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Live from the Emerald Princess 21/1-1/2

trishh

By trishh,
in Princess Cruises

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St Paul Girl

St Paul Girl

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Hi,

I'm currently on the Emerald Princess cruising around the South Pacific so if you have any questions please feel free to ask. I'll do a full review when I get back.

Trish

Hi Trish:

Can you check out the Club Class dinning for us.

Thanks:

have a Happy Cruise.

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timesurfer7

timesurfer7

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Hi Trish, we will be on her April 12th and cannot wait. This will our third time on the Emerald. My husband would like to know if Carina from Peru is still working in one of the dining rooms? I know that this is a long shot but we loved her. We had her on a European cruise on the Emerald. Have a great trip!!!

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easyboy

easyboy

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Hi,

I'm currently on the Emerald Princess cruising around the South Pacific so if you have any questions please feel free to ask. I'll do a full review when I get back.

Trish

Looking forward to your review, especially on ports. Enjoy!

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trishh

trishh

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Emerald Princess 21 Jan 2017-1 Feb 2017.

 

On this cruise I'm sailing with my husband, 19 year old son, and 16 year old daughter. This is our 21 st cruise (19th with Princess).

 

Embarkation

We sailed from The Overseas Passenger Terminal in Sydney. Embarkation was busy and crowded, and I felt that it wasn't as organised as it is in Melbourne (where we usually sail from). The main difference was that as Elite members with Princess, we were given preferred access to security and immigration which I've never experienced before, however we were not given our immigration cards to fill out until right before we went through to immigration. I suppose that for me it felt disjointed and a bit disorganised. It took around 1 1/2 hours from arriving at the port to getting on board. As usual the cabins were ready when we boarded.

 

Cabins

 

We have an aft balcony C743 and our kids (teenagers) are in an inside across the hall. The caribe deck balcony's are bigger than most other decks and we spend a lot of time on the balcony so we appreciate the extra space. The cabin was pretty similar to the cabins we've had on the Golden and the Diamond. Same goes for the inside cabin. I'm happy to post pics when I get home and have cheaper Internet. We have a great room steward called EK who has looked after us really well.

 

Dining

 

Pub lunch-There has been a Pub Lunch twice on this 11 night cruise and I quite enjoyed it. You could choose from Fish and Chips (wedges really), Curry, Steak and Kidney Pie, or Scotch egg. Then sherry trifle for dessert. Turnover was very quick. You ordered your meal and it was there 1 min later. One guy walked out because there was no vegetarian option, but it's not like anyone is going hungry on this ship!

 

Salty Dog-we tried the salty dog one night and for $19 felt it was worth the money. I'll post pics when I get home.

 

Share- we tried Share one evening and while I feel that $39 pp is a bit rich, I felt the food was good and the whole experience enjoyable.

 

MDR-we've only been once so far on this trip for dinner and the food and service was up to the usual standard. We chose anytime dining and the one time we went for dinner, we got a table for two with no waiting. We have gone for breakfast nearly every day to the MDR and have thoroughly enjoyed it. The fresh fruit at brekkie has been lovely, there is a choice of fruit juices, and the pancakes are fluffy and light.

I keep forgetting to go and check out Club Class dining but I'll try to remember before we get off.

 

Horizon Court- we normally eat a lot in Horizon Court but it has been very disappointing this cruise, with limited food choices, and the juice at breakfast time was sooooo watered down it was really mostly water.

 

Vines-on our last cruise on the Golden Princess we were well and truly spoilt at Vines. We had a wonderful waiter called JP, who was full of personality, and who ran his own wine tasting in Vines. There has been nothing like that this time, although it is still worth a visit to get the tapas with any alcohol purchased.

 

Wheelhouse - I have never liked the Wheelhouse on previous cruises, I always felt it was staid and boring, but on this ship it has a much more 'Pub feel' about it. There is happy hour between 3-4 every day in the wheelhouse (buy one get one for a dollar), and it is jam packed every day.

 

Sky walkers -The Elite, Suite, and Platinum lounge is in Skywalkers every evening between 5-7pm and they have 6 drinks for $7.50. They have not been offering any other drinks at half price. The food is tasty and again I'll post some pics when I get home.

 

Ports

Noumea-We're not beach people so hopefully someone else can fill in the blanks about the beaches in Noumea. We did the Yellow train and it was a nice couple of hours seeing the sights. It was around 29 degrees and very humid.

 

Lifou-There's really not a lot here but the water is beautiful. The locals have a lot of stalls selling souvenirs and doing hair braiding and giving massages. Personally I feel that after a certain age you should not be getting your hair braided, but that didn't stop half the women on this ship. 😂Again it was stinking hot and very humid.

Mystery Island-will have to remain a mystery since it was too choppy to tender to shore. 😕

Port Vila-Another hot day at around 30 degrees and very humid. We got off the ship to a barrage of taxi drivers trying to get our business. There was one driver who stalked us and kept telling the other drivers that we were his fare, even though we told him that we did not want a taxi. Personally I felt very intimidated and scared, and I'm going to mention to Princess that they should think of putting on shuttle buses to get into town. Of course this is only my point of view and plenty of other people went into town, but I ended up going straight back on board. If you do make it here the duty free is very cheap.

 

Champagne Bay-an hour or two after we arrived here the Captain announced that only one tender could dock at a time, which meant that it was not open tender until after 1 pm. We could have gone on the first available tender but the wait time to get back was over one hour in the blistering sun. Unfortunately my pale Scottish skin just can't take that, so we chose not to go over. We have been here before and apart from a beach and a few stalls, there's not a lot to do.

 

Kids club-Our daughter is in the teen club and says that the staff are not very pleasant so she's chosen not to go very much.

 

Entertainment- we don't go to the Princess Theatre so I can't comment on the shows.

The entertainment staff have been pretty good. The cruise director is out and about everywhere and is at pretty much every show we've been to in the Explorers lounge. The assistant CD is also pretty funny and involved in heaps of activities. I must say that some of the entertainment has been not when I've seen previously on a Princess ship, including one game where teams were asked to get a bra and bring it up to the stage. The teams consisted of families and the young girls took their bras off in the lounge, and ran them up to the cruise staff so that they would win.

 

As I say these are all just my observations and if any of you have questions I'll try to answer them.

 

Trish

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trishh

trishh

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Hi Trish:

Can you check out the Club Class dinning for us.

Thanks:

have a Happy Cruise.

I will try and remember to go tonight and get pics. What I've seen so far is that there is a girl at the door checking cruises cards and very nicely directing people to the correct dining room if they do not belong in Club Class.

Trish

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trishh

trishh

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Hi Trish, we will be on her April 12th and cannot wait. This will our third time on the Emerald. My husband would like to know if Carina from Peru is still working in one of the dining rooms? I know that this is a long shot but we loved her. We had her on a European cruise on the Emerald. Have a great trip!!!

 

Sorry apart from brekkie we are never in the MDR.

Trish

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Aus Traveller

Aus Traveller

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I must say that some of the entertainment has been not when I've seen previously on a Princess ship, including one game where teams were asked to get a bra and bring it up to the stage. The teams consisted of families and the young girls took their bras off in the lounge, and ran them up to the cruise staff so that they would win.

Trish

Was this game on the Emerald Princess or do you mean it was on another Princess ship sometime in the past? I have never heard of it on a Princess ship, but I have heard of a similar game called "Quest" on another cruiseline.

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cheznandy Holiday Sharing Rare

cheznandy

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Was this game on the Emerald Princess or do you mean it was on another Princess ship sometime in the past? I have never heard of it on a Princess ship, but I have heard of a similar game called "Quest" on another cruiseline.

 

Although we didnt attend, they had this game on the Emerald in November.

Like the one they used to have on P&O Aus and they do it on RCL.......I cannot remember what they called it??

First one up with a lipstick.....safety pin......underwear etc

I am sure this is what the OP is talking about.

I can't remember seeing this show recently on a Princess cruise, but definately was in November on Emerald.

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Aus Traveller

Aus Traveller

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Although we didnt attend, they had this game on the Emerald in November.

Like the one they used to have on P&O Aus and they do it on RCL.......I cannot remember what they called it??

First one up with a lipstick.....safety pin......underwear etc

I am sure this is what the OP is talking about.

I can't remember seeing this show recently on a Princess cruise, but definately was in November on Emerald.

I'm glad I haven't seen this on P&O or on Princess. :D

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trishh

trishh

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What movies are showing on MUTS

Morning,

MUTS movies were:

 

Miss Peregrines home for peculiar children

Jurassic World.

Jason Bourne

Cirque de Soleil KOOZA

Florence Foster Jenkins

Finding Dory

 

Sorry thats all I can remember.

Trish

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trishh

trishh

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Was this game on the Emerald Princess or do you mean it was on another Princess ship sometime in the past? I have never heard of it on a Princess ship, but I have heard of a similar game called "Quest" on another cruiseline.

 

You are correct it was called Quest.

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