I just returned today from 5 days on the Emerald out of Houston. I am elite status and I have to say it was the worst cruise I have ever taken on any cruise line. The ship stinks. Your room, the elevators and the bathroom smell. The Princess singers and dancers were not very talented. The activities were minimal. Not enough to do. Mainly free karoke, and bingo. The food has really gone down in presentation and taste. The same at the Horizon court as the dining room. Service in the dining room was very good, though. Not enough bartenders. We kept telling them to turn up the movie under the stars, but gave up and left after numerous attempts, on different nights. Princess has now made their drink glasses smaller. For the elite parties, there is a cost for the drinks. The casino dealers were very slow, and I mean very slow and inexperienced.
I dont know what has happened to Princess. We were late getting back to port because of fog(no fault of theres) but the disembarkation was a disaster. We stood for 2 hrs. Many handicapped people stood too. No lounge for elite members. Overall, it was a huge disaapointment and I brought 8 new cruisers with us. I would never do the Emerald again, as many others stated too.