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

[sonomaphil]

One more....lucky to get this one from our balcony.

 

[sonomaphil]

Random thoughts from the first two days of the cruise

 

The ship is overall in great condition.  

 

E730 is perfect for this cruise.  I know some say they hear noise from Club Fusion but we hear nothing.  We also feel none of the reported “vibrations”.

 

We have the Premier package and I must admit it’s a little bit of an adventure ordering at various bars….more on that in a future post.

 

The food is very good, we’ve eaten in the MDR three times now and are very happy.  

 

The bartenders at Crooner's are fabulous.  

 

Crown Grill was wonderful, though the conversation from the table behind us was well, appalling.  If your sentences start out with “I’m not prejudiced but…”  and “I’m not a racist but…”,  you are.  

 

I don’t know anything about karaoke, I wouldn't participate nor watch it so I don’t care how many times it’s offered.  

 

We didn’t corner the market on games to bring.  

 

We can’t compare Princess to NCL because you’d have to pay us to cruise NCL.  

 

Rule 1:  If you have a go kart track, roller coaster, skating rink or flowrider, I’m out.  We may have issues with the Sun Princess.  
 

[nini]

14 minutes ago, sonomaphil said:

Random thoughts from the first two days of the cruise

 

The ship is overall in great condition.  

 

E730 is perfect for this cruise.  I know some say they hear noise from Club Fusion but we hear nothing.  We also feel none of the reported “vibrations”.

 

We have the Premier package and I must admit it’s a little bit of an adventure ordering at various bars….more on that in a future post.

 

The food is very good, we’ve eaten in the MDR three times now and are very happy.  

 

The bartenders at Crooner's are fabulous.  

 

Crown Grill was wonderful, though the conversation from the table behind us was well, appalling.  If your sentences start out with “I’m not prejudiced but…”  and “I’m not a racist but…”,  you are.  

 

I don’t know anything about karaoke, I wouldn't participate nor watch it so I don’t care how many times it’s offered.  

 

We didn’t corner the market on games to bring.  

 

We can’t compare Princess to NCL because you’d have to pay us to cruise NCL.  

 

Rule 1:  If you have a go kart track, roller coaster, skating rink or flowrider, I’m out.  We may have issues with the Sun Princess.  
 

 

I loved your Rule 1. Our sentiments as well.

[sonomaphil]

One more random thought I forgot to mention.  The wi-fi speed is more than adequate for us.  We're not trying to stream TV shows but we've had no problems listening to Pandora and streaming Google podcasts.  

[Ken the cruiser]

Just curious, how are you loading your pictures? I don't know about others, but this is what I am seeing. Are you loading them using the "choose files" option at the bottom of the input screen or by some other means?

 

[edspec]

I am not seeing the pictures either, thought it was just me.

Edited January 4, 2023 by edspec
typos

[sonomaphil]

19 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Just curious, how are you loading your pictures? I don't know about others, but this is what I am seeing. Are you loading them using the "choose files" option at the bottom of the input screen or by some other means?

 

Hmm. I did it two different ways. Did some of the pics come through on page one? Those I downloaded and attached. The others from a URL. 

[Ken the cruiser]

18 minutes ago, sonomaphil said:

Hmm. I did it two different ways. Did some of the pics come through on page one? Those I downloaded and attached. The others from a URL. 

I can see all of your pictures up to post #40. FWIW when I've done my Live From threads, I always used the "choose files" option and uploaded them from my iPad's (or iPhone's) Photo Gallery.

Edited January 4, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[sonomaphil]

3 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I can see all of your pictures up to post #40. FWIW when I've done my Live From threads, I always used the "choose files" option and uploaded them from my iPad's (or iPhone's) Photo Gallery.

Got it. First group I downloaded after post 40 I thought I found an easier way. Guess.not. I'll repost later formal night tonight.  

 

Here is the one I'm glad I got. Let me know if you can see it!

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, sonomaphil said:

Got it. First group I downloaded after post 40 I thought I found an easier way. Guess.not. I'll repost later formal night tonight.  

 

Here is the one I'm glad I got. Let me know if you can see it!

 

 

Wow! What a beautiful picture!!

[Robbie555]

As a suggestion, how about a picture of the wake show - either on television or when they do the taping at around 10:00 AM for the following day's show.

 

For my sailing, there were three areas that were not used:

 

#1. The Steamer's Seafood and Planks BBQ was not open, and the seating area was used as an extension for the Marketplace.

 

#2. The SHARE and Adagio sections at the stern of the Sun floor was accessible but not used for dining and Sabatinis was not used either.

 

#3. Outside of the Youth Center there was a race track which was never used.

 

Are thse sections used for your sailing?

[KLM3164]

1 hour ago, sonomaphil said:

 

Beautiful photo! Thanks for sharing. I was able to see all your photos except the ones in posts 29, 49, 50 & 51.

[Nee Nee and Biddy]

Strange question, but what kind of meat is in the new daily lasagna? 

Edited January 5, 2023 by Nee Nee and Biddy

[sonomaphil]

37 minutes ago, Robbie555 said:

As a suggestion, how about a picture of the wake show - either on television or when they do the taping at around 10:00 AM for the following day's show.

 

For my sailing, there were three areas that were not used:

 

#1. The Steamer's Seafood and Planks BBQ was not open, and the seating area was used as an extension for the Marketplace.

 

#2. The SHARE and Adagio sections at the stern of the Sun floor was accessible but not used for dining and Sabatinis was not used either.

 

#3. Outside of the Youth Center there was a race track which was never used.

 

Are thse sections used for your sailing?

Steamers and Planks have been eliminated from the Princess web site and eliminated from deck plans. Seems DOA for now.

 

Sabatinis is open every night as is Adagio.

 

Very minimal children on this cruise not even sure any youth programs are operating. 

[Thrak]

3 hours ago, sonomaphil said:

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!

 

I had a terrible experience in Skywalker's on our last cruise. (Ruby Princess, December 2022)

 

I ordered Courvoisier. The server came over and didn't have the drinks but asked if I had wanted that "on the rocks". I was appalled and told him that Cognac is never served on the rocks. He went away and came back with our drinks. My glass was ice cold and "sweating". It had obviously had ice in the drink and they had just taken the ice out and then served it to me. Great - cold, watered down Cognac. I sat there "stewing" for a while and finally took it back to the bar and told the bartender that I didn't want it because he had put ice in it. He said that wasn't the case. I pointed out that the glass was very cold and "sweating" and then he outright lied to me and said that "All of our liquor is kept chilled". I pointed to the bottle on the shelf behind him and told him to drink it himself. I told him the shape of the glass was designed so that the hand actually warms the Cognac.

 

My wife wasn't finished with her drink so I sat down to read until she was done. A bit later he came over and said he was "warming it" for me. We left and went down the elevator to Club Fusion where I again ordered Courvoisier. The bartender stopped his assistant from using the wrong glass and explained to him about the shape of the glass allowing the cognac to warm from the hand. I then told him about the guy upstairs and he was appalled.

 

Princess really needs to properly train their bartenders and the also really, really, really need to impress on them that they should never try to cover their butts by lying to the passengers.

 

[memoak]

1 hour ago, Robbie555 said:

As a suggestion, how about a picture of the wake show - either on television or when they do the taping at around 10:00 AM for the following day's show.

 

For my sailing, there were three areas that were not used:

 

#1. The Steamer's Seafood and Planks BBQ was not open, and the seating area was used as an extension for the Marketplace.

 

#2. The SHARE and Adagio sections at the stern of the Sun floor was accessible but not used for dining and Sabatinis was not used either.

 

#3. Outside of the Youth Center there was a race track which was never used.

 

Are thse sections used for your sailing?

Share has not been around for a long long time.

[sunviking90]

2 hours ago, sonomaphil said:

Got it. First group I downloaded after post 40 I thought I found an easier way. Guess.not. I'll repost later formal night tonight.  

 

Here is the one I'm glad I got. Let me know if you can see it!

 

 

Thank you! I thought it was just me who couldn’t see them. I am looking forward to more of your report. We were in the Emerald Princess for the November 7th cruise and loved the ship, the crew, everything. Of course, nothing is perfect but we were pretty happy.

[sonomaphil]

You want live? As live as I can be...in the Botticelli dining room now, standing reservation for 2 at 7, table 47.  First formal night. No wait, two glasses of Lovelock Pinot Gris each.  And the wifi?  These uploaded fine now didn't they?  

 

 

[KLM3164]

1 minute ago, sonomaphil said:

These uploaded fine now didn't they?

Yes these photos uploaded fine. Food looks good!

[sonomaphil]

Crooner's right now.  Godfather and Milky Way from your bartender Fidel. Now that's live!  

 

 

[OccasionalSanta]

16 hours ago, sonomaphil said:

I don’t know anything about karaoke, I wouldn't participate nor watch it so I don’t care how many times it’s offered.  

There was karaoke the first night, but we missed it. Haven't seen it listed since then.

 

The comedian (Troy Thirdgill) was good on night 2.

 

Last night, dinner ran a little long and we missed the night trivia, so we caught most of the singer (Donny Rae Evins) show. He did all Nat King Cole tunes... was also a good show 

 

[OccasionalSanta]

So far, the wifi has been better than what's usually reported in here. Some sites seem to take a while to load, but once up, the response is decent. I also got a video call from my daughter/grandkids that worked well

[sonomaphil]

Hello from Cartagena.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Don't forget to check out the wildlife area there next to where you docked. It's pretty cool and it's free! 

[catgirl411]

15 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

I had a terrible experience in Skywalker's on our last cruise. (Ruby Princess, December 2022)

 

I ordered Courvoisier. The server came over and didn't have the drinks but asked if I had wanted that "on the rocks". I was appalled and told him that Cognac is never served on the rocks. He went away and came back with our drinks. My glass was ice cold and "sweating". It had obviously had ice in the drink and they had just taken the ice out and then served it to me. Great - cold, watered down Cognac. I sat there "stewing" for a while and finally took it back to the bar and told the bartender that I didn't want it because he had put ice in it. He said that wasn't the case. I pointed out that the glass was very cold and "sweating" and then he outright lied to me and said that "All of our liquor is kept chilled". I pointed to the bottle on the shelf behind him and told him to drink it himself. I told him the shape of the glass was designed so that the hand actually warms the Cognac.

 

My wife wasn't finished with her drink so I sat down to read until she was done. A bit later he came over and said he was "warming it" for me. We left and went down the elevator to Club Fusion where I again ordered Courvoisier. The bartender stopped his assistant from using the wrong glass and explained to him about the shape of the glass allowing the cognac to warm from the hand. I then told him about the guy upstairs and he was appalled.

 

Princess really needs to properly train their bartenders and the also really, really, really need to impress on them that they should never try to cover their butts by lying to the passengers.

 

So my pet peeve on the liquor front isn’t so much about bartending (although I did find the martini I liked in Crooners (Baked Alaska) to be different almost every time)…my problem is with wine by the glass in the MDR on the Plus package. IMHO, it is unacceptable to merely list the varietal without even telling you the country it comes from. And heaven forbid you should know the region, winery or vintage.  Completely unacceptable.