Live from Emerald Princess, April 16 - May 4, 2023, full Panama transit

[jaycruising]

7 minutes ago, Cruising2024 said:

We'll be on the Total Eclipse Panama Canal transit cruise next April. Very interested in all your observations and pictures!

Thank you!  Overall I am really impressed with how the ship looks. A lot of the seating throughout the ship looks like it has been reupholstered in the not to distant past and I love the decor in the buffet, it is all light colours and fairly modern. 

[Olympic Crow]

By the way, good job navigating to Ft. Lauderdale between rain storms. What a mess.

[startedwithamouse]

13 minutes ago, jaycruising said:

We have a standing 6pm reservation in the Da Vinci dining room, it was quite lovely this evening and there was no wait to get to our table. We dined with @Lovinthesun and 2 other couples. We do like sharing a table as you meet so many interesting people. 
 

 

 

 

I spaced out and forgot to take pictures of my started but I had the Pina Colada soup, and it was probably one of the best I’ve ever had and then the shrimp cocktail appetizer. I finally got my glass of wine around the time I finished my shrimp. For my main I had the Risotto and it was very good too. 

 

I wasn’t feeling many of the desserts so I went with the cheese plate. 
 

 

Our dinner was for the most part pretty good, DM didn’t love the chicken, and we had great company, the service wasn’t great. This dinner took 2 hours and 45 minutes, and it wasn’t because we were visiting for long after. It was just that slow, we waited at least 30 minutes after our appetizers were cleared until we got our mains. No one was offered coffee or tea. We did mention it as we were leaving, and one of our table mates did say something about maybe speeding it up next time directly to our server. It is the first time I recall having bad service, but we will move on and enjoy it all go forward. 
 

Post dinner DM and I went and sat in the wheelhouse bar and enjoyed the music and played 3 games of crib, I won 2!

 

Now we are calling it a night and we shall see what adventures or not 😉 we get up to tomorrow!

Embarkation day is always slow. Service will speed up. 

[Kopy]

Hi thanks for the updates of this cruise, we  will be on the Emerald in May and wonder if you could post the patters. we are especially wondering where the Opus band is playing and what type of music they have in the Wheelhouse bar for dancing. Thanks

[jaycruising]

15 hours ago, msd808 said:

Thank you for the live review.  We may be doing a late booking on the Emerald this summer, so it's very helpful.

If you don't mind could you please share the pricing for the Chef's Table and the Sanctuary?

By the way, that margarita looked great!

The Sanctuary is $20 for half day, $40 for full day (8-5) and $60 for the canal day (7-5).

10 hours ago, Cruising2024 said:

By the way, good job navigating to Ft. Lauderdale between rain storms. What a mess.

Yea we were pretty lucky, but I was looking at contingency plans!

[jaycruising]

1 hour ago, Kopy said:

Hi thanks for the updates of this cruise, we  will be on the Emerald in May and wonder if you could post the patters. we are especially wondering where the Opus band is playing and what type of music they have in the Wheelhouse bar for dancing. Thanks

Sure can, here is day 1 and I will include go forward. 

 

 

[jaycruising]

April 17, sea day

 

 

 

Had a pretty good sleep in these dreamy princess beds, so comfortable, but a little hard to get used to the twin size!

 

First destination this morning was the gym, it was pretty busy, but it is so much easier to work out when you have these amazing views. 

 

They have a really good assortment of equipment, don’t have a few things I use at home, but I can improvise. 
 

Next was time to add some fuel so headed to the International Cafe, I love their breakfast selection

 

 

This is the chia seed pudding, love it, tried to replicate it at home and failed!!

 

 

Just finished getting ready for the day and am going to head up to Adagio for our M&G, I believe we have over 70 people signed up! And a big thank you to our organizers!

 

Also this is our balcony on Caribe, I could do yoga out here or have about 10 of my closest friends, it’s HUGE!

[LawDog61]

Thank you for Sharing your cruise with us.  I will be following along with great interest as we have a coastal and Hawaii booked on her when she reaches the west coast.

[NewYearFun3]

15 hours ago, jaycruising said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15 hours ago, jaycruising said:

We went and did a little tour of the spa and the gym and decided to enter their draw they were having. 

Did the spa area have a free sauna? I read that the only sauna was in the paid area but the deck plan has one in the spa dressing rooms. 

[jaycruising]

2 hours ago, NewYearFun3 said:

 

Did the spa area have a free sauna? I read that the only sauna was in the paid area but the deck plan has one in the spa dressing rooms. 

I’ll check tomorrow, they did show us the one in the thermal area, but the cost for that is $299 for our voyage, and is really just steam room, sauna and heated loungers. 

[startedwithamouse]

Ahhhh, we did this same full transit Panama Canal itinerary on the Emerald in January, and it was fun. 

 

We loved to chill in Steamers and watch the sunsets with some wine and appetizers. 

 

If you are dining in DaVinci, the restaurant manager Marius is delightful.

[NewYearFun3]

1 hour ago, jaycruising said:

I’ll check tomorrow, they did show us the one in the thermal area, but the cost for that is $299 for our voyage, and is really just steam room, sauna and heated loungers. 

Thank you! I really appreciate your time. I am on the Emerald in June and really enjoy time in the sauna. I'm crossing my fingers that you find a free one 🤞  

[msd808]

10 hours ago, jaycruising said:

The Sanctuary is $20 for half day, $40 for full day (8-5) and $60 for the canal day (7-5).

Yea we were pretty lucky, but I was looking at contingency plans!

Thank you!  Very helpful and really enjoying your review!  Have a wonderful cruise!

[jaycruising]

We had a great turnout for our meet and great, the events person on board said it was one of the first times she has seen the room full, so great work CC and our organizer! I didn’t get to meet that many people, but it was nice to meet those I did!

 

A few of us sat in Adagio for quite a while, then DM came and found me after her facial, she said it was just okay and the upsell was annoying, so be warned if planning a trip to the spa!  5 of us headed down to the dining room for some lunch, I love having that as an option. 
 

 

I guess I had brunch since I went with the eggs Benedict, not sure why but they put Parmesan cheese on top, that was a first and gave it an interesting flavour. 

 

The award for best thing I ate today goes to this fruit tart, it was so good and plated beautifully. 

 

After lunch we came back to the cabin as I wanted to take a nap, usually a couple days into the vacation, once I have relaxed, I just crash. I ended up napping for about an hour and a half, it was great!

 

Once I woke up I was chilly as the ax in our room finally kicked in, so decided to go walk around the promenade deck, and get some sunshine… I love this deck to be out on and I love the wake!

 

we then passed Oasis of the Seas, but they are just doing the Caribbean loop, so not as far to go!

 

Time to head in and get ready for dinner!

Edited April 18, 2023 by jaycruising

[jaycruising]

Before we headed to dinner I used the crew chat function on the app for some help as our tv was playing Princess ads over and over and I couldn’t watch anything else. It was so easy, sent a quick message and included a picture and whoever answered was able to reboot our tv and had it fixed in no time, it was great!

Dinner tonight was in DaVinci dining room and we were meeting our new friends from CC. 

 

tonight I started with the Fennel salad

 

and then had the scallops for my main, those and the sauce were very tasty. 

 

tonight’s dessert choices 

 

i went with the cheesecake 

 

Service was much better tonight and our table of 8 was done in about 2 hours, much better then last night!

 

We then headed to Explorers lounge for the Strike Out game. Everyone gets up on the dance floor, well those that want to participate, I recommend you do, it was fun!  And they will play a song and give 2 options for what year the song came out and you have to stand on the side of the year you think it came out, if you get it right you stay in the game, if you are wrong back to your seats. I really had a good time playing this one, but didn’t win!

 

 

Next was the comedian in the theatre, he was pretty good, I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes a few times. 

 

Now is time to relax so that we can relax some more tomorrow in the sanctuary, I’m really looking forward to that!

 

[gottagocit]

Nice job with the Live from thread.
 

We really enjoyed the comedian and look forward to his next show tomorrow night. We left his 7:30pm show and had a great time at the MUTS watching the remake of Death on the Nile. Was a wonderful night up top and very good movie. 

 

Hate I didn’t get to talk with more at the M&G after the officers talked a bit. Did meet a wonderful couple there from Washington state and had a great time talking about some of our favorite travel experiences including cruising and land based travel. Before I knew it most people had left the adagio. 

[jaycruising]

15 hours ago, NewYearFun3 said:

Thank you! I really appreciate your time. I am on the Emerald in June and really enjoy time in the sauna. I'm crossing my fingers that you find a free one 🤞  

Sorry to report I checked this morning and there is not one in the change rooms, they have nice showers. So the only one is in the Thermal Suite. 

[NewYearFun3]

1 hour ago, jaycruising said:

Sorry to report I checked this morning and there is not one in the change rooms, they have nice showers. So the only one is in the Thermal Suite. 

Oh bummer. Thanks for checking. Do you know if they sell day passes to the Thermal Suite?

[jaycruising]

15 minutes ago, NewYearFun3 said:

Oh bummer. Thanks for checking. Do you know if they sell day passes to the Thermal Suite?

They never mentioned day passes, just whole voyage passes. 

[jaycruising]

April 18, Sea day

 

 

 

This morning had been rather quiet, up around 8am and headed over to the gym to get our workouts in. Then we headed to the buffet to get a quick breakfast. 
 

We had missed the destination talk yesterday so we were going to head back to the cabin to watch it, but as we got there we realized our room steward was in the room next door and hadn’t made it to ours yet, so we decided to venture out again. We weren’t sure what to do and then we realized it was arts and crafts time so off to the Crown Grill. 

 

If you are interested in attending I would recommend arriving a bit early as seating is limited, we made these hanging stars. They can decorate our cabin for now, but won’t make the final journey home!

Then back our our cabin to watch the destination chat from yesterday, he was pretty interesting, we missed the one from today so will catch it on TV later. 

 

It was much cloudy earlier but has cleared off quite a bit, we are just prepping now and are off to the sanctuary for the afternoon. 

 

By the way the internet has been fantastic I have been streaming YouTube and no issues uploading here to CC. 

 

[NewYearFun3]

39 minutes ago, jaycruising said:

They never mentioned day passes, just whole voyage passes. 

Thank you so much for your help. I guess I better start saving!

I'm really enjoying your posts and hope you have a wonderful vacation. 

Edited April 18, 2023 by NewYearFun3

[jaycruising]

Spent the afternoon in the Sanctuary, did some relaxing, a quick dip in the pool, it was so cold! But the hot tub was actually hot so that was a bonus. I didn’t take many photos around there today but we have not days up there. 
 

A friend I made on the ship was ordering the plus package extra desserts so I went down there to meet them so I could snag a few photos of them. I am not sure how someone could eat 2 a day. 

 

 

 

 

[Olympic Crow]

Wow!

[jaycruising]

Back up to the sanctuary for more relaxing and afternoon tea. They will bring it around for you every afternoon and it is very delicious. 
 

 

 

 

We had skipped lunch so we could enjoy tea time!

 

We decided to head back to our cabin just before 5 and get ready for formal night. There is quite a mix of dress on this ship, we saw everything from men in shirt sleeves and dress pants to tuxedos and even a kilt thrown in for good measure. Some ladies were in fancy dresses, others more casual dresses, I wore a dress pants outfit, it was comfortable and a bit dressy. 
 

I will note that given the length of this cruise most people on board are retirees, and a few of varying ages from 20-50’s and no children on board , that I have seen. But I did have a little laugh tonight when we walked up to the restaurant and there were 4 scooters and 3 walkers parked our front. Everyone we have met on this cruise has been very lovely. 
 

In the dining room we got sat at the same table as the first night and I will say service was greatly improved. We had a great group at our table tonight. We do really enjoy sharing a table you get to meet so many interesting people and tonight was no exception. 

i know it has been a hotbed topic about the lasagna and the lasagna, and I know this menu shows the latter, but on the menu we got at dinner tonight the fettuccine was on the menu and listed in everyday favourites (and was there last night too), so maybe they heard enough noise and have returned it. 

 

 

i had the crab cake for my appetizer, it was ok, did forget to get a picture. Main tonight was the tenderloin, some of my prices were more well done then others and I prefer more to medium-rare, but it still had great flavour. 
 

My dessert tonight was the crepes Suzette and one of my table mates let me sneak a photo of her cheesecake too!

 

 

Speaking of our table mates, one of the couples was really looking forward to playing pickle ball on board, however it turns out they have resurfaced the court, to the same stuff as on the balconies and now the ball won’t bounce making it impossible to play. They spoke with the cruise director and apparently they have been aware for several months, but haven’t found a solution yet. So be aware if that is something you were planning to do on board at least at the time of this writing. 
 

After we finished our lovely dinner I snuck down to Good spirits for a sandia en fuego, it wasn’t as good as on crown but I’ll give it another chance. 

 

Then we headed into Explorers lounge for the Yes No game show, I had wanted to see this one for a while and it really didn’t disappoint. Best part was when a man lost the game after 13 seconds, then his wife got up to play as well and she lost out in 13 seconds too!

 

After a laugh there we went to club fusion for the You Be The Judge game, for this one they read out actual cases that happened and you try and guess the verdict. The game was ok, but DJ Lovey played the judge and she is hilarious, she made the whole show, here is her outfit. 

 

 

We just stayed in the lounge as the comedian from last night was doing another set, so we enjoyed that and then it was time to go back to the cabin and get ready for our first port tomorrow!

[jaycruising]

15 minutes ago, Cruising2024 said:

Wow!

Yeah I didn’t sample them, but they look crazy!