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

[phabric]

Enjoyed reading your review.  I am doing this August 2025.

 

Did you a list what food is offered each day at the buffet?

 

Did you a list of what food is offered each day for Elite, Platinum lounge?

[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.

[geoherb]

1 hour ago, phabric said:

Enjoyed reading your review.  I am doing this August 2025.

 

Did you a list what food is offered each day at the buffet?

 

Did you a list of what food is offered each day for Elite, Platinum lounge?

 

Thanks. No.  I have not seen either on this cruise. The letter we received about Elite benefits just tells the hours for the lounge. But they offer so many food choices these days, I know we'll always find something good.

 

[geoherb]

We slept in this morning. The ship moved clocks ahead an hour for Saint John. We did not wake up until 8:45, too late to make it to breakfast in the dining room. We ate instead at the World Fresh Marketplace. They have a nice selection of food, as seen in the photos I posted earlier of the buffet. We found the omelet station. They take custom orders. I had mine with mushrooms, spinach, jalapeno, and cheddar. DH, though, ate too much. He had an omelet, prunes, yogurt, a ton of bacon, and two hashbrowns. I had a slice of watermelon and a slice of honeydew to go with my omelet. 

 

I went in to Saint John without DH. We were here around 20 years ago and had seen the reversing falls. I walked up to the City Market, toured a couple of Anglican churches, including hearing an organist practice at the larger one. And then walked back to the ship. I bought some conditioner along the way. I brought a little bit, but forgot to refill the little container at home. I remembered the bar of soap.

 

We ate lunch at the International Cafe. I miss the salads they used to serve, but the two sandwiches I tried were both very good.

[walkingsoon]

7 hours ago, geoherb said:

 

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.

Cool rationalization.

This disembark procedure went fairly smoothly that day as well, especially for, as you say, those who listened. The immigration and walk off the ship could be done with minimal lines. It, too, was "fine" until you walked out of the terminal and had to deal with the hordes of people arriving early and the resulting traffic jam. Traffic 17 days earlier was non existent near the port at 2:00 pm. This isn't San Pedro or Fort Lauderdale; there's a reason they made the request.

 

Edited August 30 by walkingsoon

[MsSoCalCruiser]

@geoherb I see that you like jalapeños. Have you ever tried the Strawberries on Fire mocktail? 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

@geoherb if you have time and if you feel like doing it, would you please check the OceanNow app and see if they’ve added the option to leave the cheese off of the Chef Salad? 

[EDVM96]

Just now, MsSoCalCruiser said:

@geoherb if you have time and if you feel like doing it, would you please check the OceanNow app and see if they’ve added the option to leave the cheese off of the Chef Salad? 

Haha 😄, I also don't like the cheese in the Chef Salad, and I checked it in the app on the cruise before. There was no option to do so.

 

 

 

[phabric]

3 minutes ago, EDVM96 said:

Haha 😄, I also don't like the cheese in the Chef Salad, and I checked it in the app on the cruise before. There was no option to do so.

 

 

 

If you have the Plus or pay the $5 room service, call and have no cheese added to the salad.

[EDVM96]

1 minute ago, phabric said:

If you have the Plus or pay the $5 room service, call and have no cheese added to the salad.

Yes, I had Plus. But I ordered the salad in the app and just removed the cheddar cubes manually.

[phabric]

4 minutes ago, EDVM96 said:

Yes, I had Plus. But I ordered the salad in the app and just removed the cheddar cubes manually.

You can call room service to have no cheese on your salad.

Lets say you were allergic to cheese and it is touching the other food.

[Hot Stop]

I was in Portland yesterday on the Gem. I was able to watch you leave port. 

[PescadoAmarillo]

@geoherb, I always enjoy your live froms, and this one, from an itinerary we’ve never taken, is particularly interesting. Thanks for taking the time to bring us along. 

[geomapper]

Enjoying following along. We board the Enerald next Saturday, Sept 7. Take care of the ship for us. 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

2 hours ago, EDVM96 said:

Haha 😄, I also don't like the cheese in the Chef Salad, and I checked it in the app on the cruise before. There was no option to do so.

 

 

 

I am allergic to dairy and Princess promised me that they would add the option to leave off the cheese. It’s crazy that you can leave off everything except for the cheese. I will send them another message. 🥺

[MsSoCalCruiser]

2 hours ago, phabric said:

If you have the Plus or pay the $5 room service, call and have no cheese added to the salad.

That doesn’t work if you want it to be delivered to wherever you may be sitting. We should be able to place an order on the app. 

[ArizonaStorm]

On 8/29/2024 at 8:24 AM, 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.

 

 

An announcement over the intercom was made on Thursday urging people to return library books. I visited that afternoon and found most of the shelves (all the way around) to be full. Regardless, this 10-day cruise has 8 port days, so I am spending less time reading than usual. 
 

I visited a nice little bookstore in Saint John today.  Scheherazade Books is at 97 Prince William Street - www.booksandmusic.ca. Very nice owner. 
 

I had no problem booking a table for one for dinner this evening at Botticelli MDR. The salmon was tasty.  I’m enjoying breakfast at the buffet on this ship. The selections are wide-ranging, and I’ve not experienced the frenetic cruisers that I did on the HAL Koningsdam in January.  Either way, I never cruise when kids are out of school.  
 

The Emerald Princess has so many more dining options and entertainment venues than HAL. The Princess cruise line also is one of the few that recognizes that solo travelers are paying for two cruises - and awards me with 2 Sailings for each cruise I take.  It’s a nice rewards program benefit. 
 

As much as I enjoyed my 17-day Hawaii trip in a HAL balcony cabin, I’m discovering that I’m quite content on the Emerald Princess - Baja Inside cabin (midship).
 

I have no complaints about the ship.  The transfer from the Boston airport was overwhelmingly disorganized, taking hours longer than anyone would have imagined.  Once I made it onto a bus, the drive took over an hour because of traffic and two ships at dock.  Then I waited with over 1000 passengers in a long, hot (un-airconditioned) line.  It was nearly 90 degrees on August 28. Everyone around me vowed to head to their cabins for a shower before venturing out.  I simply ordered room service and went to bed (on an amazingly comfortable mattress).  
 

Scott from Phoenix 

[ArizonaStorm]

3 hours ago, walkingsoon said:

Cool rationalization.

This disembark procedure went fairly smoothly that day as well, especially for, as you say, those who listened. The immigration and walk off the ship could be done with minimal lines. It, too, was "fine" until you walked out of the terminal and had to deal with the hordes of people arriving early and the resulting traffic jam. Traffic 17 days earlier was non existent near the port at 2:00 pm. This isn't San Pedro or Fort Lauderdale; there's a reason they made the request.

 

Everyone gave us different excuses, including it being a couple of days before a holiday weekend.  While on the transfer bus a 12:30, there weren’t that many people on the streets of downtown Boston, but the roads leading to the dock was gridlocked.  

[geoherb]

10 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

@geoherb I see that you like jalapeños. Have you ever tried the Strawberries on Fire mocktail? 

 

No. I don't usually drink mocktails. It sounds like it would be good if they added a shot of vodka or rum. 

[geoherb]

10 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

@geoherb if you have time and if you feel like doing it, would you please check the OceanNow app and see if they’ve added the option to leave the cheese off of the Chef Salad? 

 

No. The options are to leave off the egg, the ham, or the turkey. They don't have an option to leave off the cheese in the app.

[geoherb]

Our cabin steward replaced the tattered lamp shade yesterday afternoon. I wonder how many people in this cabin noticed it and did not bother to let someone know. It was not visible when the light was off. 

 

Here are some photos to go with my previous post about my day in Saint John. I wish I had taken a photo of the inside of the first church. It looked like a basement fellowship hall, with a linoleum floor and stacking chairs and sofas against the walls.

 

I did not go in the cannabis shop, but I could tell others around had visited it.

 

 

[geoherb]

We enjoyed watching the sailaway from the Promenade Deck. They used two tug boats to guide the ship out of the harbor. There was a bagpipe player on the dock. I remember that tradition from our cruise that went to Saint John two decades ago. 

 

Some bars were closed while the ship was in port, including the Wheel House. Here's the sign.

 

 

[geoherb]

We ate dinner at 7:20 in Michelangelo. Unlike the first night, there was no waiting to get in. I enjoyed the caprese salad (although definitely not heirloom tomatoes), an appetizer size portion of the curried noodles, the salmon with arugula and lobster sauce (though I could not detect much lobster in the sauce), and the coconut mousse, which tastes like a crunchy Mounds bar.

 

 

[geoherb]

One thing different about this cruise from my solo cruises is that I have not been participating in the ship activities--trivia, ring toss, carpet bowling, etc. I enjoy doing those on my solo cruises to be around other people. But I've bookmarked the trivias for today's sea day. It's also unusual in that we have just two sea days out of ten days. My last cruise was ten days with five of them sea days.

 

We enjoyed Matt Stanley, comedy/magician, in the theater after dinner. The place was packed for the second show. We got there about ten minutes before the stated starting time. It was a lot less crowded the night before for the production show, Rock Opera. I enjoyed that show as well, but not as much as I do Encore and Bravo. I'm glad I finally got a chance to see it. We heard several people complaining about Rock Opera as we were leaving the show.

[phabric]

Can you mention if at each port if there is anything at the port - stores, restaurants, places to get lobster rolls, something to see.

 

I plan on taking Princess excursions, would like to have a lobster roll or two while on the cruise.