Another Emerald Review 2/08 2/18

[cpj]

15th cruise our 5th on princess. Embarkation went smooth got on ship in an hour. Cannot ask for anything better than that when there putting 3000 on the ship. Ship is absolutely beautiful. Stateroom was typical balcony stateroom in Aft cabin B751 on the fantail.Ship rocked pretty good the first 3 days it did not bother me but is made my wife a little sick at times. I really do not know if we will stay on the fantail anymore it seem to rock back there more then other parts of the ship but we did enjoy the view. Room service was the best we ever had. Never had to wait more then 15 minutes. I had a hard time communicating with the cabin steward who had a hard time understanding english. Had to ask at least 5 times to open the ajoining balcony. We were traveling with friends who were in the cabin next to us. Anyway we did not recieve all of our luggage by nine that evening. Called customer service and they told me to come down and fill out a form. Went to the desk and they told me that I did not put the luggage tags or I left it at the hotel or I left on the shuttle bus. Anyway I assured them that we saw them on the pier. Went back to cabin around midnite and it was there. I know things happen but why try to blame me. The next morning we left room at 830AM and returned at 230pm and our room was not cleaned yet. Cabin steward apologized and said he had a rough day. Called customer service and asked if I was expecting to much to have the room cleaned in 6 hours and she told me that I probably did not put the service sign on the door. I just hung up and talk to the steward and there were no issues after that. I know food is very subjective subject but for the first time in 15 cruises we ate 5 dinners at the buffet. The quality in all the mass cruiselines has gone downhill. Salad dressing and soup were tasteless. The filet mignon was something different I really do not know what it was. Service in anytime dining and the buffet was excellent. The breafast buffet was always cold. Enough about food.The nora virus issues the last 4 days are caused by the passengers. It did not surprise me one bit I watch one oldtimer in the casino contaminate everything he touch. He wipe his nose with his hand and he reeked from poor personel hygene. Some of these oldtimers just do not realize the importance of washing. The shows were all good the bars were good. Being a non smoker was not bothered by smoke. I think they have enough places to smoke so if you bothered by smoke stay away from those areas. The people on the balcony next to us smoked but it did not bother me in the least. Im glad they let them smoke on there balcony. We did not take any tours been there done that. I wiil say St kitts is a very nice island. One thing abouy Princess Kay island we tendered in to have lunch and see the place and lunch consisted of a cold bratwust cold pork and beans cold chicken and cold ribs. It really did not taste that bad. So anyway it was a good cruise and I really do not see that much of a difference in all the mass market lines. Thank you

[mamaboss]

Thank you for the reveiw. I will be sailing emerald march 20, can't wait! Do you know anything about internet packages or wifi on the emerald?

[JRock59]

Thank you for the honest review! I do like hearing about the good and the bad. :) Glad you enjoyed your Cruise!

[cpj]

Thank you for the reveiw. I will be sailing emerald march 20, can't wait! Do you know anything about internet packages or wifi on the emerald?

I did not use the internet on the ship. Im sure they have internet packages based on minutes. My cell phone worked on the ship and I only had to make a few calls and I was able txt message. One thing that did surprise me was they did not have interactive TV so you could not check on your bill. Being a fairly new ship I thought they would have this service. It would eliminate lines at the pursors. I saw many people using labtops also. Thank you.

[davidnsteph]

Thanks for your review of the Emerald, a nice ship. Your comment on delays in cleaning the cabin reminded me of a cabin steward from Romania who got seasick in rough seas. This was on a Tahiti-Hawaii cruise on the Tahitian Princess. She looked rather pale during a couple rough sea days in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but in spite of this she worked through the discomfort and cleaned our cabin.

 

DavidnSteph

[huskyb]

Thank you for the reveiw. I will be sailing emerald march 20, can't wait! Do you know anything about internet packages or wifi on the emerald?

 

If you sign up the first day you get extra minutes. We paid $75 for 120 minutes of wireless access and got an additional 30 minutes free. We were able to get on in our cabin, but not everyone was and had to go to a common area.

[sherman931]

Thanks for taking the time to write your review. I enjoyed reading it.

[lovelyjubbly]

Thank you for the reveiw. I will be sailing emerald march 20, can't wait! Do you know anything about internet packages or wifi on the emerald?

 

Just back off the 8th Feb Emerald sailing. There are various internet packages available depending on how many minutes you want. I think the cheapest was $55 plus tax for @ 75 minutes. If you sign up on the first day you get free minutes depending on which package you choose :) Have a great trip, the Emerald is a fabulous ship.

[Stmar]

15th cruise our 5th on princess. Embarkation went smooth got on ship in an hour. Cannot ask for anything better than that when there putting 3000 on the ship. Ship is absolutely beautiful. Stateroom was typical balcony stateroom in Aft cabin B751 on the fantail.Ship rocked pretty good the first 3 days it did not bother me but is made my wife a little sick at times. I really do not know if we will stay on the fantail anymore it seem to rock back there more then other parts of the ship but we did enjoy the view. Room service was the best we ever had. Never had to wait more then 15 minutes. I had a hard time communicating with the cabin steward who had a hard time understanding english. Had to ask at least 5 times to open the ajoining balcony. We were traveling with friends who were in the cabin next to us. Anyway we did not recieve all of our luggage by nine that evening. Called customer service and they told me to come down and fill out a form. Went to the desk and they told me that I did not put the luggage tags or I left it at the hotel or I left on the shuttle bus. Anyway I assured them that we saw them on the pier. Went back to cabin around midnite and it was there. I know things happen but why try to blame me. The next morning we left room at 830AM and returned at 230pm and our room was not cleaned yet. Cabin steward apologized and said he had a rough day. Called customer service and asked if I was expecting to much to have the room cleaned in 6 hours and she told me that I probably did not put the service sign on the door. I just hung up and talk to the steward and there were no issues after that. I know food is very subjective subject but for the first time in 15 cruises we ate 5 dinners at the buffet. The quality in all the mass cruiselines has gone downhill. Salad dressing and soup were tasteless. The filet mignon was something different I really do not know what it was. Service in anytime dining and the buffet was excellent. The breafast buffet was always cold. Enough about food.The nora virus issues the last 4 days are caused by the passengers. It did not surprise me one bit I watch one oldtimer in the casino contaminate everything he touch. He wipe his nose with his hand and he reeked from poor personel hygene. Some of these oldtimers just do not realize the importance of washing. The shows were all good the bars were good. Being a non smoker was not bothered by smoke. I think they have enough places to smoke so if you bothered by smoke stay away from those areas. The people on the balcony next to us smoked but it did not bother me in the least. Im glad they let them smoke on there balcony. We did not take any tours been there done that. I wiil say St kitts is a very nice island. One thing abouy Princess Kay island we tendered in to have lunch and see the place and lunch consisted of a cold bratwust cold pork and beans cold chicken and cold ribs. It really did not taste that bad. So anyway it was a good cruise and I really do not see that much of a difference in all the mass market lines. Thank you

We just got off the Golden to Hawaii and had similar issues. We have been on the Dawn, Diamond and Grand, these were excellent as far as food and entertainment. This last cruise seemed to be sub par, the food was not great and the entertainment did not wow us as in past cruises. My theory is that the mandatory/auto tipping, the alternative and anytime dining have taken away the incentive to excel. There were a lot of people that wanted assigned dining but were not able to get it. Our party did have assigned dining because we requested it when we booked early. Has anyone else seen a difference in the food? We cruise every 2 or 3 years so we can only compare our past experiences with Princess. This cruise seemed more like the first cruise we took 20+ years ago on Carnaval and our Celebrity cruise to Alaska a few years ago. Has it gone down hill that much or did we just hit a bad one? Wish it had been one week instead of two and usually we don't want to come home!!!

[caribill]

Just I think the cheapest was $55 plus tax for @ 75 minutes.

 

 

No tax is charged

[cpj]

We just got off the Golden to Hawaii and had similar issues. We have been on the Dawn, Diamond and Grand, these were excellent as far as food and entertainment. This last cruise seemed to be sub par, the food was not great and the entertainment did not wow us as in past cruises. My theory is that the mandatory/auto tipping, the alternative and anytime dining have taken away the incentive to excel. There were a lot of people that wanted assigned dining but were not able to get it. Our party did have assigned dining because we requested it when we booked early. Has anyone else seen a difference in the food? We cruise every 2 or 3 years so we can only compare our past experiences with Princess. This cruise seemed more like the first cruise we took 20+ years ago on Carnaval and our Celebrity cruise to Alaska a few years ago. Has it gone down hill that much or did we just hit a bad one? Wish it had been one week instead of two and usually we don't want to come home!!!

I do not know if you just hit a bad cruise or not, but the experience is just not as grand as it once was. I use to tell people the food was excellent now I rate it as good or ok. The service is just as good as it was but I think with 3000 people on a ship its hard to please everyones taste.I know one thing for sure is Im paying almost the same price as I did 10 years ago so something has to suffer. I do not mind the extra charges for some things because I have the option as to buy it or not. Cruising is still a very good value for the dollar you just have to lower your expectations a little. As far as tipping they should just call it a service charge and add it to the bill Id have no problem with that, and if you wanted to tip extra you have the option. These crew members work hard and some people look for any excuse not to tip buts thats another subject.

[raydon]

Thanks for the review. We sail in April!