Emerald Sky Review
Rating by category
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Firstly the ship; we enjoyed the modern minimalist décor and layout of the ship. The ship can accommodate 180 passengers and we were sailing with ~120. The indoor/outdoor swimming pool that converts to a cinema is a great idea. The retractable roof and glass wall panels allowed the pool to be used even during the colder months. Panoramic windows in the cabins that dropped at the touch of a button were a wonderful idea. As our cruise was sold as a Christmas Markets cruise we expected more Christmas atmosphere on the ship. On embarkation there were no Christmas decorations. Several passengers commented about this and eventually about 4-5 days into the cruise some decorations were put up, but not much.
Food – the quality and variety was sometimes hit and miss but overall was satisfactory. Each day consisted of a buffet breakfast and lunch, afternoon tea, 5 course dinner and late supper. Specialty coffee and tea was available 24/7 and was included. All you can drink beer, wine and soft drink was included at lunch and dinner. They were not stingy when it came to refilling your glass.
Itinerary (Amsterdam to Budapest) was perfect and all the stops were just beautiful. All tours were included, at least 1 per day and sometimes 2. Locals with excellent knowledge of the area conducted them. Sometimes the day started early with morning tours, other times we had a lazy cruising morning and the tours would start in the afternoon. We loved the Christmas markets, especially those in Germany. There was plenty of time to do the tours and visit the markets.
Cabin Review
We booked an Owner’s Suite, as we were aware that river cruise cabins are much smaller than ocean cruise cabins and we wanted the extra space. The cabin consisted of a separate lounge, bedroom, walk-in-robe and bathroom. The bedroom had a drop-down panoramic window. The lounge had a French balcony with another drop-down panoramic window. It also had folding glass doors that opened the lounge room into the balcony space. This was lovely and we used this facility the most. As we were sailing during winter we kept the panoramic windows closed mostly, but still loved being able to open them to take photos or let fresh air in. There was plenty of storage space for all our clothes and shopping along the way. The bathroom was still quite small and I think for an owner’s suite should have been bigger. It was not the same as the pictures in the brochures.There was a Nespresso coffee machine in the room but no milk. I asked if we could have milk in our room and was told no, so I didn’t use the coffee machine at all. The mini-bar was stocked with beer, wine, juice, soft drink and spirits. It also had a bar of chocolate and Pringles. These items were restocked daily.We had daily laundry service included – 4 items per day. I didn’t think this would be enough but in fact it was plenty. The laundry service was brilliant. Items were taken away in the morning and back in our cabin the same day. Our clothes were beautifully washed and pressed.The bed was very comfortable and we slept well. The only issue is the adjoining cabin has the TV mounted behind our bed. The occupants of the adjoining cabin tended to watch TV early in the morning, which woke us up.