was great, but a little heavy. Meaning that there was simply too much food.

 

If you are in traditional dining, see if you can swing it to get put in Noli and Gabor's section. Seriously, they are two very good and attentive servers. Noli will end up running that place one day if she wants to.

 

My parents were in and out within 10 minutes. They formed the line when at the start time. Early-bird gets the worm I guess.

[ISABELLA]

Thank you all for putting my mind in ease. I know I asked thousand people and got thousand of opinions.

We sailed on Caribbean Princess twice and food was great, Coral Princess last April, smaller ship and --so-so in everything. Met nice people. That was great.

I hope Billy will perform for us in March. We had seen him before - loved his comedy.

[CruiseLover72]

We really like this ship and just may join Sanibel*Gal on 10/21. I wanted the 10/31 journey, but don't care to cruise with the "group" which is said to be sailing that week.

 

Bon Voyage

Nanatravel

 

This is my first post, but I've been lurking for quite some time. The comment about a group on the 10/31 sailing of Emerald forced me to post. I'm scheduled for my first Princess cruise on that sailing, and now I'm concerned about which "group" will be there that week. Does anyone know?

[Sanibel*Gal]

The only connection I can see is that it is Halloween and not sure if that may have anything to do with it. There is a place to check for groups cruises but not sure where....Sorry....:(

[Colo Cruiser]

This is my first post, but I've been lurking for quite some time. The comment about a group on the 10/31 sailing of Emerald forced me to post. I'm scheduled for my first Princess cruise on that sailing, and now I'm concerned about which "group" will be there that week. Does anyone know?

 

 

 

I was on the 10/31 cruise and the group was a non factor so don't worry about it just enjoy. ;)

[dagtoking1]

We have sailed on a few Princess ships. We liked some better than others. Wonder how do you like the Emerald?

Food -?

Service-?

Entertainment - ?

I always value anyone's input.

 

I didn't care much for the Emerald. There are some really nice things; the ship is gorgeous, great pizza, nice service personnel. And there are some really bad things; Horizon Court, no place to sit, bad embarcation, bad pursers desk, and some really bad food that can only be described as lousy.

 

There are lots of reviews in the member review section on this site. Since returning from Europe the reviews of the ship have mostly been negative. Check it out for yourself.

[Nanafour]

This is my first post, but I've been lurking for quite some time. The comment about a group on the 10/31 sailing of Emerald forced me to post. I'm scheduled for my first Princess cruise on that sailing, and now I'm concerned about which "group" will be there that week. Does anyone know?

 

Google Bear Voyage 2007. There's a link to the 2008 Caribbean cruise. This is your decision to make.

[sackman]

My parents were in and out within 10 minutes. They formed the line when at the start time. Early-bird gets the worm I guess.

 

Then your parents were part of the problem. They gave everybody a set time to be there. Ours was 7:30. We show up at 7:35 and the line is halfway down the ship. But that's what happens on these kinds of ships. I don't really begrudge anybody for going early. It's a moronic exersize to begin with. I fully understand why they would want to get it out of the way as soon as possible.

[ISABELLA]

Question for experienced Princess cruisers:

How do you compare your experience on Emerald and another previous Princess cruise?

Food-?

Service -?

Entertaiment -?

Thanks

[Sanibel*Gal]

This is my first post, but I've been lurking for quite some time. The comment about a group on the 10/31 sailing of Emerald forced me to post. I'm scheduled for my first Princess cruise on that sailing, and now I'm concerned about which "group" will be there that week. Does anyone know?

 

 

Since this is your first post and cruise you might want to go over and join the roll-call for this cruise. You will find some very nice fellow cruisers who will also be traveling with you and great info.!! :)

[boxerrescuemom]

This is my first post, but I've been lurking for quite some time. The comment about a group on the 10/31 sailing of Emerald forced me to post. I'm scheduled for my first Princess cruise on that sailing, and now I'm concerned about which "group" will be there that week. Does anyone know?

 

CruiseLover72,

 

We have a roll call running for this cruise. Come on over and chat. We would love to hear from you.

 

Here's the link to it.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=637870

 

Hope to see you there.

Barbara