Emerald Princess post dry dock review

[IDsailor]

The wife and I just returned home from a 15 day Panama Canal transit on the Emerald Princess.  We have done 15 Princess cruises and now 4 of them have been on the Emerald. We were very interested to see what improvements were made during the recent dry dock. The most evident differences were found on the Lido deck.  The deck itself was spiffed up with new surfaces which looked great and still had a resin smell when we boarded for the cruise. The Trident Grill is now the Salty Dog and is offering a varied menu to the old one.  We could still get a hamburger or hot dog but the Brats are gone.  The Ice cream shop now had specialty coffee as well.  I found it odd that one could not get the brewed coffee here like you can at the International Cafe.  The Pizza shop now offers Stromboli and some other choices, though I found them so so as alternatives.  Some of the Lido walls had been updated as far as paint and looked great.  The horizon court has been reconfigured and Steamers and Planks have been added where Cafe Caribe had been.

 I had some observations at the former Horizon court.

The have added sinks for hand washing at both ends as you enter.  Great idea but they had nobody encouraging their use. Nor did they have anyone encouraging the use of Purell, as you enter the actual food area.  My guess is that, as a result, less than 20 percent of cruisers were doing either.  It may be just me but, I predict that the Emerald will have some health problems as it enters its summer season if things don't change.  My other observations are on the reconfiguring of the buffet itself.  The main traffic to the rear of the ship has to walk past the outside of the buffet serving area. In the Horizon Court configuration you could do this without coming into contact with food service areas. Now you can not. In my opinion it is just another potential health problem.

Like I said, we now have 15 Princess cruises. Prior to this cruise our last was on the Majestic in 2017.  I have to say that there have been some big dining cutbacks since 2017.  I realize that food is very subjective but I have to say that the food in this latest cruise was somewhat of a disappointment.  The buffet choices were somewhat bazar. The carving station rarely had anything worthwhile. Usually it had a turkey roast or other mediocre fare.  The other items were odd as well.  One evening you could find sweet and sour catfish at one end of the buffet and breaded catfish at the other.  Someone must have found a good sale for catfish.  In the dining room in the past it seemed you made three choices for your evening meal.  Now the menu guides you to make a choice of a starter and an entree. While I found the food good, I just though it was an interesting way for the company to cut costs.

The ship was wired for medallion however, none of it was active, including the medallion net internet.  We were on the old slow internet the entire cruise. 

We enjoyed the cruise and overall I think the dry dock changes were a plus for the Emerald Princess. 

[royal65]

For lunch in the Steamers and Planks area, was it set up as part of the normal buffet or did the specialty concept carry over to lunch too?

[reedprincess]

Thanks for the review.

How about the TV system? Was it updated to the On Demand system or is it the old looking programming?

Thanks. 

[cnd crsr]

We were on the same cruise as IDSailor.

We found the food and service very good. The additional dish made in Club Class each day was very good and all passengers entering the dining room  were encouraged to use the hand sanitizer stations. I cannot comment on the buffet food as we didn't eat there.

There was lots of new carpeting and upholstery in many venues and the sofa and tub chair in our room had been reupholstered as well.

We were told the on demand tv would be up and running by mid July. The internet was  really slow and should be improved by mid July as well.

[LAS!!1414]

We were on the same cruise, except we started in Vancouver and ate every dinner at the World Fresh Market Place ( old Horizon Court ) The variety and quality ( in our opinion ) was really good -- much better then the same venue on the Crown. There were several food corporate people ( from LA ) overseeing the rollout of new offerings.   

[patrickmoran]

Are the TVs still in the corner or on the wall?

[LAS!!1414]

On the wall