Review of dining venues on Emerald Princess

Here are my thoughts on the various dining venues on a 30 day cruise (actually a B2B around South America) on Emerald Princess.

Ultimate Balcony Dinner. Even though it seems expensive $100 per couple, it actually is the best value. Included is a photograph, two pre dinner drinks, half bottle of champagne, a flower arrangement and the dinner. The room service supervisor met with us the day before the dinner and asked our dinner preferences. On the night of the dinner two staff members came, a waiter and an assistant waiter. They set up another table on the balcony and then served the drinks and the Canapes. Between courses the waiter and assistant waiter went out in the hallway. It was decadent having two wait staff just for the two of us. Lots of food, we never did eat the Friandises even though they left them for us. Highly recommend the Balcony dinner, will do again on next cruise.

Balcony breakfast, a surprise in that I thought they would just bring a tray and food and drop it but no, they set up our table with table cloth, etc. I had requested eggs benedict instead of the salmon and quiche but they brought all three so more food then we could eat.Plan to do again next cruise.

Share – reluctant to book as I thought the food may be too fancy for my tastes. It was the best dinner we had after the balcony dinner. The combination of flavors seemed weird on the menu but worked. Service was excellent. Left stuffed. Would do once a cruise.

Crown Grill – ate there twice, both times the food was good, service was good but not excellent. Seemed like the wait staff had too many tables to serve.

Anytime dining – on 30 day cruise ate in the dining room for dinner perhaps 15-20 times. Only had a wait once for a table for two. The food was good but had a repeat of the menus. Service was usually good but I noticed that the head waiter would seat people in one section overwhelming the wait staff while other sections the staff stood around bored.

Buffet – eat breakfast here often and once for dinner. Food was good for a buffet, I thought a good variety. tip: in the morning the café Caribe was usually less crowded that the Horizon Buffet.

Trident Grill: Burgers, hotdogs, etc were good as always. I thought some of the evening choices (wings, tri-tip, etc) were dry from sitting in a warmer.

International Café: Good place for a snack or small meal . The Oreo cheesecake was out of this world. Whenever I cruise another line I miss the International Café.

Room Service: only did breakfast on port days. Our cabin was all the way aft on Emerald Deck, most days they came to the door about five minutes prior to the requested time (6:30 -7). One day, an early port day it was almost 7 as I think everyone ordered room service at 6:30. Tried writing is some items but those were ignored.

Afternoon tea: loved it. Went several times for the scones and clotted cream.

Bottom Line - lots of choices and had good meals throughout the cruise.

thanks for the review .. we sail on Emerald Oct 4 to Hawaii return to Vancouver.. only sail on NCL and was worried about the food on Princess .. for sure will do afternoon tea.. love scones with clotted cream.. yummy..

Thanks for the review. Sounds like you had a great experience with the different dining options.

Thanks for the review. You may have convinced me to do the ultimate balcony dinner. My husband is allergic to shellfish, so may be a good option on a night when lobster is on the dining room menu.

Thanks for the review.

Tony

Thank you for your thorough report this was very helpful.

Be aware that in the five months between this thread being previously active and today's bump, the description of the Ultimate Balcony Dining no longer mentions that a picture taken by one of the ship's photographers is included.

Still awaiting confirmation from onboard that someone who prebooked when the photo was included did not receive it though.

Great review.

Thanks. It's been a few years since we've been on her... back on her in May. I agree about the IC comment.

I was surprised that on such a long cruise that you only did the buffet once for dinner. Do you recall if the buffet still has some theme nights? (German, Italian, etc?) The Royal has, but I wonder if it's fleet wide or only them.

TIA

Be aware that in the five months between this thread being previously active and today's bump, the description of the Ultimate Balcony Dining no longer mentions that a picture taken by one of the ship's photographers is included.

 

Still awaiting confirmation from onboard that someone who prebooked when the photo was included did not receive it though.

Confirmation on current thread from person off Cb this past week.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2681830

I was on the Emerald a couple of weeks ago, and have nothing negative to say about any of the food. We had Anytime dining and never failed to find something enjoyable on the menus, and never waited more than a few minutes to be seated between 6 and 6:30pm.

We dined in the Crown Grill one night, and as always, it was excellent in terms of both the food and the service. The lobster alone was well worth the charge!

We had some breakfasts and lunches in the Horizon Court buffet, and found plenty of tasty choices.

Only had something from the International Cafe a few times. but it was very good, as usual.

Some OP questioned whether there were still theme nights, and the answer is yes!

This may be an older thread but I'm happy it got bumped. I had discounted Share as a venue I had no interest in trying but based on this review, I may give it a try on my upcoming voyage on the Emerald.

So my thanks both to the OP for posting their thoughts in the first place and to Cruisergirlie1 for resurrecting the thread!

Thanks for the report.

Flamono:

Thank you very much!

I was on the same cruise as the OP, and have posted elsewhere about the food on the Emerald being good. I like traditional dining, traveling alone generally don't do the other options.

In 30 days, I had one beef dinner (short ribs) that wasn't great, the waiter noticed and asked if he could bring me something else. I wasn't going to say anything, but since he asked I had fish instead.

Someone mentioned not going to the buffet on a long cruise, I don't as a rule. Buffets are not my thing. I might go up for a bowl of fruit but this whole cruise I never ate a full meal there. I eat my breakfast and lunch at the International Cafe.

Thanks for the updates! We aren't the Emerald until 2020, but it's nice to see they have kept up the quality since our last cruise on Princess.

I loved the Horizon Buffet at lunch and snack because they have Gouda cheese. It's my all time favorite.