Emerald Princess…….nice or not so much

[Lady Arwen]

We just booked Emerald for a British Isles cruise in 2023.  Sailed with Princess many times and we’ve come to love Royal class ships, but are willing to try Emerald for the itinerary, although this is one ship we’ve never sailed on.  
 

My question is what condition is she in since her last refurbishment?  Not looking for fabulous, we know know she’s an older lady.  We just don’t want shabby and worn.  If anyone has any recent experience on this ship, we’d love to hear your opinion.

 

Thank you in advance.  Looking forward to your replies!

 

 

 

[Torfamm]

We were just on the Emerald and it was absolutely fine. I didn’t think it looked shabby at all. Some might feel it looks dated, but I wouldn’t say shabby. I only wish it had an Alfredo’s 

[Lady Arwen]

3 hours ago, Torfamm said:

We were just on the Emerald and it was absolutely fine. I didn’t think it looked shabby at all. Some might feel it looks dated, but I wouldn’t say shabby. I only wish it had an Alfredo’s 

Thank you for replying.  Still not sure.

[Grego]

3 hours ago, Torfamm said:

We were just on the Emerald and it was absolutely fine. I didn’t think it looked shabby at all. Some might feel it looks dated, but I wouldn’t say shabby. I only wish it had an Alfredo’s 

I agree, the Emerald Princess is a lovely grand ol' ship and we had our first voyage back after the "pause" last February and she was in great shape.  We love the layout and ease of getting around, especially during the reduced capacity period, but we have gotten spoiled with Alfredo's and I don't think there are any plans to revamp the Crown class ships to include this great eating venue.

[Steelers36]

19 hours ago, Lady Arwen said:

We just don’t want shabby and worn.

I don't think any Princess ship would be termed shabby.

[awhcruiser]

How can a refurbished ship still be shabby and worn?

[jeno]

4 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I don't think any Princess ship would be termed shabby.

I was on the Crown at the end of January 2020 and it was definitely shabby, bordering on dumpy.  

[Lady Arwen]

22 minutes ago, jeno said:

I was on the Crown at the end of January 2020 and it was definitely shabby, bordering on dumpy.  

I also heard a similar comment from a regular Princess cruiser about the Crown and this was what I was concerned about on Emerald.  We really want this itinerary and it’s between Emerald and Celebrity Alex.  We’ve booked both to give us time to decide.

[Lady Arwen]

32 minutes ago, awhcruiser said:

How can a refurbished ship still be shabby and worn?

Do you know what the refurbishment consisted of?  Cabins?  Public areas?  I would be very interested in any details you may have.

[iamaqt2]

17 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

I also heard a similar comment from a regular Princess cruiser about the Crown and this was what I was concerned about on Emerald.  We really want this itinerary and it’s between Emerald and Celebrity Alex.  We’ve booked both to give us time to decide.

If the itineraries and cost are similar I'd go with Celebrity.  The Apex is a new ship with with a lot more amenities and newer entertainment.

[Lady Arwen]

1 hour ago, iamaqt2 said:

If the itineraries and cost are similar I'd go with Celebrity.  The Apex is a new ship with with a lot more amenities and newer entertainment.

We’ve sailed Edge many times, so very familiar with E class ships.  Fabulous is a good word to describe it.  The cruise with Celebrity embarks round trip Amsterdam and Emerald is Southampton.  We would love to spend a few days precruise in London, so leaning to Emerald for that reason.  We won’t compare the two ships.  Not easy to decide!

[Mud_Shark]

We were on the second cruise of Emerald after her restart.  Inside, the ship looked fine, but the outer hull had lots of rust and looked bad.  I would assume they have slowly addressed this as she has cruised and would hope she is no longer rusty looking by now.

 

Don

[Bgwest]

30 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

We’ve sailed Edge many times, so very familiar with E class ships.  Fabulous is a good word to describe it.  The cruise with Celebrity embarks round trip Amsterdam and Emerald is Southampton.  We would love to spend a few days precruise in London, so leaning to Emerald for that reason.  We won’t compare the two ships.  Not easy to decide!

Seems pretty clear that you'll not be happy on the Emerald. Suggest you look elsewhere. 

[Lady Arwen]

7 minutes ago, Bgwest said:

Seems pretty clear that you'll not be happy on the Emerald. Suggest you look elsewhere. 

We’ll, it’s not pretty clear to me, so I don’t know where you’re coming from.  I never said that I wouldn’t be happy on Emerald, so please don’t assume anything.  In fact, I said I was leaning to Emerald because of Southampton.  Guess you missed that.

[iamaqt2]

41 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

We’ve sailed Edge many times, so very familiar with E class ships.  Fabulous is a good word to describe it.  The cruise with Celebrity embarks round trip Amsterdam and Emerald is Southampton.  We would love to spend a few days precruise in London, so leaning to Emerald for that reason.  We won’t compare the two ships.  Not easy to decide!

Here's my 2 cents, as little as they're worth..
Do as many days as you'd like pre-cruise in London, then hop the train to Amsterdam.  It's only a 4 hour ride, and then you get to have your cake and eat it too.

[awhcruiser]

2 hours ago, Lady Arwen said:

Do you know what the refurbishment consisted of?  Cabins?  Public areas?  I would be very interested in any details you may have.

We sail the Emerald in April so I can answer all your questions then,

[Lady Arwen]

17 minutes ago, awhcruiser said:

We sail the Emerald in April so I can answer all your questions then,

Oh, thank you so much!  We’d really appreciate that.  It’s always nice to get someone’s fresh perspective of things.  Have a wonderful time!

[LACruiser88]

42 minutes ago, awhcruiser said:

We sail the Emerald in April so I can answer all your questions then,

We board the Emerald on Feb 12th for 29 days.  I'll start a "Live" thread if no one else does.  If you follow along, you can ask specific questions as to the condition of the ship.  🙂

[mojitoman]

My wife and I just came off the Emerald a few days ago. Our two cents is that she is in good shape. Yes, there were scratches noted in some of the paneling in the MDR, the theater is dated etc but overall she looked up kept. In fact, during our 10 day sailing the maintenance crew were removing sections of the railing for revarnishing and were painting the decks etc. Only downside for us is that the Sanctuary area was closed for refurbishment and the wine bar, Vines, appeared closed for our sailing. 

[LACruiser88]

1 minute ago, mojitoman said:

the Sanctuary area was closed for refurbishment and the wine bar, Vines, appeared closed for our sailing.

I hope they get these open before our cruise, those are our two favorite places on the ship!

[kywildcatfanone]

We don't use the sanctuary, but it is not disclosed before booking that an area like this is closed for a particular cruise?

[LACruiser88]

49 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

We don't use the sanctuary, but it is not disclosed before booking that an area like this is closed for a particular cruise?

This information is usually not disclosed before a particular cruise. 

[Lady Arwen]

2 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

We board the Emerald on Feb 12th for 29 days.  I'll start a "Live" thread if no one else does.  If you follow along, you can ask specific questions as to the condition of the ship.  🙂

Oh, that would be awesome!  I’ll definitely be following you.  Thanks for letting me know in advance!

[awhcruiser]

5 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

We board the Emerald on Feb 12th for 29 days.  I'll start a "Live" thread if no one else does.  If you follow along, you can ask specific questions as to the condition of the ship.  🙂

I would be curious as we have not sailed on the Emerald for at least ten years!

[Marelaine]

I sailed on Emerald in Nov. She was looking a bit drab, but 'upkept' as someone else said. How would you describe Apex? There's your answer.