Emerald Princess - did you like it?

[CruiseLover72]

Since this is your first post and cruise you might want to go over and join the roll-call for this cruise. You will find some very nice fellow cruisers who will also be traveling with you and great info.!! :)

 

After seeing the group, I believe I'm going to change dates now. I'm busy now trying to find a suitable replacement.

[Jilumi]

:mad: Returned from cruise on Dec. 6th. I will never go on Princess again! The food on the whole was awful: limited menu at dinner and buffets were mostly luke warm. The dining room service was very slow. I think the wait staff is given to many tables/people. We even had the Norwalk virus break out on the ship and they really were not deligent in making people wash their hands. I heard it was 150 passengers and many of the crew. The entertainment was also disappointing.

[Sanibel*Gal]

After seeing the group, I believe I'm going to change dates now. I'm busy now trying to find a suitable replacement.

 

 

We are doing the Oct. 21st sail on the Emerald and also have a great group on our roll-call. If the dates would work, you might want to join us!;)

[Bison]

:mad: Returned from cruise on Dec. 6th. I will never go on Princess again! The food on the whole was awful: limited menu at dinner and buffets were mostly luke warm. The dining room service was very slow. I think the wait staff is given to many tables/people. We even had the Norwalk virus break out on the ship and they really were not deligent in making people wash their hands. I heard it was 150 passengers and many of the crew. The entertainment was also disappointing.

I agree with like warm buffet food, a good portion of the entertainment, and the hand sanitizing issue. There were a few instances of the dinning service being slow, but what the heck I'm on vacation and don't need to be anywhere.

[cruzfiend]

It's interesting to see what "groups" will be on board a certain sailing. How do you find out about large groups?

[sackman]

:mad: Returned from cruise on Dec. 6th. I will never go on Princess again! The food on the whole was awful: limited menu at dinner and buffets were mostly luke warm. The dining room service was very slow. I think the wait staff is given to many tables/people. We even had the Norwalk virus break out on the ship and they really were not deligent in making people wash their hands. I heard it was 150 passengers and many of the crew. The entertainment was also disappointing.

 

 

I was on the same sailing and it seemed to me like every time I turned around there was some staff person squirting my hands with the sanitizer. The Noro virus broke out on the next-to-last day, and I think the staff did a remarkable job of doing what they could. I wouldn't say the food was awful, but it wasn't terrific, either. I personally had great service in the dining room. I guess it's a matter of who you end up with. My biggest gripe for the entire trip was the chaos surrounding immigration in St. Thomas.

[coiran]

:mad: Returned from cruise on Dec. 6th. I will never go on Princess again! The food on the whole was awful: limited menu at dinner and buffets were mostly luke warm. The dining room service was very slow. I think the wait staff is given to many tables/people. We even had the Norwalk virus break out on the ship and they really were not deligent in making people wash their hands. I heard it was 150 passengers and many of the crew. The entertainment was also disappointing.

 

Interesting first ever post - who are you going to cruise with next?? We have had 21 Princess cruises and always terrific food and hot. We will be taking our first Emerald cruise next spring - maybe we should cancel now before the final payment. Were there any GOOD things about the cruise?

Ron

[coiran]

I didn't care much for the Emerald. There are some really nice things; the ship is gorgeous, great pizza, nice service personnel. And there are some really bad things; Horizon Court, no place to sit, bad embarcation, bad pursers desk, and some really bad food that can only be described as lousy.

 

There are lots of reviews in the member review section on this site. Since returning from Europe the reviews of the ship have mostly been negative. Check it out for yourself.

 

I just checked the member reviews:

21 - 5 star

08 - 4 star

10 - 3 star

03 - 2 star

02 - 1 star

Out of 44 reviews, 29 are above average or 65% while only 5 are below average or 11% and 10 are average or 23%. I wouldn't call this a negative review statistic!!

Ron

[al50]

I was on the ship returning 12/6 also. It was my 3rd and last Princess cruise. Passengers were getting sick on the second day of the cruise. This was evident by the lack of salt/pepper shakers on tables. I wasn't allowed to touch common items beginning on the 3rd day (a good thing with sickness around me). I agree food was lousy, ship very nice, ship too big and not to my taste, service fair and slow in dining rooms.

 

Before I get jumped on for the my bad experiences, it is exactly why most folks don't post. They shouldn't have to defend themselves. I really would like to read honest opinions-- it might have saved me from this trip.

[sackman]

Interesting first ever post - who are you going to cruise with next?? We have had 21 Princess cruises and always terrific food and hot. We will be taking our first Emerald cruise next spring - maybe we should cancel now before the final payment. Were there any GOOD things about the cruise?

 

Ron

 

There were plenty of good things about the cruise. Hey, it's a cruise, right? What can really be all that bad? Having said that, if you've done 21 Princess cruises before, I think you may be a tad disappointed in the quality of the food on the ship, specifically the beef selections. Of course, by the time you go, whatever issue they had with our particular sailing may be corrected, so there may be nothing to worry about at all. I hope for your sake that's the case.

 

I will say that on our sailing I found a lot of "gripers". You know the type - they're not happy unless they're pissed off about something. I feel bad for the staff when they have to deal with these kinds of folks.

[coiran]

I was on the ship returning 12/6 also. It was my 3rd and last Princess cruise. Passengers were getting sick on the second day of the cruise. This was evident by the lack of salt/pepper shakers on tables. I wasn't allowed to touch common items beginning on the 3rd day (a good thing with sickness around me). I agree food was lousy, ship very nice, ship too big and not to my taste, service fair and slow in dining rooms.

 

Before I get jumped on for the my bad experiences, it is exactly why most folks don't post. They shouldn't have to defend themselves. I really would like to read honest opinions-- it might have saved me from this trip.

 

Another interesting first post - have you cruised before and if so why haven't you posted before??

Ron

[LarryF]

Can someone explain the immigration thing in St. Thomas? Does this affect U.S. citizens? We've cruised to St. Thomas at least five times in the past and have been able to get off the ship at will without having to go through immigration. Has something changed?

[mycruz]

I am actually posting this from the Emerald. We were in St. Thomas yesterday and had to go through immigration on the ship in the morning. This was because we were arriving from a foreign country, not the US prior to arriving. Hope this helps.

 

As for our cruise, we have had a very nice time on the ship. The weather hasn't been too great but it hasn't stopped us. We have one more day, tomorrow in Princess Cay then it back to reality but we've purchased future cruise credits so we can start planning again.

[LarryF]

Thanks for the info. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure on all five of our visits to St. Thomas we came directly from the U.S. or Puerto Rico. We'll be coming from Princess Cays, Bahamas this time, so I guess we will have to go through immigration.:(

 

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about your experience on the Emerald and am glad you have enjoyed your time so much even with the inclement weather! You sound a lot like me in that the only bad cruise would be no cruise!:)

 

Enjoy your time in Princess Cay!

 

Larry

[sackman]

Can someone explain the immigration thing in St. Thomas? Does this affect U.S. citizens? We've cruised to St. Thomas at least five times in the past and have been able to get off the ship at will without having to go through immigration. Has something changed?

 

The immigration "thing" is required by US customs, and is not a cruise line or maritime regulation. Lots of folks assume it's something that the cruise line can fix, which it cannot. I question why it's necessary to begin with and what it accomplishes, but I don't hold the cruise line responsible for the inconvenience. Nope, the blame for that falls squarely on the shoulders of our own bloated, self important federal government. :rolleyes:

[SF]

Wondering......if our first stop is Princess Cays, a private island and then our next is St. Thomas will we still have to go thru customs early in the morning?

[sackman]

Wondering......if our first stop is Princess Cays, a private island and then our next is St. Thomas will we still have to go thru customs early in the morning?

 

I'm pretty sure you will because technically, Princess Cays is in a foreign country - the Bahamas. Additionally, Princess Cays isn't a private island per se, but a private area on the rather large island of Eluthera.

[SF]

sackman:

 

Thanks for replying. I figured that was probably the case. We don't plan to disembark until later in the day at St. Thomas but now guess we'll have to be up early that morning anyway!

[BobandRanda]

sackman:

 

Thanks for replying. I figured that was probably the case. We don't plan to disembark until later in the day at St. Thomas but now guess we'll have to be up early that morning anyway!

 

For what it's worth, the passport check at St. Thomas (Nov 9, '07) during the Nov 6-16, '07 Emerald Princess cruise went about a quickly and smoothly as any of the half-dozen or so we've been through there. We had a fairly early assigned time, and it may have backed up after that, but we walked straight through and when we left, there were only a trickle of folks walking in.

 

Like everyone else though, I've always wondered what it really accomplishes.

 

Bob

[SF]

Bob:

 

What time did they start the US Custom Passport check?

[Colo Cruiser]

Bob:

 

What time did they start the US Custom Passport check?

 

Our Emerald cruise it was 7am. :)

[SF]

Thanks for the information. Looks like it will be an earlier start to the day than I had planned.

[emmy]

Our Emerald cruise it was 7am. :)

 

I was also on the Nov 16 sailing. I did not realize that US citizens started immigration at 7 am that morning. Non US started at 8am. We arrived a few minutes before 8am to a huge lineup.

[mycruz]

Times were determined by which deck you were on. We were on Dolphin and we were assigned 8:30 - 8:45.

[bdjam]

After seeing the group, I believe I'm going to change dates now. I'm busy now trying to find a suitable replacement.

Before you go to any extended effort, you might want to check with some of the people who have sailed with the "group" in the past. There is a narrow minded perspective and a broad minded perspective. I guess whether or not this is a suitable sailing for you depends on in which camp you choose to reside.