Emerald Princess Eastern Caribbean Questions

[jimmmbobb]

We are sailing on Emerald Princess January 28 and are curious about the cruise and its ports. Would any recent cruisers care to share on their experience...?

Is Sabatini's really good? How are the main dining rooms? How were the shows? What SHOULD we do? What SHOULD we avoid? Any issues with...St Lucia....St Kitts....Antigua...Barbados? We've been to St Thomas.

 

On Princess Cay...how were the adult cabanas?

[Kamloops50]

We are sailing on Emerald Princess January 28 and are curious about the cruise and its ports. Would any recent cruisers care to share on their experience...?

Is Sabatini's really good? How are the main dining rooms? How were the shows? What SHOULD we do? What SHOULD we avoid? Any issues with...St Lucia....St Kitts....Antigua...Barbados? We've been to St Thomas.

 

On Princess Cay...how were the adult cabanas?

 

There isn't anything that I would avoid that you mentioned.

[jimmmbobb]

Thanks for your response...:)

[OCruisers]

We are sailing on Emerald Princess January 28 and are curious about the cruise and its ports. Would any recent cruisers care to share on their experience...?

Is Sabatini's really good? How are the main dining rooms? How were the shows? What SHOULD we do? What SHOULD we avoid? Any issues with...St Lucia....St Kitts....Antigua...Barbados? We've been to St Thomas.

 

On Princess Cay...how were the adult cabanas?

 

 

You have a great itinerary. No port stops to be avoided. We love Emerald ... great ship and cruised on her January 13 for 20 nights. :)

Sabatini's is good. Northern Italian food.

We were basically happy with the food in the MDR and could always find something on the menu we liked.

Crooner's was our favorite for lounge entertainment in the evenings.

Weather in January at Princess Cay can be very iffy. I wouldn't book a cabana.

 

Expect to have a wonderful time. :D

 

LuLu

~~~

[PescadoAmarillo]

We're currently on the Emerald Princess and I'm blogging about it. Today we start the Eastern Caribbean. You may be able to glean some interesting info from it.

http://www.pescadoamarillo.blogspot.com

[chrysalis]

We're currently on the Emerald Princess and I'm blogging about it. Today we start the Eastern Caribbean. You may be able to glean some interesting info from it.

http://www.pescadoamarillo.blogspot.com

 

We were aboard the Emerald in late Nov/early December and had a great cruise. Will be back aboard for 20 days in March/April.:)

 

Always a great ship and crew.

[eclue]

If you like the beach, go to Turner's Beach in Antigua.....go snorkling in Barbados.....Gina has a sail and snorkle that is fantastic but need to book way in advance....

that is the very best itinerary and ship.

eclue;)

[Gingee]

A coworker was due on the Emerald today. Unfortunately their plane got cancelled and they will be meeting the cruise ship in St. Kitts.

[jimmmbobb]

Is your concern on the cabana...cold weather or something else? I have been reading your blog...Thanks for the trip ideas..

Edited January 8, 2014 by jimmmbobb

[toberman]

Is your concern on the cabana...cold weather or something else?

 

Prob the weather... cold, windy, rainy etc. I believe that if you book anything on 'the Cays' and you decide not to go over on the tender, the fee is non-refundable (unless, of course, the ship doesn't stop there).

[OCruisers]

Prob the weather... cold, windy, rainy etc. I believe that if you book anything on 'the Cays' and you decide not to go over on the tender, the fee is non-refundable (unless, of course, the ship doesn't stop there).

 

You're right! The cabana is non-refundable except if the port is missed.

Don't get stuck with a cabana on a cold, windy, or rainy day.

 

The weather at Princess Cays is very iffy in Jan/Feb. The best you can hope for is a sunny day.

The water that time of year is always way too cold for us even on a sunny day that time of year.

 

Still, we never mind having a port stop there. Sunny days can still be fun. We especially enjoy going to the Banana Beach Bar. :)

 

LuLu

~~~~

[toberman]

You're right! The cabana is non-refundable except if the port is missed.

Don't get stuck with a cabana on a cold, windy, or rainy day.

 

Thanks for the confirmation.

[Times Prince]

We are sailing on Emerald Princess January 28 and are curious about the cruise and its ports. Would any recent cruisers care to share on their experience...?

...

What SHOULD we do? What SHOULD we avoid? Any issues with...St Lucia....St Kitts....Antigua...Barbados? We've been to St Thomas.

We've done that itinerary twice.

 

St., Lucia - mixed results. Whale watching (supposedly 90% successful) was a bust for us, but scenic nonetheless. Snorkeling on another excursion was close to land and was only average.

 

St. Kitts - We've ended up just walking around both times. Some interesting stores and architecture inland from the shopping mall.

 

Antigua - Nelson's Dockyard (English Harbor) is THE best historical site we've seen in the Caribbean. Princess's tour was good, but we could have used more time at the dockyard, itself.

 

Barbados - We've done the snorkeling with turtles etc. tour twice and enjoyed both times. Big sea turtles as opposed to little ones off of St. Thomas.

 

That's our experience.

[Rosethorn40]

You are in for what should be a wonderful cruise. We have done this itinerary twice (Once on the Sun and in 2009 on the Emerald), and are trying the Southern 10-day in late February.

 

St. Kitts-My favorite Island. Much more lush than St. Thomas. It depends on your interest but you can take a scenic train ride that is quite nice. It has both open carriages with a top for shade or interior carriage with large picture windows that is air conditioned if it's too hot. If you are feeling adventurous take the ferry to Nevis, a truly unspoiled island that was the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton. There is also a lovely Botanical Garden that is opened for tours. You would need to take a taxi to get there (That's after the ferry drops you off at Charles Town), or the tour through Princess. Been to St Kitts 4 times and each time everyone we met was friendly. Prices are high compared to other islands for souvenirs. This is also a more conservative island in general. If you are there on a Sunday expect a number of stores away from the pier to be closed.

 

 

St. Lucia-A popular tour is a catamaran to the Pitons with a bus ride back. The bus ride is long and makes a lot of stops for shopping, so if you would like to see the Pitons try to find a round trip catamaran tour. My personal

experience has been that the vendors are very pushy in St Lucia.

 

 

Antigua-One of the best tours we have done on any island was a 4x4 that gave us a good overview of the island, free time at the dockyards, and some beach time. If just hanging at a beach is your thing there are lots to choose from-they say that Antigua has 365 beaches, one for each day of the year. We have been twice. The first time the vendors were very aggressive, scary aggressive, but the 2nd time everyone we met was friendly and welcoming.

 

Barbados-Lots to choose from, we did swimming with the sea turtles which was great. We have also done tours of a "Great House" (From plantation days) that was okay, there are Rum Factory tours. What you can't do is go swimming on the Atlantic side of the island. People are very friendly.

[whataboutport]

You are in for what should be a wonderful cruise. We have done this itinerary twice (Once on the Sun and in 2009 on the Emerald), and are trying the Southern 10-day in late February.

 

St. Kitts-My favorite Island. Much more lush than St. Thomas. It depends on your interest but you can take a scenic train ride that is quite nice. It has both open carriages with a top for shade or interior carriage with large picture windows that is air conditioned if it's too hot. If you are feeling adventurous take the ferry to Nevis, a truly unspoiled island that was the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton. There is also a lovely Botanical Garden that is opened for tours. You would need to take a taxi to get there (That's after the ferry drops you off at Charles Town), or the tour through Princess. Been to St Kitts 4 times and each time everyone we met was friendly. Prices are high compared to other islands for souvenirs. This is also a more conservative island in general. If you are there on a Sunday expect a number of stores away from the pier to be closed.

 

 

St. Lucia-A popular tour is a catamaran to the Pitons with a bus ride back. The bus ride is long and makes a lot of stops for shopping, so if you would like to see the Pitons try to find a round trip catamaran tour. My personal

experience has been that the vendors are very pushy in St Lucia.

 

 

Antigua-One of the best tours we have done on any island was a 4x4 that gave us a good overview of the island, free time at the dockyards, and some beach time. If just hanging at a beach is your thing there are lots to choose from-they say that Antigua has 365 beaches, one for each day of the year. We have been twice. The first time the vendors were very aggressive, scary aggressive, but the 2nd time everyone we met was friendly and welcoming.

 

Barbados-Lots to choose from, we did swimming with the sea turtles which was great. We have also done tours of a "Great House" (From plantation days) that was okay, there are Rum Factory tours. What you can't do is go swimming on the Atlantic side of the island. People are very friendly.

 

Just curious, as I have never been. What can't you swim on the Atlantic side? It's private? Or it's not safe?

[jimmmbobb]

Thanks for all of your insights...I am also curious about why one should not swim on the Atlantic side...too cold...

[SugarStar00]

We are sailing on Emerald Princess January 28 and are curious about the cruise and its ports. Would any recent cruisers care to share on their experience...?

Is Sabatini's really good? How are the main dining rooms? How were the shows? What SHOULD we do? What SHOULD we avoid? Any issues with...St Lucia....St Kitts....Antigua...Barbados? We've been to St Thomas.

 

On Princess Cay...how were the adult cabanas?

 

 

Been to some of these islands on Carnival- see my Carnival Victory review below for pictures and details.

 

In St. Lucia we hiked the Pitons with Spencer Ambrose, VERY happy today that we did it, but at the time thought we were nuts.

 

Barbados we did a turtle snorkel with Bolador tours- he's very small but still our FAVORITE excursion to date, we talk about it all the time.

 

St. Kitts we went a beach which the name eludes me, (see review) it was a nice and relaxing day

 

St. Thomas- If you havnt been to Sapphire Beach yet I'd recommend that, nice off shore snorkeling

 

Have fun!

[Rosethorn40]

Just curious, as I have never been. What can't you swim on the Atlantic side? It's private? Or it's not safe?

 

Rip tides are very strong. I think you are fine to stroll along the beach and even walk in the water (As long as you don't go in too deep), but no actual swimming or surfing. When we went on our 4x4 tour this information was relayed by our guide.

 

The turtles, which everyone seems to love are on the west side.

[goattyer65]

Your trip log of your long cruise is informative and entertaining. However, your chair hog photo #1 on day 64 of your cruise in Bonaire, does show our beach bag on our chairs, as well as us standing to the left at the railing. We had these chairs for the better part of that day. The only time we left our coveted spot was to get out of the rain. Which was often Yes that is us standing there. Therefore NO hogging there.:)