I chose Princess mainly because of the itinerary offered in the dates we preferred. I have cruised the Mediterranean before, but Princess offered some new ports I had, yet, visited. This trip was special, as it was eleven nights with my two grown daughters, neither who had ever visited any of the countries included. It was wonderful- great service,, attentive staff, and excellent excursions offered. We visited seven ports and took advantage of an excursion at each stop we made. We also enjoyed the dining and service provided ar each meal. The menu was good and varied. One daughter is a pescatarian, and she was a bit concerned about what the offerings might be, but she thoroughly enjoyed the choices provided and there was never an issue. Because there were three of us, we had a mini suite. I think I would upgrade to a full suite if I were to book again, just to give us that much more space. Though we managed just fine, accommodations were a bit tight. All in all , a most pleasant experience, and I would consider Orincess again if I were thinking of another cruise. Read Less

We always wanted to cruise the Med so this was our retirement treat. Prior to the cruise we had a great CC rollcall and so we met the night before sailing and forged some good friendships for on board. Embarkation at Barcelona was a breeze. Our room was ready even though it was early. Ate lunch at the dining room - very relaxed start to our cruise. The crew were all amazing - room steward , bar staff and deck attendants. Our cabin was comfortable and clean - great position on Aliso Deck in an inside cabin. Highly recommended. The shows and entertainment were very good - though a couple of nights there was not a lot on. The meals in dining room (we had anytime dining) were always good and we never had to wait for a table- we ate around 6:15. We had two water shuttle stops and they were handled very well and we were off quickly. We took no tours with the ship- we preorganised local operators and shared tours on our roll call. There is nothing we would change about our trip - thanks Emerald Princess for a dream holiday. Read Less

We had a truly delightful experience aboard the Emerald Princess. We highly recommend going on a cruise with Princess Crusies, and we would also highly recommend spending a little more money for a balcony room. I had been on a cruise years before, so my expectations were fairly open. We stayed in a balcony room and absolutley enjoyed the time spent coming into port and leaving port and viewing these moments from our balcony. The food experience we had was top notch, and I loved the flexibilty Princess provided us. Also our stateroom and the service provided was excelent. Great job Princess! There's no comparison regarding going on a cruise to see places verses driving or flying in to the various destinations and having to find lodging and going to expensive restaurants. The cruiseline provided everything and more. It's so worth having the convenience of having everything that you need on the ship and not having to pack up and move at every destination. Read Less

The Emerald was a good ship and had a great selection of ports. However, the food quality seemed to be off on this ship compared with the rest of the fleet. If you are looking for good food, this is not the ship for you! The general staff were very good with the exception of the front desk personnel. If you have an issue, be prepared if you speak English they may not understand you. For the price of the cruise, the trip was great. There were plenty of chairs available on the deck for sun lounging. Entertainment was good and had a nice verity of shows. The Gastropub was excellent, don't waste your money on Share by Chris Stone, selection not very good. As a premium class guest with Princess, embarkation and disembarkation was great with little or no time spent on the process. Some of the ports (Malta) the ship could have spent more time at rather than the Greek ports. Read Less

We chose a Princess cruise to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. We have cruised with Princess before and we were happy with our experience and that is why we chose Princess for this memorable occasion. Food and dining service were excellent and despite the number of guests on board, the Emerald Princess never seemed overcrowded due to its size and layout. Both the quality and variety of food on the ship were very good. We were pleased with our stateroom and the cabin service was excellent. We enjoyed the views from our balcony. We took advantage of our Cruise Personalizer to book on shore excursions for most of the ports and found the descriptions and information of each accurate. Getting off the ship for excursions was very well organized considering the number of people and we would recommend the Princess excursions. In a couple of ports we explored the area on our own without any problems. We would recommend Princess cruises and look forward to cruising with them again. Read Less

This was technically a 22 day cruise, but we only did the 11 day portion of Barcelona to Rome. We chose this cruise because of the itinerary plus the price and the perks were good. There were 7 of us and overall, it was a great experience. The staff was excellent and the passengers were very friendly. We all made new friends. It is a beautiful ship. The piazza midship is stunning. We all agreed the cabins could do with a freshening up in decor; it was a little bit dated. However, the rooms were spotless. The mini-suites are large and roomy with a full size bathroom and lots of storage. My parents and sister had electrical and plumbing problems with their room, but Dennis, their steward, handled the situations promptly and efficiently. The food experience onboard got mixed reviews amongst our group. My parents and sister did not enjoy their main dining dinner experience the first night onboard and never went back. The group went to Steamers one night and those that had the mussels enjoyed the experience, but those that had the fried platter were disappointed. We all enjoyed: Share, Crown Grill, World Market Buffet, The Salty Dog Grill on the lido deck, Slices, The International Cafe, Room Service & Coffees and Cones. We only saw a couple of the shows in the Princess Theatre and they were fun. Karaoke in Club Fusion was good. The Maitre D wine tasting experience was excellent as was the Love Boat disco party. Embarkation was poorly done, but disembarkation was a breeze. For our group, the shore excursions booked through the cruise ship were the biggest disappointment, specifically those that took ship tours to Marseilles, Florence and Capri. It's a lot of money to put out and not have a wonderful time. All in all it was a great time and we would definitely consider another Princess cruise in the future. Read Less

This is the first trip on my bucket list. All of my excursions were fantastic with the exception of Adajjacio (Corsica). Nothing was open, and had not been open for awhile. The staff on board is so friendly and helpful. If you are single, beware there was no single activities scheduled the second 11 days of the trip (after many passengers left and new ones came on board). The first 11 days, there was not a singles activity until day 4 or 5 and only after a passenger wrote a long letter requesting one. I asked if there would be any singles activities so that I could meet people. The buffet was luke warm at best. Food that should have been hot was cold or luke warm with the exception of soup or hot cereals. Dining room food was also not very hot when it should have been. Good variety of food. Read Less

We chose this cruise for the destination, but sadly the Emerald Princess quickly became a disappointment. Lack of entertainment, sub-par food, and horrible dining room attire rules. Nice shorts and shirt NOT acceptable but jeans and sports jersey's are acceptable on a Formal night. NO entertainment pool side on either sea days. They turned the music on for ice-carving then quickly turned the unacceptable playlist to very low. I understand the population on the cruise was a little older, but they were happy to listen to our music when we brought out our music player. All the pool guests around us were complaining. The drink package - they really encourage you not to use it, limits and rules for every situation. The spa was nice, although pricey - but that's expected on cruises they increase the price. Positive - I like the hand- washing stations at the entrance of the buffet. Read Less

We as a family wanted to do a Mediterranean trip. This particular cruise plan met most of our needs. The Cruise ship was excellent, the wait staff was great. The room steward did an excellent job. The meal offerings could have been little more variety on different days specifically for vegetarian family members. The entertainment shows were good mix. The comedy show needed little more oomph. The trivia games were good. There could have been little more learning types of activities would have been nice instead of trying to sell spa/spa products under the guise of health talks. The cabin location and décor were good for the time we spent in the room, mostly for little rest or sleep at night. We chose easy types of excursions due to group members needs but we thoroughly enjoyed it. The excursions for Santorini, Naples, Sicily and Kotor were all met our needs perfectly. Read Less

Staff was unfriendly and rude across the board. Bar staff seemed put out and irritated when I ordered drinks. ON top of that they had gratuity added onto every drink. It was not an option to leave less than 15 or 18%. Beyond irritating. When I passed staff on the ship they never said hi or smiled. They were over it. Upon boarding the ship I saw a crew member near the pool in the smoking section having a cigarette. So gross. This ship needs new leadership from the top down. High end restaurants had bad service. At one dinner we paid $39 extra per person. The waiter neglected us and took no responsibility for the bad service. Another restaurant blamed the scheduling system for the poor service however they didn't greet us after 10 minutes of standing in the entry. This ship missed the ball on so many levels. I'll never sail with Princess cruise lines again. Read Less

We have cruised with other lines before and decided to try Princess based on a recommendation from our travel agent due to the specific ports we wanted to visit. We did a 14 day cruise with Princess Cruise lines. Never made it to Mykonos due to a storm. Food was average but nothing spectacular. Too many starchy foods. Not enough vegetables and fruits. Entertainment was just okay. Not enough planned activities accept pushing bingo games and paper airplane races. Don’t buy a drink package. If on Dolphin Deck, the tinder boats are under you and when they are launched at 6 am, you will be knocked out of bed by the noise. Gym was sub par. Two standard stationary bikes for the whole ship to use. The Sanctuary area is a joke. Don’t waste your money for $80 a day. The art auction staff must all be new as they didn’t have full knowledge on the artist they were selling. Overall staff were not as friendly as on other cruise lines we have travelled on. I honestly do not believe we will ever cruise with Princess in the future. Read Less

This matched some places we wanted to see, particularly Crete, and also allowed is to spend a few days in Rome before the cruise and then in Athens after the cruise. Princess is one of the top cruise lines and embarkation was fast. Our bags were delivered minutes after arriving at our cabin. We only saw our cabin steward once at the beginning but there were no problems. The entertainment was good, however, we have been on ships that had far better entertainment. The excursions were great, although we could not dock at Mykonos, which was no fault to the ship. The excursion staff were very efficient and the shore side excursion people were very good. The only criticism would be that the food quality is not as good as it used to be, particularly in the buffet on the Lido deck. Overall, it was a good trip and we would recommend it. Read Less

My sisters and I chose this cruise because of the itinerary and length of time to enjoy together. The ship was amazing and staff were incredibly kind and personable. We loved the entertainment, especially Kory Simon the piano man and the shows. Meals were sensational and a speciality meal in the Crown Grill surpasses our expectations. The scenery of the countries we visited and history of Europe is fascinating. 21 days flew as we enjoyed every aspect of the ship, the staff and fellow passengers. The international cafe was a hotspot after excursions for a relaxing drink and snack before our formal dining room experience and we also could tan in the afternoon high tea at three if we chose high was so nicely served. The crowd control was very well dealt with by offering so many different venues throughout the ship as well which made it feel very comfortable. I loved every minute of the 21 days and my next trip will be longer- again with Princess Cruises! Kudos to Princess! Read Less

It's the only cruise line that I travel one .In fact my first cruise was on the Emerald. We arrived in Rome one day prior and it was amazing. As a platinum member the check-in was very fast. The ship was refurbished but the stateroom decoration is outdated. The food was very good . The boutiques aren't interesting even boring. The musicians are very talented and the singers also. The atmosphere was very relaxing. We had the anytime dining and its a great option if you want to relax. the entertainment presentations at the Princess theater were the worst I've seen so far. Our room cleaner wasn't friendly and helpful .The worts we had so far.I'll remember him for a long time. The ports offers very affordable shuttle that make your reconsider the necessity of paying for expensive excursions.The one in Corfu and Chania were a waist of money and my time. Read Less

The food quality and selection is not what I have been used to on Princess cruise. Was served French fries with a filet mignon. Being on a Mediterranean cruise would have expected a better selection of seafood and fish. King prawns were the size of baby shrimps. Although the MichelAngelo waiting staff was really courteous and helpful. Pedro the head waiter was good to find us nice and enjoyable people to sit with. Front desk service is useless they give you the run around! We were booked on a shore excursion on our day of disembarking but the bus couldn’t carry luggage. It would have been great to visit Mykonos but the rough sea prevent it us to port.... the captain decided for the safety of the passenger to continue our route. I’m glad that he made that call for our safety. Princess didn’t live up to their slogan.... Come Back New! I found that Princess cruise line has been going down in quality over the last 5 years. It not what it used to be. Read Less

Choose this cruise to experience Greece and its food, drink and culture. The good is that Princess did an awesome job on embarkment (no wait) and disembarkment. Excursion organization and cleanliness, and great staff. It couldn’t have been any better. I rated 4 stars because I wouldn’t take this cruise again. It was boring. Entertainment was for older people ( we were a party of 8 in our late 50s and early 60s). Pool parties and piano bar weren’t what we had on other cruise lines. After dinner we struggled to find things to do. We were looking for dancing or comedy. There was one great band with a woman singer that we found 2 nights and that was the entertainment highlight. We had people in our party fall asleep and leave during auditorium shows. We did trivia a few times and that was fun. Food and drink were awesome. Service was exemplary. Shore excursions ... mostly good, organized, good guides and clean bus on all with no waits. Crete we did a beach excursion and when we got there there weren’t enough lounge chairs for our party to be together, stained cushions on loungers and you couldn’t swim cause of the rocks .. not what we expected. Now Corfus excursion was awesome town and cooking class. Highlight of the trip. We booked wanting to see white beaches and bluest water with the white buildings and saw none:(. Too windy to go to Mykonos (which we booked for) and princess did nothing for us that day ie, free drinks, more entertainment so that felt like a wasted day. One more thing, we were on a Greek cruise and the nightly dining had no Italian or Greek food or appetizers. Would highly recommend they change this to have 2 or 3 options for the area every night. Also the wine and beer of that region would be a plus. Would recommend this cruise for older people. Read Less

Bucket list cruise for both me and my spouse and wanted to see if we would like to go back to the Greek islands for a further visit. And we will. Very surprised on how it was easy to embark in Civitavecchia and loved our stay for 2 days before. Highly recommend it! First time booking a back to back cruise and i would not mind doing that again. I found the food was a little repetitive for my personal preference and not hot enough either in the dining room (anytime dining) and the buffet (world market). Breakfast was a little repetitive and Princess no longer offers toaster/grill to make your own toast, bagels so your toast, bagels, english are cold. Same for their eggs sunny side but under a heat lamps, so stiff and not good. They did offer build your own omelettes which was very good. We went to Kotor Montenegro twice and would do that again. We missed Mykonos because of high winds but that could not be helped. The staff were nice and mostly very helpful. I will cruise again with Princess. Read Less

My friends and I were looking for a Mediterranean cruise but late to book so many were already sold out. I thought Princess was rated similar to RCCL and Celebrity ...oops, I was so wrong. If the was one Improvement I'd. Suggest, it would be to stop nickel and diming people with stupid drink packages!!! How ridiculous to offer a water and coke package which only serviced INSIDE or Outside your cabins. It was, like much of the programs...petty. nightly entertainment limited to early only crowds. After 9pm, there's few options. The best experience was in the spa where I got 2 treatments that were e excellent. I did pass on the $60.00 manicure tho. Placing an automatic 15% gratuity was insulting. Lastly, as most cruises, the food is bountiful however what's the purpose of having different dining rooms if you're serving the same menu in each? Where was the variety? Even the 2 additional restaurants you had to pay additional for had pretty much the same menu as the others. Simply unimaginative and a basic 3 1/2 star cruise line. A touch above costa and same as NCL. And don't waste 2 days at sea just to get cheap fuel in Gilbralter ! Read Less

We chose this cruise because of itinerary and the flight included package. Loved the stops. The ship was great except for food. I am not a fish or seafood eater so I found limited choices for me in the dining room. I am a fussy eater so I thought just me but after sitting with others in dining room, they too, were disappointed. There were very few kids on this cruise so pools were good but I would guess they could get crowded with little ones at other times. I didn’t see a kids pool. The shows were nothing to crow about. The casino was dead, no competitions etc. I did enjoy the entertainment team. They were great. The game shows were also good. I also find the buffet to be small and again heavy on fish.our room was quiet and clean so no complaints there.enbarksion and disembark both great. Read Less

This was our eighth cruise with Princess and probably our last ... The Emerald is12 years old, and it shows: the cabins need refurbishing, although the carpets have been replaced recently, the main areas are in better condition and the buffet area has been totally updated.. However this ship needs a major overhaul mechanically as it vibrates a lot (confirmed by a crew member). A number of passengers, including my husband and I, found the vibration in our cabin unbearable at times, we tried to relocate but the ship was fully booked, never encountered this before on a cruise ship, maybe a ferry ... The food was pretty good in the dining room and the buffet was very good too although there were no theme nights for Greek food which would have been nice. In general, the entertainment was okay; 2 comedians, one American (excellent) and a young Brit (improved second night). Tried a theatre production, bit lame for us ...not into Trivia or bingo or gambling .... The excursions were very good although expensive,, we do our own thing as much as possible... sadly we were not able to visit Mykonos due to high wind and spent the day at sea in a force 8 gale, really unexpected... All in all loved the cruise, despite not being able to sleep properly for 2 weeks, my advice would be to book with the newer “Royal class” ships like the Regal or the Royal and stay away from the older ones ... Read Less

We chose this cruise for the ports that it was stopping at. We also liked the amenities and class of the cruise. We enjoyed the club class dining. Our servers Jelana, Ryan, Iris and Bazvan were the BEST! We always asked to sit at their station and enjoyed their company immensely. The saw to our every gastro need and gave excellent tips on what to order. They really added to our vacation enjoyment! We took 2 of the cruise excursions which were both extremely well run. The guides were very knowledgable. We tried to sign up for some tours in Marseille but they were canceled. I liked Paulos who gave tips on the ports during the sea days. We loved the Sanctuary. It was a quiet and relaxing way to spend the afternoon. The servers were all very friendly and accommodating, waiting on for every need. We really liked the evening shows in the Princess theater, especially the dance themes like the 70's disco. The activities during the day seemed geared more for older people. Too much pushing of the anti-wrinkle, burn fat seminars at the spa. Also we would have liked more lounge chairs available in the shade around the pool. We liked that there was not too much loud music around the pool. Liked the band that played periodically at the pool in the evening. The shuttles to town should not have a cost attached. When you pay $8000 for a cruise, you expect that it will bring you to the actual place that is listed on the itinerary, not have to pay $15 pounds to get you there. My neighbor was so excited to see our pictures, she wants to go on the same cruise next spring. She indecisive on this or a Italy bus tour. Are there any incentives you can give to help her decide? Read Less

As my wife and I had never been on a cruise before we were a little apprehensive of what company ticked the boxes. Princess Cruises didn't let us down. The whole experience extended our expectations with the amazing service provided by the friendly crew . It was a real first class treatment . Safety on board is paramount and they conduct a very professional informative safety briefing at the various muster points before the fun begins. Housekeeping on board is amazing . The friendly staff go over and above to maintain hospitality grade cleanliness The well organized on board activities and shore excursions accomidate the needs of all ages.We both thought that the tours had more than enough places of interest to choose from and the tour guides were well versed and very knowledgeable of the surrounding areas..We had a fantastic time and recommend to everyone having second thoughts to take the plunge. You won't be disappointed. Read Less

12 ports of call, a lot to see and do ashore.Shore excursions are expensive. Staff are very helpful and courteous. D J played latin music in Spanish or Italian all day, most annoying as most of the guests are from Western countries. Rock and Roll, country,ballads. more appropiate to the guests. Food was good. entertainment was largely good. Show dancers excellent. Large ship but easy to move around. Cost was reasonable for that cruise.Security staff are a bit over the top, I was sick of being physically searched every time I came back on the boat, felt like a criminal in the Watchhouse. Was disembarked at 7.15am even though our pick up was not till 9.30am.had to wait on the footpath for over 2 hours. I told them what our pick up time was, they only wanted us off the ship.Overall a good company to cruise with, I will travel with them again in spite of some issues. Read Less

This was our third cruise with Princess Cruise Lines. The three-week itinerary of the Emerald Princess met our requirements as we wanted to visit multiple ports in the Mediterranean. We booked our daily excursions through the ship's website (online, prior to leaving home) and were very happy with each of our selections. The tour guides were knowledgeable and proficient in the English language. The ship's staff is very organized about making sure each passenger gets to their appropriate meeting point and onto the correct bus each morning. We also thoroughly enjoyed our meals in the dining room and the variety of entertainment offered on board the ship each day and throughout the evening. The staff on the ship made our voyage extremely special and pleasant every day. We had an extremely positive experience and look forward to cruising with Princess Cruise Line again in the (hopefully) not too distant future. Read Less

We booked this cruise a few weeks before sailing, as we were in need of a de-stress break. The Emerald Princess certainly delivered. We've cruised with Princess before, so we knew what to expect in terms of the ship and its layout. The Emerald Princess has recently had some updates, with a restyled buffet and top deck areas. The whole ship was beautifully maintained and extremely clean. We booked a balcony cabin; be aware that Riviera deck cabins are fully covered, and as such it was rarely in the sun. This wasn't a great problem, but we'd avoid that deck again, as we like to sunbathe on our balcony which we didn't really do on this cruise. Our cabin steward was excellent, the room was always cleaned to a high standard, and he always seemed to appear when we needed to ask a question, or if we had an armful of plates from the buffet to take to our balcony! Dining across the ship was consistently very good. We did miss the selection in the buffet that you find on the larger Princess ships, but we always found items that we enjoyed. Lines at the burger bar were very short when compared to other ships, even at peak times. Sometimes it puts you off seeing a long line to wait in, there were no long lines on this ship. We also enjoyed the pizza, and snacks from the international cafe were of high quality. Try the Passion fruit Chocolate slice - it was delicious! Food in the main dining room was on the whole excellent, and in the main staff were really warm, friendly and accommodating. One night we had wait staff who were less interested, and this really stood out as all other staff on the ship were amazing, always with a smile, and always ready to help. So two less interested staff out of a huge crew was not a big deal, but noticed. Particular mention to Franco, a Mexican waiter (I think I have his name right), as he was even more smiley, friendly and warm than the others. We were pleased to be say on his table twice. No wait or pagers for main dining room was an added bonus. We tried Curtis Stone one night, the meal was suitably longer, service was attentive, and the food was different in a good way. We were unsure as to whether we would feel it was worth the up charge, but agreed it was well worth a try. Highlight was the pasta, not how we were expecting it at all, but truly delicious - give it a try. Entertainment was very good, we enjoyed three production shows in a week with a high standard of singing and dancing. We also enjoyed the British comedian. We were so pleasantly surprised to see Arny G on board, a lounge pianist and singer we'd enjoyed watching on a previous cruise a couple of years back. It was great to be acquainted with him again, and we enjoyed watching his shows each evening. The piano bar was packed every night as Arny has an amazing singing and playing style, with an infectious personality. He is very generous in involving his audience, encouraging requests and even twisting my arm to join him on stage for a song (or two)! He even showed us round Marseille, somewhere we hadn't visited before. Arny you are an inspiration and now a true friend! Thanks for playing such a big part in making the cruise so memorable. Wonderful ports and weather, you really can't go wrong with a Med cruise on Princess, something for everyone on and off the ship. As relatively regular Princess cruisers, we are usually impressed - but we were still struck by how almost every single staff member we encountered was so eager to provide top service. Consistently high standards of food, service and entertainment across the whole ship. Princess is definitely up a notch from other cruise lines we've tried (Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, P&O), everything seems to be done with more care. Can't wait to repeat on the brand new Sky Princess on the 27th October - we're hooked! Read Less