Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Quick review of 9-12 Emerald sailing - Western Caribbean

NthernLgts

By NthernLgts,
in Princess Cruises

Recommended Posts

NthernLgts Great Review Rare

NthernLgts

Posted
Posted

Hey everyone... we just got back from our 9-12 sailing of the Emerald Princess/Western Caribbean. In a nutshell, everything was very good. It had been 3 years since our last cruise on the CB. This ship is 90% identical to the Caribbean Princess, so we were very familiar with the basic layout. The ship is beautiful, the crew extremely helpful and friendly. All in all, a very good experience. We did the 8:15 traditional dining, which I dont think we will ever do again. Its just too late. Having said that, we didnt change because we really loved our waiter Arman & Jr. waiter Roselle, both from the Phillippines. This was sort of how the cruise went, even the things we didnt like had an up side.

 

The stops were as expected, Princess Cays nice (with some nice upgrades since our last stop). More chairs, less coral to walk over, etc...

 

Ocho Rios was... well, Ocho Rios. But we did finally do Dunns River Falls. It was worth it for a one time experience. By the way...if any of you find some of that Sangster's Jamaican Rum cream in one of the local stores...by all means go for it. Absolutely wonderful! We hired a cab to give us a local tour, which was fine, but again, this was Ocho Rios. Margaritaville...unbelieveably over priced. We were looking forward to stopping back there this time, but we will likely not stop back again.

 

Grand Cayman, always beautiful. We independently booked a stingray city & snorkeling tour thru Captain Marvin's for $39.99/pp. That was really fun & we WOULD likely do it again.

 

Cozumel... always love it. The pier area is very nice now has been developed significantly since the last time we were here 3 years ago. This time we rented a cab for 4 hours ($70.00). Our driver Miguel gave us a private tour of the entire island, took us shopping, and to some lesser crowded public beaches, showed us where the locals take their families for beach time. The "No name bar" right across the street from the pier shopping area was nice & had great mojito's. I love Cozumel.

 

Dining... food was good to very good. It seemed like the portions were slightly smaller than last time, but our waiter was always there offering a second entree to "sample". Arman...you were great! Dress.... we saw LOTS of jeans in the main dining room. The amount of jeans in a very nice dining room was a bit disappointing (just my opinion). We did see someone get turned away for trying to wear a tank top in the dining room. No specialty restaurants this trip for us.

 

Deals .... got two one Liter bottles of Crown for $34.95 in the gift shop. Liquor prices in the duty free shop were still good.

 

We had a great time and really didnt notice any slipping of service. We did the usual FCC also. Questions?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
NthernLgts Great Review Rare

NthernLgts

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Did you have any issues with the mattress? I have been reading reviews and it seems like they are an issue for a lot of people.

 

We stayed in a Mini Suite and I do not know if this affects the type of mattresses, but having said that, I thought the beds were more comfortable than we've had in the past on Princess. I thought they were fine. My wife did have a bit of an issue, but as I said, they were better than in years past. We did not ask for an egg crate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
geoherb "Live from...." Rare

geoherb

Posted
Posted

Thanks for posting. We're going to Ocho Rios on the Island Princess in December. We were planning on staying on the ship--but the mention of rum cream makes me want to try it. Are there stores that sell it on the dock? We definitely don't want to go back to the downtown area.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Lin336

Lin336

Posted
Posted

We were on the 9/5 & 9/12 sailing & had a table for 2, traditional second seating (#139). There was one other table for 2 in our section next that was next to us but far enough away that each table could conduct conversations between themselves. Our experience in previous cruises of having a set table for 2 in Anytime was different - tables much closer together.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mollyanne

mollyanne

Posted
Posted
Thanks for posting. We're going to Ocho Rios on the Island Princess in December. We were planning on staying on the ship--but the mention of rum cream makes me want to try it. Are there stores that sell it on the dock? We definitely don't want to go back to the downtown area.

 

No stores at the pier - we docked at the old one (James Bond?). Can't say I blame you regarding venturing into downtown...I didn't want to do it either - but DH wanted to go so we did. Once you get past the throngs at the gate it wasn't too bad - but we took a cab back as it was very hot. Downtown doesn't have much to offer. We did go to Margaritaville and had a blast - first time ever in one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mollyanne

mollyanne

Posted
Posted
The mattress in E730 was very comfortable (9/5 & 9/12 sailings). We did ask for an eggcrate - which was a mattress pad of sorts - but this was the most comfortable bed we have had on Princess.

 

We were in E724 - so "saw" you a few times on your balcony - sure you loved it! We found the bed to be extremely comfortable - no egg crate - don't know if the beds in the minis are a little better or just because they're newer? However, I never have problems sleeping on a ship!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mollyanne

mollyanne

Posted
Posted
Hey everyone... we just got back from our 9-12 sailing of the Emerald Princess/Western Caribbean. In a nutshell, everything was very good. It had been 3 years since our last cruise on the CB. This ship is 90% identical to the Caribbean Princess, so we were very familiar with the basic layout. The ship is beautiful, the crew extremely helpful and friendly. All in all, a very good experience. We did the 8:15 traditional dining, which I dont think we will ever do again. Its just too late. Having said that, we didnt change because we really loved our waiter Arman & Jr. waiter Roselle, both from the Phillippines. This was sort of how the cruise went, even the things we didnt like had an up side.

 

The stops were as expected, Princess Cays nice (with some nice upgrades since our last stop). More chairs, less coral to walk over, etc...

 

Ocho Rios was... well, Ocho Rios. But we did finally do Dunns River Falls. It was worth it for a one time experience. By the way...if any of you find some of that Sangster's Jamaican Rum cream in one of the local stores...by all means go for it. Absolutely wonderful! We hired a cab to give us a local tour, which was fine, but again, this was Ocho Rios. Margaritaville...unbelieveably over priced. We were looking forward to stopping back there this time, but we will likely not stop back again.

 

Grand Cayman, always beautiful. We independently booked a stingray city & snorkeling tour thru Captain Marvin's for $39.99/pp. That was really fun & we WOULD likely do it again.

 

Cozumel... always love it. The pier area is very nice now has been developed significantly since the last time we were here 3 years ago. This time we rented a cab for 4 hours ($70.00). Our driver Miguel gave us a private tour of the entire island, took us shopping, and to some lesser crowded public beaches, showed us where the locals take their families for beach time. The "No name bar" right across the street from the pier shopping area was nice & had great mojito's. I love Cozumel.

 

Dining... food was good to very good. It seemed like the portions were slightly smaller than last time, but our waiter was always there offering a second entree to "sample". Arman...you were great! Dress.... we saw LOTS of jeans in the main dining room. The amount of jeans in a very nice dining room was a bit disappointing (just my opinion). We did see someone get turned away for trying to wear a tank top in the dining room. No specialty restaurants this trip for us.

 

Deals .... got two one Liter bottles of Crown for $34.95 in the gift shop. Liquor prices in the duty free shop were still good.

 

We had a great time and really didnt notice any slipping of service. We did the usual FCC also. Questions?

 

We also had Arman and Roselle - they were great! She was so much fun and had a great sense of humor. He was so professional. Loved them both.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
NthernLgts Great Review Rare

NthernLgts

Posted
  • Author
Posted
We also had Arman and Roselle - they were great! She was so much fun and had a great sense of humor. He was so professional. Loved them both.

 

Mollyanne... we actually got Roselle to sing to us! She has a wonderful voice!

 

Geoherb.... we did not check any of the local shops for the rum cream. Our cab driver took us to a shop in town. It was nice but small. We felt pretty safe...but as I said... this is Ocho Rios. If you find the Sangster's, buy two. We bought a liter of the original flavor, plus two small bottles. I never saw it in any other port, nor in the ships gift shop.

 

Murphy.... I did notice a few tables for two in traditional dining. Not many, but some.

 

One other "good deal" worth mentioning. Most of the ships bars had a $2.99 beer special from 8pm till close. Becks, Dos Equis, and I think Bud & Bud Light, maybe one other domestic.

 

Also, the pizza up on deck 15 (outside) is fabulous....the station was open from 11 am until midnight.

 

One last comment on the dress code. While we did see a lot more jeans during the non-formal nights I have to say I also saw A LOT more men in tuxes on formal nights than we did on the CB 3 years ago and 5 years ago.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
AmberTeka

AmberTeka

Posted
Posted

Did you participate in any ship activities? My husband and I enjoy playing Trivia and such. Were the production shows good if you saw any? We are sailing on the Crown Princess in six weeks or so..and I understand they are sister ships. As for the few two person tables in traditional dining...can they be reserved pre cruise? Or is it begging the Maitre'D? or luck? This cruise is celebrating our 38th wedding anniversary. We have sailed on HAL, Celebrity, NCL, Carnival..loved them all. New to Princess...we just kept hearing such good things about it..and now we are sailing soon!! Excitment grows!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
NthernLgts Great Review Rare

NthernLgts

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Did you participate in any ship activities? My husband and I enjoy playing Trivia and such. Were the production shows good if you saw any? We are sailing on the Crown Princess in six weeks or so..and I understand they are sister ships. As for the few two person tables in traditional dining...can they be reserved pre cruise? Or is it begging the Maitre'D? or luck? This cruise is celebrating our 38th wedding anniversary. We have sailed on HAL, Celebrity, NCL, Carnival..loved them all. New to Princess...we just kept hearing such good things about it..and now we are sailing soon!! Excitment grows!!!

 

We did not see any of the production shows. We did catch a movie on MUTS, which was nice. Did Skywalkers brifely a few times at night. I spent at least an hour to an hour and a half at the gym every day too. This was usually somewhere between 5 & 7 pm. Shows & activities in the evening for us were affected a lot by the late seating for dinner. We never got out of dinner till 10pm. Its one reason we wouldnt do it again (disclaimer.... perhaps the Mrs. will listen next time ...but dont tell her I said that..lol). We did catch Bert Stratton again. He was good.

 

One bit of advice...learn what bank of elevators to use when you leave your stateroom and you will find navigating the ship much easier. Enjoy your cruise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
zacc

zacc

Posted
Posted

We were on this same cruise. Just a footnote about late traditional dining. We also had it and were usually one of the last to leave the dining room. Never missed any show we wanted to see. Had time to spare and always got a seat with little problem. Can't explain the difference but enjoy your cruise!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • ANNOUNCEMENT: Set Sail on Sun Princess®
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...