Interactive Preview/Review of Emerald Princess Eastern Caribbean May 2 to 9, 2010

[BalconyGal]

Ok, you send the photo to membercontest at princesscruises dot com, include you name, address, ph #, captain's circle #, sail date, ship, photo caption, and a brief desciption. And don't forget to attach the photo!

[Hollybelle]

And hollybelle your information you provided that afternoon in St Thomas was slightly incorrect To get to this deck you need to go all the way forward on Deck 15 NOT 14. Deck 14 was where the reall bridge was and the door said Crew Only.:mad:

 

Andy, Andy, Andy... you're lucky I was only one deck off with the location. :eek: Do you not recall my state of mind when we saw you in St. Thomas? Three sheets to the wind, I tell you!! :D Ahh I can almost taste the bushwackers now.

 

As we sat there admiring the beauty of this port, we noticed that the flowrider ride was deserted (I did see a line up earlier but I guess the pax must have gone back to the ship by now). And of course sitting 200 feet above sea level behind the flowrider was the Princess logoed smoke stack backdrop with a setting sun to the west of her. This was when reality hit. Our vacation was drawing to a rapid close. As I continued to ponder the world, a congo lined had formed in the pool where the 1 hour happy hour drink special had just begun.

 

 

I was totally in the congo line!!! Woohoo, there were free rum shots a the end of it. :)

[BalconyGal]

Andy, Andy, Andy... you're lucky I was only one deck off with the location. :eek: Do you not recall my state of mind when we saw you in St. Thomas? Three sheets to the wind, I tell you!! :D Ahh I can almost taste the bushwackers now.

 

 

 

I was totally in the congo line!!! Woohoo, there were free rum shots a the end of it. :)

 

I wanna go on a cruise with you, YOU SOUND LIKE MY KIND OF GIRL! :D

[coops]

I asked about the drink prices in Margaritaville 2 weeks ago and she said they add a tip on it so that was why it was 20.00 for 2 drinks. They always add tip on it no matter how many or what is ordered.

Dawn

[BalconyGal]

I asked about the drink prices in Margaritaville 2 weeks ago and she said they add a tip on it so that was why it was 20.00 for 2 drinks. They always add tip on it no matter how many or what is ordered.

Dawn

I remember they wanted $40 for a bucket of landshark last summer!! :eek:

[7x5090g]

I asked about the drink prices in Margaritaville 2 weeks ago and she said they add a tip on it so that was why it was 20.00 for 2 drinks. They always add tip on it no matter how many or what is ordered.

Dawn

 

ok at $8 per drink or $16 for 2, in order for them to charge me $20 that's a 25% tip!! :eek::mad:

 

And I even gave them a $1 for tip on top. I'VE BEEN HAD!!!!!

[7x5090g]

Andy, Andy, Andy... you're lucky I was only one deck off with the location. :eek: Do you not recall my state of mind when we saw you in St. Thomas? Three sheets to the wind, I tell you!! :D Ahh I can almost taste the bushwackers now.

 

And yes I do recall. I wasn't going to say it but now that you have brought it up... Remember the case of beer I brought on board? On a few occasions I poured about 3 cans into my 32oz heavily tinted water bottle so I can enjoy it with my lunch. :D:D

 

I was totally in the congo line!!! Woohoo, there were free rum shots a the end of it. :)

 

If we didn't have our son with us we would be totally in the line too.

[pcrum]

Thanks for the dinner menu posting. We missed the MDR this night due to eating in Crown Grill. That onion soup looks amazing. Wish I'd known it was always available when we cruised!!!

 

Your hula hoop photo is amazing...you should definitely submit it!!!

[Hollybelle]

I wanna go on a cruise with you, YOU SOUND LIKE MY KIND OF GIRL! :D

 

Let's go!! I mean really though, if you can't have fun hopping around the Caribbean, then where can you have fun?!

 

I asked about the drink prices in Margaritaville 2 weeks ago and she said they add a tip on it so that was why it was 20.00 for 2 drinks. They always add tip on it no matter how many or what is ordered.

Dawn

 

 

Just to chime in on the discussion of Margaritaville prices... some of you may think I'm off my rocker, but I don't think it's that bad. Not much more than the cruiselines charge, and in my experience you ALWAYS get better/stronger drinks at Margaritaville. For example, I have two receipts in front of me right now for comparison... on the ship we ordered one margarita and one bloody mary... total bill (with tip included): $17.25. At Margaritaville we ordered two margaritas approximately the same size as the ship ones... total bill (with tip included): 18.90.

[BalconyGal]

Let's go!! I mean really though, if you can't have fun hopping around the Caribbean, than where can you have fun?!

 

 

 

I already have two booked, pick one! :D

Just to chime in on the discussion of Margaritaville prices... some of you may think I'm off my rocker, but I don't think it's that bad. Not much more than the cruiselines charge, and in my experience you ALWAYS get better/stronger drinks at Margaritaville. For example, I have two receipts in front of me right now for comparison... on the ship we ordered one margarita and one bloody mary... total bill (with tip included): $17.25. At Margaritaville we ordered two margaritas approximately the same size as the ship ones... total bill (with tip included): 18.90.

That doesn't sound too bad really.

[7x5090g]

Just to chime in on the discussion of Margaritaville prices... some of you may think I'm off my rocker, but I don't think it's that bad. Not much more than the cruiselines charge, and in my experience you ALWAYS get better/stronger drinks at Margaritaville. For example, I have two receipts in front of me right now for comparison... on the ship we ordered one margarita and one bloody mary... total bill (with tip included): $17.25. At Margaritaville we ordered two margaritas approximately the same size as the ship ones... total bill (with tip included): 18.90.

 

Not me. I ordered a long island ice tea and a pina colada after 8 and paid $6.88 for the 2 drinks:D

[7x5090g]

By 10PM, I went to collect DS from kids camp and found out that he had a ball at the mini Olympics. Here, he was showing off his medal:

 

 

I knew I still had a long night ahead of me (Avatar was on MUTS tonight and I wanted to catch the 10:15). So I hurried him back to the cabin so DW and put him (and herself) to sleep. I then made a bee line to the Lido deck and managed to find a seat at MUTS and the movie was already 30 + minutes in (that’s was fine as I saw the beginning of the movie already):

 

 

By 11:45, I needed to get back downstairs to Club Fusion to catch James again. When I got there there was only one partially obstructed bar seat left. Sat down and ordered a pina colada from the power hours menu (paid $2.99 + 15% - vs the $8 + 25% earlier – still mad):

 

 

The show started right after my drink arrived. This was my first adult show and this was when I realized cruise directors could actually swear in front of the passengers and still got applaudedJ. The f and s words flowed freely and people were really laughing their heads off. Now the only issue I had with my seat at the bar was that the seat was directly in front of one of the bar blenders. By now I had started to curse those that ordered anything requiring a blender (CAN’T HEAR A THING when the darn thing was crushing ice). The show was, as expected, HILARIOUS. The only complaint, it was too short.

 

It ended around 12:40 and I decided to check out the late night buffet in the Horizon Court. The place was practically empty so no trouble finding a table tonight!

 

 

After eating this

 

 

 

I took a long stroll on the open deck and watched the staff do some cleaning and preparation for the final at sea day the next morning:

 

[7x5090g]

I took the aft elevator back down to my favourite deck – Promenade to walk back to the front of the ship. Pcrum was right in her review, this was one deck that was so under utilized (I didn’t mean now because it was 1:30 in the morning but even during the day no one ever used these chairs):

 

 

Ah well time to call it a night. As usual, the Patter and Pelican Press for today is attached here:

Princess Patter Day 6.pdf

Princess Pelicans Day 6.pdf

[rdsqrl]

Food question: What's that round beigy thing? And what's the whitish fish-shaped blob next to it? The shrimp are making my mouth water . . .

[lorenzod]

No meaning at all. I thought I might use an avatar and wrote about his adventure. Found this hippo in a dollar store for $1.25. I am a project manager and I do have a day job. I tried to sneak in a page or two when I had a chance (I had most notes typed up as the cruise went on so it was just a matter of cutting and pasting). No threat of divorce, YET.

 

 

 

Nikon has a 18 - 200 VR AF (so that basically is a 18 - 55 and a 55 - 200 combined) But the price is steep $800 +

 

 

 

Yes both picture # 2 and 3 were shot there. And hollybelle your information you provided that afternoon in St Thomas was slightly incorrect To get to this deck you need to go all the way forward on Deck 15 NOT 14. Deck 14 was where the reall bridge was and the door said Crew Only.:mad:

 

OK, got the hippo thing, now whats with the 7x5090g?

Marsha

[Debbierpof]

Andy you should submit your hula hoop photo to the Captain's circle photo contest!

 

I agree!!! I love that photo -- great motion!!!

[stary]

reading your last day post made me sad... i feel like i got the last-day-on-the-cruise-BLUES!!

 

Excellent review! loved reading every bit of your trip

[CruisinFinsUp]

Wow! Great review!! I just read thru the whole thing!! I'm looking forward to the rest!

Thanks much - we are on Emerald in December so I love the info and photos - lots to look forward to.

 

We are in Toronto area too - Oakville actually.

 

Thanks!:D

[7x5090g]

Food question: What's that round beigy thing? And what's the whitish fish-shaped blob next to it? The shrimp are making my mouth water . . .

 

lol.. A Chicken sandwich and the whitish fish-shaped blob was just mayonnaise!!!

[7x5090g]

OK, got the hippo thing, now whats with the 7x5090g?

Marsha

 

Back in 1997 there was a website called easysabre.com (which is now Travelocity). At that time to register they gave me a user name (as opposed to picking your own). That was the name they gave me and I have been using ever since. Almost guaranteed that no one has it due to it's cryptic nature :D

[7x5090g]

Okay it had come down to this - Last day at Sea as the Emerald steamed back to Port Everglades. Remember the Great Boat Building Contest I entered a few days agoÉ Well today was the day. The past 3 nights I had the entire family working for me to frantically put together this `BOAT`

 

Our waiter Wisoot chipped in by collecting empty water bottles for us. Our cabin Stewart Florian had to borrow a big roll of duct tape from his supervisor. And my father in law helped decorate to top deck of the boat with copies of the children menu (also courtesy of Wisoot the waiter). And we have ourselves a boat which we had named `The Noah Princess`

 

Just give me a few minutes to collect my thoughts, notes and pictures and I will present the most exciting review of the entire cruise as we bidded farewell...........

[7x5090g]

You know when you cruise is almost over when you walked into the horizon court and saw the state of these bananas.

 

 

I always wondered why cruise lines don’t order bananas in different state of ripeness so throughout the week we would get to see bananas like the ones here (delivered to our stateroom on Day 2 of the cruise)

 

 

Breakfast this morning was fast as we really need to get ready for the big race at 10:30. Shortly after grabbing a quick bite we headed back down to the stateroom to pick up our creation, the Noah Princess:

 

 

Meanwhile I rinsed off the sand from DS’ toys and laid them out to try so we could pack them later in the day.

 

 

As we made our way back to Lido with our boat, we noticed that the wall protector had been put up. This really was a horrible site as we knew real well what this meant.

 

 

[u2cruiser]

Ewww! The dreaded wall protectors :mad:

 

I go out having a real life and come back to you lot booking cruises together and everything :eek:. I want to come!

 

So much to comment on Andy Hip that I don't know where to begin......

Was that blob of mayonnaise meant to be fish shaped or is it an extraordinary accident? Looks like a mould.

 

Love Noah Princess. Cap'n looks ready for his floaty task ahead :D.

 

Good Daddy getting the toys washed. Bet DS has had a ball on this cruise. Bet he was thrilled with his medal.

 

Those drinks prices are looking very tempting. Surely they will sell far more at those prices and still make a profit.

[7x5090g]

If you don't have a strong heart, don't look at this. :eek:

 

This was the first attempt to cross the "ocean"

 

[CruiseJunkie66]

Great review Hippo. Enjoyed reading it but for some reason I can't see any of the pictures. Is there any chance you could put them out on Flickr or one of the other photo sharing sites?