Emerald Princess - 23 Dec -Panama Canal full transit

[EDVM96]

 

Perfectly medium rare

[mrell345]

We set our clocks back one hour tonight then again another hour tomorrow night.

 

 

[mrell345]

[EDVM96]

29 minutes ago, mrell345 said:

We set our clocks back one hour tonight then again another hour tomorrow night.

Doing the canal Port Everglades to San Pedro gives you an extra 3 hours.
Going vice versa, you miss 3 hours. 😄

Edited January 6 by EDVM96

[Itried4498]

I’m on this cruise, too.  It’s been interesting.  Almost 100% stateroom occupancy but “just” 3,100 passengers.  We took Princess to Hawaii last Christmas/New Year’s and there were far, far more families.  I’ll estimate that 2/3 of all passengers are 65+.
 

Lots of people choose to eat dinner in the buffet and the ones that want the MDR go super early.  There’s no wait and no need for reservations after 6:30PM for MDR.

 

They went through their supplies fairly quickly.  They haven’t had ice cream cones since before NYE.  They’re rationing the lemonade to the point that servers are apologizing for the poor quality.  Diet Coke in cans started to disappear early in the week, only a few places have it at the moment.  And has bottled water (Crystal Gyser).  but they restocked in Mexico with Celo-branded bottle water, which is a Coke product.

[wallyj]

@Itried4498, Emerald Princess at full double occupancy is 3,080 passengers, so you likely have a few families and solo’s.

 

I encountered running out of Diet Coke in cans on the Emerald in July and August of last year too.

[mrell345]

4 hours ago, Itried4498 said:

I’m on this cruise, too.  It’s been interesting.  Almost 100% stateroom occupancy but “just” 3,100 passengers.  We took Princess to Hawaii last Christmas/New Year’s and there were far, far more families.  I’ll estimate that 2/3 of all passengers are 65+.
 

Lots of people choose to eat dinner in the buffet and the ones that want the MDR go super early.  There’s no wait and no need for reservations after 6:30PM for MDR.

 

They went through their supplies fairly quickly.  They haven’t had ice cream cones since before NYE.  They’re rationing the lemonade to the point that servers are apologizing for the poor quality.  Diet Coke in cans started to disappear early in the week, only a few places have it at the moment.  And has bottled water (Crystal Gyser).  but they restocked in Mexico with Celo-branded bottle water, which is a Coke product.

They also haven’t had honey for a couple of days

[mrell345]

Interesting point the captain made during his presentation in the theatre the other day.  Full occupancy is apparently not based on how many people can fit in the cabins but on how many they can fit in the lifeboats.

[broberts]

2 minutes ago, mrell345 said:

Interesting point the captain made during his presentation in the theatre the other day.  Full occupancy is apparently not based on how many people can fit in the cabins but on how many they can fit in the lifeboats.

 

Its why bookings for 3+ in a cabin may not be accepted despite the availability of cabins with 3+ berths.

 

[mrell345]

Jst off of Cedros island right now

[mrell345]

[Oilers rule]

On 1/4/2024 at 5:06 PM, friend of Eeyore said:

Pub lunch menu for tomorrow. (Allegies gets me menus early.)

Thank you for your posts. On a 15 day Panama Canal cruise, how ofter would the pub lunch be offered? I did not see it on any of the Princess Event listings on this thread but I assume that it is listed and I just missed it. 

[friend of Eeyore]

1 hour ago, Oilers rule said:

Thank you for your posts. On a 15 day Panama Canal cruise, how ofter would the pub lunch be offered? I did not see it on any of the Princess Event listings on this thread but I assume that it is listed and I just missed it. 

Twice that I noticed.

[friend of Eeyore]

5 hours ago, mrell345 said:

They also haven’t had honey for a couple of days

For my morning omlette, no egg whites, no red or green peppers, and only Swiss (no mozzarella or chedder) for almost half the cruise I'd say. 

No Leblon for my caipairinia (I know I probably spelled that wrong) all cruise, so they've been using Bacardi Limon, an almost okay substitute. Until they ran out of limes a couple of days ago and tried to substitute lemons.

And I heard they're out of Strongbow, though I never tried.

 

Service has been almost impeccable (only glitch was having my extra sweet latte swapped with someone's Americano, but that happens, and it got fixed), but the supply issue is something else.

[mrell345]

Just now, friend of Eeyore said:

For my morning omlette, no egg whites, no red or green peppers, and only Swiss (no mozzarella or chedder) for almost half the cruise I'd say. 

No Leblon for my caipairinia (I know I probably spelled that wrong) all cruise, so they've been using Bacardi Limon, an almost okay substitute. Until they ran out of limes a couple of days ago and tried to substitute lemons.

And I heard they're out of Strongbow, though I never tried.

 

Service has been almost impeccable (only glitch was having my extra sweet latte swapped with someone's Americano, but that happens, and it got fixed), but the supply issue is something else.

I’m wondering with the late departure the first day if they left some supplies behind on the docks

[mrell345]

Cakes in buffet today

[mrell345]

So no canned Diet Coke at the bars but I did get it delivered to the room through the app

[CAC58]

Thank you all for your posts - 2 cruisers due to go March 6th- we have got quite excited from your posts - reminding us why we book!! I hope you all had a great time and maybe "see" you again sometime on cruise critic x

[Itried4498]

3 hours ago, mrell345 said:

I’m wondering with the late departure the first day if they left some supplies behind on the docks

My guess is they have a finite allotment and once it’s gone, it’s gone.  Still, I’ve never been on a cruise where supplies were diminishing halfway through.

 

On the flip side, they were giving scallops away at the buffet last night and this afternoon, something I’ve never seen before.  And they’ve been cutting fruit like apples, oranges and bananas up so presumably there’s an overstock. 
 

Saw on the Wake Show the other day that CD Fernando will be on the ship through April, in case anyone taking this cruise in the near future is wondering.

[EDVM96]

36 minutes ago, Itried4498 said:

CD Fernando will be on the ship through April

 

[EDVM96]

What's the low flying helicopter doing near the Emerald? Did the captain say anything?

 

flightradar24 doesn't show a transponder signal.

 

Edited January 6 by EDVM96

[thecruisingfarmer]

Thank you for taking time out of your vacation to post. We’re on a 14 day Emerald sailing in July 2025. Very good to hear the service has been top notch. 

[mrell345]

[mrell345]

Baked Alaska parade 🎉🎉🎉

[EDVM96]

Great finish for a great cruise - as far as my buddies on board say. 👍