Emerald Princess Review
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This was our (DH 57, me 49) 16th cruise (Carnival, RCCL, HAL and Disney), but our first on Princess. We had booked an inside guarantee and ended up with an obstructed oceanview on the Emerald (8) deck. We loved the location - between the aft stairs and the middle of the ship. Although we were above the Promenade deck we never heard a sound.
We drove down from Central Florida the day before and stayed at the Springhill Suites in Dania Beach. They allow you to park you car there up to 14 days for free. The rooms are clean and the people are very helpful. There is shopping center across the street and Bass Pro shop less than 2 miles away. The hotel also offers a shuttle to the ship, but you do need to arrange for transportation back to the hotel. We use a private car service to take us to the port and back to the hotel.
We arrived at the port about 10:30 and walked right into the reception area. We received boarding card #1 and was told that it would be about 11:30 or noon, before check in would begin, which we knew in advanced from reading previous reviews. After Elite and Platinum members, we were lined up at the check-in area and within 10 minutes were on the ship. I wanted to be first on, or as close as I could be because I really wanted to book the Chef's table (which we got, but I will discuss that more later on). We went directly to our cabin and dropped off our carry-ons. Our other cruises, cabins weren't open until 1 or 1:30, so you had to drag your carryons with you to the buffet, or just around the ship. Princess cabins are available when you board. We were in our cabin and calling the Dine line by 12:30. The line was busy, and then I was placed in the automatic "queue", as all operators were busy. We went down to Customer Service, but they couldn't help us and said the Maitre'D would not be available until 2...so back up to the room and as luck has it, we got straight through. We were put on the list for the Chef's table and also made reservations for Sabatini's that night and Crown Grill for Tuesday (Formal) night.