Emerald Princess Review

4.5 / 5.0
1,873 reviews

Sick Ship - poor cruise.

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Emerald Princess
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Rhona
First Time Cruiser • Age 20s

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Sail Date: Dec 2007
Cabin: Balcony

This was a sick ship even before the cruise started. The first clue was apparent when we boarded, the cabin attendants put on filter masks before entering any of the cabins on our deck. We brushed this aside and assumed that the ship was just being extra careful. When we went to the dining room for dinner we noticed an empty table other then place settings. No bread baskets, no butter, no salt and pepper, etc. We questioned the waiter and were told that due to the norovirus, they were minimizing any contact areas where passengers could pass the virus to one another and instead would individually serve each passenger. This continued in the buffet area where again there was nothing on the tables. In addition, they had set up table stations in the seating area where the staff could serve coffee, water, etc. to the passengers and minimize the number of passengers going to the self serve drink stations.

The effect of this was bad food service. Our poor waiter in the main dining room could not keep up with the demands of serving dinner while running around refilling bread dishes, supplying butter and salt and pepper. It was not his fault, he was working harder then he should have and still could not keep up with the service demands. It was almost impossible to finish dinner in less than two hours. The buffet area was almost as bad. Even though we were told that the staff would serve drinks, they spent most of their time roaming the room looking for plates to remove. Even if only one person at a table looked like they were done with their plate they would rush over and remove it. I guess it was an attempt to prevent someone from taking a previously used plate back into the buffet line. So, most people decided not to wait and went to the drink stations on their own.

This would have all been welcome precautions if it had worked. But on the fifth day I was struck by the virus. It started right after dinner while in my room. I spent the next 18 hours running back and forth to the bathroom to pay homage to the porcelain (in this case, fiberglass) god. At one point during the night I pulled a back muscle while bending over the toilet and ended up laying on my back for an hour in that tiny bathroom. I couldn't move until the urge to bend over the toilet forced me to get up. It wasn't a pleasant experience. By midnight the next night I was feeling well enough to eat some chicken broth. By the following evening, 48 hours after the start, I felt well enough to leave my room.

Cabin Review

Balcony

Cabin BE
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