3 1/2 stars: This is a very very very long review. You might be reading this in a panic thinking, what did I do...I booked the Emerald and everyone is leaving horrific reviews. So I thought I'd write a review that might help people make the most of their vacation if they are already locked in at the 90 day mark. OK. It's not THAT bad. I had a great time knowing some things ahead of time. I get what people are saying, but you can still have a good time. Chances are you paid much less for this cruise than another line like Celebrity...you have to know going in with that. I got a really low rate for our 7 day pacific coast cruise and that really made a difference with my mindset.

Cabin: I got an obstructed ocean view room. I went on several websites to see which ones you can see the ocean and found one that was great. it had "things in front of it" but small things and if I looked to the right out the window, it was wide open. My kids theirs was a bit more obstructed but you could still see the ocean. Other windows have solid boats in front of them so do you research ahead of time if you're looking for a great obstructed view deal. Cabin was small, but wasn't shocking in any way. There was no couch/chair set up. I didn't care that much though and I thought a nice touch was the closet which faces the bathroom and is walled off away from the main room. I like this very much. I kept reading about a gigantic TV in the room. I didn't experience this. Mine was on the wall in front of the bed which was great. You might think, who needs a TV anyway, but the ship has some lacking entertainment which we'll get to later, so make use of the free movies etc which is rare on a ship. I appreciated the free movies. They claimed the movies under the stars had new releases so I was excited for this, but no, they are not new releases at all. Anyway, back to why people go bananas over the room: the lights. Yes, under the two night stands, when you get up to walk at night they flash on and are really bright. Our solution to this was to roll up a towel and put it under the night stand which the stewards don't seem to disturb probably because many people figure out to do this as they go along...you'll know to do it right away. Next is the outrageous light that automatically goes on by motion in the hallway near the bathroom. This is terrible. PLAN ahead. I researched this before I left and saw many reviews and solutions. I brought black electrical tape (any tape will do, but don't do something stupid that would catch fire) and taped up the white sensor on the light itself. This stopped it from flashing on and off and waking everyone up....and yes it's that bright, it will. I also read that you can ask your steward to deactivate it but I am not certain about that. You might be worried about how you will walk around then in the pitch dark, but you can buy these cheap lights on amazon Lyridz Rechargeable Battery Night Light, Stick on Mini Motion Sensor Light Indoor Warm White 1-20LM LED Light with Stepless Adjustable Brightness for Bedroom, Kitchen, Stairs, Hallway, 2-Pack. They stick on the wall magnetically and only go on with motion in the dark....MUCH better, and dimmer. PS: the bathroom walls are not magnetic, but the cabin walls are. Anyway, our beds felt very comfortable, but one of the beds my son was in was really lumpy. We were stupid and waited until day 3 to fix this, and when we asked, it did get fixed. So check this at the beginning and you'll be much happier. So I know I keep going on and on about fixing things in the room, but you might as well get it done if these are things that might bother you. The final thing that needed fixing in the room was this really weird whirring/clicking noise coming from the ceiling. At first we didn't know where it came from but discovered it was from the square ac vent in the room. It went off every so often but started going more and more as the cruise went on...really annoying. So again we called to get it fixed thinking this would be futile, but it WASN'T, they fixed it right away, so if you hear that noise, call it in!

Dining -yikes. Yes, I think this is where Princess is really pissing people off. In my mind, if they want to save their brand this would be an emergency that they need to fix. It was bad, but you won't STARVE and I'm about to give you tips so you won't waste your time. Buffet, yes, very crowded and weird set up. I thought the buffet ended but you have to keep walking more and more deep past a set of elevators to see the full scope and it wraps around with the same things on the other side. I just thought it was weird to have elevators plopped in the middle of it. Anyway, the eggs. AVOID AVOID AVOID. I can't believe they serve this, just so BAD. Here is the tip: go to the very back of the buffet far aft. There is an omelet station....and they are delicious BUT the guy that does the omelet or takes the orders is a total JERK, don't be offended he is a jerk to everyone (I'm not sure why they haven't gotten rid of him) and the timing for the omelet will take FOREVER. So do this first thing when you walk into the buffet. They will give you a ticket and they claim the the waiters walking around will check when the omelet is ready and bring it to you, but this is inconsistent, so if a lot of time has passed, check on it yourself, just be prepared to deal with the jerk. The omelet was really really good and nicely cooked, and I enjoyed this. The other breakfast items are not that great, bacon and sausage OK. Pancakes and waffles bad. Pastries, hit and miss. I don't know why they can't throw in a cheese danish once in awhile, but it was always weird fruit varieties. I got my hands on the coveted cinnamon role which was great but it was ALWAYS out, even early. If you spot that, grab a few they were good. The fruit in general was good, but watermelon ran out a lot, they don't keep up very quickly when things run out. Drinks: weird. If you don't have a drink package be prepared to have a hard time. There is a coffee station, but no juice station. The juice is pre poured so you can grab one in the morning. If you have young kids...I didn't see milk anywhere so I would ask about this ahead of time if you want that. But after morning, it was just plain hard to get a drink or an iced tea or lemonade which they say is complimentary. Tip: you can ask the bar or servers walking around at the pool for a lemonade and they will begrudgingly do it. If you need caffeine consider doing an Arnold palmer which is also complimentary since it's half lemonade half iced tea. So yeah, it's strange to be able to grab the amazing free pizza near the pool (delicious and a highlight of the food) or grab a burger or hot dog at the pool but no complimentary drinks to be found anywhere. Princess could solve this by having a self serve lemonade/ice tea set up, but they don't do that...not EVEN in the buffet. You can't go get an iced tea or lemonade yourself. Annoying. The buffet is just sad at lunch and dinner. Tip: go to the buffet, make yourself a salad and then head outside to the pizza and combine it for a great lunch. The locations are near each other. The salty dog hot dog and burger..eh, not that great. Tip: your medallion will give the ability to order complimentary food delivered to you anywhere. I wish I did this more...I thought it was good, but knew going in, that it could take a long time, and it did. However, the hot dog from here was MUCH better than the salty dog hot dog outside, so there is another tip...plus you won't have to wait in line. Hint though, there is no way to tip the delivery people, so bring small cash on board to do this. Main dining. Nightmare. We opted to schedule our dining time with a reserved time (DO THIS NOW, DO THIS NOW ,DON'T DO IT ON THE SHIP). I saw the line and was really glad I had this settled ahead of time on the app. Yes I know the app is not user friendly and super annoying. But do as much ahead of time. It took over two hours for our first meal on the Emerald. They server was just plain weird. He looked very busy and would run by the table and barely look at us. The weirdest part was drinks. My husband had to ask from iced tea which I thought would prompt him to ask the rest of us if we wanted a drink, but no, he ran off and got the drink for him and ignored the rest of us. About 40 minutes in, we were able to catch him and say hey can we have some lemonade? You'd think that he say oh sorry I didn't notice you hadn't gotten drinks, but no he begrudgingly got us our drinks. Just weird. So you get a new server each time you sit down so we were very luckily and got a woman named Sonolini on the second day. What a different experience. She was GREAT. So there you go...another tip if you are going on the Emerald soon, you can ask to be seated in her area. Another tip, once you find a good waiter, ask for them again. The food in the main dining was sub par compared to other ships I've been on. And some of the portions were just strange. I got a twice baked potato and I wish I took a picture...it was the size of a golf ball...not joking. Who cares though, you're not going to starve. There was filet and prime rib on two nights, but other nights choices were iffy. I was surprised to find that the salmon on the "regular daily" menu was great, so if you don't see anything you like, the salmon was great as was the shrimp cocktail. The other dishes were "OK". When I was there the cheesecake was warm. Very good though were: crème Brule and berry cobbler. Tip, if you see a ton of appetizers that are good but not mains, just order a bunch of those and vice versa. You can do the fettuccini as a appetizer if nothing else looks good or some kids like that...as waiter suggested. One annoying thing to avoid, sometimes the waiter's dinner suggestions are ones that make their life or the kitchen's life easier such as avoiding the soufflé. I missed out on this. Overall, if you did the scheduled dining the waiters don't have to perform the same because you won't have them on a nightly basis. If you like the early or late dining times, I wonder if that would be better since you'll be matched to a specific waiter each time and maybe they will be more beholden to you and your potential review. International Cafe: I had high hopes because reviews were good, but it was alright for me. Note: if you don't have a drink package, your house coffee will NOT be free here, so watch out. Flavored pound cakes were stale and awful, don't waste calories on that. Breakfast there might be better. Cookies are there, but they don't display them so you don't know they have them if you don't read a review like this. There is a brie sandwich that is yummy. The Jamaican girl there acts put upon when you order, so don't feel bad, she's always like that..the other girl is very nice. There isn't a soda alone package, so if you want that it comes with other things like smoothies and is outrageously expensive. If you are wanting to save money or rather spend your money on fine dining, you can bring a twelve pack per person on board, just put in in your carry on, not your main luggage, or it will get delayed because I'm sure they check this extra thoroughly. Speaking of fine dining...this is where they shine shine shine. We did crown grill and really enjoyed every aspect of it. If you are picky, or a foodie, why not pay the fee and do several fine dining visits to avoid what's mentioned above? If you love food, doing this might save your vacation. Read more