This was our first Princess cruise - we have been doing Celebrity, but decided to try Princess primarily for the Baltic itinerary (Celebrity does not visit Gdansk Poland). The Emerald Princess was quite nicely finished, the common areas and dining are attractive and clean. The ship layout and size is very similar to the Celebrity Solstice class vessels. Embarkation at Southampton was very smooth and fast. We arrived at the pier at around 12:30 and were in our room by 1:15pm. Luggage arrived very shortly after.

Our veranda stateroom was on the stern and had a large balcony with 4 chairs and a side table - it could have easily accommodated 6 people. The room itself was nice and featured a large closet. Overall, the room was similar to what we have been booking (concierge class balcony) on Celebrity, but it was touch smaller and didn't have a couch.

We had traditional dining in the Botticelli dining room and were matched up with 2 great couples. Service in the dining room was attentive. Food on this cruise was a mixed bag - the best was as good or better than anything we've had on other cruises. Highlights included lobster (twice), prime rib and chateau briand in the dining room, fish and chips in the Wheelhouse Bar (the ship offered 3 "pub lunches" in this bar during the 2 week cruise)and the meals we had in the Crown Grill (ribeye) and the Share (Lobster and all the courses). The Horizon food court generally felt rather crowded - worsened by an inexplicable daily closing off of half the seating in the evening. Another highlight was the buy one, get the 2nd drink for $1 happy hour in the Wheelhouse bar. Misses @ the Horizon included no free gelato bar, no sushi (yes, Celebrity has both in their food court) and the fact that the pizza was located one pool area away from the Horizon seating area. Read more