JamieLogical's Live from the Emerald Princess 12/18-01/02

[donswife]

When I did a "live from " on the Sapphire in October,  I found that if my post disappeared when I submitted it, it would reappear if I clicked in the reply box again.  I tried to copy before I hit submit,  but usually forgot 😅 

[JamieLogical]

Well we made it on onboard yesterday. Had a bit of a wait for a Lyft to the port. I could see on the app that the driver we were assigned was doing the exact same route with his ride before ours, from the Crown Plaza to the cruise terminal. It was worth the wait though, as he ended up being an awesome guy. Little sad it was such a short ride!

 

At the terminal we dropped our luggage and headed in. I was surprised to see that the check-in was BEFORE security? I had never seen that at any terminal I have cruise from. Despite having gotten there at 10:30 and our "arrival time" having beend scheduled for 11:00, which was supposedly the earliest arrival time, we ended up in boarding group 5 and there were tons of people already there seated and waiting.

 

 

 

I was impressed to see Christmas carolers signing to entertain us while we waited. I was less impressed that there was no water or coffee or anything. There was one vending machine and all of the hundreds of people waiting had to share it to get any water as we waited almost two hours to board. The older man ahead of me in line for the machine could not figure out how to get his credit card to work and eventually gave up. The woman behind him bought three separate drinks with three separate credit card transactions. It was a lot.

 

 

Just before noon, we finally saw the handicapped passengers being allowed to board. Then they started calling all the Elite groups, then all the Platinum groups, and then finally the rest of steerage. They called group 5 at about 12:30. Our friends who we are cruising with had found us in the terminal and had been assigned group 6, but they just boarded with us. Don't tell anyone!

 

 

 

Once onboard, we asked if any of the MDRs we're open. The had handed us a card when we checked in that recommended the buffet and Salty Dog Gri for lunch, but I hoped there was an MDR open as well. Luckily there was, so we headed there. So I forgot to take a picture of the menu and my entree! I had the Avocado & Bay Shrimp appetizers, the Chicken Cacciatore as my main, and the Orang Souffle.

 

 

 

The announcement that our rooms were ready happened about two minutes after we sat down for lunch, so after lunch we headed to our muster station and then our rooms to drop off our stuff. That reminds me, the muster video for Princess is a good 10 minutes long and talks about all sorts of things that have nothing to do with muster or safety. They even tell you about recycling. It's also the first muster I have ever seen/heard that tells you what to do if you need to jump off the ship instead of getting in a life boat. Let's hope I never need to do that!

 

The room was worse than I anticipated and I anticipated it would be the worst cabin I ever stayed in. The bathroom is so tiny as to be absurd. Despite bringing my foot rest for the shower to be able to shave my legs, I think I am just going to have to turn into a sasquatch on this trip. The shower is so narrow and tight that it is not possible to bend over in it. The counter space is adequate, but there are only three tiny shelves for all you items. Not sure why they couldn't have put shelves on both sides of the mirror.

 

 

 

 

 

I was dreading the lack of a couch and I definitely do miss having a place to sit and place things that isn't the bed. But I think I will survive that part at least. What I was NOT expecting was the outlet situation. I had brought my power block that plugs into an EU outlet, as every cruise ship I have ever been in has had at least one EU outlet in the room and it is a way to add more outlets. Well not only is there no EU outlet, there are only three US outlets in the room. One is up at the top of the weird cabinet in the corner. I suspect that is where an old tube TV used to sit? It takes up a lot of space and is useless. But there is one outlet up there, about 5 feet off the ground. There are two outlets by the desk, but they are so close together, that it is not possible to actually have two things plugged in at the same time. So we have two usable outlets for our two phones, two smart watches, battery pack, kindle, switch, steam deck, and laptop. Fun times!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't even get me started on how much I HATE the closest. I really like having things near and put away. Having the messiness and chaos of all of our clothes and shoes be the only thing you see when you first walk in the room is not my favorite thing.

 

 

After my nap, we went in search of a good spot for sail away. We ended up at the back of deck 15 at a 4-top table overlooking the pool. We were disappointed to learn that the outrigger bar was closed. We tried ordering drinks through the app but that got mysteriously cancelled after about 20 minutes. Eventually a real human came by to offer is drinks but they took so long to arrive, we eventually moved inside because it was quite chilly and none of us could tolerate the cold any longer. Luckily, the server was able to find us at our new indoor location. We did try to sit as close to where we had been outside as possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After getting our drinks, it was approaching dinner time so we decided to scope out the buffet. After walking through the small area on the side we happened to be on, we all asked "where's the rest of it?" It was just a tiny area taking up maybe one third of the length of the buffet seating are on that side of the ship. We walked around to the other side, which required walking outside, and there *were* an equal number of stations on that side, but it was closed. This is honestly the smallest buffet I have ever seen on a cruise ship. In fact I am pretty sure I have been to some hotels and restaurants with larger buffets.

 

Needless to say, we decided on the MDR, as did all of the other passengers on the ship. There was quite a line and we had to wait about 15 minutes for a table for four. But we got seated and I remembered to take a picture of the menu! I forgot to take a picture of my entree again though. I had the Garlic Seared Prawns, the Mama's Meat Lasagna, and the Princess Love Boat Dream. All of it was VERY good, especially the dessert.

 

After dinner, I ran back to the room to drop off some T-shirts our friends had bought us to wear to the meet & greet and get some cash for the casino. @megaphone84 decided to head to bed and our husband went to find a bar to hang out in. After I dropped the stuff, I found out husband's in the Wheelhouse Bar where we relaxed on some comfy couches, had a few drinks, and listened to some live music.

 

 

At 9:30 (I think?) I wanted to do the Music Bingo in the Explorer's Lounge, so we headed over there for another drink and to play the game. None of us even came close to winning any of the four rounds.

 

After Bingo, we all went our separate ways. I went to the casino and the husband's went back to the rooms. I didn't stay long in the casino though. My theory about the slots being looser on the first night of the cruise definitely didn't hold true on this ship! I burned through 2/3 of my daily budget super fast and decided it was not my night. The machines don't print tickets when you cash out, the money just goes into your "bank" and you have to actually go to the cashier and get actual cash. I don't love this process, because I am going to end up with a ton of loose change by the end of the cruise. With the tickets, when I cashed them all out at the end of the cruise, I ended up with less than $1 of loose change.

 

When I got back to the room, my husband had ordered room service pizza, which I thought was pretty decent. We finally got to bed after 11:00, which was really 2:00 our time and really 12:00 ship time, because the clocks were moving forward an hour overnight.

 

Today we have our Cruise Critic Meet & Greet at 10:00am and it's a formal night. Will post more tomorrow!

 

Day's Drinks: Mimosa x2, Mojito, Vodka Sour, Lemon Drop, Gin Daisy, Elderflower Paloma, Lemon Drop Martini 

 

Edited December 19, 2022 by JamieLogical

[goldmom]

Jamie- As a long time cruiser who has had even tinier bathrooms on a cruise ship.  Here's my leg shaving tip,  Put a towel on the closed toilet, prop up leg and use a soapy washcloth on your legs, then shave.  The sink is right there for rinsing.  Good luck!

Enjoying your report.  Happy cruising!

[nini]

Jaime-

I feel your pain for the room and bathroom. We were on the Emerald this past May for the British Isles. We had not been on this Princess ship before. The last Princess ship we were on was the Regal in the Fall of 2018. We really loved this ship and it had the most glorious buffet!

 

We had "our" corner aft on the Emerald and when we walked into our cabin, we were shocked at how small it was. We truly do not remember them being "that small". Yikes! We made do with the outlets which are where the old TV was. We are used to the small showers and do not mind as long as we get to be in our cabin selection. Personally, we really love the closet. If you have extra hangars banging around, just put them on the floor.

 

We were not too jazzed with the Emerald buffet either. However, they usually had fantastic warm bread pudding by the pastries for breakfast.

 

Enjoy your trip and please know that not all Princess ships have identical cabins and they all definitely have different vibes!!! We were on the Grand in September and the vibe was WAY different in a good way. However, you are there for the itinerary which is lovely!

Edited December 19, 2022 by nini
additional words

[JamieLogical]

Yesterday morning we had our first room service breakfast experience. We had ordered coffee, two croissants, and a breakfast sandwich. Apparently there are no chocolate croissants on Princess? I wrote in "chocolate" next to the croissant selection like I usually do on Celebrity and just got regular croissants. My husband's breakfast sandwich, which was supposed to had "bacon" on it, in reality has a 2"x2" square of thin-sliced ham. I wish I had taken a picture. He took on bite and determined it was inedible. For our coffee, they provided about 10 packets of Splend and zero real sugar of any kind., which was fine for me, but useless to my husband. He ended up going to the buffet in his PJs for some coffee.

 

I wrote up my blog from yesterday while he went to his coffee adventure and showered. Internet service has been pretty good. No issues with losing my posts or accessing CC.

 

The shower experience was everything I expected it to be. About 30 seconds into his shower, my husband turned off the water and said "I give up! I'm done." He is 6' tall and the shower head was way too low. He hit his head on it twice. And he could not deal with the shower curtain sticking to him. He finally figured out an arrangement where he had the shower head pointing at the side wall and just left the curtain open with a towel down on the floor and was able to finish showering.

 

When it was my turn, I had learned a bit through his trial and error, but I still had to make VERY close friends with the shower walls and shower curtain. I joked to my husband that they had gotten more action than him so far this cruise!

 

We had our CC meet & greet at 10:00 and it was already after 9:00 by the time we were showered and dressed, so we headed to the buffet for breakfast. I hadn't planned to eat anything, but my husband got this delicious looking shaved meat in some sort of dark sauce? Plus there was some pork sausage slices that he thought I would like, because they were a little spicy. So I decided to make myself a plate afterwards. The beef was something called Beef Tapa and I put it over a sunny side up egg and it was delicious! The sausage was just okay.

 

 

We headed to the Skywalker Lounge, which my husband was very disappointed to discover was not Star Wars themed. There had been a whole saga with our Meet & Greet on the roll call where the first person backed out of leading it after someone sarcastically mocked how strict she was being about the sign ups. And then the second person who offered to lead it ended up cancelling his booking. So then we had a guy who offered to just keep the list of attendees, but we had no actual, official host. It was still decently attended with about 25-30 people showing up? Some officers attended as well.

 

A few people asked questions of the officers. My friend @megaphone84 asked the most important question: was the Bills game going to be shown onboard next Sunday. The entertainment officer who was there said they wouldn't have the schedule until Tuesday.

 

The questions then devolved into complaints about how bad the app is and the officers needed to be elsewhere.

 

After the Meet & Greet, we decided it was time for some board games. We went to the large table we had picked out in the Salty Dog Pub, which is an area off of the Wheelhouse. There was some sort of shopping event going on in the Wheelhouse itself, but we didn't let that deter us. We grabbed a first round of drinks from the Crooners Lounge next door (Wheelhouse Bar wasn't open) and then ordered more drinks through the Medallion app.

 

We played our game until we got a hankering for lunch. We checked the MDR lunch menu and decided to give the Salty Dog Grill a try. I had the Carolina Pulled Pork Sandwich, which was pretty good, despite there being raisins in the cole slaw? Meghann wanted to sit in the sun and all the sunny tables nearby were taken. I scoped out the tables one deck up, but it was too windy up there. We ended up at the tables outside the buffet near the Outrigger bar, which I guess is just never open? On my way to the bathroom from our table, I discovered an area at the back of the buffet labeled kid's favorites. It has onion rings, chicken tenders, pizza, etc. As if kids are the only ones who like that stuff! I got some onion rings and they were superior to the fries from Salty Dog.

 

After lunch, we decided we were going to stop at some shops and see if there was any sort of power block or power adapter. No luck. We had stopped by our room first, because to pick up my husband's formal sport coat, because Matt was going to attempt to press it.

 

We went out separate ways after the shops. At some point, I realized I didn't have my wallet/phone. I panicked! My husband decided to go back to Outrigger to see if I had left it on the table where we had lunch. I went down to guest services to see if it has been turned in. After a looong wait in the guest services line, I learned that no one had turned it in and that there are no security cameras back near the Outrigger bar? What? There is a pool and lots of railing for people to go overboard there. How are there no cameras. I had always assumed that every inch of a cruise ship is on camera, especially the railings.

 

I left all my information and they said they would call me in my room if someone turned it in. But that didn't matter. When I got back to the room, my wallet was sitting right there. Apparently I had left it in the room when we came back for Clayton's sport coat.

 

After all that drama, we napped for quite a while. When we woke up, we headed to the International Cafe for the first time. It was nice there. They have pastries and desserts as well as little pre-made sandwiches. While we had our coffee, there was an announcement from the cruise director that it was NOT a formal night. Our first formal night would be the 21st. Somehow we were all under the impression it was supposed to be a formal night, though I couldn't figure out for the life of me where that had been stated. I looked at the Patter from Day 1 and it clearly said the first formal night was the 21st. Oh well. We headed back to the room so my husband could change his shirt and leave his sport coat.

 

We then headed up to Outrigger bar to see if we could have a drink out on the aft deck, but they were closed. We had dinner reservations at Sabitini's at 6:30, so we went to the Adagio bar that is right next to the restaurant and had a couple of drinks.

 

The sunset was gorgeous so we went out on deck to watch it with our drinks. At some point, Clayton realized he had left his medallion in the pocket of the shirt he had changed out of. So we went back to the room to get that and watch the rest of the sunset from our balcony. Then we headed back to Sabitini's to meet Matt and Meghann for dinner.

 

 

 

Dinner was really good, but way too much food. I had the calamari appetizer and the baked trio an that was more than I could eat. We all had to pass on dessert. At some point Meghann had learned that Planks BBQ and the seafood place across from it are closed for the whole sailing. So we decided one of the big tables at Planks would be great for gaming. We headed there to play another game.

 

 

 

 

After Clayton won the game, we headed to Club Fusion for some Karaoke. Meghann was the only one brave enough to perform, but we had a fantastic time! Some of the singers were amazing. The true hero of the evening was Sid, who sang "I Don't Look Good Naked Anymore." He was ana amazing singer and the song was hilarious. 

 

 

After Karaoke, I headed to the casino for a bit. It went slightly better than night one, but still not great. There was someone there with a dog? It did not appear to be a service dog as it was wearing some sort of sports jersey and the guy left it sitting there at on point when he went to use the restroom. I didn't realize pets were allowed onboard. Guess I need to mind my step when I am walking on the astroturf around the pool!

 

 

I had my husband order room service pizza again and had a bit when I got back to the room before getting to bed.

 

One frustrating thing we have experienced several times now is that each bar has its own menu of specialty drinks, but a large percentage of them seem to either be unavailable due to some of their ingredients being missing or the bartenders just not knowing how to make them. This happened with two of the drinks I tried to order at Adagio and one of the drinks I tried to order at Sabitini's.

 

Today we have Cabo San Lucas. We have a whale watching tour scheduled.

 

Day's Drinks: Mimosa x2, Lemon Drop, Mojito, Italian Sunset, French 75, Funky Diva Caparina x2, Lemon Drop x2

 

[nini]

DH and I have learned to not depend on room service for food items. I often order wine that way which works out well.

We have learned to "accept" the crazy small shower and the friendly shower curtain. However, we are not very tall or large people and it is truly a close encounters experience.

OTOH, we may sometime try the room service pizza as I have read fairly positive things about it.

[nini]

It can be frustrating that each of the bars is a bit different and not offer the same wines, etc. We were on the Emerald in May and it was frustrating that there appeared to be a wine shortage and very few qualified for our beverage package (Princess Plus). However, many other cruisers have reported this on other ships as well.

[candy4040]

There should be two additional outlets behind your bed.  

 

[JamieLogical]

8 hours ago, nini said:

It can be frustrating that each of the bars is a bit different and not offer the same wines, etc. We were on the Emerald in May and it was frustrating that there appeared to be a wine shortage and very few qualified for our beverage package (Princess Plus). However, many other cruisers have reported this on other ships as well.

 

Neither my husband or I are wine drinkers. We stick strictly to cocktails on cruises. I am a big beer drinker in real life, but the beer selection on cruise ships never meet my high "beer snob" standards.

Edited December 21, 2022 by JamieLogical

[abbydancer2003]

Welcome to Princess.  I was going to offer, that if your internet isn't great, I can answer general questions about Princess.  I'm heading to LA tomorrow to the Crown on Thursday, so if you want me to post a particular menu picture, I can try to do that.

 

By the way, when DH and I were in Aqua this summer, (usually in Sky suites) his big complaint was the lack of storage compared to Princess.  We love having the closet as I can use my suitcase on the floor for some storage of my laundry bag, etc.   To each his own.

 

Have a wonderful trip, in any case.

 

[nini]

3 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Neither my husband or I are wine drinkers. We stick strictly to cocktails on cruises. I am a big beer drinker in real life, but the beer selection on cruise ships never meet my high "beer snob" standards.

I love your statement about "beer snob"! My family and friends call me a wine snob, so I can really relate. We are not snobs, but we are afficionados.

 

[livetocruise2005]

8 hours ago, abbydancer said:

Welcome to Princess.  I was going to offer, that if your internet isn't great, I can answer general questions about Princess.  I'm heading to LA tomorrow to the Crown on Thursday, so if you want me to post a particular menu picture, I can try to do that.

 

By the way, when DH and I were in Aqua this summer, (usually in Sky suites) his big complaint was the lack of storage compared to Princess.  We love having the closet as I can use my suitcase on the floor for some storage of my laundry bag, etc.   To each his own.

 

Have a wonderful trip, in any case.

 

My wife and I are doing the Hawaii cruise on the Crown on January 31st.  Anything you could post would be much appreciated.

[graphicguy]

Hey Jamie…great review so far, as always.

 

Pet peeve of mine….non-service animals (and those who claim to have a service animal but for no particular reason) on ships.  

 

I love my dog(s).  My current dog is very well behaved.  But, I would not subject him to a small cabin, or to sit quietly at my feet for long periods.  Bad for the dog.  Bad for other passengers.  Super insensitive by their owners.

 

I have seen this on Royal and now Princess.  This alone will keep me from sailing Princess.

[Musky Ike]

We will embark in Ft Lauderdale on the 2nd so following closely. Can you tell me if they have changed the bedside lamps to the new ones with the USB ports on the Emerald yet? Not a big deal, just curious. Hoping for no weather issues.

[JamieLogical]

Yesterday we had ordered room service coffee and pastries again. Once again, there was no actual sugar with our coffee, just 4 packets watch of Sweet & Low, Equal, and Splenda. So, once again, my husband had to go obtain coffee in his PJs. This time he went to the International Cafe and brought me back a completely ridiculous chocolate croissant. Unfortunately, it lacked in flavor what it made up for in size. We have noticed a trend so far on princess that anything that is supposed to be chocolate really lacks on flavor. With the one exception of the Love Boat Dream in the MDR. That is truly chocolatey and delicious.

 

We had our coffee out on the balcony and braced ourselves for more shower struggles. Once we were dressed, we headed to the buffet for breakfast. Once again, they had some sort of delicious meat in sauce that I ate over my egg. This time it was "Pork Adobo"?

 

After breakfast, we went back to the room for our devices (my Kindle and his Steam Deck) so we could find a place to plop, drink a few drinks and kill time before we anchored in Cabo. That place was initially the bar next to the International Cafe. The name escapes me at the moment. And then up to Crooners once they opened.

 

Got some nice views of Cabo from Crooners and rea my book for a while.

 

 

 

We wanted to get to the buffet for lunch right at 11:30 when they opened so we had time to eat, then go back to our room and get ready before we had to meet up in the Theater for our shore excursion at 12:30.

 

I struggled to find much worth eating for lunch. They didn't have the kids favorite station at the back like they had the previous day. Instead they had a Mexican station with some food that turned out to be not very good. The fajita meat I had was okay. The enchiladas were inedible. So I had some cheese and cold cuts.

 

After lunch we rand back to the room to put on sunscreen and prepare to go onshore. When we got down to Deck 7 we had difficulty getting off the elevator because the line into the theater for the shore excursion meet ups was all back up into the elevator bank and down the hallways on both sides of the ship.

 

This is when I learned that ALL of the shore excursions were meeting up at the same time??!! To tender off the ship? The shore excursions desk guy said there were 900 people on excursions!

 

Once we were finally checked in for our excursion and got our colored, numbered stickers, we were directed to the back left area of the theater to be seated. I realized I had forgotten my hat, so since they hadn't started calling any numbers yet and we were way at the back, I decided to risk it and run upstairs to fetch it. As I was leaving my room and heading back to the elevators, my husband texted that they had started calling the first 4 numbers, so I raced down the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator. I definitely need not have worried!

 

Those first 4 numbers were called and then we waited and waited and waited. Finally maybe 20-30 minutes later, another couple of numbers were called. Then more waiting. Eventually they explained that the tenders can only hold about 100 people at a time and they were running 4 tenders. Apparently all the tenders were transporting people with excursions first and then would be available to transport the "independent" passengers.

 

So on would think that could still go fairly quickly with 900 people on excursions. It did NOT go quickly. At one point people literally started booing and shouting when more numbers were called, but theirs weren't. I was really worried some sort of riot was going to break out. People were MAD. It ended up being 2:20 by the time they finally called our number. Remember we had been told to be on the Theater at 12:30 and our excursion was supposed to be from 1:30-3:30.

 

Meanwhile our friends, who were "independent" passengers were group 26 out of 32 with tender tickets. Apparently there was near mutiny in the Piazza as well sine NONE of them could tender until all of us were on shore. My friend has to prise the group numbers out of some woman as the tender tickets only had random words on them like "sea shell", so most people didn't know what actual group number they were or what order groups were being called.

 

 

What a debacle. Our friends finally got onshore around 3:45. They had been told tendering would begin at 1:00 for independent passengers and the last tender back was at 7:00.

 

I have a lot of thoughts about this whole situation. First of all I don't think I have ever been in a cruise where ALL of the excursions were scheduled for the same time. They are usually staggered and scheduled throughout the day, so you don't have everyone leaving the ship at the same time. Second or all, the big excuse Princess kept giving was that there were three ships in port, so the marina was crowded and had to compete for tender docks. Well, it's not like it was some super secret that there would be three ships in port all at once. Port schedules are available months (years?) in advance. And the tender dock stuff was BS. All three ships were docking their tenders at separate docks. So maybe traffic getting TO the docks, but not competing for docks.

 

Princess just really needed to do better. All of this was predictable and should have been better planned for. People losing 3 hours of their 6 hours of port time due to tendering is NOT acceptable.

 

Once we finally made it on shore, we were all asked to form a double file line at the pier, which everyone from about the third row back failed at miserably, but we still all made it to our Whale Watching boat. This boat was very different from the boat we had whale watched on in Alaska. I suspect the drastic different climate has something to do with that. This boat was two levels. The top level was open with just some tarps for shade. The bottom level was enclosed with large windows. We went up to the top to enjoy the great weather.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't have any pictures of whales to share as I learned in Alaska that it is better to shoot video while whale watching, since timing a single camera shot can be tough. We did see a few whales, but only spouts and dorsal fins. No breaches or tails, unfortunately. And certainly no bubble nets like we saw in Alaska, as this is not feeding season and there is a lack of herring off the coast of Cabo, I suspect. We did, however, see tons and tons of dolphins.

 

Also, unlike our Alaska whale watching, this boat provided us with unlimited alcoholic beverages. I had a Tequila Sunrise and a Margarita.

 

Once back onshore from the whale watching, my husband and I explored the touristy area right by the pier. It was unimpressive. It mostly consisted of 275 pharmacies and nearly that many gift shops selling Made in China souvenirs.

 

We decided to get back on the ship so we could get changed and have some afternoon coffee. Fortunately, the wait for a tender to get back to the ship was nothing like what we experienced leaving the ship. There were two tenders waiting right at the pier and the one we got on ended up only being about half full.

 

Back on the ship we changed and grabbed our devices and headed down to the International Cafe for some coffee and relaxing. My husband opted to skip the coffee since our clocks were moving an hour forward again and got some rum from the bar next door. While we were hanging out there, we booked 6:20 dinner reservations at Botticelli's.

 

We eventually got up and went to deck 7 to see if we could watch the sunset, but the NCL Joy was directly in the way. I bet they had a spectacular view of the sunset at least.

 

 

 

Once we got to dinner, we had to wait a few minutes for a table, but it wasn't too bad at all. I had the French Onion Soup and the Mama's Meat Lasagna. Clayton had the Crab Artichoke Dip and the Pork Loin. My soup didn't look very impressive, but it was really tasty. Clayton's crab dip was phenomenal. Our entrees were disappointing. The pork loin was overcooked and the lasagna was quite different from what I had just two days prior. I have been struck by the inconsistency of the food on this cruise. One night Clayton ordered chocolate chip cookies along with my room service pizza and they were large, flat, and eggy. The next night he did the same and they were small, think, and edible. The next day at lunch, we saw the large, flat, eggy ones again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We both got dessert at the MDR. I got the Love Boat Dream again, which was exactly as delicious as the first time, and Clayton got the carrot cake, which he did like, but still finished my dessert instead once I had my fill.

 

After dinner we decided to find a place to watch the sail away. We were getting worried about our friends, as they still weren't back onboard and it was after 7:00. We went up to Outrigger, which was still not open. Fortunately Adagio was open so we grabbed some drinks from there and just brought them out on deck with us. We watched sail away until we got too cold when the wind picked up. Our friends DID make it back onboard.

 

 

Once we heading back indoors, we went down to the Wheelhouse Bar, as I had see the string duo (No Strings Attached) would be playing there. We had a couple more cocktails and decided to call it an early night, since we had the time change to look forward to. I made a brief stop at the casino where I actually came out ahead for the evening, and then headed back to the room to wait for my room service pizza.

 

 

The pizza took a little longer to deliver this time. I wonder if room service was backed up because so many people hadn't come back from shore until fairly late and didn't want to bother with the MDR.

 

Day's Drinks: Mimosa x3,  Tequila Sunrise, Margarita, Lemon Drop Martini x2, Italian Sunset, Gin Daisy x2

 

 

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, Musky Ike said:

We will embark in Ft Lauderdale on the 2nd so following closely. Can you tell me if they have changed the bedside lamps to the new ones with the USB ports on the Emerald yet? Not a big deal, just curious. Hoping for no weather issues.

 

I wish! Would help with the ridiculous outlet situation!

[Coral]

2 hours ago, Musky Ike said:

We will embark in Ft Lauderdale on the 2nd so following closely. Can you tell me if they have changed the bedside lamps to the new ones with the USB ports on the Emerald yet? Not a big deal, just curious. Hoping for no weather issues.

I was on the ship in November for 16 nights after dry dock and they had not been installed.

[nini]

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I wish! Would help with the ridiculous outlet situation!

 

I understand your frustration with the Emerald. Please know that this craziness has to do with the Emerald and NOT Princess as a whole. We were on the Emerald in May and the Grand in September and believe me, they is a stark contrast in many areas.

It took constant reminders from many guests to convince the Emerald that they needed to follow through with their promise to do covid testing the day before disembarkation. (This was when it was required by USA to fly home). They did come through for us and it appeared very organized.

[Coral]

39 minutes ago, nini said:

 

I understand your frustration with the Emerald. Please know that this craziness has to do with the Emerald and NOT Princess as a whole. We were on the Emerald in May and the Grand in September and believe me, they is a stark contrast in many areas.

It took constant reminders from many guests to convince the Emerald that they needed to follow through with their promise to do covid testing the day before disembarkation. (This was when it was required by USA to fly home). They did come through for us and it appeared very organized.

The Grand did have outlets in the lamps. At least my cabin did last December. I actually thought both ships were in good shape overall. Crew were great on both ships also. Though I agree more outlets are a plus, especially in today's world. I just brought a power strip.

 

I did not have to test on the way home so I did not encounter that issue.

[nini]

4 minutes ago, Coral said:

The Grand did have outlets in the lamps. At least my cabin did last December. I actually thought both ships were in good shape overall. Crew were great on both ships also. Though I agree more outlets are a plus, especially in today's world. I just brought a power strip.

 

I did not have to test on the way home so I did not encounter that issue.

Correct. I was talking about the Emerald.

Regarding testing, the requirement was lifted in June 2022; a few weeks after we flew home from Southampton.

[abbydancer2003]

4 hours ago, livetocruise2005 said:

My wife and I are doing the Hawaii cruise on the Crown on January 31st.  Anything you could post would be much appreciated.

I'll do a casual live from.  I'll probably start it tonight.  Stay tuned.

[Coral]

4 minutes ago, nini said:

Correct. I was talking about the Emerald.

Regarding testing, the requirement was lifted in June 2022; a few weeks after we flew home from Southampton.

Emerald needs Alfredos! Definitely missed.

 

Yea - I was aware of the testing requirement. I have no doubt it was a mess. I was looking at an April cruise on a different ship and it required a ton of testing.

[JamieLogical]

33 minutes ago, Coral said:

The Grand did have outlets in the lamps. At least my cabin did last December. I actually thought both ships were in good shape overall. Crew were great on both ships also. Though I agree more outlets are a plus, especially in today's world. I just brought a power strip.

 

I did not have to test on the way home so I did not encounter that issue.

 

I brought a power block that plugs into an EU outlet as I do on every single cruise. I have never been on a ship that didn't have at least one EU outlet. I always thought I was clever for utilizing the EU outlet for my additional outlets and still being able to use the US outlets in the room as well. Be er even occured to me there wouldn't be at least one EU outlet on Princess ships.

[nini]

29 minutes ago, Coral said:

Emerald needs Alfredos! Definitely missed.

 

Yea - I was aware of the testing requirement. I have no doubt it was a mess. I was looking at an April cruise on a different ship and it required a ton of testing.

WOW! Are you ever correct on that! We really enjoyed Alfredo"s on the Grand. The food was wonderful.

[abbydancer2003]

17 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I brought a power block that plugs into an EU outlet as I do on every single cruise. I have never been on a ship that didn't have at least one EU outlet. I always thought I was clever for utilizing the EU outlet for my additional outlets and still being able to use the US outlets in the room as well. Be er even occured to me there wouldn't be at least one EU outlet on Princess ships.

Maybe it's because Princess has always. been US based, whereas Celebrity began as a Greek line.  I have an eight or so inch extension cord that I use that gives me use of both outlets on the desk, because it's very annoying how close they are.  I feel your pain.