Review Emerald Princess British Isles May 9-26, 2022, plus one week in London!

[ROWSE]

We returned very late Saturday night May 28, from our amazing trip and still have major jet lag, but just aching to get this 

started!  

This will be one of those LONG reviews with pictures and will probably add our week in London at the end.   It

seems awhile since I have read one,  and I aim to entertain or possibly help those who may be taking this cruise

in the months to come!  Lucky you if you do have an upcoming cruise, as it was a wonderful even in this challenging Covid times!  

 

We have been on about 19 Princess cruises to date, my husband maybe slightly less as I had a few times I went with

other family members or friends.  Total now of 39 cruises under my belt.  Not one was a bad apple in the bunch!  

We were like many others, and just about to get on a British Isles Cruise in May 2020, when the world turned on it's ear with Covid!

I kept moving it forward thinking this would pass quickly and WELL, we all know how that turned out!  

 

Finally, this one for May 2022, looked like it would be happening.  We were on pins and needles or should I say we were "on" 

that cotton swab stuck up our nose, but we had a negative Covid test in our hands!!!   We used the Abbott BinaxNow Proctor home

test on Friday and flew out on Saturday, getting on the cruise on Monday, May 9.  This was our first time to this area of the world!

 

We flew Delta and were lucky enough to have the two seater area.  Booked with EZ air and it changed a few times but in the

end flew from Spokane to Seattle then to Heathrow.  The best part was the whole center section next to us

was empty so my husband moved over to have the whole center row and I had the two to myself.  SCORE!!!! 

There were a lot of empty seats this flight! 

He was sprawled out sleeping shortly after this picture!  Or trying to at least!

 

 

 

Our first view of England after landing.  Wait!!!  Is this right???  We had read it rained her all the time!!

This was endless blue skies!  We were extremely lucky in our weather for these 3 weeks.  Only had

rain a couple times!  

 

 

I had pre-booked National Express Bus to take us to our hotel in Southampton for the night.  

The ticket we bought could be changed for 5 pounds if we got there earlier or later.  We just

missed getting on the earlier bus but passed the time sitting outside enjoying that lovely day 

near the bus station.

 

 

 

Inside the station.

 

 

 

Peeking out the other door we saw the buses that I associate with London.  My heart skipped a beat!!!

We were really HERE!!!!  JOY!!!!  

 

 

The reader board was a little tricky and I had to ask which bus do we want.  Turns out it said Poole!

The boarding number outside does not appear till right before.  This picture is a bit blurry as were our eyes from that red eye flight!

 

[ROWSE]

I had booked an airbnb months before and right before our trip I tried to contact the 

host.  I had noticed on several other dates on my airbnb it said something like property turned off.

Heard nothing from host after several attempts so airbnb got involved and they got no response either so I had to find a new place.  

Turned out better in the end and cheaper at Premier Inn West Quay, which was an easy walk from National Express drop off in Southampton.  

Some pictures of the room....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did not eat here, but took a picture of a menu.

 

 

I would stay here again in a heartbeat.  It was a great little hotel!  

 

 

[cruzin4us]

Our trip isn't until Aug '23 but I'm following along.   You already gave me some useful info on getting to Southampton.  Thanks!

[PescadoAmarillo]

Pure joy to read along!  
 

Just that. Pure joy. 

[BuckeyeMark]

We will be on this ship and this itinerary this summer. Can't wait for more!

[ROWSE]

53 minutes ago, cruzin4us said:

Our trip isn't until Aug '23 but I'm following along.   You already gave me some useful info on getting to Southampton.  Thanks!

Welcome!  Thank you for following along and I am so pleased you were helped a little!  

 

[ROWSE]

40 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Pure joy to read along!  
 

Just that. Pure joy. 

Welcome my cruising friend!  So happy to see your name appear!  

[ROWSE]

25 minutes ago, BuckeyeMark said:

We will be on this ship and this itinerary this summer. Can't wait for more!

Thank you for coming along with me now!!!  

[High C's]

So happy to read your review.  We will be following in your footsteps in August.  We are also staying at the Premier Inn West Quay.  Did you happen to find any good pubs nearby for a fun dinner and drinks?

Edited May 31, 2022 by High C's

[nini]

It was fun meeting you both! We still have the jet lag issue. Our daughter said that it is supposed to take one day for every hour of the time difference. We are on day 8 so we are keeping our fingers crossed to not get up at 3:00or 6:00 am on a  continuing basis!

 

So, that will be eight days for you as well, fellow Washingtonian.

[ROWSE]

Now in Southampton, we went out to explore the area a bit.

This is outside our hotel.  It is a movie theater and great marker to find our way back to our hotel.

 

 

There is a massive mall attached to the back area of this.  

We walked to find the wall around old town Southampton Built in 1180 and extended in 1320.

 

 

 

 

 

This restaurant was called The Pig.  Well here it is...

 

 

Outside the wall is also a reconstructions of a trade boat.

 

 

Through the archway and up a beautiful walk way we spy the church.

 

 

St. Michael the Archangel Church came into full view.  

 

 

We wander and finally decide to find a little food before we call it a day.  We stop at this 

Lebanese restaurant.

 

 

There was only one other group in there, and being very Covid careful, we are happy.

 

 

A little wine... 

 

and we split a couple items...

 

With travel day in the books, we head back for a very restful night at our hotel!  

 

 

[ROWSE]

15 minutes ago, High C's said:

So happy to read your review.  We will be following in your footsteps in August.  We are also staying at the Premier Inn West Quay.  Did you happen to find any good pubs nearby for a fun dinner and drinks?

Thank you for reading along!  In my next post you will see the restaurant we chose.  There were some lively pubs down on the water area.  Which isn't far to walk at all.  

[ROWSE]

13 minutes ago, nini said:

It was fun meeting you both! We still have the jet lag issue. Our daughter said that it is supposed to take one day for every hour of the time difference. We are on day 8 so we are keeping our fingers crossed to not get up at 3:00or 6:00 am on a  continuing basis!

 

So, that will be eight days for you as well, fellow Washingtonian.

So happy we met you both!  Jet lag is the pits and we were up at 1:00 a.m. first day and 2:00a.m. second so we will work our way forward I guess. 😂

Glad you chimed in and feel free to add anything along the way!  

[ROWSE]

Cruise day!  May 9, 2022

Jet lag!  We wake up at 1:00 am.  EEK!!  The sun came up very early so we were out and about with no one around.  There is a Starbucks over on the waterfront and we were actually too early for that and had to  wait for it to open at 6:30a.m.  

We saw some more awesome sites along the way.  

 

 

 

The following picture is toward the Red Hook Ferry on the waterfront.

 

 

Nothing says England like these also!

 

 

AND then we see the Emerald Princess and know we will be boarding in a few hours!

 

 

We walked back toward our hotel up High Street.  

 

This is the Holyrood Church ruins...

 

 

 

We continue walking to the Bargate Medieval gatehouse.

 

[ROWSE]

Cruise Day continued...

There is a place to walk along the wall near the Bargate.

This was really amazing to be on something from the 12 century!

 

 

View of the mall from the top of wall. 

 

 

 

We go back to room and have a quick nap!  So many naps the first couple days!!!

We were lucky enough to have Boarding Group A, which for this cruise was 11:00 to 12:00.

The hotel had this wonderful designated phone near the elevator to call a taxi.  It was quick

and so EASY.  I think the price was 5.80 pounds which came to about $8 on our credit card.

 

We handed over the suitcase and went on in.  Our Covid tests were recorded and our vaccine

cards shown and were all set.  We were guided to the Elite lounge and some snacks and drinks were waiting in here.  We received a special  letter letting us know there were several Covid cases so there would be a requirement to wear masks in all inside venues. Unless eating or drinking.  (Later, in the room another letter stated masks were recommended)  UGH!  Come on Princess make up your mind.  We followed the first letter but so many others followed the one in the room.

 

After SO long, and with tears in my eyes, we were stepping again onto a cruise.  

I notice I matched my luggage!!!  

 

Decided to do the buffet for our first meal, and it was served by staff the entire cruise.

I loved this!!!  Think they should keep this as so many people touching things in the buffet 

has never been my favorite thing!

 

We sat out back by the back pool and no one else was out there at all!

 

Our view of the terminal shows how they embrace solar energy.

 

 

And my first drink of a cruise is usually a Mud Slide....

 

 

It was time then to be able to head to the rooms.  We were in E702 obstructed ocean view.

This is a fantastic room and though there was a little vibration upon porting, the view was 

not really obstructed!

 

 

 

I turned my back for a moment and the first nap of the cruise happened.  You think that bed would have been a bit better.  LOL

 

 

I, on the other hand, try out my medallion AP for ordering drinks.  A mimosa arrived

soon after!  

 

 

The patters have our schedule for the cruise and we notice some port time "all boards" had changed a little bit to earlier than we booked at.   Also of note, Princess dropped our planned

stop in Glasgow and added Orkney Islands only about 2 weeks before sail date.  The sea day changed to the 15th instead of the 16th.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ROWSE]

Cruise Day continued....

We head up for sail away and are on the upper decks.  We leave past time as we were waiting for a few people to board.

 

New vehicles either coming in or going out....

 

 

Other ships with us in port.  

 

We sail by what looks like a castle. 

 

 

We have had our dinner reservation on Medallion AP for months for the DaVinci but once on board it was listed as Botticelli dining room.   We didn't care either way, so as long as it still said 6:00, we were great with it.  

 

Drink of usual choice for dinner was me Mimosa and my DH a Riesling.  

 

 

Tonights meal was wonderful!  We especially love the bread that is now served by the waitstaff!

Normally we are strict Vegan, but on cruises we let it go and have fish, egg, and cheese occasionally.  

This shrimp appetizer was one of our favorite things!

 

We both had greek salad!

 

 

I had a pasta dish of clam linguine.  

 

Then a Mahi Mahi for both of us.  

 

I had chocolate of course (is there any other desserts??)  

 

My DH had the soufflé!

The ship was 67% full for our cruise and often resulted in us all alone in our section but mainly others were at these tables.  For some crazy reason, our friends who had cancelled at final payment, appeared on our reservation and we ended up with a 4 top.  We would never complain about that!!!!  This remained our table for the entire cruise.  Loved Edvardo and Alvito!  Nelson was also an amazing section supervisor.  

 

 

Just an FYI of the paperwork schedule for Elites this cruise.  

 

We finished the night going to the Comedian.  I don't remember his name, but I do note

that we were so jet lagged that we fought sleep.  I also know there was a lot of laughter 

especially from the Brits aboard.  Having an early port day tomorrow we head to bed.  It

was a wonderful day!  

[BMP57]

21 hours ago, ROWSE said:

I had booked an airbnb months before and right before our trip I tried to contact the 

host.  I had noticed on several other dates on my airbnb it said something like property turned off.

Heard nothing from host after several attempts so airbnb got involved and they got no response either so I had to find a new place.  

Turned out better in the end and cheaper at Premier Inn West Quay, which was an easy walk from National Express drop off in Southampton.  

Some pictures of the room....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did not eat here, but took a picture of a menu.

 

 

I would stay here again in a heartbeat.  It was a great little hotel!  

 

 

We're spending one night here in September; stayed here before.

[karatemom2]

Thank you so much for sharing your journey. We are doing this cruise on the Emerald in August and it’s so great to get this wonderful preview. 

[ROWSE]

4 minutes ago, BMP57 said:

We're spending one night here in September; stayed here before.

It was so inexpensive and a really nice place!!  Glad you are reading along!!!  

[ROWSE]

2 minutes ago, karatemom2 said:

Thank you so much for sharing your journey. We are doing this cruise on the Emerald in August and it’s so great to get this wonderful preview. 

Thank you for letting me know you are reading along!  It was a wonderful, exhausting schedule!!!  

[JimmyVWine]

19 minutes ago, ROWSE said:

For some crazy reason, our friends who had cancelled at final payment, appeared on our reservation and we ended up with a 4 top.

Great stuff.  I was in Edinburgh two days before your port stop. It was nice seeing a cruise ship docked off shore when we hiked to the top of Arthur's Seat. (I forget which one it was.  Not one familiar to me.)  It caused me to check out the port schedule and I noted that I was going to miss the Emerald by just two days.  I would have welcomed the sight of Princess passengers on Victoria Street, as odd as that might sound.  My daughter lives there now, so I told her to keep a keen watch for blue Princess bags! (If those are still a thing.)

 

As for the quote above...I think I would have told the server each night: "Oh. Our companions are going to be a little late but they asked us to order for them!!" 

Edited May 31, 2022 by JimmyVWine

[PescadoAmarillo]

Kitty, great report!  Glad to hear Nelson is still on ships. i adore that man, he’s one of the very best. 

[ROWSE]

53 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Great stuff.  I was in Edinburgh two days before your port stop. It was nice seeing a cruise ship docked off shore when we hiked to the top of Arthur's Seat. (I forget which one it was.  Not one familiar to me.)  It caused me to check out the port schedule and I noted that I was going to miss the Emerald by just two days.  I would have welcomed the sight of Princess passengers on Victoria Street, as odd as that might sound.  My daughter lives there now, so I told her to keep a keen watch for blue Princess bags! (If those are still a thing.)

 

As for the quote above...I think I would have told the server each night: "Oh. Our companions are going to be a little late but they asked us to order for them!!" 

Thank you for reading along!  We loved Scotland!  

I have old Princess bags here at home given to us in prior cruises, but we did not receive one 

on this cruise.  It may be others did but we did not.  

 

Our servers may very well thought we were ordering for 4 some nights.  😂

Edited May 31, 2022 by ROWSE

[GloriaF]

So enjoying your review, the details and the photos!  I am in the beginning stages of planning a British Isles cruise for my cousin and I in 2023.  I will have to let her see your review when we visit - she's happy not to be on the 'net.  We are in our mid 70s and leaving my husband behind for this trip.

[ROWSE]

19 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Kitty, great report!  Glad to hear Nelson is still on ships. i adore that man, he’s one of the very best. 

Nelson was wonderful.  There were other times (breakfast) that he was in the dining venue and happen to always make sure we had a secluded table.  Bless him for that!!!  We tried especially hard not to have you and G's last experience!!!