EMERALD - Questions

[MERLOTCHAMPAGNE]

We have friends, along with her parents, who are considering a Caribbean cruise on Emerald in Jan 2009. Her parents haven’t cruised for many years and it wasn’t a pleasant experience so they’re hoping to reintroduce them to cruising on a more positive note.

Given the fact that they enjoy the size of RCCL’s Vision and Coral Princess, is Emerald too big? The fact that Emerald carries almost 1000 more passengers, is there always congestion at buffet and shows or do they manage the “flow” well? Her mom has limited mobility with long distance walking due to arthritis and trying to get through "traffic" while trying to get from one end of the ship to the other would be a problem.

 

Also, is there a “live” pool band every day rather than just a solo performer?

 

Thanks for helping.... they want this cruise to go well for her mom and dad and are trying to avoid potential "issues".

[spongerob]

They probably won't like the buffet. Princess uses "islands" rather than a straight line, so you have to go to different places to find the things you like. It's actually a better system but does result in people going every which way. Seating can also be a problem at busy times with so many people.

 

A really good alternative is to use the dining room for breakfast and lunch although the hours are limited. It is far more pleasant.

[Whimsy]

It might help if you told us what they experienced that wasn't pleasant to figure out if the might encounter the same problem.

 

Personally, if I had mobility issues I don't think I would choose a ship as large as the Emerald. If she uses a scooter or wheelchair, fine, but if not I think this ship would be way too much walking. Seems like everytime we are at one end the next thing we need to do is the other end. I have dealt with family member who have trouble walking very far and feel these ships would be too big for them.

 

The buffet always seems to be a frenzy. We manage but it sure can be a madhouse at times.

[terrierjohn]

The Emerald will not be too big, it is actually shorter than the Coral, although it is broader, but not enough to worry about. As Spongerob suggests I would always try to eat in the Dining rooms, it's much more civilised than the buffet. As for the shows Princess reserves the top 2 rows of the theatre for people with walking difficulties, so the lack of mobility could be a plus here. There are 2 main pools on Emerald, one with the Movie screen (MUTS) and one where there is usually a group playing over lunch on sea days and at sailaway time on others.

[chipmaster]

We have friends, along with her parents, who are considering a Caribbean cruise on Emerald in Jan 2009. Her parents haven’t cruised for many years and it wasn’t a pleasant experience so they’re hoping to reintroduce them to cruising on a more positive note.

 

Given the fact that they enjoy the size of RCCL’s Vision and Coral Princess, is Emerald too big? The fact that Emerald carries almost 1000 more passengers, is there always congestion at buffet and shows or do they manage the “flow” well? Her mom has limited mobility with long distance walking due to arthritis and trying to get through "traffic" while trying to get from one end of the ship to the other would be a problem.

 

Also, is there a “live” pool band every day rather than just a solo performer?

 

Thanks for helping.... they want this cruise to go well for her mom and dad and are trying to avoid potential "issues".

 

We did the Emerald in Europe this past summer, it was a full ship, but never felt full except at the pool, formal night, and morning breakfast buffet during shore days. Finding a seat for breakfast was a task in buffet, finding a lounge outside was impoosible unless you were willing to be a chair hog, and formal night was just plain crowded. but I found that no different them my prior experiences on any other cruise.

 

I think the "island" buffet is better then a single line as it allowed people to quickly move to the specific food area they wanted, but also did mean lots of random walk in the food area.

 

The Emerald was still in excellent condition, enjoy her!

[bubbadog]

the emerald is a great pick,lots of things to do,or dont do anything,i think this will be a great ship for them,i am positive you will love the emerald,just relax on the little stuff,and go with the flow, the rest of the way,dont forget to post us on how it went:):D