Anyone just back from Emerald 6/5 Venice-Rome?

[ennjay]

If anyone was on this cruise, I'd LOVE to see a review! We're doing the same itinerary on the Emerald on 7/23, and I'm anxious to hear anything about it! (more excited to see for myself, of course... but in the meantime, hearing about it will do)

 

So... if you were on it... what did you think? How was the weather? The seas? The ship/cruise director? The itinerary in general? Any tips for us?

 

Thanks in advance!

Jenn

[sun&sea]

If anyone was on this cruise, I'd LOVE to see a review! We're doing the same itinerary on the Emerald on 7/23, and I'm anxious to hear anything about it! (more excited to see for myself, of course... but in the meantime, hearing about it will do)

 

So... if you were on it... what did you think? How was the weather? The seas? The ship/cruise director? The itinerary in general? Any tips for us?

 

Thanks in advance!

Jenn

 

We realize you are probably jet-lagged and worn out, but please tell us about your cruise!!! Any new tips for us? Booked this trip in March '07, and now it's finally almost time!!!! Well, 4 more weeks anyway!:D

 

Janet

[Londonlady]

It was a fantastic cruise and we would do it again immediately!!

We have sailed Princess before but only Caribbean. We were amazed at how calm the seas were on this journey, barely ever knew that we were on a ship.

 

The ship itself is beautiful, and although over 3000 passengers never felt crowded, a little more so on the sea days of course but only around the pool areas. Infact we didn't notice it until the last sea day probably because we had gotten so used to the fact that people were off the ship in all the ports for most of the cruise.

 

Food was very good. We always ate in Horizon for breakfast, and lunch or hamburgers on Lido deck. We had Traditional late seating dining in the restaurant, menues were varied and always something for everyone, service was excellent. We had great waiters, very efficient and lovely personalities. We always finished the night at around midnight with a coffee out on the Caribe deck watching the lights of various Islands we were passing.

 

International cafe is a great new touch that we hadn't experienced on other Princess ships. The chocolate fondue is a must and only $5 with more than enough for two!

 

Spa area is great, I used the hairdresser on Formal nights. Gym was good, always able to use the equipment even on sea days.

 

Entertainment - so much going on. We are not lovers of ship theatre shows so can't comment. But there was plenty else to keep us occupied. We had two good bands playing nightly in different bars. There is a lot of entertainment going on during the afternoon and early evening in The Piazza. We often watched the String Quartet, Pianist, Magician, and Hula Hoop girl, all great entertainment.

Casino same as usual happy to take your dollars.

 

The ports, all fantastic. Don't miss the sailaways, particularly Venice, Corfu, Santorini and Naples. They are all absolutely beautiful. Infact you sail past so much land a lot of the time that you just want to be outside watching. On our way from Santorini to Naples we passed Stromboli and spent around 30 mins watching the small eruptions lighting up the sky around 11.30pm onwards that we caught it.

If you want jewelry buy it in Corfu or another Greek Island, although it all looks beautiful in Kusadasi I wouldn't chance it there. For any souvenir type bits and pieces (ceramics etc etc) get them in Kusadasi it is so cheap. We saw the same things next day in Rhodes 4 times the cost.

I can't comment on Princess excursions, as we didn't do any. We like to just get off and do our own thing. All morning in whichever port, and afternoon back onboard to enjoy the ship. We did have a private tour booked for The Amalfi Coast from Naples. Although it was pretty whirlwind we did see a lot and it was the highlight of the trip for us, enough for us to know we would visit that area for a week or so.

 

Our weather was a little overcast and showery until we got to the Greek Islands, then it was very hot. I imagine much hotter when you arrive so take plenty sunscreen etc.

 

Have a wonderful cruise, wish we were back onboard, best trip we have done.

[RickT]

Thanks for the quick review. We are on a similar itinerary on Aug 4th and cannot wait. My DW would like to know if there were 2 formal nights as Princess says, or if there were 3, which normally happens. Thanks!

[Londonlady]

2 Formal nights, one on each of the days at sea.

[hillslife]

Thanks for the review - sounds wonderfull. We are scheduled on the July 23rd cruise also and soaking up as much info as we can before hand.

 

Any hints on changing $$? Did you need Euro's or local currency everywhere or would they take US?

[Londonlady]

Every Country except Kusadasi Turkey are in the EU so you need Euros for them. Kusadasi will accept dollars or euros, no need to change to Turkish Lira. Most things were priced in Euros in Turkey.

You will need some Euro coin change for tipping in cafes and restaurants, and if you make your own way into towns, it is 4 euros for the shuttle into Mykonos (bit of a dangerous walk otherwise) 6 euros each way for the cable car at Santorini. 10 euros for a taxi into town at Corfu (always make sure you agree the price before hand and that is for the car rather than per person, the taxi drivers are notorious for pulling a fast one on fares)

[suni]

Thank you for the review. We are on the Emerald in July and I cannot wait.

 

How was the cruise director?

 

Any other special tips for us? We have cruised many times before, but we are new to Princess.

 

Would love more details!:p

[jwave]

thanks for the information. I am on the Grand with a similar itinerary in October. Can't wait. I would LOVE some additional information, esp on the private tour of the Amalfi Coast.

[bonnieg]

Thank you for all this great information. Did you tender in Dubrovnik? If you did, do you need a shuttle to town or can you walk? I know that food is subjective, but if I wanted to do a specialty restaurant one night, which night in the main dining room was the menu only so so. Were there menus posted for the cruise that you could look at beforehand? What nights stood out for the menu selection?

[Londonlady]

For Amalfi private tour we used AP Tours (got info from these boards!)

All dealings with them were good, efficient and timely email answers etc.

We were picked up (6 of us) in a comfortable mercedes air conditioned vehicle at 8am.Great careful driver, needed to be on that road. We went to Ravello which is a small picturesque town high up above Amalfi. We had cappucinos and pastries then set off quickly for a look around the beautiful Villa Cimbrione gardens. Its about a 10 minute brisk uphill walk to the gardens, and you need around 30 minutes to walk around them. They are fabulous and the views down the Coast are stunning. We then did some quick souvenir shopping, back to the car and down to the town of Amalfi, remember all of the drive is stunning scenery, many photographs taken from the car on the way. Amalfi was very busy, we had a quick 40 minutes to look around there then back in the car to drive to Positano. That was beautiful, fabulous shops (expensive) we walked down to the seafront from where you can look up at the town perched on the cliffsides, pretty Italian houses with balconies covered with flowers, and bouganvillia growing up and over everything. It really is stunning.

We then drove to Sorrento and had a relaxed lunch at a great little restaurant before heading back to Naples to board the ship. We did do a lot in a day which didn't leave much time in any of the places, but we wanted to see as much of the coastline as possible, and we did!! I took 400 shots in that one day! However we also found that you could achieve quite alot under your own steam if you don't want to shell out for the private tour. There are frequent ferries from Naples to Amalfi, and from Amalfi to Positano. If doing the cruise again we would probably do it that way, now we know the lay of the land so to speak.

 

Dubrovnik, yes we tendered to port. Then you literally walk immediately into the town centre. Its a very very busy town, there was only one other ship docked on that day. We were a little late getting off, I would suggest get off the ship as early as you can to try to beat some of the crowds. If you want to walk the wall its a 10euro admission fee, you really don't need a ships excursion to do any of this. All of the restaurants looked really good. We had some drinks and snacks at a very busy restaurant near the water. But there were many quaint and interesting ones up the little side streets. The city is similar to Venice but without the water.

 

The dinner menus are published daily outside the ships restaurants. I would opt to go to speciality restaurant soon after first formal night. I think the worst dinner I had was on the last night were I choice the Turkey dinner, it wasn't good. Personally I would say its another good night to maybe choose a speciality restaurant, there is a lot of atmosphere the night before anyway as its formal, the last night a lot of people were late, looking tired and you sort of feel your cruise is over, maybe be more enjoyable to book Sabatinis or Crown grill. But whatever you do don't miss the sailaway from Naples. You will need to run from side to side of the ship to take it all in!!

 

Sorry if I have rambled!

[sunsurf]

Sorry if I have rambled!

 

 

Don't be sorry! We booked the same itineray for 09 on the Ruby. Its still too far out to really get excited about. I need to take my Feb cruise first!

 

I hope you'll be posting a review! I would love to hear more.

[bonnieg]

London Lady, Keep on rambling:) I know that me and others on this thread appreciate every little thing you can tell us. Thank you so much!

 

A few years ago we were in an aft cabin in Naples. I remember how lucky I felt to wake up to the view of Mt Vesuvius right in front of us and having a great view as we left port. We are in an aft cabin again. No running side to side for us!:D

[hillslife]

London Lady - thanks for the review on AP tours...we have them booked for the same tour, including Herculenan but not Sorrento (we have already been there) , for our upcoming cruise in July. Glad to hear they were everything I have read on CC. Also glad to hear you made it back to the ship on time - I know traffic can be terrible in the summer.

[naras15]

Thank you London Lady for your information, we are also going in JUly and anxiously awaiting the cruise. Pat

[ennjay]

Thank you so much for all your insight and information! I'm getting very excited for this cruise! :) Glad to hear you had a great time!

[Londonlady]

I'll post a review in Members reviews in a couple of days.

[Londonlady]

Bonnie - apologies - we did have to get a shuttle bus into town after tendering into Dubrovnik. Got myself confused with Corfu.

[KIF]

Just wanted to offer another tour to take while in Naples. We used DriveAmalfi and they were excellent. If anyone has questions about the cruise I would be happy to answer as we just returned from this cruise 2 weeks ago.

[AmazingJourneys]

My husband & are sailing on July 23rd from Venice to Rome. Prior to boarding the ship we are staying @ Hotel Columbina from the 20th - 23rd.... is any one else? If you are interested in sharing a water taxi to the ship on the 23rd please respond. If you are not staying @ the same hotel we can possibly connect at a recommend Prince Hotel..... any suggestions?

 

Happy Countdown...

 

We are flying to Venice from the Greater Washington DC area....