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Mykonos

took this back to back cruise, 1. singapore to australia, 2. australia to new zealand and the 2 cruises were so differant in value.

Cruise 1 was geared up for the English, the food was very good, the formal nights exciting cruise 2 was very dissappointing, catering mainly for the australians who didnt dress for dinner, the food was bad, the menu limited and by this times the captains jokes had been used so many times he became boring. Entertainment also was better on 1st cruise and 2nd cruise was mostly the same.

As with all cruises they were out for your money with over priced items which then had tax and service charges added and the "at sea" sales was a joke with crap from all other cruise destinations for sale, who wants to buy a souvinear from europe on an asian/australian cruise.

The very large gym had loads of treadmills, 5 bikes and only 1 rowing machine

Back to back cruises

This was our third cruise on Emerald Princess this year and we were surprised how much everything had improved on this latest cruise from Singapore to Sydney.

The majority of those on board had joined in Southampton for the cruise to Australia. I have to admit we were tempted with offers as low as £1,800 for that cruise, but for us it would be just too long, as we prefer a maximum of 3 weeks, before getting cabin fever!

Embarkation at Singapore was very straightforward and we were in our cabin within 20 minutes. Then down to the restaurant for a relaxed lunch.

We had booked anytime dining and this worked so much better than on our two previous cruises, when there was often a long wait to get a table at peak times. No such problem throughout this cruise.

The food was very good on the previous cruises, but on this one it had further improved, with better preparation, quality and service. This was not only in the main restaurants, but also in the Horizon self service restaurant, where there was always a good selection available and we had some really excellent pies and meat dishes, as well as the pasta.

Our cabin was kept spotlessly clean by our cabin steward, Christian. There was an issue with the air conditioning, which was unable to cope with the tropical heat. Although many promises were made to rectify it, none were honoured, but this was not Christian’s fault. After a week the outside temperature lowered and it was no longer an issue.

With the exception of those who made false promises about the air con, we found the majority of the crew to be outstanding.

Disembarkation was fairly straightforward at Sydney. Even with the newly remodelled cruise terminal, there continues to be an issue with getting passengers into and away in taxis. Which clever Australian thought it a good idea to route all passengers to the ground level and then send them back up again in a lift to board taxis on the upper level?

All in all, an excellent cruise.

Food glorious food

Kusadasi

We choose this cruise as some of my family were cruising all the way to Perth on this cruise, we are still working and could not afford the time off 

Embarkation was a bit slow but that was due to the staff having to check the visas for India  

The ship is a lovely size not too big

Our cabin was very well situated for the pool and cafe caribe at the rear of the ship

The food was always amazing, we had a few breakfasts in the restaurant , we also had afternoon tea (a must) we had burger and chips and pizza. The international cafe was a firm favourite of ours, 

The entertainment team were so good activities were  plenty Choir, Zumba,dancing lessons,line dancing,and much more. The entertainment in the theatre was second to none brilliant ! A bit disappointed that the ships singers and dancers were not performing more . Liquid blue were fantastic .

The service on board was perfect every member of staff were smiling and very helpful.

This cruise had quite a few sea days which I really enjoyed.

Wonderful

Palma de Mallorca (Majorca)

Having cruised twenty eight times we are season cruisers.

Picked this trip for the sea days, and some nice weather.

Ship in good condition, entertainment average, food ok, cabin steward as always very good, made use of the coffee card and the $5 cocktails. Most staff very friendly, easy to obtain a sunbed.

Very disappointed to hear lots of people on board without the appropriate visas.

Having checked with Princess via telephone , and confirmed in cruise personaliser you must have a visa to visit India.  We did as we were told and purchased two visas for £400, only to find out lots of people were let on at Southampton and Dubai without the appropriate visas.  

I checked with the Indian authorities onboard and they confirmed you needed a visa, so were these people onboard illegally?

Will try and get a refund from Princess for a visa we did not need.

Average cruise; shame about the Indian visa

We chose this cruise because we wanted to sail the Suez Canal. We boarded the Emerald Princess in Southampton and we had a smooth check in. We had our Indian Visas and so this did not hold us up at all. The ships crew were fantastic, greeting us with a smile and hello wherever we were. We have sailed on this ship before so we knew our way around. After unpacking, lunch and the customary lifeboat drill we settled into shipboard mode.

The food was good with the exception of the Pheasant which was a bit dry but on the whole meals in the dining room were very good. We opted for anytime dining and met some lovely people in the dining room. The staff were very obliging and could not help us enough. I do not normally eat desert and so when it was my turn I replied "Nothing Thanks" when all the other deserts arrived I was promptly given a plate with "Nothing Thanks" written in raspberry coulee and decorated with chocolate swirls. What a lovely gesture. The meals in the Horizon Court were varied with lots to choose from, and of course the grill and ice cream were a huge hit. We also dined twice in the Crown Grill.. what can I say "superb" would recommend to try at least once even if you do have to pay a cover charge.

The entertainment was hit and miss on this cruise. We had comedians and must say Jo Little, Tom Briscoe and David Kidd were very entertaining and so was the band Liquid Blue.

On the whole a good cruise.

It would take us some hours to list all the issues (from a customer’s viewpoint) that need immediate addressing by Princess, as a result of our experiences during the 48 day Southampton to Sydney cruise on the Emerald Princess, but here are just a few to start with, just off the top of our head:

UPGRADING TO MINI SUITE:

When we originally booked the cruise, we wanted a mini-suite but were told there were none available.   While in UK, we were told by your Southampton office that mini-suite A329 on Dolphin deck was available and an approximate upgrade cost would be around AUD$2,500.

We were told that we would have to contact Princess in Australia as that was where our booking was originally made.  This was where we found out that if in UK or Europe, it was impossible to call Princess Australia as all calls were diverted by Princess to Southampton office.

Not to be deterred, we then emailed Princess Australia who replied that the cost to upgrade to the mini suite would be AUD$11,640 

When we told Princess what to do with their AUD$11,640 upgrade, they replied that they would do it for AUD$2,000 provided that we called them on a 13 number within 24 hours (Impossible from outside Australia and they knew we were then in UK).   Well, by the time we did contact them (through the kind help of a Southampton offices staff member’s friend in Australia) Princess told us that we hadn’t replied within the 24 hours demanded by them and consequently the mini suite was no longer available to us.

COST OF CRUISE DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU BUY IT !

As if this experience wasn’t bad enough, during the cruise a fellow passenger from UK asked how much the cruise had cost us.  When we told them AUD$20,000 plus they gasped – they only had to pay the equivalent of AUD$16,000 for the same cruise.   An American passenger present then advised us that they had paid a little over AUD$12,000 for the same cruise that we were all currently on

There’s a lesson here, never buy a Princess cruise in Australia – much cheaper if you buy in UK or better still in USA ! ! !

INDIAN VISAS

We were told by Princess prior to the cruise that we would be denied boarding if we had not obtained a visa for India, whether or not we planned to go ashore there.  

We had no intention of going ashore in India and would have been more pleased if the ship did not even call there.

We then had to spend some AUD$400 to obtain the visas required by Princess but when we arrived in India, the hundreds of passengers that had not obtained their visa’s were told they didn’t need a visa if they stayed on board as we had planned to do.

It turned out we were not the only passengers who had been forced by Princess to spend hundreds of dollars completely unnecessarily (and we spoke with several Americans who had been forced by Princess to similarly spend over a thousand dollars [AUD.] to get their Indian visa’s that they didn’t really need as they did not get off in India)

To rub salt into the wound, all passengers were then hurriedly sent a letter from Princess’s lawyers trying to shift the blame to the Indian government (obviously to try to avoid the class action that we have been told has been started by passengers against Princess for damages and compensation caused by Princess)

Not even so much as a word of apology to affected passengers from Princess for their incompetence !

LIBRARY:

Shortly after embarkation we decide to visit the library on board.   There was no library attendant and there were NO BOOKS other than a few in non-English languages (see pics) just bare empty bookshelves !

ON BOARD ENTERTAINMENT:

There seemed to be only a few decent shows put on by Princess and these were repeated over and over during the 48 day cruise. The other entertainment provided by Princess was of poor quality and obviously the cheapest they could get.

Most of the remaining entertainment was provided (at no cost to Princess) by the passengers – e.g. Fashion Parades, Choir, Talent Time etc and even those were repeated over and over.

Princess even spoiled the Talent Time show by apparently pre-selecting a semi-professional screamer (singer) as the winner when there were several other contestants with more talent in their little finger and who the consensus of passengers gauged to be much better than the person selected by Princess.

FORMAL DRESS CODE:

Your review of this ship is misleading stating “Most men wear suits, though a number wear black ties, while most women opt for cocktail dresses rather than all-out formal evening gowns.”

There were around 8 Formal nights during our 48 day cruise and on each of these nights at least 95% of men wore Black Tie and the majority of ladies wore evening gowns.  It was rare to see a man in a suit or a lady wearing other than at her glamorous best. 

Princess advertising blurb carries on about dress on Formal nights but we were amazed to witness a few improperly dressed male passengers (open-necked golf “T” shirt, no jacket) that were allowed entry to dinner at Crown Grill on a Formal night.

When we questioned the Maître D, we were told “We cater for everyone - casual dress is OK”.

What about the heavily tattooed male passenger wearing a blue singlet, shorts and scuffs who was allowed entrance to Horizon’s for dinner ?

DINING ROOMS:

After trying both dining rooms (we had anytime dining) we dined in the dining rooms only a couple of times after finding the food pretty ordinary and the service not much better.  On one occasion, my wife sent her meal back 3 times and in the end, we walked out in disgust and went up to Horizons to eat.  Other passengers at our table had similar experiences

HORIZON COURT:

We found the food here ranged from average to excellent and much better than the dining rooms. We found the staff both behind the counters and in the dining areas very good.  As a result we ate here most of the time 

PRINCESS GRILL:

We dined here on three occasions and found the food and the service excellent on each occasion.  This restaurant was without peer in the dining stakes on board the Emerald !

ROOM SERVICE:

Pathetic little menu - food served is terrible – examples - sandwiches made with dry, stale bread without butter, requested 3 minute boiled eggs and received cold, harder than concrete 30minute boiled eggs, etc etc all of which is obviously designed by Princess to save money by totally discouraging passengers from using room service

PRINCESS EXCURSIONS:

We were disappointed by the lack of knowledge or information / misinformation / (untruths) re ports and tours etc. by staff, especially tour desk and after our experiences during the Civitavecchia and Dubai excursions, we cancelled all 11 of our remaining prepaid excursions

Rome excursion 3 October 2016 (winery) 3 ¼ hours in bus – told would be 1 ½ hours – no vineyards – taken to a shed with a few bottles of wine for sale – elderly passenger unconscious after falling backwards off a stool - bus would not start to return to ship – injured passenger not transferred to working bus for repatriation back to ship and forced to wait until bus repaired – tour was to have ua back on ship by 2pm – back at ship 5.45 pm

Dubai excursion 17 October 2016 – Elderly passenger about to collapse on the street - no compassion or assistance offered by guide - fellow passenger ill trying to walk back to bus in unshaded blazing heat told by guide “Come on hurry up we must get back to bus” 

REFIGERATOR:

We arrived no board to find a warm refrigerator in our cabin.    Although a man came to “fix” it, he told us that it was the best he could do.   It was not even cold enough to stop butter from melting, for the entire trip

SMOKING ROOM:

Its one thing to restrict smoking to one room but quite another to restrict it to a tiny dirty, non-ventilated room with not even enough chairs for passengers who do smoke to sit in there (see pic)

ON BOARD CLASSES – EDUCATION:

Apart from those talks simply seeking to sell something at grossly inflated prices (by Princess) e.g. Diamonds, artwork, massages etc there was simply nothing !

What about some classes in Photoshop, Chess, Bridge, basket weaving etc. like other cruises ?

Again, apart from blatant advertising talks by Princess, most talks and discussion groups were contributed by passengers who advised us that Princess were too stingy to pay them even a small fee or even present them with a small gift or certificate for their trouble ! 

UNSOLICITED JUNK MAIL:

Finding unsolicited junk mail in our cabin mailbox daily and in also daily bulletin was a big turn off as was being personally accosted in public areas by Princess girls trying to sell overpriced massages etc

CABIN BOYS:

We had a good one.   However others were not so lucky e.g. comment one from cabin boy to another cabin boy overheard by passenger while placing room service tray out for collection “They must have been hungry – why can’t they eat with the rest of the passengers ?”

STAFF GENERALLY:

On a positive note there were some excellent, professional and caring staff on board who went “the extra mile” in Customer Services front desk, Drink waiters, in Horizons, our cabin boy, the bar boys on 16th floor smoking area (Southampton to Singapore) and Manager Michelangelo Dining Room to mention but a few.

However, there was also a really ignorant, arrogant senior staff member who had a standard reply to anything one said to him.

Obviously, this person never listened to comments/questions from passengers and would simply smile and reply “I’m so glad to hear you’re having a wonderful cruise on the beautiful Emerald Princess”

I’m pretty sure if I said to him “The back of the ship has fallen off and there are 400 passengers swimming for their lives” I would get the same smile and the same reply ! 

THE CONSUMMATE HOST ?

After our experiences during a 48 day cruise from Southampton to Sydney on board the Emerald Princess, we simply could not believe the sheer, bare-faced arrogance of Princess cruises claiming over and over to be “The consummate host”.

This claim repeated over and over both orally and in writing by Princess during the cruise antagonized not only us but many other passengers as well.

We doubt that any Princess staff even know the meaning of the word “CONSUMMATE”? (i.e. “showing a high degree of skill and flair; complete or perfect”)

Despite being in business for many years, Princess are nowhere near “complete or perfect” as they so arrogantly claim.

The naked and insatiable greed and grab for every possible dollar by Princess, coupled with their sheer arrogance, is really breathtaking!

SUMMARY:

 We have been on many cruises over the years, mostly with Princess.   

The first time we sailed with Princess was from Sydney to Los Angeles in 2008 and that cruise was magical – when we arrived in LA 32 days later, none of the passengers including us wanted to disembark as we had all enjoyed it so much.   It convinced us to cruise with Princess in future.

After our experiences with the cruise from Southampton to Sydney, we would never sail with Princess again.

PRINCESS CRUISES HAS TOTALLY LOST US AS A CUSTOMER!

We had a fabulous 30 day cruise from Southampton, England  through the Suez Canal until we reached Singapore. Very interesting ports of call including Dubai, Aqaba (Jordan), Cochin (India), Phuket, not to mention Italy and Sicily. 

Princess did a great job managing a very full ship of passengers. The food was very tasty at every venue, the service was great, and the lecturers on board were so interesting. I liked it so much that I want to book another cruise with Princess. 

My only issue was with fellow passengers. They would lie sweating in the sun by the pool and periodically jump into the pool to cool off, without even rinsing off their sweat in the shower attached to the pool .YUK!  It got so I did not want to use the pool after the sweat hogs. Passengers should have to take a course on Cruise Etiquette 101. Other than that, an awesome cruise.

Awesome cruise to exotic ports!

My wife and I chose this cruise due to the price, the duration and the departure date. Our cruise was for 30 days sailing from Southampton at the end of September, so we avoided some of the autumn at home in the UK. We considered the longer cruise all the way to Australia but given that this was our first long cruise we decided that it was too long.

Having sailed on the Emerald Princess before we were familiar with the ship and its layout. We chose a balcony cabin midships on Aloha deck. We had previously had a cabin on Riviera which suffers from the overhang above which restricts the sunshine so this time opted for a lower cabin and were more than satisfied.

Embarkation was a fiasco. We arrived by coach and were sent to a holding area because of the existing long queues which stretched out of the terminal. As a result the staff were restricting additional people joining the queue and were having to manage the input of coach arrivals. Whilst the wait in the holding area was not too excessive it was the first time we had encountered this (usually the coaches disembark passengers in lane 1 of the terminal), and queried why. We were advised that the delays were as a result of the need for the embarkation staff to check that all boarding passengers were in possession of the necessary visas for the proposed ports. This reason was later confirmed once we had joined the queue and entered the terminal waiting to be processed. The wait inside the terminal was lengthy but organised, as each person was allocated a group on entry to the terminal, which was then called up for processing by the embarkation staff. During embarkation the staff did indeed check passports for visas, in particular for an Indian visa which cannot be obtained upon arrival. Once checked and verified as correct the remaining embarkation  process went smoothly.

Entertainment was average. Given the amount of days at sea and the limited number of ports that the ship was calling at then I guess it was to be expected that there would not be a huge turnover of acts, so many had repeat performances. The "headline" shows involving the crews resident singers and dancers were only average when compared to other cruises we have had. All in all the entertainment was a bit of a disappointment.

Food was good, although not excellent. We have noticed some downgrading of the food served by Princess since our last cruise with them. Nothing wrong with the quality of the meals on offer, but the menus were not as extensive as previously experienced and the mor "exotic" dishes (lobster, filet mignon etc.) were not as frequent.

The major complaint on the cruise, one which was expressed by many many of the other passengers related to the Indian visa. These visas were quite expensive but were a mandatory requirement regardless of whether you intended to disembark in India or not, and this was made clear in the terms & conditions when you signed in to the online cruise organiser. Given the checks made in Southampton mentioned earlier you could safely expect that everyone onboard was in possession of the visa, but this turned out not to be the case and whilst the precise number of passengers without a visa is currently unknown to me there were rumours that it was in the hundreds. The application process for the visa was tedious and coupled with the quite excessive cost I felt both aggrieved and angry to find out that some passengers had avoided this yet were permitted to stay onboard the ship. If this option had been made public at the outset then I am sure that many other passengers would have opted to go without a visa. As a result of Princess failing to apply the rules consistantly many passengers, myself included, felt we had been unfairly treated which in turn marred an otherwise good cruise.

Indian visa debacle spoiled an otherwise good cruise

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