My Review-- Emerald Princess 4/4-4/14

[criuisingurl079]

My Husband and I just got back from the 10 Day Southern Carribean Medley Cruise on the Emerald Princess on Monday.

We booked this trip mainly because we sailed on the Crown 9 night last June for our Honeymoon and thought it was just fantastic. We normally like to cruise later in the Spring, but found this trip that sailed to some new ports, and some old favorites, and just had to get onboard!

 

Night Before: We flew down the night before, staying at the Westin Fort Lauderdale. We got a great deal on Hotwire for it, and just rented a car. This worked out perfect so we could make a run for our alcohol and dinner the night before!

 

Embarkation: We rented a car at Thrifty from the Hollywood\FLL Airport, and upon returning the car, we realized that the return spot was right at the entrance to the port! They checked the van we had, and took us right over to the port, no problems at all.

We arrived around 11:00am, and walked into the small room, as they didn't start boarding yet. We were given a #2 tag, and we waited. At 12:30 we were onboard and on our way to find our room!

In the afternoon after booking our restaurant reservations, we went to the Cruise critic meet and greet, and had a great sailaway!

 

Room: We had oceanview room E423, this was an upgrade from the foward smaller oceanview we had booked through Expedia. We were diappointed that they had moved us, this room was right at the entrance to the elevators, which was very noisy, and also had the two bunks on the side of the bed, so we couldn't really walk on the sides to see out the window, but we made due. We had an Aft Balcony on the Crown for our Honeymoon, so anything was a bit disappointing after that! We've decided that next time, we are back to the Balcony!:D

On a side note, our room stewart, Ariel, was amazing! Probably the best service we've ever had.

 

Ship: The Emerald is a beautiful ship, just like her sister the Crown. No differences really, just a few small things we noticed.

Some of our favorite spots are the pool bar at the back of the Calypso pool, we made friends with those guys and had a ton of fun throughout the week. Since we didn't have a balcony, we enjoyed eating breakfast out at the Outrigger bar area, as long as the smokers weren't to overbearing, or we also really like grabbing a coffee at the International Cafe. yum :) The pools are always nice, especially since they have four! We prefer the Calypso, but on Port days, the Aft pool is always nice too!

Just a note, get out there early, there were crazy chair savers all morning and afternoon!! We didn't use the Sanctuary, our friends went to though and absolutely loved it.

 

Food: Overall, we really prefer the food on RCCL, but we can't say that we can't find anything to eat! The Breakfast buffet is always a favorite of mine with all the fruit, and eggs to order, and we also enjoy the alternative menu that they offer in the dining room. We also went to the Crown Grill and that was fantastic! I highly recommend it to everyone. The server was super busy, and the service could have been better, but we aren't in a rush on vacation anyway, so no big deal. We even tried to leave him an extra tip, but he wouldn't even take it, told us to just come back again. I think he also felt bad he was so busy. Either way, they work their butts off, and we appreciate it.

The dining room was always busy for anytime, but we only had to wait two nights when we ate with a larger group that we meet.

My husband's favorite of the trip is the grill at the pool, they make grilled chicken, upon order, and he thought it was great. They also have the free ice cream in carib, It was @ 3-4pm.

 

Entertainment: We normally don't make it to many of the shows, seem to get old after a while, but we did decide to go to the welcome aboard show. We were very entertained by Billy Vader, a comedian, with very funny "slapstick" comedy as he calls it. My husband made friends with him at the Coffee bar too. Stole some of his jokes for a future show.

We went to his comedy night in the Theatre, but it was geard towards an older crowd, and really didn't love it, but some of the jokes were ok. The other guy, Carl Strong is also very good, but we saw him in '05 on RCCL. These guys need to start switching up their acts with all the return cruisers:( The Magician from Vegas was good, but we saw him screaming at the Purser desk later in the week, and kinda left a bad taste.

There was a band in Exployers, called Horizon, they could play some songs, but killed others, the older people really enjoyed them it seemed. It was nice having music in there while waiting for shows. The Pool Band called Oasys is also ok, but they don't play all day at the pool like we are used to. We just took our Ipods and relaxed.

 

You do have to get to the show venues very very early, they fill up at least 1/2 hr before the events, which kinda gets old. We do wish they had a theatre that would fit more, but I guess it's just the Princess way.

 

We tried to go to the later shows since there were so many older people that went to bed early, and it seemed to help.

 

We went to one dance production, which was very good, but that was enough of those for us for the week.

 

** The night of the Champagne waterfall, they had a big dance party in the Atruim, turned out to be quite fun.

 

Spa: Wonderful as always, had a deep tissue massage, and they didn't even hastle me to buy anything!

 

Ports: We booked this trip mainly b'c of the ports, and we weren't diappointed.

 

Aruba: Last time we were there we rented a jeep for the day and saw the entire island, so this time it was beach! We took a cab to the Hyatt at Palm Beach, it was beautiful. We spent there day there and took the bus back to the downtown area for only $1.30 pp. We are at Iguana Joe's, and headed back to the boad.

 

Bonaire: This was our least favorite, but we also just walked around. It was a very short day, and we didn't plan anything special. The people we spoke to that snorkeled loved it.

 

Grenada: We took the water taxi to Grand Anse beach from the Visitor center for only $3, and headed over for the day. The Beach was wonderful, but the people we not! They beg for your money all day long- they compete with each other, and the only way to get away is to be in the water. So, we spent the day in the water! We ended up not wanting to be swarmed with all the locals to walk back to the boat, and have them fight over who was taking us back, so we just took a cab for $10 with another couple from the beach.

 

Dominica: We didn't plan a tour here, we really aren't sit on a bus all day kinda folks, so we shopped and found a local watering hole to try some local beers. We really enjoyed this island. Great friendly locals that are just happy you can to see it. We bought some cute stuff, had a beer and headed to a pool day. Our friends did the Sulfur springs excursion and cave tour, they said the ride was enough to give them a coronary, but they did it and were glad they did! They said the water in the cave was a chilly 65degrees, and never heard grown men scream like that when they entered it!:D

 

St Thomas: We scheduled the full day catamaran tour with the Heavenly Days, and had a great time. We did this same trip in June, so we knew what to expect and it didn't disappoint. I highly recommend! Just be sure you are ok on a sailboat, it's not the same as a ship, there were many cookies tossed!

 

Princess Cays: A beautiful last day of the trip, it was a choppy day and took almost an hr to get a tendering. Many people were complaining and yelling at the girl in charge, but we all got there.

 

Embarkation: This was a breeze. We had them take our luggage the night before, since we had so much. We enjoyed breakfast in the dining room the last morning, and were called right on time. We made our way to the crazy FLL airport, and are now back in PA :o

 

Overall we had an amazing trip! We made many great friends, and enjoyed all the new places. The staff was pleasant, hardworking and would accomodate whatever you needed. We would have enjoyed more night life, and something for younger passangers, as we are 28 and 30, most people were 60-80, but we can have fun with anyone, especially on a cruise. It's time for us to go back to RCCl for a change again, but we booked a future cruise credit onboard, so we'll be back!! We'll just make sure it's not a 10 day retirement cruise in April!!:D

 

Happy Cruising!!!

[B and B Rookie Cannucks]

Great review! We are doing the same cruise next Feb. Can you tell me about the jeep excursion that you did in Aruba on your previous cruise? Cost, who did you book with, did you drive or did a tour guide drive, how many to a jeep and last but not least was it a good tour? sorry about all the quest. but when we were in Grand Cay we did a jeep excursion and it was great and our group would like to do another. :)

[criuisingurl079]

Great review! We are doing the same cruise next Feb. Can you tell me about the jeep excursion that you did in Aruba on your previous cruise? Cost, who did you book with, did you drive or did a tour guide drive, how many to a jeep and last but not least was it a good tour? sorry about all the quest. but when we were in Grand Cay we did a jeep excursion and it was great and our group would like to do another. :)

 

 

Sure,

 

We actually rented it right off the pier. It was $80 for the day, and was great! We took a map and were off. The island is very small and easy to drive yourself. Don't worry about a ship tour, just go ahead on your own. All you'll see all day are all other jeeps! There isn't a lot of traffic there.

 

Have a great trip!!

[cmalibu1]

thanks for the review!

 

Question, so when you landed at FL airport you rented your car there and dropped it off at the pier? They didnt mind/or charge extra? Did you do the same to get back to the airport or do they have a service/taxis. I am not sure how far apart they are. Our last cruise was out of Galveston and from the airport we were at it was a 1hr drive.

 

But, anyways, great review! I think we are doing those same ports (or similar) on that ship so its nice to read!

[caribill]

thanks for the review!

 

Question, so when you landed at FL airport you rented your car there and dropped it off at the pier? They didnt mind/or charge extra? Did you do the same to get back to the airport or do they have a service/taxis. I am not sure how far apart they are. Our last cruise was out of Galveston and from the airport we were at it was a 1hr drive.

 

Port everglades is about a 10 minute (less than $20 cab) ride from the airport. If you are returning a rental car at the airport, they will give you a ride to the pier.

 

If you are renting a car upon the ship's return to Port Everglades, they will give you a ride to pick up the car at the airport.

[catergirl]

thanks for the review! on st thomas you said you did a full day catamaran trip with heavenly days! was this a private tour? what was the cost and did you snorkel etc?? thanks martha

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review. :)

We were on the cruise before you.

[JWJs]

Thanks so much for the great review and tip regarding Thrifty car rental and getting to/from the port. Opens up options regarding where to stay for our 12/20/08 Emerald pre-cruise night.:) :) :)

[dforeigner]

Thanks for taking time to write a review.

[criuisingurl079]

Port everglades is about a 10 minute (less than $20 cab) ride from the airport. If you are returning a rental car at the airport, they will give you a ride to the pier.

 

If you are renting a car upon the ship's return to Port Everglades, they will give you a ride to pick up the car at the airport.

 

We picked up the car at Thrifty at the FLL airport, then returned it to the drop off at the Port Everglades pier, which was right at the entrance to the terminal for Prncess. No extra cost to do this. We used a coupon code online for a special rate, and was able to return to a different location. Most hotels in the area were very pricey, so we booked a cheaper one that was@ 15-20 minutes away, and then just rented a car. Gave us the freedom to enjoy the night before the cruise.

[criuisingurl079]

thanks for the review! on st thomas you said you did a full day catamaran trip with heavenly days! was this a private tour? what was the cost and did you snorkel etc?? thanks martha

 

It was through Princess, we just didn't have enough people to rent one on our own. I think it was around $115 a person. When we anchored in St John, we were in about 20 feet of water, and you could either snorkel, jump in and swim, or take the little dingy to shore if water wasn't your thing. We just put on flippers and swam ashore, it was great! They blew a horn when lunch was served, and also offered free bar drinks the entire time. On the way back they offered everyone dessert, as we didn't get enough of that on the ship!:D

[criuisingurl079]

Thanks for the review. :)

We were on the cruise before you.

 

No, this was the first time on the Emerald, but had been on the Crown last year, and also hit some of the islands on prior cruises.

[Colo Cruiser]

No, this was the first time on the Emerald, but had been on the Crown last year, and also hit some of the islands on prior cruises.

 

 

HUH?

[criuisingurl079]

HUH?

 

Sorry, thought you asked if we were on the cruise before! sorry! :D

[Colo Cruiser]

Sorry, thought you asked if we were on the cruise before! sorry! :D

 

 

I was confused too. :D

[WISH84]

We are on this same trip in March and enjoy reading all the port information so we can get some sort of idea what to do since we have never been to these ports before.

[criuisingurl079]

Sure, glad that it was a help.

 

Any questions let me know!

[West Coast]

Question, so when you landed at FL airport you rented your car there and dropped it off at the pier? They didnt mind/or charge extra?

 

There are no one-way 'drop' charges in Florida. The entire state is considered the same 'zone' by all car rental agencies.