Emerald Princess Cruise Journal - Southern Caribbean Dec. 9 to 19 with Photos

A snorkel vest would be easier to pack, but I hate wearing one. They ride up under my neck and the strap that goes between your legs is definitely uncomfortable. (Feels like a giant wedgie!) :eek:

 

I thought my noodle was pretty unique, but they were available for use on our snorkeling tour with Woodwind in Bonaire.

When we were snorkeling at Goff's Caye in Belize the tour guides told us to put the life vest on backwards and around our waist. That was SO much more comfy that wearing it the regular way. Once you got in the water with it, it went up under your armpits and really helps you stay up and when you wanted to dip your head under didn't get in the way either.

Our second formal night brought about the realization that the cruise was coming to an end. To date, this was our longest cruise but I would love to have even more days. A back-to-back for 14 days perhaps?

We were all looking forward to dinner with Joseph…and it was lobster night! Joseph did not disappoint, but I was not quite so impressed with the lobster. The flavor was just not quite right...and I missed having melted butter.

Bob and Kent both had escargot for their appetizer...

Joseph removing the lobster shell...

The production show “What a Swell Party” was the evening entertainment in the Princess Theater. Great music…and pretty elaborate sets for a cruise ship show!

Following the show we took a stroll on deck to see the full moon. (Can’t you just imagine us on an episode of Love Boat?)

The evening ended with a “pretend” New Year’s eve celebration in the Piazza.

Cruise director, JJ, counting down the balloon drop...

 

We were all looking forward to dinner with Joseph…and it was lobster night! Joseph did not disappoint, but I was not quite so impressed with the lobster. The flavor was just not quite right...and I missed having melted butter.

 

Hey that actually doesn't look like spiny lobster that we usually see on cruise ships. Bright red and no stripes. Maine lobster? But you said it still wasn't tasty. :( I like spiny lobster too but it has to be grilled instead of boiled or steamed.

Wednesday, December 18 – Last Sea Day

Day number 10…the last day of the cruise. The subzero temps of Minnesota were just a very distant memory by this time. I almost felt as if we were in a time warp. Back in the “real world” it was winter and only a few days until Christmas. Here on the Emerald Princess it was summertime and warm. The ship was decorated beautifully for the holidays, but yet I was feeling no Christmas spirit.

The guys were up early to do a test run of their egg drop contraption…before the Piazza became busy. A few minor adjustments and they were confident that their egg would survive the two-story drop intact.

Once again the Patters was filled with a multitude of activities to fill the day. The morning activities (that weren’t a disguised sales opportunity): Bible study (unhosted); MUTS Mamma Mia!; morning trivia; book club review; 60 Seconds Frenzy; Veteran’s Get-Together (unhosted); $60 Texas Hold’Em Tournament; Zumba; Bocce Ball; Bridge, Mahjong & Games (unhosted); Elevator Roulette (still wishing I had done this!); Speed Sudoku; Bingo; and British-Style Lunch (one more thing I wish I had tried.)

Our choice? The culinary demonstration and galley tour at 10:30…along with a large percentage of the other passengers on the ship. The event was held in the Princess Theater and hosted by cruise director, JJ. Featured in the cooking demonstration were Giuseppe Pollara (executive chef) and Generoso Mazzone (head maitre d’hotel). The two of them prepared several recipes…Linguine Al Pesto Alla Moda Ligure, Seared Deep Sea Scallops, and Tiramisu)…with a dash of humor added in.

An introduction of some of some of the crew that had kept us well fed...

We received a handout with the recipes feaured in the demonstration as well as a list of how many crew members it takes to prepare and serve the meals on the Emerald Princess.

Following the presentation, we were led on a guided tour of the galley. To get there we went down the stairs, through the Piazza...

past the Internet Cafe...

through the back door of the Michelangelo Dining room (hey!...there's our table!!)...

...and finally into the galley.

We managed to somehow get in the back of this line which moved v-e-r-y slowly…but was still interesting.

Fruit and vegetable carvings that had been made at the demonstration earlier in the cruise were on display.

And two crew members were showing how to carve roses out of turnips. (Do you think those end up in soup when they are done??)

We also saw gingerbread houses and other Christmas items being prepared for the Christmas display that would be in the Piazza on the next cruise.

After the galley tour, we headed up to the Horizon Court for a quick lunch. The Egg Drop Competition was scheduled for 1:00 and the guys needed to get ready. They named themselves “Men in Black” and the contraption that housed the egg was the “Poultry Protector”!

The contestants had to drop their egg from two decks above, down into the center of the Piazza. Here is a

The Poultry Protector did its job, but alas…no prize. The winners were ultimately decided based on audience applause and they were upstaged by a couple of kids who wrapped their eggs in stuffed animals. One more

Packing kept us busy for part of the afternoon and then Laurel and I attended Afternoon Tea. This has been a favorite activity of mine on Carnival, but I probably won’t attend on future Princess Cruises. The tea times I most enjoyed on Carnival were held in a smaller venue, with intimate seating and live classical music. On the Emerald, the tea was served in the DaVinci Dining room and we were seated at a very large table which made conversation difficult. No music either.

Our dinner with waiter, Joseph, was once again a highlight of the day. We found out about his family and that he was headed home to the Philippines the next day. He had spent a lot of his contract time on Princess ships in Alaska and liked it so well that he may request to be assigned there again when he returns. How awesome would it be if he were on the Coral for our upcoming cruise to Alaska!!

The dining room was a bit livelier tonight (more Carnival style) as the waiters paraded through with baked Alaska…topped by battery operated candles! A little napkin waving took place as well!

Flamenco Express…yes...a couple doing flamenco dancing…entertained at the earlier shows in the Princess Theater. We attended, but I found myself wishing we had picked some alternate entertainment.

Our evening ended with the International Crew Talent Show. Prior to the show starting, the social staff started throwing out balloons. It was amazing how easy it was to entertain a room full of senior citizens!

Some of the talent was quite good…some just mediocre. There is no word to describe the performance by the social staff…but it was obvious they were having a great time on stage!

Back at our cabins, we placed our luggage in the hallway. The cruise was over.

Laurel and I attended Afternoon Tea. This has been a favorite activity of mine on Carnival, but I probably won’t attend on future Princess Cruises. The tea times I most enjoyed on Carnival were held in a smaller venue, with intimate seating and live classical music. On the Emerald, the tea was served in the DaVinci Dining room and we were seated at a very large table which made conversation difficult. No music either.

Sometimes there is music, very pleasant. And just ask for a smaller table...they aim to please:)

Thursday, December 19 – Ft. Lauderdale to Minneapolis

I awoke early the next morning, knowing we were back in Ft. Lauderdale. I was anxious to check in for our Southwest flight and feared we would be in the last boarding group fighting to find a seat on the plane. Not wanting to use the high priced internet on the ship…or have a huge cell charge…I had waited to do this until we returned to the U.S.

I quickly…and quietly…got dressed and went out by the Terrace Pool. It was a bit of a shock to realize that it was still dark and much cooler. The sky had just a slight hint of color as sunrise was approaching. Off in the distance I could see the lights of another ship following the Emerald into port.

It didn’t take me long to log into the SW Airlines app on my phone and…surprise…we were in boarding Group B! I took some time to check my email and voice messages and by the time I returned to the cabin, Bob was awake.

The four of us had one last breakfast at the buffet…sitting in our usual spot by Café Caribe. So convenient when our cabin was just one deck below. After we retrieved our luggage from the cabin, we said goodbye to Kent & Laurel. Due to our travel plans, we were in different groups to disembark.

I was impressed with how Princess organizes their disembarkation groups. Sometimes on Carnival it feels like a free for all on the last day. Kent and Laurel had requested an early group. They were renting a car at the airport and driving to Tampa to spend a few days with Laurel’s parents before flying back to Illinois. Bob and I had a 2:00 pm flight scheduled back to Minneapolis (via Milwaukee) so were not in a great hurry to leave the ship. Our group was to meet in the Explorer’s Lounge and needed to be ready to disembark by 9:00.

Coffee and water was available while we were waiting and there were plenty of seats for our group. There were announcements over the intercom that boarding was running behind schedule, but our group was still called shortly after 9 am.

Things were going smoothly until we got to the door of the ship and the line stopped. And we waited. Eventually we were able to leave the ship and slowly…very slowly…make our way to where we could pick up our luggage.

Finding our luggage was no problem, but then we got into a very, very long line to go through customs. I timed the process and it took us almost an hour and a half from the time we left the ship until we were outside of the terminal. From others we talked to, this was not the norm, but who knows what caused the problem.

It was a little after 10:30 when we arrived at the airport, printed our boarding passes and checked our luggage. I had noticed on the departure screen that our flight was running a little late and I mentioned to the agent that I was concerned about making our connection in Milwaukee. She began checking flights on her computer and agreed…there was no way we would get there in time.

She began searching on her computer and found room on a flight that was leaving at 11:15 and would actually get us back to Minneapolis an hour earlier than we had planned. Great…but could we make it through security in time to catch this flight?

Just as she started to print new boarding passes, her computer went down. She went to another computer…no luck. Then she left to try a computer in some back room…again no luck. At this point I had resigned myself to the fact that our wonderful cruise was ending on a very sour note.

A couple of minutes past 11:00 she was finally able to get into the system and print our boarding passes. As soon as she did she said “follow me”. We took off running. For you older folks, think O.J. Simpson style. She took us directly to security and then left to try and retrieve our checked bags from the original flight.

Bob made it through security OK and I was relieved when they said I didn’t need to remove my shoes. All was going well…UNTIL...the TSA agent said “we are going to have to search your carry-on bag.” Apparently there was something “suspicious looking.” I was watching the seconds on my watch tick by as she opened the bag and pulled out…my salt from Bonaire. Apparently small packets of a white substance get noticed. :rolleyes:

She swabbed down the insides of the luggage and no amount of pleading on my part was making her go any quicker. She finally declared that I was no longer a terror suspect and we ran like crazy to the gate where our flight was just finishing up the boarding process. As we did, the SW agent caught up to us and said she was able to pull our luggage from the first flight and it already been loaded onto the new plane. Hallelujah!

Our new flight actually had two stops…in Pittsburgh and also Chicago…but we did not have to get off the plane. After the majority of the passengers got off in Pittsburgh, we were able to snag exit row seats with lots of leg room. All in all we were on the plane for a solid 7 hours…but the time went fairly quickly…and we did arrive back in Minneapolis an hour ahead of our original schedule.

My sister from St. Louis had scheduled a flight to arrive at MSP at about the same time as ours so she could celebrate Christmas with our family. By us being on the earlier flight, this worked out even better than we had planned.

The process of getting the shuttle back to the hotel where we had left our car went smoothly and in a short time we had arrived at our son's house. Although it was hard being thrust back into winter, we had a wonderful weekend celebrating an early Christmas with our kids and grand-kids.

I apologize for the time it has taken me to finish this review…I did not intend for it to drag on and on like it has. I am not a Princess expert, but if anyone has any questions I would be happy to try and answer. Thanks to all who have stuck with me to the end! :)

Great review!

I have a question about the galley tour. Is it an extra fee? Do you have to make reservations prior?

I hope to do this itin some day. Looked like great fun!

Great review!

I have a question about the galley tour. Is it an extra fee? Do you have to make reservations prior?

I hope to do this itin some day. Looked like great fun!

Nope...no fee and no reservations...just show up! It was listed in the daily Princess Patters as "Culinary Demonstration & Tour of the Galley". Just a guess, but I would suspect it would be held on other ships as well on the last sea day. I'm sure more experienced Princess cruisers could verify if this is true.

Oh thank you! I missed this on the CB in Nov. Just saw another review for CB and they had it too. I need to read the Patters more closely next time.

Nope...no fee and no reservations...just show up! It was listed in the daily Princess Patters as "Culinary Demonstration & Tour of the Galley". Just a guess, but I would suspect it would be held on other ships as well on the last sea day. I'm sure more experienced Princess cruisers could verify if this is true.

Wow! You did an awesome job of reviewing our 10 day cruise together:D. I loved rereading all the details and seeing our photos in the narrative! I loved being able to use both of my new cameras and we loved spending time with our college roommates again:). We are looking forward to our Alaska adventures with you two this summer!!!! Thanks for taking so much time to write such a detailed review of our Southern Caribbean cruise.

Thanks for all your time & effort posting this review.

We are going on our first ever cruise later this year and whilst it is in the Med it's on the Emerald Princess - so it was great to see your photos & info of the Emerald.

After seeing your photos I think if we get hooked on cruising then the Caribbean would be our next choice. :D

By 1:30 we were getting hungry so got back off at the Hilton Marina and headed back towards the hotel. On the way we stopped for lunch at Shula Burger. Nothing special, but it filled our tummies.

After a short rest at the hotel, I logged into the Port Everglades webcam on my iPad. As each ship started to leave the port, I would run to the end of the hallway and watch in person! I had never paid much attention to the webcam so I was surprised to see how they zoomed in on the people on deck as the ships pulled out of port.

After our late lunch, no one was ready for dinner just yet so we walked back to the Hilton Marina and boarded the water taxi again. We actually did some of the same route that we had done in the morning, but in the dark it was fun to see the homes decorated for the holidays. By the time we got off the boat, hunger had returned and we stopped at Carrabba’s Italian restaurant on the way back to the hotel.

Nice review and pictures. DW and I saw the Pegasus V go by as we are at the Hard Rock Café in the Grand Cayman Island. We also stayed at the Riverside Hotel pre cruise one year. You did not go to the Cheese Cake Factory :eek:

Hugh :D

Wow! You did an awesome job of reviewing our 10 day cruise together:D. I loved rereading all the details and seeing our photos in the narrative! I loved being able to use both of my new cameras and we loved spending time with our college roommates again:). We are looking forward to our Alaska adventures with you two this summer!!!! Thanks for taking so much time to write such a detailed review of our Southern Caribbean cruise.

Writing a review with photos does take a lot of time, but it is fun to go back later and relive the memories. Maybe you will have to do one from the Alaskan cruise?! :)

Thanks for all your time & effort posting this review.

We are going on our first ever cruise later this year and whilst it is in the Med it's on the Emerald Princess - so it was great to see your photos & info of the Emerald.

After seeing your photos I think if we get hooked on cruising then the Caribbean would be our next choice. :D

Wow...your first cruise and it is to the Mediterranean! So far we have ONLY done the Caribbean but I will guess that a cruise to the Med will be a totally different experience.

We were hooked after our very first cruise...for me it is the PERFECT way to vacation. Hoping you have a great trip and that you enjoy your time on the Emerald.

Dee was with our group and would dive down and point out things of interest. In this first photo, she saw the school of fish and swam down and carefully "herded" the fish so the others in the group could see them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What kind of camera took these???? i want that camera!!!!

I have loved every word of your review. We were on the Emerald for 28 days last year.....went by way too fast.

For future reference on the lobster, I always request the clarified butter and receive it. Sorry your waiter didn’t offer it.

What kind of camera took these???? i want that camera!!!!

These were taken with an underwater Panasonic DMC-T55 camera. Hopefully I got that right!

Laurel was the one taking the underwater photos. I often use my Canon D-10 which also takes pretty nice underwater photos but I decided I just wanted to enjoy what I was seeing and not mess with the camera. (If you check back to some of my older reviews listed in my signature you will see photos I have taken on past cruises.)

Some of our underwater photos were also taken by the professional photographer that was with our group.

The credit card that I use lets you upload your own photo to use on the front of the card. I now have the turtle photo as my image!

I have loved every word of your review. We were on the Emerald for 28 days last year.....went by way too fast.

For future reference on the lobster, I always request the clarified butter and receive it. Sorry your waiter didn’t offer it.

We just got back from our second Princess cruise on the Coral. I have decided lobster is just something that Princess doesn't do well. I will have to remember to ask for the clarified butter in the future...but the lobster itself just wasn't that great again. The prawns that came with the lobster meal were delicious however. :)