Emerald Princess Review

CRUISE SPOILED BY SAND FLEAS & ACCIDENT

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Emerald Princess

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Sail Date: Nov 2007

I've had 4 outstanding cruises on Celebrity's Galaxy and Zenith, RCL's Voyager and Mariner; 1 bad experience on Carnival Celebration and most recently (11/26/07) a bad experience on Princess Emerald. I had done a lot of research on cruise critic and was so looking forward to experiencing Princess for the first time. The first 2 days were sea days with non-stop rocking and shaking that made a few people seasick (not me thankfully) which made the pools relatively unusable because of the constant sloshing of the water back and forth. The worst problem however were the bites I was waking up with each morning on my legs which we all (cabin steward and his supervisor as well as myself) concluded were due to sand fleas in the cabin's carpeting that were not controlled by vacuuming. It was very disturbing especially since my husband and I HAD NOT been to any of the beaches on our E. Caribbean cruise leading us to believe these fleas have been living in the carpet for possibly several months. Other passengers overheard me speak of this in the restroom one day and asked which deck we were on because they too had been having the same problem and it turned out we were all on the same deck (Baja). If that wasn't enough to spoil my vacation, slipping on the steps of the spa pool in what felt like lotion on the top step sealed the deal. We returned to the ship early after a Sunday excursion in order to enjoy the pool while the ship was in port. I was holding onto both handrails while slipping on the step and this jarred both of my shoulders. I received a huge purple bruise on my buttocks, one on my upper back along with a scrape from the steps, and bruised both arms on the wrought arm railing as I fell.

The pools were not used by me after that and my sore achy body only felt better in the lukewarm "hot tubs", sauna, and steam room. It's almost two weeks since the accident and my bruises are just beginning to fade but are still tender to the touch. I did report these two events to the Passenger Services Asst Mgr and wrote out an accident report, but did not even receive as little as an apology from her. She only wanted to know what I liked about the ship which I told her were the "movies under the stars", the exceptional Broadway-style shows in the theater, the fresh water in pools & hot tubs, refrigerators in all cabins, personal choice dining feature, fresh fruit in cabin, and the fact Princess allowed passengers to bring a couple bottles of wine, their own soda and water on board. It was disturbing to NOT see the hand sanitizers readily available the first day onboard especially with all the reported Norovirus outbreaks, but more people than just me must have complained about it because they showed up the next day in both the buffet areas and entrances to the dining rooms. I had my own small bottle of sanitizer with me every time I visited the buffet to use after handling the utensils as an extra precaution. The first night to the dining room when I mentioned this omission, the maitre de in a very snotty reply said Princess wished their patrons to use the bathrooms by the entrance to the dining room and pointed the way. I don't believe the Emerald has a very experienced Chef either, the menu was really boring and it seemed like we had to settle for steak or prime rib too many times and they served asparagus with too many meals even in the buffet (not enough variation in vegetables). We did have lobster and salmon on 2 occasions which were very good and shrimp cocktail whenever we wanted it. We chose the anytime

dining which meant we could choose which dining room and what time we wanted to show up and this was the first experience doing this. I'm not sure I will do it again, however, because most of the waiters were not very friendly although fairly prompt in serving, and didn't act like they were trying to get a good tip. The best part of this feature was getting to know different people each night and visiting while we ate. Gratuities are automatically added to your shipboard account, but I believe if it was still a passenger choice as to the amount, the staff would provide better service. They never once told us the chef's recommendations for the night nor did they act like they knew enough about the menu to answer questions, never described the dessert choices as I have become accustomed to on Celebrity and RCL, and were only concerned about asking for bar drinks. We always had to ask for a glass of ice or iced tea so I got in the habit of bringing my own tea-to-go in a bottle of water and just asking for a glass of ice. Also, my husband and I have never liked the European style of coffee and tea onboard any ship so far and it's always made way to strong for our taste. I was warned on cruise critic that Princess chooses not to provide complimentary ice cream at any time (VERY BAD IDEA and you had to be in line at 3:30 to even get the free stuff) and complimentary juices (orange (only at breakfast), guava, and fruit punch) in the iced tea and coffee area which prompted us to bring 2 12-packs of soda, 24 bottles of water and a box of Lipton peach flavored tea-to-go on board (a lot of trouble and only feasible if you drive to port). The cabin stewards also only bring in a bucket of ice, but no water pitcher. We had an outstanding cabin steward who exchanged our bedding including pillows 3 times in hopes of keeping the fleas out of our bed and offered to wipe out our two huge suitcases with his disinfectant before packing to leave. He was the one and only who received the extra tip and did so graciously stating that he was only doing his job. Our ports of call were fantastic with 3 privately arranged tours and 2 Princess booked excursions. However, I came home feeling like I had missed my 2 week vacation somehow and didn't receive full value for the money spent. My friends and family were quite surprised that I was not raving about this cruise when I returned home like I have done after all the others, except for the Carnival Celebration. This was my first Princess cruise but after talking with a lot of people on board that were repeat Princess cruisers, they were relaying their dismay that Princess was purchased by Carnival a few years ago and that they could see a BIG difference in their cruise experience since that happened. Most common comments were they nickel and dimed you to death and the dining room service and food were not what they used to be. BIG JUST DOESN'T ALWAYS EQUATE TO BETTER when it comes to companies, I've learned. It will be a long while before I try Princess again I'm afraid and I've already decided to skip over all the Carnival offers when I review the many travel newsletters I receive via e-mail each week. Once a few more travelers avoid the cruise lines that just don't desire to provide a truly old-fashioned service oriented cruise experience, maybe they will wake up and join the real competition. And now to make matters worse and which will ultimately price more people out of the market, quite a few of the lines beginning on 2/1/08 will be adding in a daily fuel surcharge anywhere from $5 - $10 per person to the shipboard accounts of passengers instead of inconspicuously allowing for this in the original price quoted for the cruise making my already booked 15-day RCL cruise to Hawaii in the Fall of 2008 seem too expensive to be worth the chance of a bad experience. I believe they did it this way in order to be able to include all the people who have booked a cruise a year or more in advance. The cruise lines just might be scrambling in the last 90 days prior to sailing to fill cabins canceled by folks who feel like I do that it's the Cruise Lines' responsibility to cover their overhead costs, not the passenger's.

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