Emeral Princess 2/6-16 - Just my thoughts!

[Cruzin Grandma]

Emerald Princess Review 2/6-2/16/2012

We booked this cruise in February 2011 while on board the EP. This was our 11th Princess Cruise and 19th overall.

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale on the 4th and rented a car. Spent 2 days in West Palm and drove back to FLL on the morning of the 6th. We drove directly to Port Everglades and dropped off our luggage, took the rental car back to the airport and arrived again a 11:50. Walked right past the long line and right to the Platinum embarkation area, right to the check-inline and boarded the ship by 12:05!

Upon arrival in the Horizon Court for our traditional buffet lunch, server took our drink order only to find out they are not serving Bud Lite on the Emerald Princess. While I’m not a “beer” person, SIS and BIL are and no Bud Lite was a huge problem. After asking several waiters/servers/bartenders, we knew one thing, no one could/would give us a straight answer. Had we known, we could have brought some on board. After SIS deposited a note in “Let Us Know” we were told by the Bar Manager that they were testing on the Emerald not selling Budweiser products. Not sure how long this will last, but SIL and BIL were not happy!!

We were very impressed with the overall food in the buffet and in the MDR. The last couple of cruises it was just OK, but this cruise I felt it was very good. We ate in the Crown Grill and while our server was very attentive he needed an assistant when it came time to serving the food. We also did Sabatini’s but will were disappointed. I realize the time between courses is quite long, but with the new menu, there is way too much time.

We saw Steve Moris twice and he was really good.

The repeat cruiser party to Platinum and Elite was very well organized and plenty of beverages and snacks to go around.

Our cabin steward, Dusit, was very efficient and took care of our requests (wine glasses and ice).

In Antigua, we just did a little shopping at the port, this is not one of my favorite ports. St. Lucia, we booked the trip to Jalousie Beach with Spencer Ambrose. Spencer delivered everything advertised and the beach was beautiful, food was good. The boat ride to the beach was pretty rough. Barbados we didn’t have anything organized. On St. Kitts, we booked a catarman trip recommend here on Cruise Critic and it was very very good. I believe Leeward cruises. The main drawback was DH was battling a migrane and decided to stay on ship and rest, we were charged $48 even though he didn’t make it. Yes, I knew ahead of time there was no cancellation policy, but you would think if 3 of the 4 showed up and you had met your minimum, you would not charge for someone who could not make the trip. If for no other reason than to get good press. In St. Thomas, we took a cab into town and did some trinket shopping for the grandkids, but we had a good time.

I really enjoyed this cruise, and am booked for February 2013 on the Emerald, again.