Live from the Emerald--11/22/09

[geoherb]

Dinner on Friday night was the chef’s special menu. The warm goat cheese soufflé is as good as Celebrity’s specialty restaurant’s to me. Our waitress had a little trouble getting my salad right, but the second one came out perfectly. Our tablemates split an order of the diver scallops for an appetizer. They and I ordered the rack of lamb. The lamb was cooked perfectly medium rare. Sam ended up with the scallops as his entrée but he got to taste some of the lamb. I tried the Love Boat Dream for dessert. It was not as good as the one I had on the Star Princess. Each ship’s pastry chef does things differently. This is the one dessert that seems to vary the most to me.

 

I was too tired to watch Boogie Shoes after dinner. Sam said our cruise was the debut of the show for the season on this ship. I think we saw the same production two years ago.

 

Our assistant head waiter talked about the dry dock. The ship is going to Norfolk. He said around 200 crew members are ending their contracts after next week and a few will fly home for the two weeks the ship is in dry dock. Most of the wait staff stays onboard and will be serving lunch and snacks to the contractors on the ship. He said this was a routine dry dock with nothing major planned. They will go over all of the ship’s systems—electrical, plumbing, communications, emergency, etc.—to make sure things are working right. They’ll also be touching up areas and changing some of the carpet. We saw them changing the carpet in one of the cabins on our first day at sea.

 

My massage this morning was very relaxing. The spa was running a special on the stone massage, but the special was for the 50-minute one and not the 75-minute one I received. I ended up paying just a few dollars more for the extra 25 minutes. I’m glad I did because they went very quickly. The hot stones and oils felt wonderful. Sioban from Ireland was my masseuse.

 

We ordered room service breakfast for the first time last night so I could make the massage appointment. We received everything I ordered right on time. I wrote in bran muffins as an item not on the regular menu card. I did not try anything more exotic and haven’t talked to anyone who has on this cruise. A lot of times when we were on the Grand Princess with a Caribe balcony cabin and we ate breakfast almost every morning, we were successful in getting eggs, smoked salmon, and oatmeal.

The seas are “slight” according to the captain. He was walking around the ship, going up the stairs ahead of us, when I overheard this comment to a passenger. I asked him to steer the ship to rougher water, but I don’t think he’s going to. He said I was the only passenger to ever make such a request. In any case, the water in the Oasis Pool was moving nicely from front to back.

 

Our excursion in Fort Lauderdale has been canceled. We signed up to do the airboat ride in the Everglades. It would drop us off at the airport a little after noon. Our flight is after 4 p.m. Coincidentally, the excursion desk had space available on the excursion that includes the flamingo gardens. It’s $20 more per person. I’ve decided to just take a cab to the airport and wait there. We’ll delay getting off the ship as long as possible. One of the nice things about having the Platinum and Elite lounge may be that they won’t rush us as much.

 

We played our final round of trivia this afternoon. We were not very successful this trip--no passport holders, caps, or luggage tags to take home. But we still have several in the wrappers from our last cruise. And the prize given out most often this cruise is the most useless one--the passport holders.

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks for taking the time to post the live from thread. Hope you have one heck of a cruise.....:):):)

 

Bob

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the live from.

[cruiser boo]

HI Hope you had a great cruise. If you or anyone else has a copy of the current boutique liquor price list can you please scan & post later. I would love to see what the Emerald is offering since the liquor prices vary from ship to ship & we are on her in Jan. Yes I know it's for take home only.:)

thanks a bunch

[geoherb]

I'll try to check the liquor prices through the window on the way to breakfast this morning. We did not buy any--and have avoided bringing back quantities ever since a bottle of coconut rum broke in my luggage on the flight home. That was a mess.

 

We’re back in Fort Lauderdale. The ship must have made it in a little before 7 a.m. I can hear all sorts of noises. On our last cruise, we somehow slept through all the noise of docking. We barely made it up to the buffet before it closed.

 

Last night’s menu in the dining room is the worst one of the whole cruise to me. It starts off well enough with a seafood and avocado appetizer. I also ordered the shrimp cocktail. On some cruises, I’ve had shrimp cocktails every night. Last night’s was my first and only one of this cruise. I also ordered the Caesar salad for the first time last night. It was very good.

 

But then the entrées on the menu are not a good selection. I probably should have gone with the always available side of the menu for that as well. But I ended up with a tough New York strip steak that was a little overdone. All four of us ordered the steak, and only Sam managed to eat all of his.

 

We missed the farewell shows in the theater. The two comedians from the cruise performed—Kevin Hughes and Cary Long. Our tablemates went and reported that neither one was very funny to them. I did get to listen to the Polonia String Quartet while getting luggage tags from the pursers desk. They are very nice, mixing light classical and popular music. I would have liked to have heard them in a longer concert.

 

Instead of the show, we met our friends up in the Adagio Bar one last time. Four of them had reservations at Sabatini’s for 7:30, so we were able to come back to the cabin and pack our luggage before dinner.

 

This cruise has been one of our best ones. We met wonderful people, ate great food, and received great service. It’s only ending too quickly.

[Colo Cruiser]

Herb, thanks for taking the time to do a live thread.

Glad your cruise was great.

[bhopal21]

Thanks for the blog Herb.

 

Any hints or closing comments for an upcoming Emerald cruiser?

 

Mike:)

[SRQfireman]

Our day in St. Martin was great. The Emerald did not dock there until 10 a.m., which gave us time to enjoy breakfast in the dining room. Our tablemates were heading in at the same time, and they joined us at a large table with a couple of women from Pittsburgh and a man from somewhere else. He was not very talkative, but he did say that his wife was not feeling well from the motion. He ordered her slices of watermelon and some hashbrowns. I found out then that they do not let people take food away from the dining room. One of the head waiters came over and told the man that someone from room service would have to deliver the order to their cabin.

 

After the ship docked, we caught a cab to Orient Beach. The cab ride over is about 30 minutes. We shared a large van taxi with a family of four and two other couples. The rate for that many people in a taxi is $6 per person. The cab ride back was $7 per person since we had fewer people in it.

 

The roads of St. Martin are narrow with lots of hills and curves. That did not keep the first cab driver from passing other vehicles, maneuvering somehow through some pretty tight spots. There were only a couple of places he slowed down because of the steep hill and tight curve. But we made it without crashing. One of the men in the cab told us about a woman he works with who crashed in a jeep in Cozumel on a cruise a few weeks ago. She had to be flown back to the U.S. because of her injuries. I made sure my seatbelt worked.

 

Orient Beach is very pretty. The water is crystal blue. There were three other ships in port with us—the Grandeur of the Seas, Carnival Glory, and Aida Vita. I’m sure they contributed the crowd at Orient Beach. We walked to the far right. A friend of ours from home is staying at Club Orient for the week. And after we passed over the rocks and started seeing the naked people, he was walking down the beach. We rented chairs and an umbrella from Club Orient. It was $6 per item. Some of the places had cheaper prices—$15 for two chairs, an umbrella and two drinks was the best I saw.

 

We enjoyed a great day with our friend. I made sure to cover myself in SPF 50 sunscreen. And even then, my shoulders got a little too much. I’m going to have to be more careful in St. Thomas and Grand Turk.

 

After the cab ride back around 3:30, we made it past all the shops at the dock and back onto the ship. Our tablemates said they never made it past those shops since everything they could find everything they wanted to buy in them. We’re not big shoppers and did not stop except to sample some spiced rum. Coming back to the ship in the middle of the afternoon was the perfect excuse to eat at the International Café. I enjoyed the chicken salad with cashews, a tomato and fresh mozzarella sandwich, mushroom salad, and shrimp. We split a few of the pastries for dessert so we could try more of them. The best was the butterscotch pie.

 

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing tribond trivia and then the GLBT gathering at sailaway. The Emerald was late leaving. According to one person I spoke to, they were waiting for a tour group to get back. I think I saw the group walking up around 5:50. And then they paged three passengers. I never saw anyone else walking down the pier. So either those three were already onboard, or else they’re enjoying another day in St. Martin.

 

Last night was Island Night around the pool area. They scheduled our other evening entertainment before dinner. It was comedian Kevin Hughes. He was not that funny to us, but probably because his main topic was the different ways men and women communicate.

 

Dinner was Italian. Our waitress surprised our table with a selection of antipasti. They included grilled eggplant and zucchini and tomatoes, different hams and salamis, asparagus, and cheese. I did not see any of the tables near ours receiving the antipasti. I ordered the salad and shrimp Fra Diavolo. Both were tasty. I ordered the two gelatos and a sorbet for dessert. But Rositsa, our waitress, brought me the tiramisu mistakenly. She went back for my frozen treats. I tasted the tiramisu. It was good. But I’m not a big fan of coffee-flavored items. Sam said his was delicious.

 

Well....that would be me.....the guy in the front seat on Mr Toad's Wild Ride !!! he had 2 speeds....fast and stop :D

The gal I was telling ya about actually was on the Carnival Legend the week of 11-15....she is out of her "regular room" now and in the rehab area of the trauma center

We had a great time also.....weather was almost perfect.....I saw the 2 comedians the last night and liked them.....I had seen Kevin Hughes last summer in the Baltic on the Crown......We all thought he was funny then and this trip.....

We thought Grand Turk was a waste of time.....the tour we took was terrible (Conch tour)....

Our service people were excellent......my NY Strip was O.K. the last night...not excellent....but good

[bhopal21]

May I ask what was terrible about the conch tour?

 

Mike:)

[SRQfireman]

May I ask what was terrible about the conch tour?

 

Mike:)

 

the advertised air conditioned van was an un-air conditioned van with no PA system/a bad muffler <noisey>/the guide pointed out all the wild animals (like lots of them....after pointing out a couple, we didn't need to know about each one).....that was the jest of our concern with it..other minor things, but not worth mentioning

[SRQfireman]

Well....that would be me.....the guy in the front seat on Mr Toad's Wild Ride !!! he had 2 speeds....fast and stop :D

The gal I was telling ya about actually was on the Carnival Legend the week of 11-15....she is out of her "regular room" now and in the rehab area of the trauma center

We had a great time also.....weather was almost perfect.....I saw the 2 comedians the last night and liked them.....I had seen Kevin Hughes last summer in the Baltic on the Crown......We all thought he was funny then and this trip.....

We thought Grand Turk was a waste of time.....the tour we took was terrible (Conch tour)....

Our service people were excellent......my NY Strip was O.K. the last night...not excellent....but good

 

matter a fact....here is the story about her on the local news (click on the video link) http://www.mysuncoast.com/Global/story.asp?s=11567663

[923libra]

Thank You for taking the time to post your review, it was quite informative! We are sailing on her 12/20/09 post drydock so I am especially happy that you inquired about that! Nothing too major being as how she is only two year olds. Once again I thank you!!

[geoherb]

I could not see liquor prices on disembarkation morning. We had a long wait. Fortunately, we are Platinum now and had Club Fusion to wait in. And we were not in a hurry. I had been worried about crowds in the airports. We did not see any. There were plenty of seats both in Fort Lauderdale and Tampa. We had to wait in the lobby area of Fort Lauderdale until 12:15--a little less than two hours from when we arrived. Going through the TSA checkpoint was a breeze.

 

We ate lunch at Pasha's in the airport. The food was OK but too expensive. Both flights were full. We had priority boarding (Southwest) and got our preferred seats in the exit row on the flight to Tampa, but split up with Sam in the seat behind me on the flight from Tampa. It worked out OK.

 

All in all, this was one of the best cruises we've ever taken. I'm still amazed that we never felt too crowded.

[bhopal21]

Got any pics you want to share?:cool:

 

Mike:)

[Alli Cruiser]

Geoherb,

 

We were on the same cruise and were one of the seven at lunch. Sorry I didn't get to meet you and Sam. We enjoyed many of the same places: Adagio and Emerald Beach. I thought Emerald Beach was one of the nicest beaches and we went to several.

 

I did the mountain biking in St. Martin with my older son and DH did the 12-meter sailing. Both of these were great excursions.

 

We really enjoyed Fort Lauderdale pre/post trip. We stayed at the Hilton on Fort Lauderdale Blvd before and the Marriott upon return. We really enjoyed all the restaurants and activity on the waterfront.

 

Back to reality....

Linda

[pablo222]

Our assistant head waiter talked about the dry dock. The ship is going to Norfolk. He said around 200 crew members are ending their contracts after next week and a few will fly home for the two weeks the ship is in dry dock. Most of the wait staff stays onboard and will be serving lunch and snacks to the contractors on the ship. He said this was a routine dry dock with nothing major planned.

 

Our bartender told us drydock was in Freeport, and as you said,

nothing major planned. Not that it really matters. But, it does

show you can't always believe what you hear, as certainly one of

them had it wrong.

 

Our cabin steward said he would be throughly cleaning cabins during

the drydock.

 

The International Cafe will be open serving staff, and "high level" contractors (complimentary), and the pool bar will be open for workers.

 

Some of the staff will be flying home for the two weeks, and then

returning.