I'm a Royal DIE HARD but I did enjoy the Emerald Princess!

[ribarfly]

My Princess Cruise Review from a Royal Die Hard!

Emerald Princess sailing April 11, 2010

After sailing 28-times with Royal Caribbean we just returned from our very first Princess cruise enjoying 7-wonderful days in the Eastern Caribbean aboard the Emerald Princess.

Travel Day/Pre-Stay:

 

We flew on Jet Blue from Boston, Ma. 4/10/10 @ 6:00am arriving in Ft Lauderdale around 10:00am, our pre hotel stay was at the Comfort Inn with shuttle service to the hotel, unfortunately check in time was not until 3:00pm so they stored our luggage and we head off to shopping malls located next to the hotel. The hotel was very nice the room was clean and the bed was comfortable, Internet service was complementary and there was a nice pool area with a bar to hangout and they we’re grilling hot dogs & hamburgers. On Saturday night our cruise critic group had a pre-dinner get together @ the Bahia Cabana restaurant we had about 6-couples the food was good and we all had a great time. The hotel talked us into using their shuttle to the restaurant for $50.00 round trip, next time I will use a cab as I am sure that it would have been about $15.00 cheaper. On Sunday morning the hotel served a continental breakfast and I made a reservation for the free shuttle to the pier for 10:00am. I would recommend the Comfort Inn for anyone staying in Ft Lauderdale.

Embarkation Day:

 

We arrived at the pier around 10:30am dropped off our bags with the porters and headed into the terminal, many people had the same idea of arriving early so Princess gave us staging number 1 and sat us down in groups. Boarding started @ 12:00pm calling our group first, check in was very fast but the terminal staff we’re not very friendly just right down to business in fact some were a little rude. I will say Princess’s boarding process was better & faster than RCL. We were on the ship by 12:15pm and to our surprise our cabin was ready, this is another thing Princess does better than RCL, it was nice to go to the buffet without lugging our carryon with us.

Our Stateroom:

 

We had a balcony stateroom on Baja deck-11 cabin-B242 port side forward, the cabin was very nice with plenty of closet space and the bed was very comfortable, the balcony was nice and it was one of the decks that were covered, we had a large fridge to keep the beers cold and a nice flat screen TV basically the same programming as RCL except for the retro show the Love Boat, the only negative was that you could not access your seapass account on the TV. Our room steward was Raual who we did not meet until day-2 when I went to look for him. He was a nice guy but didn’t want to spend time talking with you, the service was ok but nothing spectacular, we even noticed that other housekeeping staff would not talk to you as you passed them in the halls. One afternoon I tried to get some dry pool towels from the room steward and he said very abruptly “They are only delivered at night” and walked away. RCL staff has Princess beat on this one and the main reason is that unlike RCL Princess automatically adds their tips to your seapass so the staff knows what they are getting. On RCL the staff will go out of their way to make sure you are happy with their service and on RCL we have always given more then what they recommend due to outstanding service.

The Ship:

 

The ship is beautiful and I would compare it to the RCL Vision Class, we spent most of the first day exploring the ship and we did find it a bit difficult navigating the ship as some areas were hard to get to but after day-2 we had it down pretty good so finding things were a lot easier. Some of our favorite places were Horizon Terrace, Movies Under the Stars, Crooners for the martinis, Explorers Lounge, Club Fusion, Reef Pool and Horizon Court. The smoking policy was quite strict on this ship; smoking was limited to deck-11 port side fwd. the port side of Horizon Court, 4-nights in the Casino, Speak Easy Cigar Bar & balconies. I found it hard to believe that if you purchased cartons of cigarettes on board they held them until the end of the cruise but if you purchased cigarettes in the ports you could bring them back to your cabin. I want to note that no matter how many signs are posted or announcements Princess makes about not saving seats people seem to be oblivious to the rules CHAIR HOGS were out in force at the pool decks and in the theater.

Entertainment:

 

The theater was a bit small and we found that if you did not get there at least 40 to 30 minutes prior to the show you couldn’t find a seat. We went to 1 of the 3 production shows and it was pretty bad, the singers would have never made it thru American Idol in fact some of the passengers that sang at the Karaoke were a lot better. Without a doubt RCL beats Princess for production shows thank God for the comedy shows they were excellent. Cruise Director Tim Donovan and his staff were excellent and we did enjoy all the game shows and trivia put on by the cruise director staff, they put on a show called London Pub Night that was very funny. We sang Karaoke and they had a great selection of songs, Princess has RCL beat on this one. A big favorite of ours was MUTS or movies under the stars real great to see a late night movie like Sherlock Holmes, Nine, Avatar, Blind Side and Did You Hear About The Morgan’s. The Casino was not as big as what you would find on RCL and we didn’t hear of as many big winners as you do on RCL, there were at least 3-nights smoking was not allowed in the Casino it was nice but I did noticed that the casino was not as busy on those nights.

Dinning & Bars:

 

We found for the most part the food was excellent; we had early seating 6:00pm but only made it to the dinning room one night. For the most part we ate at Horizon Court or Café Caribe, which stayed open until 11:00pm, a big plus over RCL as was the food choices, the International Café for coffee and Escapes Café for quick snacks was located on deck 5. I read so much on the boards that the coffee onboard Princess was just terrible to the contrary we find it quite good compared to RCL. As for the bars we found the drinks to be watered down, I had quite a few Vodka & Cranberries the wife was drinking Martinis and we never got a buzz, never had that problem on RCL. We also found that the bar staff was not as friendly as what we have experienced on RCL.

Ports of Call & Ship Shore Excursions:

 

Princess Cays - This is just a day at the beach with a barbecue lunch on the island operated by Princess, ship was at anchor and the passengers are tendered to the island. Weather was a mostly cloudy 80deg. with intermittent showers and occasional sunshine. We made a quick visit and went back to the pool on the ship.

St Maarten – Arriving at port there were 5-ships docked including the RCL Oasis, Celebrity Solstice, Carnival Dream and a small ship the Sun Shadow so the port was quite busy and crowed. Weather was partly cloudy 80deg. we booked the Orient Bay beach Rendezvous thru Princess having been there many times it was excellent as always and I highly recommend this tour.

St Thomas - The shipped docked at Crown Bay and the Emerald was the only ship in port that day the weather was mostly cloudy 80deg. with showers in the am but cleared later in the day. We booked a ship excursion Kayak, Hike & Snorkel Adventure and had a great time I highly recommend this tour.

Grand Turk – We docked along side the Carnival Glory the weather was partly cloudy 80deg. We booked a ship shore excursion, horse back riding along the beach and had a great time, I highly recommend this tour. We head back to the port and stop at Margaretaville, this is the only bar close to port on the Island and it is a big tourist Rip Off, a small plate of nachos 1-beer and a small margarita $36.00, a bucket of 7-beers $40.00. This will be the one and only time we will go to Grand Turk.

Debarkation:

 

Princess does this very well, you are given your colored luggage tags and told what time and where to meet to get off the ship, no announcements are made if you miss your time then you will wait till the last group gets off. Our meeting place was in the Casino debark time was 9:00am they had coffee and juice and the Speak Easy cigar bar was open so you could have a smoke. We were escorted off at 9:01am caught a cab to the airport $17.00 I gave the driver $20.00, checked in with Jet Blue curb side, flight left on time at 1:40pm arrived at home 6:30pm.

Overall Impression:

 

Like I said we have been on 28-sailings with Royal Caribbean and we are big fans and this was our first Princess cruise, overall I think the two lines are equal, some things RCL does better and some things Princess does better the bottom line is that we will definitely cruise with Princess again. I would also like to note that although Princess does not recognize Cruise Critic like RCL does I contacted Princess prior to our sailing requesting space for our CC group Meet & Greet and to possibly have a ship staff member greet us, they were very helpful and the Cruise Director Tim Donovan took time out of his busy day to stop by and say hello, so a big thanks to Tim & Princess for that. And lastly we are grateful for all the wonderful new friends we have made sailing on the Emerald.

Ron :D

[olemissreb]

We're thinking we might do Princess for Alaska in a couple of years. The last time DH and I were on Princess was about 20 years ago and we felt like the youngest ones on the ship (we were in our mid 20's). What is the age range these days and can you tell me anything about the kids program compared to RCI?

 

We're also looking at Celebrity and RCI for Alaska, so Princess is not written in stone.:)

[lovetotravel06]

overall I think the two lines are equal

 

Perhaps this is true and certainly how you feel, but....after reading your review? I'd have to say it favored RCL a good bit! :)

[ribarfly]

We're thinking we might do Princess for Alaska in a couple of years. The last time DH and I were on Princess was about 20 years ago and we felt like the youngest ones on the ship (we were in our mid 20's). What is the age range these days and can you tell me anything about the kids program compared to RCI?

 

We're also looking at Celebrity and RCI for Alaska, so Princess is not written in stone.:)

 

I am in my early 50’s and I would say that the age group was the same as what we have had on RCL, I had heard the same thing but of course all not true. As far as the kids programs there were about 120 on this sailing and we never really saw them so either they kept them very busy or locked up somewhere :eek:....:rolleyes: JMO....but I think the Radiance class is about the best ship to do Alaska, the ships have glass every where so you are always seeing the scenery.

Ron :)

[MikeNJ1109]

Perhaps this is true and certainly how you feel, but....after reading your review? I'd have to say it favored RCL a good bit! :)

 

We've been on five RCCL cruises (Explorer, Brilliance, Mariner, Voyager and Liberty / all to the Carribean), and one NCL cruise (Dawn to Bermuda) --- and frankly, we have loved every single cruise.

 

Our philosophy has been that it's NOT the specific cruise line that's important, but rather the act of cruising that is the most important thing. As long as the cabin is comfortable, the food edible, the service acceptable, and ports / days at sea interesting, then "All Is Right With The World".

 

In our experience, Royal and Norwegian each had items we loved and items we didn't. For Royal, we love the Royal Promenade on the Voyager class ships, and the expansive glass of the Radiance class ships ... the Windjammer beats most other buffets ... the beds are about as comfortable as we've ever been on, and the Staff has always been outstanding. For Norwegian, on our Dawn / Bermuda cruise, we fell in love with their Freestyle concept -- and that was before RCCL began MTD, and the staff was the equal to to those we have met on RCCL cruises, and their prices (on our cruise at least) were better then Royal's.

 

We are sailing again on the Dawn on May 9th (can't believe in less then 2 weeks)... and have a reservation on RCCL's Freedom for November 2011 (much too long a wait) ... and frankly we know we're going to have a blast on both cruises.

 

Bottom line ... no reason to feel guilty. Just have fun!!

 

Michael and Silke

[ribarfly]

Perhaps this is true and certainly how you feel, but....after reading your review? I'd have to say it favored RCL a good bit! :)

 

 

Gee……I thought I was pretty unbiased with my comparison :confused: you did noticed I said I was a DIE HARD RCL Fan :rolleyes:

Ron :)

[ribarfly]

We've been on five RCCL cruises (Explorer, Brilliance, Mariner, Voyager and Liberty / all to the Carribean), and one NCL cruise (Dawn to Bermuda) --- and frankly, we have loved every single cruise.

 

Our philosophy has been that it's NOT the specific cruise line that's important, but rather the act of cruising that is the most important thing. As long as the cabin is comfortable, the food edible, the service acceptable, and ports / days at sea interesting, then "All Is Right With The World".

 

In our experience, Royal and Norwegian each had items we loved and items we didn't. For Royal, we love the Royal Promenade on the Voyager class ships, and the expansive glass of the Radiance class ships ... the Windjammer beats most other buffets ... the beds are about as comfortable as we've ever been on, and the Staff has always been outstanding. For Norwegian, on our Dawn / Bermuda cruise, we fell in love with their Freestyle concept -- and that was before RCCL began MTD, and the staff was the equal to to those we have met on RCCL cruises, and their prices (on our cruise at least) were better then Royal's.

 

We are sailing again on the Dawn on May 9th (can't believe in less then 2 weeks)... and have a reservation on RCCL's Freedom for November 2011 (much too long a wait) ... and frankly we know we're going to have a blast on both cruises.

 

Bottom line ... no reason to feel guilty. Just have fun!!

 

Michael and Silke

 

 

I love your attitude and that’s where we are at now. Glad to hear you liked Norwegian we will be on the NCL Spirit in September, I hear so many negative things about NCL and the only way to get the truth is to cruise the line yourself. Have a great time on your upcoming cruises.

Ron :)

[cruiserbryce]

glad you had a good trip...we prefer RC but have been on a couple princess cruises and loved them

[setsail]

Sounds like you had a great cruise. Vodka & cranberry juice....YUM

[cruiserone]

You just sailed one of my favorite ships on the ocean!!! Our friends liked it so much they are sailing her again in February. Just off her about 2 months ago and had the same itinerary.

 

Our first cruise was Song of America, RCCL. We have sailed with Princess the past few years and decided it was time to go back to RCCL for the next cruise, Serenade of the Seas.

 

Comparing both cruise lines in difficult. I find the main food choices on Princess much better. I find the salad buffet, for lunch in the main dining room on RCCL fantastick. I like the shops better on RCCL and I like the bars better on Princess (great bartenders). Contrary to your experience with your cabin steward, ours on Princess was quiet but very attentive and charming. The best cabin steward we ever had was on RCCL, he even cleaned my shoes after climbing Dunn's River Falls.

 

We have also sailed with Celebrity and enjoyed our cruises with them. Great food and wonderful ships. Our cruise after this one will be with Celebrity.

 

It is good to compare apples to apples once in a while. Keeps the mind fresh.

 

Happy Sailing, where ever you go.........as long as it is on a cruise ship!!! :D

[klingoncruiser]

Always good to try other lines. Glad you found Princess to your liking.

[CruisinMommas]

Ron,

I liked your comparison of the two lines. We will be on the Caribbean Princess in a short time, which we are anxiously awaiting. I too find the lines more alike than different.

I agree that RCL must make it a mandatory part of the job that all of its crew speak/ greet the passengers. Very seldom have I walked past a crew member without getting a hello.

We will be sailing on RCL this fall so cruising is in our blood.

We only got to talk briefly on the EX in 12/08 so maybe we will meet again in the future.

[JohnGaltny]

We've been on five RCCL cruises (Explorer, Brilliance, Mariner, Voyager and Liberty / all to the Carribean), and one NCL cruise (Dawn to Bermuda) --- and frankly, we have loved every single cruise.

 

Our philosophy has been that it's NOT the specific cruise line that's important, but rather the act of cruising that is the most important thing. As long as the cabin is comfortable, the food edible, the service acceptable, and ports / days at sea interesting, then "All Is Right With The World".

 

In our experience, Royal and Norwegian each had items we loved and items we didn't. For Royal, we love the Royal Promenade on the Voyager class ships, and the expansive glass of the Radiance class ships ... the Windjammer beats most other buffets ... the beds are about as comfortable as we've ever been on, and the Staff has always been outstanding. For Norwegian, on our Dawn / Bermuda cruise, we fell in love with their Freestyle concept -- and that was before RCCL began MTD, and the staff was the equal to to those we have met on RCCL cruises, and their prices (on our cruise at least) were better then Royal's.

 

We are sailing again on the Dawn on May 9th (can't believe in less then 2 weeks)... and have a reservation on RCCL's Freedom for November 2011 (much too long a wait) ... and frankly we know we're going to have a blast on both cruises.

 

Bottom line ... no reason to feel guilty. Just have fun!!

 

Michael and Silke

 

This, especially the red section.

 

We've been on both and, although they each do some things better than the other, the two are pretty much equal.

 

 

RON & SUE - I though you did a great, impartial, comparison. Nice work.

[ribarfly]

Sounds like you had a great cruise. Vodka & cranberry juice....YUM

 

 

Hi Al,

Yep my favorite Absoult with cranberry on the rocks, we can have a few together in December on the Liberty ;)

Ron :)

[ribarfly]

You just sailed one of my favorite ships on the ocean!!! Our friends liked it so much they are sailing her again in February. Just off her about 2 months ago and had the same itinerary.

 

Our first cruise was Song of America, RCCL. We have sailed with Princess the past few years and decided it was time to go back to RCCL for the next cruise, Serenade of the Seas.

 

Comparing both cruise lines in difficult. I find the main food choices on Princess much better. I find the salad buffet, for lunch in the main dining room on RCCL fantastick. I like the shops better on RCCL and I like the bars better on Princess (great bartenders). Contrary to your experience with your cabin steward, ours on Princess was quiet but very attentive and charming. The best cabin steward we ever had was on RCCL, he even cleaned my shoes after climbing Dunn's River Falls.

 

We have also sailed with Celebrity and enjoyed our cruises with them. Great food and wonderful ships. Our cruise after this one will be with Celebrity.

 

It is good to compare apples to apples once in a while. Keeps the mind fresh.

 

Happy Sailing, where ever you go.........as long as it is on a cruise ship!!! :D

 

 

I haven’t sailed with Celebrity yet but our plan is to try them all out now ;)

Ron :)

[ribarfly]

Ron,

I liked your comparison of the two lines. We will be on the Caribbean Princess in a short time, which we are anxiously awaiting. I too find the lines more alike than different.

I agree that RCL must make it a mandatory part of the job that all of its crew speak/ greet the passengers. Very seldom have I walked past a crew member without getting a hello.

We will be sailing on RCL this fall so cruising is in our blood.

We only got to talk briefly on the EX in 12/08 so maybe we will meet again in the future.

 

Hi CruisinMommas,

We are sailing on the Liberty 12/5/10 and it’s turning into a 12/08 Explorer reunion, so far about 5 couples that we all sailed with are going, it would be great if you could join us check out the roll call.

Ron :)

[ribarfly]

This, especially the red section.

 

We've been on both and, although they each do some things better than the other, the two are pretty much equal.

 

 

RON & SUE - I though you did a great, impartial, comparison. Nice work.

 

 

 

Hi John,

Thanks……Great minds think alike ;)

Ron :)

[lovetotravel06]

Gee……I thought I was pretty unbiased with my comparison :confused: you did noticed I said I was a DIE HARD RCL Fan :rolleyes:

Ron :)

 

I didnt infer any bias. I simply read it and thought that the positives/negatives you mentioned, when all said and done, favored RCL (IMHO). Rightly so I might add! :D I suppose that could be my own opinion and the value I put on each positive/negative.

 

Maybe I wasn't clear enough (perhaps I'm not clear yet, HA). Glad you enjoyed Princess. :)

[KEG21552]

Ron

We also sailed on the Emerald after 7 RCL cruises. Basically I agree with what you posted. The Emerald was very nice (we had an EXCELLENT steward), but overall I prefer RCL. Just a comfort level I guess.

On Grand Turk, we never stepped foot in Margaritaville (and we are huge Buffett fans). We rented a golf cart, explored the island on our own and ended up at Jack's Shack drinking beer and eating burgers on the beach. One of our favorite days!

Karen

[John Henry on CC]

I didnt infer any bias. I simply read it and thought that the positives/negatives you mentioned, when all said and done, favored RCL (IMHO). Rightly so I might add! :D I suppose that could be my own opinion and the value I put on each positive/negative.

 

Maybe I wasn't clear enough (perhaps I'm not clear yet, HA). Glad you enjoyed Princess. :)

I read your post exactly as you intended. You're ok! ;)

[MAZANDSTEVE]

Thanks for the review, nice to see the comparisons.

[CruisinMommas]

Hi CruisinMommas,

We are sailing on the Liberty 12/5/10 and it’s turning into a 12/08 Explorer reunion, so far about 5 couples that we all sailed with are going, it would be great if you could join us check out the roll call.

Ron :)

Angie, told me sounds like fun. We are sailing a month before that. We can not swing another cruise that soon. As I told her the Liberty will not be the same after that cruise.