Wonderful review, Sue. I enjoyed every word. Thanks for posting it.
Ermalee
sue mullen wrote:
>
> EMERALD PRINCESS – January 5–15, 2008
>
> We are Sue (65) and Kevin (almost 65) and this was our 19th cruise, 6th
> one on Princess. We have previously cruised on Princess, Royal
> Caribbean, Carnival, Disney, HAL, Celebrity and Azamara.
>
> In looking for airfare from Philadelphia to Fort Lauderdale, we
> discovered the best deal was to fly down on SouthWest and home on
> AirTran. Both flights cost us a little under $180 roundtrip/per person,
> better then any other airlines. We had no problems with either flight
> and were able to upgrade to first class for $60/person for the flight
> home on AirTran. I think I am now very spoiled. lol
>
> As we have been doing for years now, we flew down the day before the
> cruise. This allowed us to take a flight at a more reasonable time and
> not have to worry about missing the ship. We stayed at the Embassy
> Suites which has a free breakfast every morning, made to order eggs of
> any kind. They also had pancakes and waffles, but they were not made to
> order and sat under a light to stay warm. Embassy Suites is a great
> location and you can walk to many restaurants, a grocery store and drug
> stores.
>
> When we woke up on cruise day, walked to the end of our hallway and
> could see our ship waiting for us. We used the hotel shuttle to go to
> the pier, $6 per person and all went very smoothly. There were a lot of
> ships in port on January 5th and I was surprised that there was no
> congestion at all. We got out of the van, gave our luggage to the
> porter and were directed to the Platinum check in area. There we had to
> sit a short time until they opened up the check-in process. This went
> very smoothly and we then had to sit and wait yet again to be able to
> board the ship. We had arrived at the pier around 11:15am and were on
> the ship in our cabin by 12noon.
>
> Now the question is why did we book the Emerald Princess?
>
> In August 2006 we cruised on the Crown Princess, sister to the Emerald
> and other then a problem with a huge beam in the middle of our balcony,
> we really enjoy a lot of what the ship had to offer. We had also had
> very good food and service, particularly enjoyed having the
> International Café available and had excellent dinners in the two
> specialty restaurants.
>
> Because of the problem with our balcony on the Crown, Princess gave us a
> credit that had to be used by a certain date. Looking at the available
> itineraries we saw that the Emerald Princess was doing a 10 day cruise,
> going to Antigua, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Kitts, St. Thomas and
> Princess Cay. We liked this very much because we had never been to St.
> Lucia, Barbados or St. Kitts before. Then of course it put us in St.
> Thomas on a Saturday, which would make it easier to see my nephew and
> his fiancé who live there and are teachers.
>
> So it was a combination of what the ship had to offer and the itinerary
> that made us decide to book this. The Emerald Princess did not
> disappoint us in any way and turned out to be our best cruise ever.
>
> Princess Patters:
> As most of you know the Princess Patters is the daily schedule that you
> find in your cabin each day. The reason I am even writing about it, is a
> few things I noticed and don’t remember seeing in the past. The Patters
> for the day we sailed had the usual information about that days
> activities, drink of the day etc. It also had a small article and a
> picture of Captain Giorgio Pomata, telling about where he grew up and
> also about his career. It also listed all the ship’s officers by name
> and job. What I haven’t seen before and really like having in the first
> days patters is an itinerary showing our ports of call, arrival and all
> aboard ship times, also listed the dress code day by day. What was even
> nicer was a separate “cruise planner” that again listed day by day the
> dress code, times in port, but the nicest thing it did was to show what
> the evening entertainment was in the different venues. This was esp.
> nice since there were some shows that were on more then once.
>
>
> Our Cabin:
> For this cruise we decided to book a balcony cabin on the Caribe Deck,
> which we understood was partially covered and partially open. This
> turned out to be an excellent choice, not only did we have a choice of
> sun or shade, but if we sat in the covered area, no one could see us
> from their balcony. We had a table with two chairs, plus two chairs
> that had backs that could be adjusted and were very comfortable. Our
> cabin was a typical balcony cabin with plenty of storage space and the
> refrigerator kept things cold. There was more then enough hanging space
> in the closet area, lots of shelves, but we could have used a few more
> drawers. The bathroom was sufficient, 3 shelves over the sink and a
> long shelf under the sink. The only negative to the bathroom was the
> tiny, tiny shower, but this is normal for princess.
>
> Our cabin steward Marlon was very good and the few things we asked for
> were always there. He was on the quiet side, but always greeted us when
> he saw us. A few days into the cruise I decided that an egg crate would
> make the bed more comfortable. Kevin went to find him and I asked Kevin
> to tell him that we wouldn’t be upset if he couldn’t find one. His
> comment was that he “would” find one for us and when we next came back
> to our cabin it was already on the bed. This is just one example of how
> great the service was on the ship.
>
> The Ship:
> The Emerald Princess is a very large ship, but no longer the largest at
> sea and it is 116,000 tons and has a 3100 passenger capacity. There
> were only three places on the ship that felt crowded, the theatre which
> wasn’t really large enough, the Horizon Court (which I will talk about
> later on) and the deck space by the pools.
>
> There are 4 pools on the ship, the Terrace Pool aft, the Spa Pool, both
> of these are “adult only”. Then there are two mid-ship pools, one of
> which has the MUTS screen. There are two hot tubs by each mid-ship
> pool, 2 by the Spa Pool and one aft hot tub a few decks up from the
> Terrace Pool. Unless you are an early riser it is almost impossible to
> get a deck chair poolside. They do have an upper deck or two with plenty
> of lounge chairs, but from what I saw they are in full sun.
>
> We are hot tub people and found that the hot tub by the Spa Pool was the
> best. It not only had the right amount of bubbles, but it hot as a real
> hot tub should be. Most of the other hot tubs had water that was like a
> luke warm bath.
>
> Being such a large ship there are many entertainment venues/lounges on
> the ship,
> The Princess Theatre, Explorers Lounge, Wheelhouse Bar, Club Fusion, and
> entertainers in the Piazza. In the Piazza there is Vines, and The
> International Café which was a favorite of ours. Also the Crooners Bar
> which is where we meet friends every night for a drink and lots of talk.
>
> This ship really has something for everyone, no matter what your tastes
> are.
>
> Food, Food and more Food…..
>
> Horizon Court:
> We went to the Horizon court for breakfast everyday and for lunch a
> couple of times. At breakfast the ready made omelets were very good and
> there was always bacon, sausage, smoked fish, fresh fruit, breads,
> croissants and pastries available. The one time I saw their pancakes,
> they were sitting under a heating lamp and didn’t look enticing. I am
> sure there were other things that I didn’t notice.
>
> A few times we found a table in the Horizon Court, but most of the time
> went to the Café Caribe to find a table and never had a problem. Within
> a minute or two after sitting down, someone would come and ask what we
> wanted to drink; we never had to wait long. They would bring us juice
> and coffee in the morning and iced tea at lunchtime. Also one day Kevin
> didn’t see any bread that he could eat on his diabetic diet, so he asked
> the person who got us our drinks. No problem, he went and brought back a
> plate with a couple of different kinds of bread that Kevin could eat. I
> was pleasantly surprised to find such good service in the Horizon Court.
>
> The couple of times we went to the Horizon court for lunch, we were not
> impressed with the selection, but one thing they seemed to have every
> day is a decent salad bar. The Café Caribe had different things, but we
> didn’t check it out.
>
> International Café:
> First stop after seeing our cabin on the first day was the International
> Café to buy our coffee card. It costs about $25 for 15 specialty coffees
> and all the freshly brewed coffee you want. The coffee card can also be
> used in the dining rooms and it was very nice having some great coffee
> to finish off the meal.
>
> Most days we ate lunch in the International Café, they had several kinds
> of small sandwiches, salad, quiche and shrimp. After a light lunch, I
> always had to get some kind of dessert. They had many cakes, pastries
> and of course their famous cookies available an all at no charge. We
> also stopped by the International Café at different times of the day,
> sometimes to sit and relax with a good coffee, other times to get coffee
> to go.
>
> Botticelli Dining Room, second seating:
> The most important thing about our dining room experience is that all
> the food was excellent and the beef melted in your mouth. There were 4
> or 5 main courses that were available every night and the one or two I
> tasted were excellent.
>
> As we entered the dining room the first night, we saw Marino who had
> been our Head Waiter on the Crown Princess in August ’06. We recognized
> each other right away and Marino escorted us to our table and said he
> would be back later to chat. Later in the cruise Marino showed us where
> our group sat on the Crown and also said to give his regards to “The
> Coin Lady”.
>
> We had a table for four, but the other two people never showed up during
> the entire cruise. If we had not had Marino as a head waiter, we would
> have asked to be switched to a table with other people. There was a
> table for two next to us and part way through the cruise we started to
> get friendly with the couple sitting there. In the long run we took
> pictures of each other and exchanged email addresses.
>
> The first night Kevin reminded Marino about his diabetic diet and of
> course Marino made sure that he was well taken care of. Our waiter
> Gordon was very quiet and a bit reserved, but made sure that we got
> everything we needed and asked for. From the first night on, there was
> always a basket of rolls that Kevin could eat. One night Kevin asked if
> one of the sugar free desserts had any cake in it and Gordon came back
> with a bowl of berries since what Kevin had asked about did have cake in
> it and he knew Kevin couldn’t have it.
>
> Our assistant waiter Rico was very sweet and efficient. He would
> remember what we had ordered the day before, scotch, iced tea, wine, etc
> and ask us right away if that was what we wanted. What ever we wanted
> that day, we got very quickly.
>
> Kevin and I have always agreed that we don’t want a table for two on a
> cruise ship. We both like interacting with other people and we eat
> dinner, just the two of us at home everyday. On this cruise we
> discovered that we enjoyed a table for two, but it isn’t something that
> we will do by choice in the future. After a few days of our table mates
> not showing up, Marino said that he would keep us company. He was true
> to his word and frequently stopped to chat with us.
>
> Crown Grill and Sabatini’s:
> These are the two specialty restaurants that you have to pay extra for
> and they are both well worth the money we spent. Soon after boarding the
> ship we went to each of the restaurants to make reservations. There were
> no lines and we got the days and times we wanted without a problem.
>
> We ate at the Crown Grill first and the entire meal and service were
> excellent. We ordered a bottle of wine and they brought over the cheese
> cart for us. Kevin said the cheeses he had were very good and better
> then else where on the ship.
>
> Kevin and I both ordered onion soup, but I asked for it without the
> cheese. When the waiter brought mine with cheese, it was no problem
> taking it back and getting it right. He even took Kevin’s back and
> brought him a fresh bowl of onion soup when he brought mine. It just
> wouldn’t be right Kevin having his soup while I sat and watched. We both
> ordered the lobster and it was more then worth the $9 extra each. The
> presentation was lovely and most important the lobster was the best we
> have had and we have had the best in NYC and up in New England many times.
>
> After going to the Crown Grill I wanted to cancel our Sabatini’s
> reservation and go back to the Crown Grill again. Kevin was against this
> idea and in the long run I was very happy that we did go to Sabatini’s.
>
> The service in both was very good, as was the food. I still think the
> service in the Crown Grill was a bit better then in Sabatini’s.
>
> Ports and day by day stuff:
>
> I had joined the cruisecritic.com role call for our sailing and we had
> decided to have our get together on Sunday, the first day at sea, at
> 11AM. We meet a nice group of people and saw some of them from time to
> time around the ship. Also attending this gathering was James Deering,
> the Passenger Service Director and he set up another gathering for us on
> the last sea day in the Adiago Bar. I found out that part of Mr.
> Deering’s job is to monitor the cruisecritic roll calls, so I guess
> Princess does hear a lot of what we post.lol Mr Deering is a very
> friendly and caring person and did all he could to help a couple of our
> roll call members who had problems. As Kevin and I walked around the
> ship during our cruise, we often would see Mr. Deering and he would stop
> and chat with us. We had many very nice conversations with him and it
> was interesting to hear about his backround, what cruise lines and ships
> he had worked on etc.
>
> For Sunday afternoon I had set up a meeting with someone I knew from one
> of my cruise groups, but I didn’t know him well and we had never meet in
> real life. We decided to meet for a drink and see how things went. Paul
> and Linda turned out to be so much like me and Kevin that it is scary.
> They always went to dinner early and we had 2nd seating Traditional
> Dining, so we decided we would meet at 7pm every evening for a drink and
> some talk. As it turned out we had all booked the same excursion for of
> the ports, so we spent the day together and of course we kept meeting
> here and there on the ship and in the ports. We will be keeping in
> touch and I hope that we will all cruise together many times in the
> future. Meeting them turned out to be one of the highlights of our cruise!!
>
> Antigua
> We had been in Antigua before and other then visiting Nelsons Dockyard,
> we weren’t impressed with the island. Since we are not beach people, we
> took our time going ashore and did some shopping.
>
> St. Lucia
> We booked a Whale and Dolphin watching excursion with Princess and it
> just turned out that our new friends. Linda and Paul and a couple they
> were traveling with had booked the same excursion. The boat took us way
> out in the hope of seeing some Whales and/or Dolphins, but there were
> none to be seen this time. It was disappointing, but they told us up
> front that this might happen.
>
> We had a lovely boat ride with good friends and we did see some great
> scenery along the way. We also got to see the Pitons from the water,
> many different views. There will be pictures of this trip and lots more
> on our Webshots site, the link will be at the end of my review.
>
> When we got off the boat we stopped in the mall at the dock and found a
> lovely shop that had all kind of linens with flowers or birds on them.
> We bought some Hot Pads as gifts for people back home. They also had
> placemats, potholders etc. The designs were so pretty and are made in
> St. Lucia.
>
> Barbados:
> In Barbados we did the Princess tour called “Finest Blends of Barbados”.
> The tour took us the Mount Gay distillery, where we show how the make
> their rum and from there we went to the Banks Beer brewery. In addition
> to seeing how the rum and beer was made, there was a lot of free
> sampling available (grin). Both of these were interesting, but we
> thought the Bacardi Rum factory tour in San Juan was much better
>
> St. Kitts:
> In St. Kitts we did another Princess tour called “Plantations & Art
> Gallery with Lunch”. We boarded a small van that was air conditioned and
> comfortable. Our driver/tour guide told us about the history of the
> island and on the way home drove in the opposite direction so we saw the
> entire coastline of St. Kitts.
>
> Our first stop was at the Batik factory, which also had a huge store to
> buy things. We were told how Batik fabric is made, very interesting but
> we all disappointed that they didn’t actually show us the process. You
> can see some of the things they make at:
> http://www.caribellebatikstkitts.com/Caribelle_Batik/caribelle_batik.asp
>
> From there we were driven to the Kate Design Studio, an art gallery on
> the Rawlins Plantation which is in a restored West Indian house. You can
> see some of the art work in our Webshots site; yes, they didn’t mind us
> taking a few pictures. Also they have a website:
> http://www.katedesign.com/index_1.html
>
> When we were done at the art gallery, we walked across the grass to the
> Rawlins Plantation Inn to have lunch. We were greeted with a rum punch,
> one of the best we ever had. Kevin could not have a rum punch because of
> his diabetes, so asked if he could have rum on the rocks instead. There
> was no problem, and they poured him one. Then we were invited inside to
> enjoy a West Indian lunch buffet. Kevin and I have been to many Indian
> Restaurants at home and I have to tell you that this lunch was excellent.
>
> This tour was expensive, but worth the money and ranks as one of the
> better of all the tours we have taken.
>
> St. Thomas:
> We docked at the new Crown Pier which has been getting a lot of negative
> reviews. I can’t tell you about transportation. There are some stores
> there now and there will be many more opening with time. The liquor
> store we stopped in had less of a selection then we have seen in the
> past at Havensight. There is also a Bernard K. Passman store there that
> is famous for its black coral jewelry.
>
> This is always our favorite port and that is because my nephew and his
> fiancé live here. This visit was even better since we were there on a
> Saturday and they didn’t have to take a day off from work to see us.
> Adam had to take a test that morning, so Roxy meet us by the windmill
> and took us back to their apartment. Since this is the first time we saw
> them since they got engaged we wanted to take them out to lunch to
> celebrate. Our normal restaurant Craig & Sally’s wasn’t open, so we all
> decided to try Bella Blu instead and it was a very good choice. Bella
> Blu is a little more expensive then Craig & Sally’s, but both are
> excellent choices for a really nice lunch.
>
> After a lovely lunch we went for a ride down a very holey road that only
> locals use and we wound up at an incredible beach. It was not a sandy
> beach and not a place for swimming, just for incredible views. There are
> a lot of pictures of this on our webshots site and you can see the waves
> crashing on the rocks, just beautiful. Then it was time to head back to
> the pier, having had another lovely, non-touristy day in St. Thomas.
>
> We will next be in St. Thomas in the summer of ’09 for a wedding on
> Megan’s Bay!
>
> Princess Cay:
> We decided to get a late start so we wouldn’t have to wait for a tender.
> About 10:45am we wandered down to the deck with the tenders, found a
> huge crown and were told to go to the Princess Theatre to wait. We got
> there and found the theatre was almost full. They did at least have a
> good system and told you where to sit as you came in and the crew knew
> what order the sections had been filled. An hour after we arrived at the
> Princess Theatre we finally stepped foot on Princess Cay. The story we
> heard was that the ship had arrived late and it took time to transfer
> all the food, beverages, crew etc. Needless to say there were many
> unhappy passengers. A lot of us think that they should of made an
> announcement that there was a delay and to take your time coming down
> for the tenders.
>
> Once we got off the tender we found two lounges in the shade and had a
> lovely day. We both spent some time in the water and some time relaxing
> on our lounges. The lunch buffet did not impress us and I have seen
> better on other cruise lines. The worst part of lunch was the flies all
> over the place.
>
> Overall we had a lovely day on Princess Cay and then had to head back to
> the ship to start packing. This is always the saddest part of a cruise;
> you know the next day it is back to reality.
>
> Here is the link to our pictures:
> http://travel.webshots.com/album/562350400bmdikn |