LIVE from Emerald Princess Panama Canal FLL-LA 1/2-1/17 2023

[sonomaphil]

12 hours ago, Robbie555 said:

Looks good. Is this for only for Captain's Circle members?

This is held in Skywalkers from 5-7 each day and is for Elite, Platinum and I think those guests in suites.  

[Musky Ike]

Thank for the live. We are on this voyage with you. We stayed at the Hampton inn and were surprised at all the cruisers paying $15 pp for the hotel cruise shuttle. We paid $20 for the two of us for a taxi direct to our ship. We didn't need to be in a crowded bus that stopped at the other terminals. The Emerald is showing her age in places but so am I. The staff says we are at about 1900 passengers. That would be about 60% capacity. The last one was full and a lot of kids on that on over the holidays,

[sonomaphil]

19 hours ago, Robbie555 said:

Just curious, who is the name of the main cruise director and the assistants?

 

Just wondering if they are the same as my sailing on 12/3/22.

 

For my sailing, the cruise director was a British man named JC.

 

And his assistants were:

 

Lucia

Georgia

Shell         (organized the ping-pong tournament and co-hosted the daily wake show)

Manuel   (organized the 7-day progressive trivia)

Josie

 

Just wondering if they are in your sailing as well.

Our cruise director is named Dave and Georgia is his assistant. They are doing the Wake Show this morning.  Manuel is doing the progressive trivia.  I do remember him introducing Josie at sailaway, not sure of the others!   

Edited January 3, 2023 by sonomaphil

[sonomaphil]

Day 1

 

Ths was the easiest embarcation we have ever experienced.  Our Uber picked us up at 10:15 and we were at the pier by 10:30.  $35 from the Riverside Hotel to the pier by the way, surge pricing.  We basically dropped off our bags and within 5 minutes we were in the Elite lounge.  We only stopped for 30 seconds while they scanned our passports.  FYI, no one asked us for our vaccination cards, and yes, you must be vaxxed for Columbia.  Even at this early hour we still got group 2 for boarding!  Right on time at 11 boarding began and we were onboard by 11:05.  Cabins were not available until 1, so time to wander!  

 

First stop, passenger services to order flowers for the cabin.  We picked the anniversary arrangement for $59 and it was delivered to our cabin while we were at dinner.  

 

 

We then headed up to the Sanctuary to pick a day.  In an oddity after 20 cruises we’ve never done the Sanctuary so we're giving it a try on day 3 for the afternoon.  Don’t ask me why we’ve never been.  You get a number when you get to the Sanctuary and then a manger comes over to you and shows you options.  We were 14 and they were on 8 so we had a little 15 minute wait.  The dining room had just opened for lunch by this time so off we went.  Lunch is served in DiVinci on deck 6 and I’ve already posted some pics.  I enjoyed my Bay Shrimp app and the Beef Tenderloin was great.  Very nice first meal.  Tonight we’ll be at the Crown Grill for dinner, more on that to come.  

 

Cabins are available now!

We are in E730 a mini suite as far aft as you can get and still be on the port side.  This was a specific cabin I wanted as what makes this cabin special is it is fully covered and has an extended balcony, literally it is almost the size of 2 regular mini suite balconies.  I posted some pics of the balcony earlier. We usually get far aft C743 on the starboard side when we do a regular balcony room.  C743 also has a bigger balcony than other Caribe cabins.  Our quick rule, 7 days or less, balcony cabin, 8-10 days, balcony or mini, over 10, mini. 

 

I know people love to see the Elite benefits so here goes, bathroom amenities and mini bar.  

 

 

And some cabin photos.

 

 

Edited January 3, 2023 by sonomaphil

[sonomaphil]

More to come, need to get to the gym for a workout.

 

Edited January 3, 2023 by sonomaphil

[sonomaphil]

19 hours ago, 1emerald1 said:

E730!  Had that cabin on the Crown.  At some point during the cruise can you comment on if the vibrations are still bad? 

Nothing noticable for one day. Stabilizers every once in a while but that's normal with aft cabins. We are almost always somewhere toward aft so we're used to it. 

[memoak]

If you have uploaded your vac records to the app any time in the past they will be accessible to check in staff. We have not had to show a paper copy on any of our cruises in 2022

[Robbie555]

6 hours ago, sonomaphil said:

This is held in Skywalkers from 5-7 each day and is for Elite, Platinum and I think those guests in suites.  

I'd say the Skywalkers is the most underused place on the ship. On the mornings, there's a Bible study. And I did take a visit to the 5-7 Elite group gathering and while the Hors D'oeuvre were okay it would definitely ruin my dinner if I ate anything and as such, I don't really miss not being allowed to eat there. And after 10:30 PM there's the dance floor with very little dancers and it is certainly not a typical crowded nightclub.

 

 

5 hours ago, sonomaphil said:

Our cruise director is named Dave and Georgia is his assistant. They are doing the Wake Show this morning.  Manuel is doing the progressive trivia.  I do remember him introducing Josie at sailaway, not sure of the others!   

 

Okay, Dave was the cruise director from the 12/18/22 sailing and it looks like he remained for this sailing as well. Attached is a picture of the Read My Lips show on the night of 12/17/22 performed by the assistants.

 

Far left is Lucia from Argentina. Is she on this sailing?

 

Second from left is Georgia.

 

Third from left is a Malaysian woman named Shell who co-hosted the wake show and was on two straight sailings. Is she on this sailing as well?

 

Fourth from the left is Manuel, a man from Portugal and it looks like he is on this sailing.

 

Fifth from the left is Josie and she told me she is from Saint Lucia.

 

I do not remember the name of the woman on the far right. She was not an assistant director but rather a crew member who ran the bingo games.

 

 

Edited January 3, 2023 by Robbie555

[sonomaphil]

21 minutes ago, Robbie555 said:

 

 

Far right is the character Fortuna Luck. For the most part she stays in character the whole cruise.   Not sure if she is casino, entertainer or cruise director staff.  

[wallyj]

50 minutes ago, sonomaphil said:

Far right is the character Fortuna Luck. For the most part she stays in character the whole cruise.   Not sure if she is casino, entertainer or cruise director staff.  

I believe Fortuna Luck and the other costumed character ‘Pirate Queen’? Who hosts Queen Sea Poker? Are casino staff. The casino on Princess is run by a 3rd party, not Princess.

[1emerald1]

4 hours ago, sonomaphil said:

Nothing noticable for one day. Stabilizers every once in a while but that's normal with aft cabins. We are almost always somewhere toward aft so we're used to it. 

Thanks

[OccasionalSanta]

I've heard that there are a bit under 2,000 guests on the cruise, so about 2/3 capacity. The staff seems to be breathing a little sigh since the last cruise or two were apparently busier with the holidays and kids out of school.

 

We ate at Sabatini's last night.... took us a while to find it as it is kinda hidden in the back on deck 16. The place was practically empty, only about 4 or 5 tables in use the entire time we were there. So, we received a lot of attention and good service. Our server also overheard Mrs. OS mentioning it was my birthday, so she brought me an extra dessert and the staff sang for  me. (Not the worst version of "Happy Birthday" I've heard on a Princess ship.)

 

Today, we discovered that they are having Princess Pop choir again.... We've missed that the last couple years.

 

I have already noticed some bogus bar charges on my account. (I drink very little and haven't ordered any alcohol yet.) But I'm sure they'll fix that when I get a chance to report it.

 

Mostly, all is good.

[OccasionalSanta]

--- duplicate post ----

Edited January 3, 2023 by OccasionalSanta
Duplicate post

[XBGuy]

1 hour ago, OccasionalSanta said:

--- duplicate post ----

 

Oh, what the heck?  That was pretty good. Post it again.  🤣

 

 

Edited January 4, 2023 by XBGuy

[sonomaphil]

5 hours ago, Robbie555 said:

The new Lasagna was actually very, very good. 

 

 

[Robbie555]

3 minutes ago, sonomaphil said:

 

Okay. But I didn't say that as you used my quote.

[Robbie555]

1 hour ago, OccasionalSanta said:

Today, we discovered that they are having Princess Pop choir again.... We've missed that the last couple years.

If you're going to participate, who will be the organizer?

 

For my 12/3/22 sailing, it was the assistant cruise director Josie.

 

And just a fair warning.....several members of that choir got Covid-19 after the cruise on my sailing.

[sonomaphil]

1 minute ago, Robbie555 said:

Okay. But I didn't say that as you used my quote.

Here's the funny part, I didn't!  I'm in the dining room right now and that's how CC posted it!  

[OccasionalSanta]

1 hour ago, Robbie555 said:

If you're going to participate, who will be the organizer?

 

For my 12/3/22 sailing, it was the assistant cruise director Josie.

 

And just a fair warning.....several members of that choir got Covid-19 after the cruise on my sailing.

 

It's Josie again this time

[OccasionalSanta]

3 hours ago, OccasionalSanta said:

I have already noticed some bogus bar charges on my account. (I drink very little and haven't ordered any alcohol yet.) But I'm sure they'll fix that when I get a chance to report it.

 

I reported it.... they removed the charges.... All is still good

[OccasionalSanta]

1 hour ago, XBGuy said:

Oh, what the heck?  That was pretty good. Post it again.  🤣

 

Be nice.... I know where you live.😄

[Robbie555]

56 minutes ago, OccasionalSanta said:

 

It's Josie again this time

Did you play in any trivia games yet and if you did, did you win anything yet such as champagne bottles, coasters, bags, or notebooks?

 

How about any sports tournaments such as ping ping, basketball, golf, or cornhole to try to win a Princess medal?

[startedwithamouse]

1 hour ago, Robbie555 said:

Did you play in any trivia games yet and if you did, did you win anything yet such as champagne bottles, coasters, bags, or notebooks?

 

How about any sports tournaments such as ping ping, basketball, golf, or cornhole to try to win a Princess medal?

We won all of those  items on the Grand, in addition, Princess water bottles and wine stoppers last year.  Lots and lots of games, since it was dreadful weather, we were attending everything. 

[sonomaphil]

Dinner at Crown Grill on the first night was great.  We did have an issue with ordering an Amarretto Manhattan.  First one we got was an Amaretto Sour, then a straight up Amaretto with a cheery.  Gave up and ordered an Old Fashioned as the waiter came back and said I could only get that at Crooner's.  The bartender at Crooner's, Fidel, visibly flinched when I told him that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sonomaphil]

And some random pnotos from the first full day on the cruise.  Nothing in particular.