mattswiss

Here is my honest opinion and experience on the Emerald Princess:

First my husband and I are Elite Princess cruisers, so I have quite a few cruises under my belt. 
The ship carried 1300 pax, so not even half full. 
The service was absolutely fabulous. Embarkation was good. Hence the ship was 3 hours late there was a bit of a backup, but the crew kept everything rolling. Our suite steward was incredible! The room, hey, the whole ship was spotless. We did not notice any smoke in the aft suite. Sabatinis Crew, breakfast as great as always. So many staff around, we had almost to shoo them away. Lol 

We ate twice in the Crown Grill and once in Sabatinis. All 3 dinners outstanding. The Club class dining room is good. I wish they would let suite customers eat in the speciality Restaurants all the time. It would make the suite experience so much more exclusive. 
Everybody wears masks while moving, but as soon as you sit down, no masks.

Cleaning goes on everywhere, so the passengers feel very safe. 

The Medaillon is great. We used it many times to order drinks and food in the room. FYI cocktails or any drinks covered by the package will be delivered free of charge to the room. You have to order it on the Medaillon, NOT from room Service. That’s the trick.

my last words:  Don’t be afraid to cruise. We felt very safe and did not hear of any COVID on the ship. We took a rapid antigen test at CVS 2 days before and that’s it! 
I would go tomorrow again. Thank you Princess for giving us 10 days of bliss and fun.

please feel free to ask me any question you might have.

Can’t find a rapid antigen test with CVS, but got an appointment for a rapid PCR test instead. Will that be accepted as well? 

I seem to not be able to book the rapid antigen test. Will the rapid PCR test be accepted by Princess? Did anybody have the rapid PCR test and had no problem with Princess?

I am a bit confused about the rapid antigen test. Has anyone taken this test in Walgreens or CVS. Not sure why we would have to opt for the PCR test which has a 1-2 day result time. Which test have you taken and where?
 

Update! 
cancelled TA cruise 5/29/20 on March 12th. 60% cash refund and 40% future credit.

credit came through 30 days later. Applied to a future cruise 2021. Cash payment refunded 102 days later on my CC today. I did complain 2 weeks ago with a supervisor and got a week later an e-mail with a refund processed date. 
 

I guess if I had not complained I would still be waiting. 
102 Days! Really!

Had to cancel our TA cruise. I just rebooked for a 21 day cruise end of March 2021. since I had not gotten the future cruise credit (cancelled 3/12/2019) I could hold the room and cruise until it arrives with no money due at this point. We still get the 60% previous cruise fare cash back. They told me 60 days! 

Q5, $900 on Board Credit, free Drinks and Gratuities

I recommend to book your future cruise as soon as possible. They had 1 Q5 room left for Dubai - Southampton. No Princess Grill. Everybody is rebooking, so 2021 will be sold out soon.

Just canceled our TC end of May. 60% cash back, 40% cruise credit.

This was to be our 30th anniversary cruise. Hubby is over 60. I would rather him being safe and enjoy another 30 years with him. Waiting time on the phone: 15 minutes.

i did the right thing...😷😷

So strange that we are the only people this far profiting from this sale. Maybe it has to do in which cabin you are booked. We are in a club class mini suite. 

Actually it worked for us. We had the s&s promotion for a 2021 S.America cruise and saved with the new promotion $450 per Person!

Just wanted to tell to check your bookings and try to refare. Just saved $450 per Person on our SouthAmerican Cruise in 2021. 
We had the sip&sail package and upgraded to the new promotion for free. 
$900 to spend on other things. Great Deal!

Big shout out to Karen who was most pleasant with this change. Thank you.

My husband and I only cruise with Princess in a Suite or with Cunard in the queens grill. Both are great for their price class. If I want to dress up and eat 5-star food everyday I choose Cunard. For a relaxed middle of the road dining experience I choose Princess. The staff has been always friendly on Princess and mostly on Cunard. We are going to sail a lot with Princess in our upcoming retirement. Why? It is affordable and pleasant. You simply can not compare apples and oranges.

Just added promotion on a 2018 Coastal. No price increase. Plus extra dinner in speciality restaurants. That means 2 now. Staying in a suite. Fabulous!:):cool:

thanks everybody for their well wishes. I guess it is the way we do things in life. We also always stick with one domestic and one international credit card, so we can get miles quicker.

But we do understand the need for variety.

Enjoy your cruises with whomever it will be...

Our first cruise was with Princess.

We went once with Cunard in queens grill which was spectacular, but we always went back to Princess.

We cruised 7 times (always in Suites) and with the next cruise we will be Elite. We stayed with Princess because of their great loyalty program and we just simply never had a bad cruise.

Instead of jumping from one line to another we stuck with Princess and loved it. We will be retiring soon and now we can travel with Elite status and enjoy even more. Now we can take Mini Suites and get all the benefits of the Suites (minus breakfast at Sabatinis).

This will be easier on our wallet but still a lot of fun.

PS: Love the sip and sail cruise offers.:)

thank you!

Hi there

New to Cunard. We booked a private transfer to London and were wondering at what time we were getting off the ship. Can we ask for a specific time or do queens grill passengers get off earlier?

Also, is the queens grill dining room open for breakfast on disembarkation day?

Thanks for your help.

We did enjoy our cruise as usual. There were a few unexpected disappointments, but I guess we can live.

1) Embarkation a breeze as usual

We had a lovely lunch in the dining room. This was the first time we actually were directed to the dining room instead of the buffet.

2) disembarkation a breeze as usual. Never been so quick off a ship.

3) We stayed in a Suite. Sabatinis breakfast was good. Had better on other ships.

4) 2 Dinners at Sabatinis. One was a free voucher and one was paid. Both very good.

5) Main Dining room very efficient. Had anytime dining. Tip: go after 8pm.

6) Suite: Lovely as usual and the room steward was super clean and efficient.

Now, we usually love Vines. This time it was a disaster. There were 2 people working there. The girl was nice and efficient. She stayed at the bar. The male server was a disgrace. He was lazy and rude. We love to have a glass of fine wine in a nice Riedel stem before dinner. Never been a problem before. This guy was too lazy to clean the nice glasses and tried to serve a $16 glass of wine in a tootbrush glass.

A lot of people got upset, so Vines, sad to say, was empty a lot. Figure that?

We had a wonderful massage in the spa. Always enjoy the bamboo massage. Just divine.

This Cruise put us into Elite status. Nice to have the extra perks.

Also, always look out for the brochure deals, we got a dynamite offer for this cruise with a bottle of wine and free dinner at Sabatinis.

We will be cruising Cunard in April. Hope it is as nice as Princess.

Hi everybody

I am trying to pay my balance online but can not even see remaining balance anywhere.

Any Ideas?

Also, want to book some spa treatments. Is it normal for Cunard to pay up front? Never seen that before.

Thanks for the info.:eek:

I am severely motion sick. I get sick in a car, on an airplane etc. God forbid I try to read while in motion. But I will not be held away from cruising! What works for me: take 2 days before travel and after travel one Bonine early in the morning. While you are on the ship take one pill every morning even if you do not feel sick. The secret for me is to get ahead of the sea sickness. Bonine has no side effects at all for me. Hope this helps.

We got a great suite offer last month in a flash sale. 4 day Carribean cruise in a vista suite, free speciality dining, free bottle of wine for $999 a person. Now I see the window suites going for $1600 a person. So yes, they discount the suites on occasion. Did I mention the cruise I booked is over New Year's Eve!

We spent a few years back New Years Eve on the top deck of the Coral. The next day we sailed through the Panama Canal. What a great party they put on and there were hats etc.. We ate at Sabatinis that night which was very festive.

This year we will spent New Years Eve on the Caribbean Princess in the Caribbean.

Very looking forward to it.

What a treat, enjoy!!;)

I always wanted to learn how to fence. Has anybody done that and if so, when were the classes. Morning, mid-afternoon?

Will be on a transatlantic in April and have a lot of time to spare..lol

Just booked a 4 day caribbean princess cruise from Fort Lauderdale. I was surprised to see full suites discounted at this time of the year. You can not book this deal online, you have to call and mention the flyer. 4 days in a suite, one extra dinner (besides the first night dinner) in one of the speciality Restaurants plus a free bottle of wine (value up to $50) for $1110.

Of course that was yesterday, so maybe the suites are gone now.

Good luck in hunting!

Can not wait to spend New Years's Eve in the Caribbean!

We always stay at il Lugano suites. Beautiful and quiet.

That happened to us on a European cruise 2 years ago. Over $1200 refund because of price drop. And yes, even after final payment you will get your money back! Bon voyage..