Emerald Princess Review

4.5 / 5.0
1,873 reviews

Emerald Princess: A Real Jewel

Review for the Southern Caribbean Cruise on Emerald Princess

DH and I sailed aboard the Emerald Princess from February 4-14. This was our 9th Princess cruise (about 20 cruises overall on various lines). I will state unequivocally that this was our best shipboard experience to date, and we would sail on this magnificent ship again in a heartbeat. Service onboard the vessel was exemplary, and it came as no surprise when we learned that Emerald currently boasts the finest service in the Princess fleet. Pre-cruise: We flew to Fort Lauderdale (from Detroit) the day prior to sailing and stayed at the new Courtyard Fort Lauderdale Beach. This is an outstanding property and not a typical Courtyard for those who are familiar with this Marriott chain. The hotel is located on Seabreeze between the beach and intercostal waterway. There is a very nice full-service restaurant, outdoor pool with umbrella tables and chairs, chaises with cabanas, poolside bar, and outdoor dining service. Fort Lauderdale Beach is just across the street from the pool area of the hotel. You can catch the Sun Trolley for nearby shopping/dining on Los Olas Boulevard, and there's a water taxi stop less than 10-minutes away. All rooms have either a view of the beach or intercostal; from our room, we were able to watch the Caribbean Princess sail on Sunday before we left for dinner and had a perfect view of the Emerald when she was in port on Monday morning. We would definitely stay here again and would recommend it highly for your pre-/post-cruise accommodations. Embarkation: We decided to forego breakfast in the hotel and took a taxi to Port Everglades at 10:30. We were among the first 30-35 people in line and were let into the security area at about 11:00. We were directed to the Platinum/Elite waiting area and waited approximately 40 minutes before the doors opened. Check-in was efficient, and we then made our way up the escalator where embarkation photos were taken before we were seated in another waiting area. We were among the first 15 passengers to board from the aft gangway at exactly 12:00. Stateroom/Steward: For the first time ever, our stateroom was not immediately ready upon entering. The sleeping area was prepared but the bathroom was being disinfected by someone other than our steward, and we were advised to return in about an hour after depositing our belongings. We used this opportunity to explore the ship. Shortly after returning to our Baha balcony stateroom, we met our steward, Eric, who rendered superior service for the duration of the cruise. He greeted us by name whenever he saw us, fulfilled requests promptly and efficiently; Eric was always cheerful and pleasant. There were a few noticeable additions to the stateroom that we hadn't seen on our most recent sailing in October on the Caribbean Princess: luggage pad on bed, bed scarf and toss pillows instead of the bedspread, bottled bathroom amenities instead of the cardboard packaged products, flat-screen TV, larger safe that was a tad temperamental at times. Due to allergies/asthma, we requested replacements for the feather pillows, the mattress was more than a little "firm", sheets, pillowcases, and duvet were soft and luxurious. Our balcony was underused due to some loud, inebriated passengers nearby but smoking was not an issue. Public Venues (Piazza/Atrium, lounges, shops, photo gallery, Internet Cafe): The Emerald Princess is absolutely gorgeous! While maintaining the understated elegance that DH and I appreciate, this vessel boasts some pubic rooms that suggest the brilliance and color of the Emerald's namesake. The fore and aft elevator lobbies are carpeted in rich emerald green, while the dEcor of Adagio (lounge) and Sabatini's (restaurant) is lush with various verdant hues. We didn't dine in Sabatini's but visited Adagio several times for pre-dinner drinks, activities, or to play a quiet game of Scrabble; Adagio was our favorite shipboard venue. We were not enamored with Vines (wine & sushi bar) or the International Cafe, and the former venue didn't seem particularly popular during our voyage. While we liked the openness and spaciousness of the Piazza, these small dining areas were far from intimate. We never visited the International Cafe and went to Vines only twice. Club Fusion, Explorer's Lounge, Crooner's, and Wheelhouse Bar were similar to those on other Princess ships; we avoided the latter due to smokers. Onboard shopping wasn't impressive, and the table displays were a nuisance during busy hours in the Piazza; the space between the sale tables and the staircase banister left barely enough room for two people to walk side-by-side or pass one another in opposite directions. We found the quality of photography sorely lacking on this voyage and didn't purchase any pictures even though we wanted a keepsake of the "Champagne Waterfall" when we poured bubbly with Maitre D' Hotel, Generoso. The continual loop of the "Reflections" video in the Photo Gallery is annoying and much too loud. We tried to limit our use of the Internet Cafe but noticed that staff was attentive and helpful. Access was remarkably speedy, and we experienced only one day when the system was down. We used our free minutes (250 each) and purchased additional packages to get us through the remainder of the cruise, mostly because DH was contacting the office daily while on vacation.

Activities: As always, there were more shipboard options than one has time for but we tend to gravitate toward the same activities on every cruise: Trivia, Name That Tune, Price Is Right, our own daily Scrabble game; watching Wild & Wacky Pool Games, the Newlywed and Not-So-Newlywed Game; spending some quiet time watching news programs and movies in our stateroom; attending the Cooking Show/Galley Tour. We don't do Bingo, casino, horseracing, or art auctions. We didn't see any of the heats of "Princess Pop Star" during this voyage, nor did we make it to Motown dance party, and we have yet to see a film at Movies Under the Stars. There were sneak previews of "Bonneville" in Princess Theatre one night and a reprise at MUTS another, but we had other plans both evenings. While we don't spend much time lying around in the sun, we do enjoy the pools. Our favorites are the Lotus Spa and Terrace pools (adults only), and we visited one or both daily. When we played Scrabble in Skywalker's one afternoon, we discovered that there was a small, secluded pool that looked like it might be a romantic getaway - until we saw young parents put a diapered baby in the water! Eeewww! As I list various shipboard activities, it seems like a good time to mention some of our favorite Princess people were on this sailing, namely Lisa Ball, Deputy Cruise Director, with whom we have sailed twice previously, and DJ, Chrispy who has also been on three of our Princess voyages. Both are dedicated to their respective positions, are highly energetic and personable, and make passengers feel welcome and respected. Entertainment: We found that much of the evening programming on the Emerald was offered too early to be accommodating for our dining schedule (7:30 in DaVinci), so we only saw one of the production shows on this cruise. We enjoyed "I Got the Music" that was featured at 10:30 one evening and would have liked to see "Boogie Shoes" that was staged only one evening with both performances conflicting with our dinner reservation. We had seen "Motor City" previously and generally don't care for comedians, hypnotists, or jugglers. We also enjoyed the "International Crew Show" that featured some fine talent among the crew as well as the always hilarious "If I Were Not Upon This Ship" performed by the entertainment staff. A highlight among entertainers on the Emerald was the lovely and talented female string quartet, "Astoria" that performed in the Piazza and in concert one night in Explorer's Lounge. Unfortunately, there were some passengers in attendance who were obviously not devotees of classical music and talked during the performance until admonished by a brave passenger. DH and I would like present the "Rudest Passenger Award" to a patron of this concert: When introducing a work by Johann Strauss, the European first violinist pronounced the well-known melody, "Blue Dan-oob". A woman in the audience shouted, loud enough to be heard in our section of the lounge, "It's Dan-yube." I sincerely hope that this woman was too drunk to realize how disrespectful her outburst was to the musicians and her fellow passengers. Lotus Spa: Having had some less-than-stellar experiences in shipboard spas, I'm sometimes hesitant to book appointments for services other than a simple manicure and/or pedicure. I had been researching Ionithermie Algae-Detox, and, knowing that the treatments and follow-up care would be costly, I was eager to try this procedure. I booked the course of three treatments shortly after embarkation and enjoyed the sessions with Mitsoku (Mitsy) who was caring and concerned about me as a client. She recommended a continuing 6-week course of at-home product use. This was my best spa experience to date - on land or sea. The Lotus Spa receptionists were very polite and helpful, and I attended a sea-day seminar that was very educational. I toured The Sanctuary but didn't use the facility; in fact, I visited the spa pool every day and saw very few passengers indulging in the secluded area. Food/Dining: Neither DH nor I gained an ounce during our 10-night voyage, but dining started out on a sour note when we experienced difficulty being seated in either "anytime" dining room on the first two nights of the cruise. Upon approaching Michelangelo Dining Room at 6:30 on sail-away evening, we were told that we could not have dinner there until after 8:00 unless we were with one of the two large groups onboard. We proceeded to DaVinci Dining Room and were told that there would be an hour to 75-minute wait. We were discouraged and didn't want to wait, so we went to Crown Grill and were seated immediately at a romantic booth. This was truly a fine dining experience - excellent food and outstanding service in luxurious surroundings. Not to be missed! We didn't fare much better the following evening when we went to DaVinci where we were given a pager and told that the wait would be 30-40 minutes. We went to Crooner's for a pre-dinner cocktail and returned to the restaurant 30 minutes later; the hostess said that we had been paged 15 minutes ago. Not! The pager didn't work but another table for two was suddenly available. Following this rather lackluster dining experience, DH sent a note to Maitre D' Hotel, Generoso who called us the next day and told us that we would have a reserved table for two at 7:30 in DaVinci with the same waitstaff for the remainder of the cruise. Generoso stopped by our table that evening to meet us and make certain that we were being taken care of by Cecilio and Samphong. This waiter and his assistant were personable, highly professional, and provided exemplary dining room service. DH and I thought the food on the Emerald was the best we've had on a Princess ship. We enjoyed some of our Princess favorites and tried some new menu items, as well. We rarely eat in Horizon Court/Cafe Caribe but experienced both good food and fine service in this venue including omelets or eggs cooked-to-order, tables bussed quickly, coffee, juice, and water brought to our table. On the few occasions when we had room service, food and beverages were delivered within 15 minutes. Overall, food and dining service on the Emerald Princess was superior. Shore Excursions: Having visited many of the Caribbean islands previously (and some more than once or twice), we mostly cruise during harsh Michigan winters to enjoy sunshine and warm temperatures. We didn't disembark at Princess Cays, shopped for about an hour in St. Thomas (we docked at Havensight), stayed on the ship in Dominica, and shopped briefly in Bonaire. We rented a car in Aruba and drove around for about 3 hours, returned the car, had lunch, and walked around downtown for a while before returning to the ship. Our only Princess shore excursion was the "Spices of Grenada" tour that offered an educational overview of the island's history and it's spice industry. Disembarkation: The innovative process of gathering passengers in various assigned public venues helps insure efficient, stress-free disembarkation. We stayed in Club Fusion (Elite/Platinum Lounge) until 9:30, disembarked the ship, collected one large bag, cleared customs, and were out of the terminal 15 minutes later. Miscellaneous: There are a few things that I'd like to post here for the benefit of those who will be sailing on the Emerald soon or for those who have asked questions that I didn't have time to answer from the ship. While subject to change, the dinner menus for our itinerary (Southern Caribbean Medley) were Sail-Away, Caribbean, Captain's Welcome, Princess, Princess (different than previous night), Cosmopolitan (French-inspired), Italian, Chef's, Captain's Gala, Landfall. There were two Chef's Table events during our voyage but we did not attend nor do we know when they took place. There were reportedly only 26 children onboard but I don't know their ages; we saw a couple of infants and very few children while out and about around the ship. There was a Greek Orthodox priest onboard who conducted Ash Wednesday service and Catholic Mass on Sunday morning. There was also a non-denominational Sunday service conducted by Cruise Director, Neil Chandler, and a concert by the Heritage Singers (special group onboard) that was open to the public. Passengers were invited to conduct Shabbat services on Friday afternoon. If you're still reading my very lengthy review, I thank you and hope that you have found it helpful if you've already booked a cruise on this fabulous ship or are thinking about doing so. I'm certain that DH and I will sail on the awesome Emerald Princess again in the near future

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