Our family traveled with the Emerald Princess from April 9th through April 19th to the Eastern Caribbean. This was our 2nd time on this ship.  In June, 2007, we took this same ship for a 12 day Mediterranean cruise.  That was only Emerald Princess's 3rd voyage.  While the itinerary on that cruise was fantastic, we were not completely impressed with Princess and the service on the ship. However, since then, Princess has definitely gotten the 'kinks' out and this was a flawless cruise for us. 

Emerald Princess is a heavily balcony-oriented ship with 8 decks of all balcony rooms.  However, there are only staterooms on those decks with no activities.  However, if you want a bargain I recommended passing on the balcony rooms and staying on Plaza deck.  The rooms on this deck do not have balconies, but from a convenience and access viewpoint, this is definitely the deck to stay on.  Because of our family size, we always get an oceanview room for my wife and I and an inside room for our boys.  Our room was right off of the art gallery.  From their you stroll right onto the main plaza/ atrium area.  Everything is theresidewalk cafes, front office, library, shops, dining rooms, etc.   The atrium area often has live music (string quartet, piano, etc.) and it is so nice to be able to walk right over on the same level. It also a great spot to just bring your laptop and sit. This saves you many, many elevator or stair trips from the all-balcony decks to get somewhere where there is something going on. 

Emerald Princess has held up very well in the 21 months since we were last aboard.  However, the golf putting green in the back of the ship was in a shocking state of disrepair. Everything else, though, was immaculate.  We did Anytime Dining and made a reservation each day, which worked out fine. The service in the dining room was excellent.   Almost 1/3 of the passengers were from the UK, which gave our trip an international feel.  Read more