Review of Emerald Princess - British Isles - 7/20/22 to 8/1/22

[junglejane]

Here's my feedback on our Emerald Princess British Isles cruise of 7/20/2022. I'll first post about the ship and then add a post about the itinerary.

 

1.  Princess EZ Air: First time using it and it worked fine. (So much easier/better than our upcoming experience with NCL Air.) We would do it again if the price was right because of the flexibility it gave us in terms of holding a reservation until we made final payment on the cruise. We booked business class tickets PHX-LHR on a BA/AA codeshare. When we booked, the price on EZAir was lower than on the AA/BA websites. By the time of the cruise, the price on the airline websites had doubled, so we were happy with our air booking. After final payment, we requested and got early ticketing so that we could select seats, then belatedly discovered that BA won’t let you pick seats for free in business class unless you have status with BA. But it all worked out fine.
    

2. Suite Upsell: We originally booked a mini-suite on Emerald deck. On 6/7/22 we received an upsell offer to a penthouse suite - midship on Riviera deck -and decided to splurge. We loved the layout, location, and suite benefits especially Breakfast at Sabatini's and Club Class Dining.  The only negative was that every night we'd hear thundering footsteps of kids running back and forth on Lido deck, playing tag or hide-and-seek etc. We probably wouldn't spend the money to book a suite outright, but getting them on an upsell is nice (if the price is worth it). We knew we'd be spending extra time in the cabin on this cruise due to Covid concerns, so it was nice to have the extra room.
    

3. Embarkation/Disembarkation: Embarkation and disembarkation in Southampton were quick and easy. We had used the eMed proctored tests from our London hotel room to test 3 days prior to the cruise.  On embarkation day, we showed up about noon and there was no wait. There were two lines, one for Green Lane and one for Blue Lane. I didn’t see any suite/elite/platinum lines or waiting areas, but there was no wait, so no reason to hunt for them. We had “Green Lane” status. We had uploaded our proof of vax and negative test results on the Medallion App and they had been “approved” the night before sailing. This process appears to be meaningless, because we were asked to show the paper copies of those documents at check-in. But everything happened very quickly.
   
   We purchased the Princess transfers to LHR for the end of the cruise. We got off the ship about 8:10-8:15 am. We claimed our luggage in the cruise terminal and headed for the buses. The buses have signs indicating which terminal they're going to, so we just got on a bus for T5. We sat on an idle bus for about 35 minutes, waiting for it to fill. Once the bus was full it took off and then it was about 90 minutes to Heathrow. We got to Heathrow by 11 am. Despite the horror stories in the news about Heathrow, we didn't have any significant problems in either direction. (Note: it certainly helped that we were flying business class so we could use priority access for checking our bags and going through security.)
    

4. Food: This was our first experience with Club Class dining, which is nice due to the ability to just walk in when you want. It was easy to get a 2-top. The maître d’ and wait staff in Club Class were great. The pace of dining was quite a bit faster than in the old days of traditional dining. We were in and out in one hour. We were fine with that because we were conscious of Covid risk and didn’t want to linger in the dining room. But if not for Covid paranoia we would’ve requested they slow down the pace of delivery of the courses. While Club Class was nice, as with the other Suite perks, it’s not something we would book outright and would only consider if we got an upsell offer.
   
   One of the best suite perks is the opportunity to eat breakfast at Sabatini’s. On a lot of the early port days we couldn’t take the time to eat at Sabatini’s and just got room service. But whenever possible we ate breakfast at Sabatini’s and loved it. On the Emerald Princess it’s in the space that used to be Curtis Stone Share, and the windows have a lovely view aft. Frankly it was very uncrowded and we wondered where all the rest of the suite guests were and why they were missing out.
   
   Food of course is very subjective so these are just our personal opinions. But overall, we think a lot of the food at dinner is quite bland. The desserts often look much more impressive than they taste. We ate dinner at Crown Grill on embarkation night and Sabatini's one night. Sabatini's was only open for dinner on 2 nights on our 12 day cruise, and on those nights Crown Grill was closed. Apparently they don't have enough staff, especially cooks, to operate both simultaneously. Crown Grill was fine but the food at Sabatini's was quite poor. Not at all up to past standards and more like Olive Garden quality. The service at Sabatini’s was excellent but (unlike breakfast) the dinner food at Sabatini's was not, in our opinion.
    

5. Service: The staff were excellent, from our room steward to the dining staff etc. Can’t say enough good things about the staff and we gave out all 10/10’s to the staff on the post cruise survey.
    

6.  Internet: This was our one big complaint when we filled out the post cruise survey. The internet sucks. You can send an email or text but that's about it. You cannot upload or download anything, or stream, and loading webpages is very slow. It's definitely not what they advertise.
    

7. Masking/Covid/Quarantine Issues: When we boarded, we were given a letter that said due to recent Covid outbreaks, mask wearing would be mandatory indoors when not actively eating or drinking or in your own stateroom. They especially encouraged masks in elevators, tenders, buses etc. There was NO enforcement, which was fine with us. We wore masks but had no interest in public confrontations between staff and pax. We were actually pleasantly surprised at the percent of people who wore their masks in the elevators. Of course no one was wearing masks in the bars or lounges or restaurants! We are nervous about Covid risk so we never went to the bars or lounges. 
   
   Our stateroom was mid-ship on the port side of Riviera deck, so the quarantine cabins on Aloha deck were directly below us. We tried walking downstairs to that area on Aloha deck and saw that the fire doors were closed off to those cabins from mid-ship forward. At sailaway each day we would peer over our balcony and note how many people were visible on the balconies just below us. Those balconies definitely started to fill up and by the end of the cruise it looked like there were people in each one.
    

8. Medallion App: I had a lot of problems with the App at first where it would seem to log me out or say I hadn’t paid for the cruise. After 2 days of frustration, I finally figured out something I’ve seen others post: once onboard, it helps if you log in with your room # instead of trying to use your username and password. It’ll ask you to verify your birthdate. But once I did that it worked much better.
    

9. Plus Drink Package: This was our first time having a drink package. DH doesn’t drink alcohol, and usually we would trade the elite minibar set up in for a coffee card. But on this cruise we got an attractive price from our TA on a bundle that included the plus drink package. Mostly I just like a couple glasses of wine with dinner, and I noticed that my wine selection was very limited. The only wines by the glass for the Plus Package were listed under the category “Bin.” Just a generic chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, merlot, cabernet etc. Beringer Chardonnay, which I don’t consider a premier wine, was listed under the premier package and I would’ve had to pay an upcharge for that. I was surprised by the lack of options for wines by the glass in the dining room. I don’t feel like the drink package is a good option for us unless it works out due to some promotion and/or bundle.

10. Entertainment: Due to the combination of the very port intensive schedule and our own Covid nervousness, we didn’t participate in a lot of entertainment. The only production show we saw was Rock Opera, which we enjoyed. We liked Craig Richard and saw both of his shows plus his enrichment talk about his climbing accident. We also liked Chris Bliss, the comedian/juggler. His humor was perhaps more aimed at the Americans than the Brits. Especially with his second show, I thought he was quite funny in a dark sort of way, but the audience didn’t seem to warm to him. I thought Chris Bliss was much funnier than the other 2 comedians. They relied on more physical humor.

 

[junglejane]

 Itinerary: We did this same British Isles cruise in 2009 so the only port we hadn't done before was Newcastle. This cruise didn't have enough sea days! It was a brutal pace of intensive port visits. Not a restful vacation, but fun. Still next time we're going to look for an itinerary with more sea days. Also we had to tender at 3 ports. Here’s a list of what we did in port:
 

• Guernsey (tender): we booked a walking tour with Annette Henry tours. Annette had to bow out due to an injury but she provided an excellent replacement.
   

• Cork: we booked a private tour with a group from our Roll Call using Gerard Scott. We booked through Tours By Locals but I think you could book him directly. We went to Blarney Castle, had lunch in Kinsale (fish and chips at Dino’s), drove through Cork and stopped in Cobh at St. Colman’s Cathedral.
   

• Dublin (tender) - This port required a long tender ride and the return to the ship was on very rough seas, so they went extra slowly. We took the train from Dun Laoghaire to central Dublin and walked around. We followed some of Gerard Scott’s recommendations (from our Cork tour) and went to the National Museum of Ireland to see the “bog man” (actually several bog bodies) among other things. We also walked through Trinity College (skipped the Book of Kells) and went to the Epic: The Irish Emigration Museum, which was very interesting. We ate an ice cream at St. Stephen’s Green and walked along Grafton Street to window shop and people watch.
   

• Belfast: For this port we booked a tour to Giant’s Causeway with Odyssey Coach Tours. Much cheaper than the Princess tour and on a smaller bus (about 20 people). We beat the big buses to the causeway. We had a photo stop for the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge, which was fine because we had been there before in 2009 and had a chance to walk across it. Once back in Belfast the driver dropped some of the passengers at the Titanic Museum (pre-booked) and took the rest of us to see the murals and then back to the ship.
   

• Liverpool: Here we had pre-booked a private taxi tour. DH is a Beatles history buff and had done this type of tour before. In addition to stops at home of Ringo and George, we had tickets to guided tours of  the insides of the childhood homes of Lennon and McCartney, plus a guided visit to the original Casbah Club by Roag Best Jr., a nephew of Pete Best. On the bay back the driver stopped for a photo op at the football stadium. Truthfully we aren’t into soccer, but we took photos because we knew our friends back home would be impressed, lol.
   

• Greenock/Glasgow: For this port we organized a private tour with two other couples from our Roll Call. Our driver/guide was George Martin of Go Go Bus Scotland Tours. He picked us up at the cruise terminal and took us to Stirling Castle, where we had pre-booked tickets. George gave us a guided tour. Afterward we went to Aberfoyle and the Scottish Wool Center for lunch and to watch a sheep dog be trained, followed by picturesque stops in Loch Lomond including Balmaha and Duck Bay.
   

• South Queensferry/Edinburgh (tender): We’d been to Edinburgh before in 2009 and seen the castle, so this time we shared a taxi and went to Holyroodhouse Palace. Admission includes a good audioguide tour. From there we just took a leisurely walk up the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle. We didn’t go in the castle but rather explored the area and found an outdoor cafe and had pizza for lunch. We took a taxi back to the dock. All in all it was not one of our more ambitious days but by this time we were starting to feel a bit worn out by all the touring.
   

• Newcastle: We originally planned to DIY for this port. I went to the port lecture and we were going to take the train to the city centre and see various sites. But around 9 pm the night before, DH was looking at the train website and realized that the line we needed to take was closed for repairs. Even the Princess rep who gave the port talk hadn’t realized that. So we checked on our Medallion app to see if there were any shore excursions for Newcastle still available. The tour to Bamburgh Castle and Landisfarne Priory was still open, so at 10 pm we booked it on our app. The meeting time for the tour was 7:30 am in the morning so I was skeptical that our tickets would arrive in time, but lo and behold around 6:30 am, the tickets were dropped off at our stateroom. We don’t normally like to take the Princess “big bus” excursions, but I have to say that this worked out well for us. Bamburgh is one of these privately owned castles that has been refurbished by its most recent owners plus opened up for tourists. The interior was interesting in an eclectic sort of way, but it was really the setting and views from the castle ramparts that were the most impressive. Landisfarne Priory was charming and of greater historical interest.
   

• Le Havre - Here we booked Tour 9B with Overlord Tours. Our tour bus had 16 people. Our driver/guide Yannick Sterke was excellent. He was knowledgeable, charming and enthusiastic. We visited Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery at Normandy. On the way back we stopped in Bayeux for lunch and saw the Bayeux Tapestry and we stopped again in Honfleur to walk around, shop, and visit. It was a nice way to end our cruise.

[ROWSE]

Thank you for your review!  I loved reading your experiences versus what we did on same ship in May!

How is the jet lag??  We had a hard time with it when coming back home.

 

 

[cruisefam38]

Your thoughtful and thorough review is appreciated, junglejane.

[georgiacat]

Thank you for this review.  I enjoyed reading about it.

[Lady Arwen]

We’re doing this itinerary on Regal next September, so I was very interested in your review.  Well  done and thanks very much!

[junglejane]

@ROWSE We have definitely struggled with jet lag. I think as we've gotten older it has taken us longer to reset our internal clocks after coming back from a trip like this. It has taken us a full week to get back to normal.

[Malleykatt]

Hi. Thank you for all of the info we are on-board 13th.......Packing now.

We are on Aloha deck but aft so I hope we don't have any problems getting around. One question if I may, how was the tender at Queensferry? I'm trying to guesstimate /planning the day. Many thanks.

[junglejane]

@Malleykatt The tender process at Queensferry was normal. We didn't try to get off early so we missed the rush but it was pretty fast. The only tender process that was bad was in Dublin because we were far away and the water was very choppy so it took forever, especially coming back. Enjoy your cruise and I'm sure your aft stateroom will be just fine. 

[Malleykatt]

38 minutes ago, junglejane said:

@Malleykatt The tender process at Queensferry was normal. We didn't try to get off early so we missed the rush but it was pretty fast. The only tender process that was bad was in Dublin because we were far away and the water was very choppy so it took forever, especially coming back. Enjoy your cruise and I'm sure your aft stateroom will be just fine. 

Thank you so much for that. We looked at doing Edinburgh on your own with Princess but the cost was silly. Dublin isn't on ours we over night in Cobb then Belfast.

 

I agree about Bamburgh the coast of Northumberland is so beautiful. We stay cationed there last year and we saw a large pod of dolphins just off the beach.

 

 

 

 

[junglejane]

@Malleykatt The taxi was about 27-28 GBP each way. If you want to go to Edinburgh Castle be sure to buy tickets ahead because they sell out. 
 

I’ve recently started watching Vera on the Britbox streaming service so I enjoyed the scenic bus ride up the coast of Northumbria. 

[Malleykatt]

Many thanks junglejane. Taxi is a much better option. I have pre booked the castle as I purchased a Historic Scotland membership for our trip ,well worth buying to save money.

 

Never got into Vera myself but can go wrong with scenery like that.

[wp bob]

many thanks. we are also on emerald 13 Aug and depart tomorrow for London. we have tours with some of the same operators you used so god to hear it was all fine.

[nini]

15 hours ago, junglejane said:

@ROWSE We have definitely struggled with jet lag. I think as we've gotten older it has taken us longer to reset our internal clocks after coming back from a trip like this. It has taken us a full week to get back to normal.

I have been told it takes one day per hour difference in the time. We are on the west coast and it did take a week to normalize.