LIVE: Emerald Princess, Boston to Quebec, August 28, 2024-September 7, 2024. Geoherb

[geoherb]

2 minutes ago, HotRoot said:

What is the deal with the library?  I went before breakfast on Day 2 and there were probably 100 books in the library and most were in a language other than English.  I stopped in every time I walked past and that was it the entire cruise.  Do people get onboard and grab a stack of books to keep in their cabin the entire cruise?  I thought the idea of a "library" is to borrow a book; return it; pick out another book.  Where did all of those books in your picture come from?

 

I did not bother to look at the titles of the books when I went by there this morning. But I did take a photo of a duck I hid. The books underneath it are all in English.

 

When I sail solo, I bring my Kindle. I have enough books loaded on it. I did not bring it on this cruise, though, because I won't do as much reading with DH along.

 

 

[paddingtonbear]

1 minute ago, geoherb said:

 

I never try to gluten free breads. One of our tablemates several years ago was gluten free. She received the menu for the next night at the end of each dinner. She also had a couple of slices of gluten free bread each night in her own little bread basket. She must have thought it was OK.

I always eat it if it’s given to me but that white one doesn’t look that great - ok for toast. But, hey, at least they have a GF option. That’s wonderful. The friands look super yummy. 

[geoherb]

Here is the menu for tonight in the main dining rooms. Once again, I don't see much that I want. We'll call later to see about getting a reservation for Planks instead. We have to use our two casual dining meals that come with Plus. 

 

[HotRoot]

5 minutes ago, geoherb said:

 

I did not bother to look at the titles of the books when I went by there this morning. But I did take a photo of a duck I hid. The books underneath it are all in English.

 

When I sail solo, I bring my Kindle. I have enough books loaded on it. I did not bring it on this cruise, though, because I won't do as much reading with DH along.

 

 

There were five books on that A-B shelf on Tuesday morning

[LawDog61]

4 hours ago, geoherb said:

 

I never try to gluten free breads. One of our tablemates several years ago was gluten free. She received the menu for the next night at the end of each dinner. She also had a couple of slices of gluten free bread each night in her own little bread basket. She must have thought it was OK.

The GF bread on Princess is Ok if you ask that it be well toasted.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

4 hours ago, geoherb said:

Here is the menu for tonight in the main dining rooms. Once again, I don't see much that I want. We'll call later to see about getting a reservation for Planks instead. We have to use our two casual dining meals that come with Plus. 

 

I also don’t see anything here that would make me want to show up in the MDR. 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

@geoherb thank you for sharing your review. I’m enjoying it so far and I am looking forward to following along. 

[wallyj]

I was on the previous cruise and believe there were about 900 elites and 1000 platinums which is why the PES event was held in Club Fusion instead of normally in SkyWalkers on this ship. We also had 4 Captain circle parties 5 and 7 pm over 2 evenings. On the patter, daily there was a reminder that Elite Laundry can take up to 4 days, and what the last day for elite laundry would be. The signs/monitors in Club Fusion displayed ‘Welcome to Elite’ instead of Platinum, Elite, Suites’ 

 

I remember reading another thread where it was noted the naming change of the event?

 

I believe some other Grand class ships have provided a separate ‘suites’ event since they do not have concierge lounge like on Royal class ships. I asked one of the Guest Services officers that was attending the ‘happy hour’ if the Emerald was going to implement a ‘suites only happy hour’ and she did not know.

[loge23]

Thank you for the reports! FWIW, we were on the repo Emerald cruise from FTL to Quebec in June and it was one of the best Princess cruises we were on after 30+ years of cruising with them. Dining, entertainment, service were all five stars - and we love that class of ship. Enjoy!

[Teechur]

6 hours ago, loge23 said:

Thank you for the reports! FWIW, we were on the repo Emerald cruise from FTL to Quebec in June and it was one of the best Princess cruises we were on after 30+ years of cruising with them. Dining, entertainment, service were all five stars - and we love that class of ship. Enjoy!

We were on it as well and had a marvelous time! I will be happy if all future cruises turn out as well.

[chrysalis]

We are on the ship with you, and also did the previous cruise to Greenland.

 

Our view is that the service had been excellent....our DR wait staff are the best ever and we have the same window table for our entire 37 days.

 

Enjoy your time on board.

[geoherb]

19 hours ago, wallyj said:

I believe some other Grand class ships have provided a separate ‘suites’ event since they do not have concierge lounge like on Royal class ships. I asked one of the Guest Services officers that was attending the ‘happy hour’ if the Emerald was going to implement a ‘suites only happy hour’ and she did not know.

 

They had a special event for suite passengers last night in Adagio. One of our new friends went up there and got turned away. 

[geoherb]

We had a lovely day in Portland. I purchased tickets for the first group at the Victoria Mansion online a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't sure it if would be booked up. It turns out we could have waited to buy the tickets at the mansion. Princess was charging $89.95 per person for the excursion that included entrance to the mansion and a short driving tour around the city. Our tickets were $34 for two. 

 

The mansion is very nice. They have a lot of the original furnishings from the first two families who owned the house. The wood look on the ceiling in the photo is actually fake--painted plaster made to look like wood. We were there about an hour. It's a self-guided tour, with docents in most of the rooms to explain some of the details and answer questions. We enjoyed learning about the owners and the house.

 

 

 

 

[susancruzs]

Following along, enjoy your live reports.  I'm on the Emerald in Oct. can't wait!

[geoherb]

After the Victoria Mansion, we walked a few blocks up to the Portland Museum of Art. We enjoyed touring it. The highlight for DH was seeing a painting by his favorite artist, Will Barnet (last photo). The first photo is by Will Barnet's good friend Henry Pearson, a North Carolina native. DH has researched his papers at UNC Chapel Hill for the art history classes he's taking. The highlight for me was seeing some pottery made by Brother Thomas Benzanson. The first pots, though, are by Picasso. I've seen these in photos before, but the scale makes them even more impressive. 

 

The museum had a special exhibition of a Passamaquoddy basket artist named Jeremy Frey. I enjoyed how he has expanded the art of basketry beyond the traditional. My favorite works of his were prints he made from the baskets, including some where the baskets emboss the paper. I did not take any photos though.

 

 

Edited August 30 by geoherb

[geoherb]

After the museum, we walked down hill to Becky's Diner. Friends in Raleigh recommended it. We split a lobster roll with butter instead of mayo and an order of onion rings. They serve enormous portions. It was our kind of place.

 

All-board time was 3:30. We had time to window shop on the way back to the ship. Nothing was compelling enough to go into the stores, but others were enjoying them

[geoherb]

The internet is not improved like I was hoping it would be. But it's better than it was two years ago on my cruise to Greenland. The service was so bad on that cruise that they automatically refunded everyone for 10 days' worth of service.

 

 

[geoherb]

Dinner at Planks was OK. DH enjoyed it more than I did. I had the wedge salad and the ribs and brisket. I had them leave off the slaw and fries from mine. DH had the potato chowder and a double order of the brisket. It was too much food for me. The best thing to me was the ribs. They brought us a cake for our anniversary. It was actually two weeks ago.

[geoherb]

Someone asked about the condition of the ship. I noticed this lamp shade when DH turned on the lamp on his side of the bed. It doesn't show up when the lamp is off. I'll mentioned it to our cabin steward.

 

 

[geoherb]

Here is a photo of the officers on the Emerald currently.

 

 

[walkingsoon]

On 8/28/2024 at 11:30 AM, geoherb said:

 

1.  
2. "Please do not arrive at the terminal earlier than the noon to 3:00 PM boarding period as we cannot begin embarkation until immigration processes are completed, and crowding may slow operations. 

 

We got to the port at 10:45.

sigh...

On 8/28/2024 at 11:30 AM, geoherb said:

 

 

 

[geoherb]

3 minutes ago, walkingsoon said:

sigh...

 

 

And it was fine. If Princess really wanted to enforce the restriction, they should have sent an email rather than just tacking this on to the travel summary. I would not have noticed it if people on Facebook and in our Cruise Critic roll call had not mentioned it.

[BlufftonCruisers]

Thank you for your responses. 
if they did not enforce the 3 pm embarkation time, what time did you finally board the ship?

[nematome]

On 8/29/2024 at 7:26 AM, geoherb said:

Here is the menu for tonight in the main dining rooms. Once again, I don't see much that I want. We'll call later to see about getting a reservation for Planks instead. We have to use our two casual dining meals that come with Plus. 

 

You know you want that beat salad. 😉 

[nematome]

3 hours ago, geoherb said:

After the Victoria Mansion, we walked a few blocks up to the Portland Museum of Art. We enjoyed touring it. The highlight for DH was seeing a painting by his favorite artist, Will Barnet (last photo). The first photo is by Will Barnet's good friend Henry Pearson, a North Carolina native. DH has researched his papers at UNC Chapel Hill for the art history classes he's taking. The highlight for me was seeing some pottery made by Brother Thomas Benzanson. The first pots, though, are by Picasso. I've seen these in photos before, but the scale makes them even more impressive. 

 

The museum had a special exhibition of a Passamaquoddy basket artist named Jeremy Frey. I enjoyed how he has expanded the art of basketry beyond the traditional. My favorite works of his were prints he made from the baskets, including some where the baskets emboss the paper. I did not take any photos though.

 

 

 

BEAR WITH ME! #GoWillBarnet