The outside of this ship is well designed. Not so the inside. First the good stuff. If you like to walk a ship's promenade deck, this one is very nice. It's wide and goes all the way around the ship if you climb a few stairs, giving you great 360 views of the sea and sky. You can do the same on deck 16, also with a few stairs. The inside is different story. The design is flawed, mainly because of the way the spaces are chopped up, especially in the buffet area. Many activities occur in the atrium, but only about 100 people (out of 3000) can actually see what's going on. Deck six is chopped in a way that makes you go up, and then down a flight of stairs to the dining room. But the biggest fiasco is the poorly designed buffet. If you TRIED to design the most inconvenient buffet possible, you might not come close to this one. You just have to see for yourself. I have been on maybe 20 ships, and have never seen such a poor layout of food service and seating areas. We missed both seafood buffet and the big dessert buffet because it was held in the back portion of the buffet, and no info was posted or announced anywhere. It is a mystery to me that anyone would have ever approved such a poor design. One very positive thing that deserves mention is the sound levels of music and background noise on the ship. The crew and sound people seemed to be very professional and kept volumes at an appropriate level everywhere. In the theater, sound levels always seemed loud enough and without distortion. I mention this because many ships just don't pay attention to this and I have seen poor sound engineers ruin a perfectly good talented performance with distorted volume levels and background music. Read Less

Leaving from San Pedro was great----no flying so easy in and out. Embarkation was a breeze. Staff friendly enough. Cruise director did her very best. Food in dining room and in the buffet not so good. the Emerald really needs a new Chef! Food was blah! Dining room staff---especially the head waiter Edgar Vega was excellent and made up for it. He is a rock star! Entertainment was just OK they could step it up more......especially on this cruise to Mexico. It was good----but not over the top like other cruises. The production shows really need to some into the new century! Very dated. Overall rating....I give it a 7 out of 10. This is a good family cruise with many pools and activities for all to enjoy outside. Outside dining is good with pizza and hamburgers for the kids to enjoy so there are some pluses and of course movies under the stars which is a nice touch. Don't forget, if you are looking for more of a dining experience, the ship does have three specialty restaurants. High end and only $29.00 per person. well worth the experience. Bon Voyage Read Less

To get away from winter. My wish was to have warm weather, freedom from cooking, and other household chores. To have time and areas to relax and read and enjoy the ports and sea days. The weather made that difficult as the ship was usually rocking somewhat..walking was similar to being unbalanced. In ports the excursion in Mazatlan was mediocre and in Cabo changed from original dure to weather with no added or changed activites by operator. It was cold and windy, and made no use of the pools and little of the balcony. However, meeting different people made up for much of the above and sittng at different tables each night in dining room was exactly what I wanted..the people, meals and service. I also was totally happy to be able to sing in the Princess Choir the Saturday before disembarktion.The recreation staff was suberb, always happy and smiling. Our cabin steward was excellent and I felt the wait staff ot be helpful and friendly. I have another cruise coming up on Princess and look forward to bigger and better..and hopefully much nicer weather. Read Less

We live in the Pacific NW and a quick trip down to LA and then to Mexico sounded like the perfect antidote to winter. We really enjoyed our cruise on the Emerald and except for a few small issues had an absolutely perfect time. Th e only issues we had is that the lock on our stateroom ran out of battery power, which took about an hour to fix. The other issue is that our experience in Matzalan wasn't everything it could have been - the "City Highlights tour" that we took we would not recommend as the city highlights seemed to include mostly street vendors who could be somewhat aggressive. We had an amazing time in Puerto Vallarata where our snorkling trip turned into a whale watching expedition as they seemed to be everywhere in the bay. Our special thanks to the crew of Emerald who went out of their way to look after us, make sure we got gluten free food, and in general made us feel like part of their families. We highly recommend this cruise, this ship and this line. Read Less

the Princess Cruise line offers a good value for the price. We like cruising in the fact we have taken over 10 cruises. The up side to the princess line that they offer cruise from the LA port which we can drive to no flying. Princess cabins are nice well laid out and the balcony is nice and big.. the staff was very friendly and accommodating. A big factor is that staff is not constantly hawking some service it is much more sedate and relaxing than other lines. They offer entertainment in small venues that is intimate. Embarkation and debarkcation went very smoothly. The down side is the Emerald Princess is in need of refurbishement . Paint, carpet and refinishing of wood surfaces. They also need to install multi selection soft drink machine with multiple choices of drinks. It would increase their profit by allowing the customer to refresh His own drink in a supplied cup. That would free up bartender to serve other passengers. Lastly The bed linens should include a selection of pillows . The pillow supplied are jusTOO soft. You sink into them and perspire a lot. Overall for the senior set this Cruise checks most of the boxes. I would recommend for most seniors. Read Less

This was an amazing trip. We enjoyed our time on the cruise start to finish. From the Captain to the pizza chef, we felt everyone was working to meet our expectations. Our cabin was laid out well and we had a super Stewart called Antonio. The meals were good and the service excellent. We had pizza a few times and it was very tastee. There was a varied schedule of events that were always well led and free. The International Cafe was open 24 hours a day with various delicious snacks and sandwiches. We made all our ports despite the bad weather and the only ship cruising Hawaii to do so that week. The computer lab was well staffed and the guys were helpful and patient. There were several cocktail parties and the ship’s Captain offered passengers the opportunity to have a picture taken with our own camera. Can’t say enough good things for our first Princess Cruise in 15 years. Read Less

Ports and excursions. Great way to see 4 islands in Hawaii without the hassle of plane rides, car rental, accommodations, food, etc. Each island is unique. Maui had an unbelievable number of whales. There were about 10,000 in the area and we were there in peak whale watching season. Oahu was crowded but we did the hop on hop off experience. Saw and climbed Diamond Head, Boy for snorkeling as well as the north part of the island with the blow hole; past the area where Obama grew up and went to school. The big island of Hawaii was probably the most disappointing. Because of the recent eruptions, the tour could not get to where we were expecting to go. Not the cruise line's fault. If you like to be at sea the 4 days going and 5 returning were as expected. In all a great way to see the islands without the hassle mentioned earlier. The days at sea were filled with the usual cruise activities. There was plenty of trivia. Tai Chi was offered early in the day followed by a 45 minute Zumba class that was geared to all people (with various physical levels within the song ). Line dancing was very basic; but the learn to dance classes (7 dances - waltz, tango, swing, etc) were well taught. The entertainment by the cast was well done (Magic To Do is great); the guest performers were average but the 2 comedians were among the best we have seen. The room steward was excellent and very attentive ; the food at the fixed dining was excellent as was the service. In all a very enjoyable cruise. Read Less

It was an easy cruise to get to since we live in Arizona. We just wanted to get away on a cruise where we could just relax so we looked forward to the sea days. Plus we love the Hawaiian Islands so we always look forward to going back there. The entertainment was outstanding. We felt the entertainers were the best combination we have ever had on a cruise. Our room steward (Enrico), dining room waiter (Jack) and junior waiter (Edmund) were fantastic and rank with the best we ever have had serve us. The embarkation was the one negative point on the cruise. With a major raistorm on the embarkation day, the port was totally unprepared. You had to wait in a downpour of rain in a line outside of the tent for over an hour to drop off your luggage. Then you had to wait outside of another tent in the rain for another 45 minutes before you could get into the security tent. The City of Los Angeles should be totally embarrassed that this terminal is totally inadequate to handle a foul weather situation. Many people had the clothes in their suitcases totally soaked from the rain. Several people had clothes ruined from being soaked (like leather jackets). Now back to a positive. The food in the dining room would rank with the best we ever have had. The Chef did an excellent job of having a diverse menu and didn't repeat dishes on a 15 cruise. Take away the issue on embarking, it was a great cruise, Read Less

I always wanted to go to Hawaii and figured this would be a good taste. Really enjoyed the trip except for the pouring rain on embarkation and the storm that followed us all the way home. The temps were lower than expected. Temp in Ensenada Mexico was only 52 and was very windy on the ship with temps being only low 60,s most of the time. Most people packed for Caribbean weather and it was low 70's. The crew was friendly and accommodating. They provided a sharps container and an extension cord for CPAPs and distilled water. Our excursions were good. Loved the Pineapple plantation and the Pearl Harbor tour and visiting Volcano National Park. Was not always impressed with the extras they added to the excursion like the orchid tour. Not impressed with the plantation tour with the train ride. Feeding the animals was throwing bread to a bunch of pigs. On board Sharon Faff, the naturalist, had so much interesting information it was overwhelming. We went to assigned dining and enjoyed having the same waiters. The food was excellent. Actually I thought the food and service at the the dining room was as good as the Crown Grill and Share. The only thing they give you is ambiance and a little slower pace. On the sea days they had sea crafts, ukulele lessons, spanish lessons, trivia, bingo, etc. Enough to keep one busy. Read Less

Would have been a really great Cruise if it wasn't for the weather. The rain in LA caused Princess to really fall down on the job as far as caring for it's customers during this storm. We were forced to line up outside in the rain to get through security before check-in while our luggage was left out in the rain for over an hour. Unpacking was a nightmare looking for places to hang up all the wet clothing. Once underway, things calmed down abit but we battled rough seas for the first two and a half days. The food was actually much better than we anticipated since the last time we were on a Princess ship (The Ruby) we were very disappointed in all the food including the specialty venues. The internet was vertually non-exsistant and minutes were used with no actual results. Laptop worked best when I took it to the internet café. The cabin was in need of refreshing but the layout is very well thought out. Room could use more electrical outlets. Fortunately, I brought my own extension cord so I could use my CPAP each night and not have to unplg it. Entertainment was very good including some very talented individuals. Enrichment seminars were very well received.Our room steward was excellent and overall the service was very good. We were very happy to be able to all the scheduled ports and enjoyed all our shore excursions especially in Kauai where we had never been before. This was our second trip to Hawaii, our first being on the Celebrity Summit in September. The weather was much better and we felt that the ship and the service was much better on Celebrity. Read Less