Emerald Princess was an epic disappointment. Never again on Princess

[SaltyDoggg]

I knew of the reputation of Princess cruises was pretty legendary in the cruise world. They are the Love Boat after all. But I didn't know if they could stand up to the stellar track record I had previously sailing with 2 of the leaders in the industry, Disney and Celebrity. Let me cut to the chase... they do not. They're not even in the same stratosphere.

 

I chose Emerald Princess because it was an older ship, which I love and the Itinerary was epic! I watched every Emerald Princess ship walkthrough video, read all the reviews and I was sold that Emerald Princess was a great ship to try. I ca't begin to tell you how disappointed I was.

 

The food overall was awful, even putrid, but the food at the buffet was just horrific. The crew overall were great but everyone really lacked basic training and that rolls over to a bad guest experience. There is also a major communication problem between the crew and the guests. The language barrier is really frustrating to overcome.

 

Buffet. They were serving powdered eggs for breakfast at the buffet. You had to wait 20 minutes at the omelet station just to place your order, then another 15 minutes to get your omelet. And the Omelet was mediocre at best, not worth the wait. By day 2, I resorted to cereal and fruit for breakfast because everything else was just so awful. Same for lunch and dinner at the buffet. Items on the line looked gray and unappetizing. I ended up eating pizza and burgers outside at the Salty Grill and Slice for lunch because oddly, their pizza was phenomenal and that's coming from a NYC pizza snob.

 

The operation on how they managed that burger line at the salty grill was a joke. The idea of hot dogs and burgers are so you can get a bite quickly. It was literally keystone cops behind that line, trying to get food out to guests waiting 20 minutes for one burger with only 3 guests waiting. I would show up exactly when they opened at 11am, first person in line and still wait 20 minutes for a cheese burger because they were cooking everything to order. Not because they weren't trying, because they had no training and no backup. Management was oblivious. It was a joke. Ridiculous. No idea on how to deal with volume on a grill line.

 

Main dining room's food was Tasteless. Presentations were great but the food was just not good. Service was decent and crew were great. I only ate in the main dining room 3 times on a 14 night cruise because I was continually disappointed in the quality of food. I did an up-charge steak one night and it was terrible. You could taste the char on the steak and the vegetable, plus the texture of the steak was like mealy. The kicker??? The mashed potatoes were obviously instant. No butter, no salt. What kind of company does this?

 

Specialty restaurants were better, but bot great. Casual specialty restaurants also were better, but again. Nothing memorable. Thank God I had the Premium package because I could eat at the casual restaurant were were somewhat better but again, they had allot of issues with the quality of the food

 

Does Princess even have a corporate culinary program that ensures consistence across their entire fleet? If they do, they are failing. One ship's mistakes affect how their entire brand is perceived.

 

Entertainment sucked. Steel pan player was trying to play to backing tracks and all you could hear was steel drum with so much treble it was like sticking an ice pick in your ears. This guy was all over the ship too. I was running away from him because it was just not enjoyable. Could not find one band on the ship that played good ole rock and roll. This party band who just joined the ship with us did an 80's night on the pool deck and they were playing air guitar and lyp syncing because they did not know the material. It was pathetic. Even the guys who were mixing the band were embarrassed.

 

The constant upselling. The cruise director is so in love with himself that they have thing they do on the big screen called the wake show. Like a Good Morning America where they are constantly trying to get you to go to the art auctions, the jewelry sales, etc.. It's so in your face and obvious and ruins the chill pool deck vibe Between running from pool deck to pool deck to avoid the steel pan player and having to endure this Wake Show on the other pool deck. It was really annoying.

 

Mechanics. Everything is broken on that ship. Elevators were not working. Auto doors would close on you while you are half way through. Light sensors in the room going off for no reason in the middle of the night. etc. etc. etc.

 

Pool decks. There are 3 of them, each very narrow. It's challenging moving through those areas because all the loungers take up the space needed to walk from one end to another. Why do you need 3 small pool decks? They pack it in so tight, you cant navigate.

The ports were the best part of this cruise. Everything went off without a hitch. The excursions were so great. If it weren't for the ports and excursions, this cruise would be an EPIC fail. It's the only thing that kept me from rating it a 1.

 

In short, I would never sail Princess again. I took a chance and it really disappointed me. This cruise was not cheap either. Traveling as a single, I was paying double occupancy on a 14 night cruise in a balcony cabin. Do the math.

 

Princess does not know who they want to be either. They have this Duffy the bear character that walks around the ship waving to guests. What is that?? You're not Disney and you don't have Mickey Mouse. Plus there are hardly any kids on the ship, by design BTW. What are you doing with this character? Do you really think thats what people are looking for?

 

Also I spent allot of time getting to know some of their Elite guests with 15 or more Princess cruises under their belt. They seem forgiving of the inconsistencies on Princess because of all the rewards they are earning. That's a dangerous place to be for a brand. Princess feels their guests are happy, but they are really just complacent. Most I talked to are so brand loyal they they would never consider sailing with anyone else. Why should Princess try if their legacy guests don't care? I think Princess knows of the complacency and allows the ball to drop. It's so obvious for me where they are failing.

 

But what they are really doing is alienating the new generation of cruisers. Your legacy guests are gonna be gone someday soon and you will be left at the mercy of pulling in new blood, but i think it will already be too late by that time.

 

I'll be back on Celebrity and Disney if you need me... cheers!

[Itchy&Scratchy]

12 minutes ago, SaltyDoggg said:

I chose Emerald Princess because it was an older ship

so, you've actually brought this upon yourself?  I am sorry. We choose newer Princess ships on purpose and couldn't be happier.

 

13 minutes ago, SaltyDoggg said:

Plus there are hardly any kids on the ship, by design BTW.

my kid is happy to cruise on Princess and was happy to see and take a pic with the bear. And he is almost a teen.

[JF - retired RRT]

Wow!!

FYI: the Elite benefits have been whittled down to almost nothing since the restart and are NOT the reason most "old timers" sail on Princess.

I've been on 25+ cruises on Princess on almost every ship they have (plus some that are no longer in the fleet) and never had a BAD cruise.

An occasional entree I didn't care for...just ask for something else. A band I don't like...go somewhere else. Watched the Wake Show once on my first cruise and realized it was a sales pitch and never watched it again. I didn't realize it was on MUTs. That's interesting.

Different strokes....

 

BTW: welcome to Cruise Critic, try posting again with reviews of your other cruise lines.

Edited January 2 by JF - retired RRT

[Iamcruzin]

5 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

so, you've actually brought this upon yourself?  I am sorry. We choose newer Princess ships on purpose and couldn't be happier.

 

 

The on board experience should be consistent across the brand. They need to fill the older ships just as much as the new ones.  I realize the ship may look tied and not have all the new bells and whistles but the food should be consistent. Are they serving fresh eggs on the new ships? I have read that the buffet coffee is better on the new ships. I guess they are still serving swill on the Grand Class.  

 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

2 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

The on board experience should be consistent across the brand. They need to fill the older ships just as much as the new ones.  I realize the ship may look tied and not have all the new bells and whistles but the food should be consistent. 

 

we tried Caribbean Princess back in 2016, found her to be old and tired even then, decided against sailing on old ships again. The food was good in both MDR and buffet, with the exception of the MDR kid's menu (it was plain awful). The buffet was very obviously not as varied and large as Royal class ship's buffet, but the food was good.

We weren't totally unhappy with that cruise and didn't say "never again on Princess" (probably, because prior to that we had been on Regal Princess and were super happy), and that voyage introduced us to the ABC island itinerary, which we have fallen in love with.

 

Yes, Royal class and newer serves brewed coffee in the buffet (machines).

[Iamcruzin]

28 minutes ago, SaltyDoggg said:

 

 

 

 

Buffet. They were serving powdered eggs for breakfast at the buffet. You had to wait 20 minutes at the omelet station just to place your order, then another 15 minutes to get your omelet. And the Omelet was mediocre at best, not worth the wait. By day 2, I resorted to cereal and fruit for breakfast because everything else was just so awful. Same for lunch and dinner at the buffet. Items on the line looked gray and unappetizing. I ended up eating pizza and burgers outside at the Salty Grill and Slice for lunch because oddly, their pizza was phenomenal and that's coming from a NYC pizza snob.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Entertainment sucked. Steel pan player was trying to play to backing tracks and all you could hear was steel drum with so much treble it was like sticking an ice pick in your ears. This guy was all over the ship too. I was running away from him because it was just not enjoyable. Could not find one band on the ship that played good ole rock and roll. This party band who just joined the ship with us did an 80's night on the pool deck and they were playing air guitar and lyp syncing because they did not know the material. It was pathetic. Even the guys who were mixing the band were embarrassed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

T 

 

 

 

Princess does not know who they want to be either. They have this Duffy the bear character that walks around the ship waving to guests. What is that?? You're not Disney and you don't have Mickey Mouse. Plus there are hardly any kids on the ship, by design BTW. What are you doing with this character? Do you really think thats what people are looking for?

 

Also I spent allot of time getting to know some of their Elite guests with 15 or more Princess cruises under their belt. They seem forgiving of the inconsistencies on Princess because of all the rewards they are earning. That's a dangerous place to be for a brand. Princess feels their guests are happy, but they are really just complacent. Most I talked to are so brand loyal they they would never consider sailing with anyone else. Why should Princess try if their legacy guests don't care? I think Princess knows of the complacency and allows the ball to drop. It's so obvious for me where they are failing.

 

 

 

I'll be back on Celebrity and Disney if you need me... cheers!

 First I would like to say that Disney is in a class of its own and can't be compared to mainstream lines. Celebrity has a younger vibe and a dedicated indoor adult sanctuary that you don't have to pay for.The buffets on the Grand Class ships have always been a challenge. I see they are still serving instant eggs as well. Pizza and a salad are my go to for lunch on sea days. The only bad meals that I have had in the MDR is the rubber lobster but I seem to get that on Celebrity and Royal Caribbean as well.  I have been sailing on Princess since 1991 and the entertainment was always lacking. Please tell me that they stopped doing those tacky 70s parties. I now live in a 55 plus community and our New Years Eve theme  was 70's disco. You could tell who had a few cruises under their belt. Is anyone ever going to move on to the next decade?  It's amazing how these loyalty programs suck people in. What they won't put up with for some cheap vodka and free laundry.  Princess needs to do some rebranding because as the silent generation and boomers start fading away they are going to have to attract millennials and Gen Z who are not brand loyal.

[beg3yrs]

Welcome to Cruise Critic. We've been on the Emerald several times and our experiences were quite different than yours. Many experiences are subjective so I hope you find Celebrity more to your liking.

[Iamcruzin]

13 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

we tried Caribbean Princess back in 2016, found her to be old and tired even then, decided against sailing on old ships again. The food was good in both MDR and buffet, with the exception of the MDR kid's menu (it was plain awful). The buffet was very obviously not as varied and large as Royal class ship's buffet, but the food was good.

We weren't totally unhappy with that cruise and didn't say "never again on Princess" (probably, because prior to that we had been on Regal Princess and were super happy), and that voyage introduced us to the ABC island itinerary, which we have fallen in love with.

 

Yes, Royal class and newer serves brewed coffee in the buffet (machines).

I have sailed on the Caribbean Princess the most and I didn't care for it when it was new and when it came out of dry dock in 2009 it wasn't much better. Horizon court is a nightmare, venues too small for the passenger capacity but service and food was good. You hit the nail on the head. They use the worst ships for the best itinerary.  I'm sailing on the Island Princess for Aruba, Curacao and St Kitts. I don't know why they aren't going to Bonaire. Celebrity has ABC for twice the price for 8 days. Princess offers 11 days and adds Puerto Rico.  The down side is it ends in NY. But even with the cost of a flight back to Florida it's still cheaper than Celebrity. This is going to be a snowbird cruise for certain. If I still had a place in NY that's how I would go back for the summer.

[Wishing on a star]

I would shy away from Emerald, after seeing reviews from the last few years...

Perhaps that is why the one person posted that one comment????

But, IT SHOULD NOT MATTER....

All ships should be freshly restored and in good working order.

All ships should have some consistency when it comes to basic dining and service.

I am not a Princess cheerleader.  I was on one cruise with BAD food and dining, where we joked that maybe we should jump off and start swimming home!!!!

Consistency,  or INCONSISTANCY,  is a big issue.

 

I will say that the comments about staffing make me wonder if the difficulties and staffing shortages...  along with MANY now over on the SUN Princess, preparing for her inaugural...  have really had a huge and negative impact on staffing.

 

Our last cruise, on REGAL,  was great!!!!   ( a couple of 'princess shortcoming/embarrasments ). but really good overall !!!

We are looking forward to being on the new ship later this year.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

11 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

They use the worst ships for the best itinerary. 

not all the time. We were on Enchanted in 2022 for a Southern Caribbean itinerary. It was great!

11 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

Celebrity has ABC for twice the price for 8 days.

we are doing this one for Spring Break 2024, and it's not twice the price, however, we are in the inside cabin. 🙂 It's actually the same price I paid for Enchanted's 10 day Thanksgiving 2022 Southern Caribbean. $2,600 for 3 of us, but Reflection is older than Enchanted.

6 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

Consistency,  or INCONSISTANCY,  is a big issue.

if you look at the other cruise lines' subforums, you will see that ALL of them suffer from inconsistency. 

Edited January 2 by Itchy&Scratchy

[Host CJSKIDS]

Welcome to Cruise Critic,  I see that though this is not your first sailing, you just found CC and joined. Sorry that your first post was for such a negative experience.  Hopefully you will post after your next great experience cruising. 

 

Sorry that you did not enjoy your Princess sailing.  It's great that you. have other lines that you throughly enjoy.  As others have said, Disney is a cruise line on another level along with the price tag to follow.  I do have to say that I have never had an issue or language barrier with those passenger facing crew on any of my Princess sailings to date so that is just a surprising tidbit to read about.

 

Hope you enjoy your next cruises on either Celebrity or Disney!

[Jadn13]

You couldn’t pay me to go on a Disney Cruise!  
Princess just isn’t for you, which is fine,

[Sunwanabe]

I am in no way a veteran cruiser with only 4 under my belt, all with PC. Our most recent cruise was a fantastic 11 days on the Crown Princess (similar age) doing Alaska. Every PC voyage we have had the pleasure to be a part of has been wonderful. From the food, entertainment and service, no complaints. I have nothing to compare as we have only been with PC but I have to say that for us so far we love the PC brand of cruising and what is being offered. Not to say we won't venture in the future and try another brand.   

[JF - retired RRT]

1 minute ago, Sunwanabe said:

I am in no way a veteran cruiser with only 4 under my belt, all with PC. Our most recent cruise was a fantastic 11 days on the Crown Princess (similar age) doing Alaska. Every PC voyage we have had the pleasure to be a part of has been wonderful. From the food, entertainment and service, no complaints. I have nothing to compare as we have only been with PC but I have to say that for us so far we love the PC brand of cruising and what is being offered. Not to say we won't venture in the future and try another brand.   

Our first cruise...we walked on the ship and said, "honey, I'm home!). 25+ and have only been on Princess. Just not interested in other cruise lines.

[Princessfan20]

You will probably get attacked because the Princess apologists never see anything even remotely wrong with the way Princess does business nowadays.  It has been our experience in the last year that Princess has been on a downward spiral in many areas.  The first that comes to mind is that horrible call center they use in the Philippines.  Also, Elite perks have been cut, menus have been cut, level of quality entertainers has been cut and the list goes on and on from the quality experience Princess use to always provide.

[HotRoot]

Your Princess experience reminds me of our first and only Celebrity cruise.

[SCX22]

1 hour ago, SaltyDoggg said:

The constant upselling. The cruise director is so in love with himself that they have thing they do on the big screen called the wake show. Like a Good Morning America where they are constantly trying to get you to go to the art auctions, the jewelry sales, etc.. It's so in your face and obvious and ruins the chill pool deck vibe Between running from pool deck to pool deck to avoid the steel pan player and having to endure this Wake Show on the other pool deck. It was really annoying.

 

I hate The Wake Show.  It's a waste of time and energy.  It's a long infomercial.  The crew has to stay up until the wee hours of the morning to film this.  Just let them rest for the night.

 

1 hour ago, SaltyDoggg said:

There is also a major communication problem between the crew and the guests. The language barrier is really frustrating to overcome.

 

I stated it in another post that Princess is having problems filling labor contracts.  They don't want to raise wages and have resorted to accepting crew that aren't up to snuff just to have positions filled.  Clearly it's taking a toll on passenger experience.  

[srpilo]

25 minutes ago, Princessfan20 said:

You will probably get attacked because the Princess apologists never see anything even remotely wrong with the way Princess does business nowadays.  It has been our experience in the last year that Princess has been on a downward spiral in many areas.  The first that comes to mind is that horrible call center they use in the Philippines.  Also, Elite perks have been cut, menus have been cut, level of quality entertainers has been cut and the list goes on and on from the quality experience Princess use to always provide.

 

Ditto !

Pretty much our experience lately too

[Thrak]

33 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

hate The Wake Show.  It's a waste of time and energy.  It's a long infomercial.  The crew has to stay up until the wee hours of the morning to film this.  Just let them rest for the night.

 

On our recent cruise(s) we saw The Wake Show being filmed in the daytime on several occasions. They don't make anybody stay up to "the wee hours" to film the thing. Heck, it's broadcast in the staterooms that night. It's advertised as an early morning show but it's actually available to watch the evening before. I've seen some that were horrible and some that were okay. It really depends on the Cruise Director. It's not something that one needs to watch but it can have good info regarding port times, entertainment, etc. Again, it depends on the CD.

[MacMadame]

2 hours ago, SaltyDoggg said:

hey have this Duffy the bear character that walks around the ship waving to guests. What is that?? You're not Disney and you don't have Mickey Mouse. Plus there are hardly any kids on the ship, by design BTW. What are you doing with this character? Do you really think thats what people are looking for?

FYI: Duffy the Bear is a Disney character. And a lot of Millenials and many Japanese people just LOVE that bear. These are two highly desirable demographics so that explains why Princess might do this.

 

I'm surprised Duffy was on a non-Disney ship though.

 

1 hour ago, Iamcruzin said:

Celebrity has ABC for twice the price for 8 days.

Well that's the key, isn't it? I haven't been on a cruise since the 90s and it was a Disney cruise with a Disney price. But for this trip I'm planning with my husband, I picked Princess because it has the itinerary and the price point I was looking for. Princess is not a luxury line IMO but a value line. It provides pretty good value for the money from what I see.

 

We'll see what my experience is but I'm not expecting it to match the luxury of those more expensive lines because I'm not paying the price of those luxury lines.

 

51 minutes ago, Princessfan20 said:

You will probably get attacked because the Princess apologists never see anything even remotely wrong with the way Princess does business nowadays.  It has been our experience in the last year that Princess has been on a downward spiral in many areas.  The first that comes to mind is that horrible call center they use in the Philippines.  Also, Elite perks have been cut, menus have been cut, level of quality entertainers has been cut and the list goes on and on from the quality experience Princess use to always provide.

All of those things have been complained about voraciously in this forum IME. 🤷‍♀️

[Host CJSKIDS]

4 hours ago, Princessfan20 said:

You will probably get attacked because the Princess apologists never see anything even remotely wrong with the way Princess does business nowadays.  It has been our experience in the last year that Princess has been on a downward spiral in many areas.  The first that comes to mind is that horrible call center they use in the Philippines.  Also, Elite perks have been cut, menus have been cut, level of quality entertainers has been cut and the list goes on and on from the quality experience Princess use to always provide.

 

There are things wrong with things on Princess and as an elite member, it's annoying as heck the perks that they took away. 

 

I will say that traveling on a whole isn't the same since pre-covid.  Heck, I always used Disney and The Ritz Carlton as two of my personal bench marks and can say that Disney has without a doubt made cut backs and still to this day hasn't gone back to pre-covid levels even though they have consistently raised their ticket, hotel and food prices quite a bit.  Still spend a lot of time there and enjoy it immensely but realize times are different and I have to manage my expectations.

 

I managed my expectations for this last Princess cruise from both reading the boards as well as friends who told me that things were not the same. And they weren't, however I decided that I was going to appreciate being on the cruise and enjoy myself and I did.  

[iamaqt2]

I'm glad you enjoyed the itinerary and tours.  And I agree that the Lido pizza is delicious.  It's a shame the food was a let down.  The smaller buffet on the Grand Class ships just can't offer the same amount of variety that the Royal Class ships can.  And I agree that they have gone full penny pinching mode with the food.  But I'm not a picky eater, so as long as I can lay in the sun and read a good book, I'm happy not to cook or clean. 

[EDVM96]

33 minutes ago, MacMadame said:

I'm surprised Duffy was on a non-Disney ship though.

 

I'm sure he ment Stanley Bear.

 

[SCX22]

39 minutes ago, Thrak said:

On our recent cruise(s) we saw The Wake Show being filmed in the daytime on several occasions. They don't make anybody stay up to "the wee hours" to film the thing. Heck, it's broadcast in the staterooms that night. It's advertised as an early morning show but it's actually available to watch the evening before. I've seen some that were horrible and some that were okay. It really depends on the Cruise Director. It's not something that one needs to watch but it can have good info regarding port times, entertainment, etc. Again, it depends on the CD.

 

Regardless of when it's filmed, The Wake Show in it's current format is a waste of time, IMO.  It used to be useful pre-pandemic.  Post pandemic it's been all about promotion of onboard sales.  The last useful broadcast I've experienced was with CD Paul Chandler-Burns, who is no longer with Princess.  His broadcasts were 45 minutes long, but from what I gather, corporates has mandated shorter times.  Usually, the info about the port is kept to 30 seconds.  This is I suppose, to sell more excursions.  Paul talked about how to go about the port on your own.  (Don't really care for any of Princess' CDs at the moment, but that's another story.)

 

On the Regal and Royal, it's filmed in Princess Live so they have to wait for the passengers to retire to their cabins.  On other Royal Class ships, it's literally filmed anywhere including crew quarters on the M1 or I-94 corridor.  CDs has even admitted on the show, we're filming at 2:00 a.m.  Whether that was a slip, I'm not sure.  The Wake Show is filmed the morning before, so when there's a port change or cancellation, it's been axed it from the programming.

[SCX22]

3 minutes ago, EDVM96 said:

I'm sure he ment Stanley Bear.

 

 

I have one anecdote about Stanley.  There was and old lady, bless her heart, who carried Stanley everywhere on the ship.  We sat next to her at Crooners one evening and we asked her about the Stanley she was carrying around.  She explained how she'd cruised everywhere on Princess with her late husband and how she misses her husband so much every time she's on a Princess Cruise.  She then proceeded to show us her Stanley bear.  She showed us a pocket she sewed on the back of it's captain's uniform.  There was a mini ziplock containing some of her husband's ashes and his wedding ring.  We didn't have the heart to tell her how crazy she was.

 

That's how attached some people are to Princess and how Princess can do no harm to some.