We had a very enjoyable cruise on Legend of the Seas last year , so this year we joined daughter and family ( 3 children ages 6, 4 & 2.)on this cruise on the Emerald. The views in this report relate to my wife and myself as daughter has already submitted her report. We flew from Manchester on Titan Air , a Princess charter with the 200 people on board all heading for the ship. There was not as much space on the plane as I had imagined from previous posts , very tight for eating. The food was good served with proper crockery and cutlery and copious amounts of drink. Unfortunately the flight times had been changed a few weeks before , which meant that we did not arrive at the ship until 7 pm instead of before lunch on the original timings. It felt as though we had lost a day - some people were very upset that they had no time to go into Venice.

The transfer to the ship was excellent and we were on board very quickly. The ship seemed enormous as we drove up to it, but looked really beautiful. It was even nicer on board , We hurried to our cabin on Caribe deck and were very pleased. Everything was shipshape and the balcony seemed enormous. I have to recommend the balcony cabins on this deck, as, although the people above can see you when you move to the edge , there is plenty of Privacy and room further back.

Daughter had kindly given us a present of the use of The Sanctuary for the entire cruise. This was a real bonus as our beds were reserved for the whole time (always the same ones) and you are spoiled in there. They give you MP3 players, cold towels and continuous ice cold water. The healthy eating in there was lovely , and the fruit skewers to die for. It was nice to be able to come and go. Read more