Emerald Princess - January 5-15, 2008 - review and picttures

SUE:
Have been on a lot of princess ships,but never the emerald,are there
places to sit on the promenade deck in the shade? We are not into
sitting by the pool or hot tubs.
surfer e2468


cruise lover

Good job Sue! Keep thinking I'll do write up of the Costa Med
trip....but have been way too lazy! lol....

Jeff

Surfer E2468 wrote:
SUE:
Have been on a lot of princess ships,but never the emerald,are there
places to sit on the promenade deck in the shade? We are not into
sitting by the pool or hot tubs.

There were some, but not a lot of chairs on the Promenade deck and they
were not lounge chairs.

Keep in mind that the Crown and Emerald are sisters with almost no
difference between them. Soon there will also be the Ruby, a 3rd sister
ship.

sue

D Ball wrote:
On Feb 16, 6:45 pm, sue mullen wrote:
EMERALD PRINCESS - January 5-15, 2008

Hi, Sue,

I just finished reading your review--tell Kevin he's in serious danger
of losing his spot as the family's reviewer, LOL. It was a delight to
read, and so informative. And the pictures were fabulous! (I think you
have said Kevin is the photographer, so if so, he gets his gold star
there!) The candid of you two on Crown Grill night, I think it was, is
a keeper!

What fun to hear that after all your many cruises, there is still room
for one to emerge as the best yet. Didn't you love those extra few
days? And I'm sure seeing some new Caribbean ports, sharing a lovely
day in St. Thomas "like locals" with your nephew and his fiance and
finding new cruise friends in Paul and Linda added to your overall
experience.

Wow, I didn't know James Deering ended up at Princess--I thought he
was returning to HAL, where he worked before NCL. He is such a great
guy and so good at what he does. We met him as the HD on the NCL Star
in Hawaii. This was a year or two before NCL secured the legislative
exemption from making the Fanning Island trek, and James had developed
a personal interest in the people, culture and history of the island.
His Cruise Critic gatherings had become legendary because he
personally attended the meetings & offered "perks" to attendees
throughout their week aboard, he gave tours of the most fabulous
suites when unoccupied and he shared all sorts of interesting handouts
about Fanning Island.

We just made a last-minute booking on the Caribbean Princess for
Spring Break/the week including Good Friday and ending Easter Sunday.
I don't expect it will be the Princess ship for us, and I imagine we
will feel the impact of the holiday crowd. Nonetheless, we love
Princess generally and have been "grounded" for a while, so are really
looking forward to getting back out there. Your review gave me several
reminders of things I need to investigate (e.g., do we dock at Crown
Pier in St. Thomas and where do we buy coffee cards on the CB) and
look forward to (e.g., the beef quality report is encouraging, and I
will happily pay $9 on top of the specialty restaurant charge to get
some great lobster, especially because you Atlantic coasters are
recommending it!).

I reserved the $25 beach shade thing w/ 2 loungers for Princess Cays.
Do you think that's overkill, i.e., was there ample shade and plenty
of loungers? Of course, thinking about a holiday cruise crowd, I might
be "better safe than sorry."

Glad to hear you two are finally feeling better!

Thanks so much, Sue.

Diana


Diana I think you are probably right to be better safe than sorry! And
I think you are in FLL the day before Easter when I am?? I am leaving
for the Costa Med 3/22 and flying down that morn. Let's do lunch, lol....

Jeff

Jeff wrote:
Good job Sue! Keep thinking I'll do write up of the Costa Med
trip....but have been way too lazy! lol....

Thanks Jeff!!

Now it is time for you to stop being lazy and write that review.lol

sue

sue mullen wrote:


Jeff wrote:
Good job Sue! Keep thinking I'll do write up of the Costa Med
trip....but have been way too lazy! lol....

Thanks Jeff!!

Now it is time for you to stop being lazy and write that review.lol

sue

Maybe eventually!!! Was also a great cruise. Can't wait to go back to
Roatan next month....so unspoiled!

Jeff

"sue mullen" wrote in message
...

EMERALD PRINCESS – January 5–15, 2008

We are Sue (65) and Kevin (almost 65) and this was our 19th cruise, 6th
one on Princess. We have previously cruised on Princess, Royal Caribbean,
Carnival, Disney, HAL, Celebrity and Azamara.

In looking for airfare from Philadelphia to Fort Lauderdale, we discovered
the best deal was to fly down on SouthWest and home on AirTran. Both
flights cost us a little under $180 roundtrip/per person, better then any
other airlines. We had no problems with either flight and were able to
upgrade to first class for $60/person for the flight home on AirTran. I
think I am now very spoiled. lol

As we have been doing for years now, we flew down the day before the
cruise. This allowed us to take a flight at a more reasonable time and not
have to worry about missing the ship. We stayed at the Embassy Suites
which has a free breakfast every morning, made to order eggs of any kind.
They also had pancakes and waffles, but they were not made to order and
sat under a light to stay warm. Embassy Suites is a great location and you
can walk to many restaurants, a grocery store and drug stores.

When we woke up on cruise day, walked to the end of our hallway and could
see our ship waiting for us. We used the hotel shuttle to go to the pier,
$6 per person and all went very smoothly. There were a lot of ships in
port on January 5th and I was surprised that there was no congestion at
all. We got out of the van, gave our luggage to the porter and were
directed to the Platinum check in area. There we had to sit a short time
until they opened up the check-in process. This went very smoothly and we
then had to sit and wait yet again to be able to board the ship. We had
arrived at the pier around 11:15am and were on the ship in our cabin by
12noon.

Now the question is why did we book the Emerald Princess?

In August 2006 we cruised on the Crown Princess, sister to the Emerald and
other then a problem with a huge beam in the middle of our balcony, we
really enjoy a lot of what the ship had to offer. We had also had very
good food and service, particularly enjoyed having the International Café
available and had excellent dinners in the two specialty restaurants.

Because of the problem with our balcony on the Crown, Princess gave us a
credit that had to be used by a certain date. Looking at the available
itineraries we saw that the Emerald Princess was doing a 10 day cruise,
going to Antigua, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Kitts, St. Thomas and Princess
Cay. We liked this very much because we had never been to St. Lucia,
Barbados or St. Kitts before. Then of course it put us in St. Thomas on a
Saturday, which would make it easier to see my nephew and his fiancé who
live there and are teachers.

So it was a combination of what the ship had to offer and the itinerary
that made us decide to book this. The Emerald Princess did not disappoint
us in any way and turned out to be our best cruise ever.

Princess Patters:
As most of you know the Princess Patters is the daily schedule that you
find in your cabin each day. The reason I am even writing about it, is a
few things I noticed and don’t remember seeing in the past. The Patters
for the day we sailed had the usual information about that days
activities, drink of the day etc. It also had a small article and a
picture of Captain Giorgio Pomata, telling about where he grew up and also
about his career. It also listed all the ship’s officers by name and job.
What I haven’t seen before and really like having in the first days
patters is an itinerary showing our ports of call, arrival and all aboard
ship times, also listed the dress code day by day. What was even nicer was
a separate “cruise planner” that again listed day by day the dress code,
times in port, but the nicest thing it did was to show what the evening
entertainment was in the different venues. This was esp. nice since there
were some shows that were on more then once.


Our Cabin:
For this cruise we decided to book a balcony cabin on the Caribe Deck,
which we understood was partially covered and partially open. This turned
out to be an excellent choice, not only did we have a choice of sun or
shade, but if we sat in the covered area, no one could see us from their
balcony. We had a table with two chairs, plus two chairs that had backs
that could be adjusted and were very comfortable. Our cabin was a typical
balcony cabin with plenty of storage space and the refrigerator kept
things cold. There was more then enough hanging space in the closet area,
lots of shelves, but we could have used a few more drawers. The bathroom
was sufficient, 3 shelves over the sink and a long shelf under the sink.
The only negative to the bathroom was the tiny, tiny shower, but this is
normal for princess.

Our cabin steward Marlon was very good and the few things we asked for
were always there. He was on the quiet side, but always greeted us when he
saw us. A few days into the cruise I decided that an egg crate would make
the bed more comfortable. Kevin went to find him and I asked Kevin to tell
him that we wouldn’t be upset if he couldn’t find one. His comment was
that he “would” find one for us and when we next came back to our cabin it
was already on the bed. This is just one example of how great the service
was on the ship.

The Ship:
The Emerald Princess is a very large ship, but no longer the largest at
sea and it is 116,000 tons and has a 3100 passenger capacity. There were
only three places on the ship that felt crowded, the theatre which wasn’t
really large enough, the Horizon Court (which I will talk about later on)
and the deck space by the pools.

There are 4 pools on the ship, the Terrace Pool aft, the Spa Pool, both of
these are “adult only”. Then there are two mid-ship pools, one of which
has the MUTS screen. There are two hot tubs by each mid-ship pool, 2 by
the Spa Pool and one aft hot tub a few decks up from the Terrace Pool.
Unless you are an early riser it is almost impossible to get a deck chair
poolside. They do have an upper deck or two with plenty of lounge chairs,
but from what I saw they are in full sun.

We are hot tub people and found that the hot tub by the Spa Pool was the
best. It not only had the right amount of bubbles, but it hot as a real
hot tub should be. Most of the other hot tubs had water that was like a
luke warm bath.

Being such a large ship there are many entertainment venues/lounges on the
ship,
The Princess Theatre, Explorers Lounge, Wheelhouse Bar, Club Fusion, and
entertainers in the Piazza. In the Piazza there is Vines, and The
International Café which was a favorite of ours. Also the Crooners Bar
which is where we meet friends every night for a drink and lots of talk.

This ship really has something for everyone, no matter what your tastes
are.

Food, Food and more Food…..

Horizon Court:
We went to the Horizon court for breakfast everyday and for lunch a couple
of times. At breakfast the ready made omelets were very good and there
was always bacon, sausage, smoked fish, fresh fruit, breads, croissants
and pastries available. The one time I saw their pancakes, they were
sitting under a heating lamp and didn’t look enticing. I am sure there
were other things that I didn’t notice.

A few times we found a table in the Horizon Court, but most of the time
went to the Café Caribe to find a table and never had a problem. Within a
minute or two after sitting down, someone would come and ask what we
wanted to drink; we never had to wait long. They would bring us juice and
coffee in the morning and iced tea at lunchtime. Also one day Kevin didn’t
see any bread that he could eat on his diabetic diet, so he asked the
person who got us our drinks. No problem, he went and brought back a plate
with a couple of different kinds of bread that Kevin could eat. I was
pleasantly surprised to find such good service in the Horizon Court.

The couple of times we went to the Horizon court for lunch, we were not
impressed with the selection, but one thing they seemed to have every day
is a decent salad bar. The Café Caribe had different things, but we didn’t
check it out.

International Café:
First stop after seeing our cabin on the first day was the International
Café to buy our coffee card. It costs about $25 for 15 specialty coffees
and all the freshly brewed coffee you want. The coffee card can also be
used in the dining rooms and it was very nice having some great coffee to
finish off the meal.

Most days we ate lunch in the International Café, they had several kinds
of small sandwiches, salad, quiche and shrimp. After a light lunch, I
always had to get some kind of dessert. They had many cakes, pastries and
of course their famous cookies available an all at no charge. We also
stopped by the International Café at different times of the day, sometimes
to sit and relax with a good coffee, other times to get coffee to go.

Botticelli Dining Room, second seating:
The most important thing about our dining room experience is that all the
food was excellent and the beef melted in your mouth. There were 4 or 5
main courses that were available every night and the one or two I tasted
were excellent.

As we entered the dining room the first night, we saw Marino who had been
our Head Waiter on the Crown Princess in August ’06. We recognized each
other right away and Marino escorted us to our table and said he would be
back later to chat. Later in the cruise Marino showed us where our group
sat on the Crown and also said to give his regards to “The Coin Lady”.

We had a table for four, but the other two people never showed up during
the entire cruise. If we had not had Marino as a head waiter, we would
have asked to be switched to a table with other people. There was a table
for two next to us and part way through the cruise we started to get
friendly with the couple sitting there. In the long run we took pictures
of each other and exchanged email addresses.

The first night Kevin reminded Marino about his diabetic diet and of
course Marino made sure that he was well taken care of. Our waiter Gordon
was very quiet and a bit reserved, but made sure that we got everything we
needed and asked for. From the first night on, there was always a basket
of rolls that Kevin could eat. One night Kevin asked if one of the sugar
free desserts had any cake in it and Gordon came back with a bowl of
berries since what Kevin had asked about did have cake in it and he knew
Kevin couldn’t have it.

Our assistant waiter Rico was very sweet and efficient. He would remember
what we had ordered the day before, scotch, iced tea, wine, etc and ask us
right away if that was what we wanted. What ever we wanted that day, we
got very quickly.

Kevin and I have always agreed that we don’t want a table for two on a
cruise ship. We both like interacting with other people and we eat dinner,
just the two of us at home everyday. On this cruise we discovered that we
enjoyed a table for two, but it isn’t something that we will do by choice
in the future. After a few days of our table mates not showing up, Marino
said that he would keep us company. He was true to his word and frequently
stopped to chat with us.

Crown Grill and Sabatini’s:
These are the two specialty restaurants that you have to pay extra for and
they are both well worth the money we spent. Soon after boarding the ship
we went to each of the restaurants to make reservations. There were no
lines and we got the days and times we wanted without a problem.

We ate at the Crown Grill first and the entire meal and service were
excellent. We ordered a bottle of wine and they brought over the cheese
cart for us. Kevin said the cheeses he had were very good and better then
else where on the ship.

Kevin and I both ordered onion soup, but I asked for it without the
cheese. When the waiter brought mine with cheese, it was no problem taking
it back and getting it right. He even took Kevin’s back and brought him a
fresh bowl of onion soup when he brought mine. It just wouldn’t be right
Kevin having his soup while I sat and watched. We both ordered the lobster
and it was more then worth the $9 extra each. The presentation was lovely
and most important the lobster was the best we have had and we have had
the best in NYC and up in New England many times.

After going to the Crown Grill I wanted to cancel our Sabatini’s
reservation and go back to the Crown Grill again. Kevin was against this
idea and in the long run I was very happy that we did go to Sabatini’s.

The service in both was very good, as was the food. I still think the
service in the Crown Grill was a bit better then in Sabatini’s.

Ports and day by day stuff:

I had joined the cruisecritic.com role call for our sailing and we had
decided to have our get together on Sunday, the first day at sea, at 11AM.
We meet a nice group of people and saw some of them from time to time
around the ship. Also attending this gathering was James Deering, the
Passenger Service Director and he set up another gathering for us on the
last sea day in the Adiago Bar. I found out that part of Mr. Deering’s
job is to monitor the cruisecritic roll calls, so I guess Princess does
hear a lot of what we post.lol Mr Deering is a very friendly and caring
person and did all he could to help a couple of our roll call members who
had problems. As Kevin and I walked around the ship during our cruise, we
often would see Mr. Deering and he would stop and chat with us. We had
many very nice conversations with him and it was interesting to hear about
his backround, what cruise lines and ships he had worked on etc.

For Sunday afternoon I had set up a meeting with someone I knew from one
of my cruise groups, but I didn’t know him well and we had never meet in
real life. We decided to meet for a drink and see how things went. Paul
and Linda turned out to be so much like me and Kevin that it is scary.
They always went to dinner early and we had 2nd seating Traditional
Dining, so we decided we would meet at 7pm every evening for a drink and
some talk. As it turned out we had all booked the same excursion for of
the ports, so we spent the day together and of course we kept meeting here
and there on the ship and in the ports. We will be keeping in touch and I
hope that we will all cruise together many times in the future. Meeting
them turned out to be one of the highlights of our cruise!!

Antigua
We had been in Antigua before and other then visiting Nelsons Dockyard, we
weren’t impressed with the island. Since we are not beach people, we took
our time going ashore and did some shopping.

St. Lucia
We booked a Whale and Dolphin watching excursion with Princess and it just
turned out that our new friends. Linda and Paul and a couple they were
traveling with had booked the same excursion. The boat took us way out in
the hope of seeing some Whales and/or Dolphins, but there were none to be
seen this time. It was disappointing, but they told us up front that this
might happen.

We had a lovely boat ride with good friends and we did see some great
scenery along the way. We also got to see the Pitons from the water, many
different views. There will be pictures of this trip and lots more on our
Webshots site, the link will be at the end of my review.

When we got off the boat we stopped in the mall at the dock and found a
lovely shop that had all kind of linens with flowers or birds on them. We
bought some Hot Pads as gifts for people back home. They also had
placemats, potholders etc. The designs were so pretty and are made in St.
Lucia.

Barbados:
In Barbados we did the Princess tour called “Finest Blends of Barbados”.
The tour took us the Mount Gay distillery, where we show how the make
their rum and from there we went to the Banks Beer brewery. In addition to
seeing how the rum and beer was made, there was a lot of free sampling
available (grin). Both of these were interesting, but we thought the
Bacardi Rum factory tour in San Juan was much better

St. Kitts:
In St. Kitts we did another Princess tour called “Plantations & Art
Gallery with Lunch”. We boarded a small van that was air conditioned and
comfortable. Our driver/tour guide told us about the history of the
island and on the way home drove in the opposite direction so we saw the
entire coastline of St. Kitts.

Our first stop was at the Batik factory, which also had a huge store to
buy things. We were told how Batik fabric is made, very interesting but
we all disappointed that they didn’t actually show us the process. You can
see some of the things they make at:
http://www.caribellebatikstkitts.com...elle_batik.asp

From there we were driven to the Kate Design Studio, an art gallery on the
Rawlins Plantation which is in a restored West Indian house. You can see
some of the art work in our Webshots site; yes, they didn’t mind us taking
a few pictures. Also they have a website:
http://www.katedesign.com/index_1.html

When we were done at the art gallery, we walked across the grass to the
Rawlins Plantation Inn to have lunch. We were greeted with a rum punch,
one of the best we ever had. Kevin could not have a rum punch because of
his diabetes, so asked if he could have rum on the rocks instead. There
was no problem, and they poured him one. Then we were invited inside to
enjoy a West Indian lunch buffet. Kevin and I have been to many Indian
Restaurants at home and I have to tell you that this lunch was excellent.

This tour was expensive, but worth the money and ranks as one of the
better of all the tours we have taken.

St. Thomas:
We docked at the new Crown Pier which has been getting a lot of negative
reviews. I can’t tell you about transportation. There are some stores
there now and there will be many more opening with time. The liquor store
we stopped in had less of a selection then we have seen in the past at
Havensight. There is also a Bernard K. Passman store there that is famous
for its black coral jewelry.

This is always our favorite port and that is because my nephew and his
fiancé live here. This visit was even better since we were there on a
Saturday and they didn’t have to take a day off from work to see us. Adam
had to take a test that morning, so Roxy meet us by the windmill and took
us back to their apartment. Since this is the first time we saw them since
they got engaged we wanted to take them out to lunch to celebrate. Our
normal restaurant Craig & Sally’s wasn’t open, so we all decided to try
Bella Blu instead and it was a very good choice. Bella Blu is a little
more expensive then Craig & Sally’s, but both are excellent choices for a
really nice lunch.

After a lovely lunch we went for a ride down a very holey road that only
locals use and we wound up at an incredible beach. It was not a sandy
beach and not a place for swimming, just for incredible views. There are a
lot of pictures of this on our webshots site and you can see the waves
crashing on the rocks, just beautiful. Then it was time to head back to
the pier, having had another lovely, non-touristy day in St. Thomas.

We will next be in St. Thomas in the summer of ’09 for a wedding on Megan’s
Bay!

Princess Cay:
We decided to get a late start so we wouldn’t have to wait for a tender.
About 10:45am we wandered down to the deck with the tenders, found a huge
crown and were told to go to the Princess Theatre to wait. We got there
and found the theatre was almost full. They did at least have a good
system and told you where to sit as you came in and the crew knew what
order the sections had been filled. An hour after we arrived at the
Princess Theatre we finally stepped foot on Princess Cay. The story we
heard was that the ship had arrived late and it took time to transfer all
the food, beverages, crew etc. Needless to say there were many unhappy
passengers. A lot of us think that they should of made an announcement
that there was a delay and to take your time coming down for the tenders.

Once we got off the tender we found two lounges in the shade and had a
lovely day. We both spent some time in the water and some time relaxing on
our lounges. The lunch buffet did not impress us and I have seen better
on other cruise lines. The worst part of lunch was the flies all over the
place.

Overall we had a lovely day on Princess Cay and then had to head back to
the ship to start packing. This is always the saddest part of a cruise;
you know the next day it is back to reality.

Here is the link to our pictures:
http://travel.webshots.com/album/562350400bmdikn

Very nice review Sue. I enjoyed your pics.

Lola in Hamilton

"sue mullen" wrote in message
...

EMERALD PRINCESS - January 5-15, 2008

We are Sue (65) and Kevin (almost 65) and this was our 19th cruise, 6th
one on Princess. We have previously cruised on Princess, Royal Caribbean,
Carnival, Disney, HAL, Celebrity and Azamara.

In looking for airfare from Philadelphia to Fort Lauderdale, we discovered
the best deal was to fly down on SouthWest and home on AirTran. Both
flights cost us a little under $180 roundtrip/per person, better then any
other airlines. We had no problems with either flight and were able to
upgrade to first class for $60/person for the flight home on AirTran. I
think I am now very spoiled. lol

As we have been doing for years now, we flew down the day before the
cruise. This allowed us to take a flight at a more reasonable time and not
have to worry about missing the ship. We stayed at the Embassy Suites
which has a free breakfast every morning, made to order eggs of any kind.
They also had pancakes and waffles, but they were not made to order and
sat under a light to stay warm. Embassy Suites is a great location and you
can walk to many restaurants, a grocery store and drug stores.

When we woke up on cruise day, walked to the end of our hallway and could
see our ship waiting for us. We used the hotel shuttle to go to the pier,
$6 per person and all went very smoothly. There were a lot of ships in
port on January 5th and I was surprised that there was no congestion at
all. We got out of the van, gave our luggage to the porter and were
directed to the Platinum check in area. There we had to sit a short time
until they opened up the check-in process. This went very smoothly and we
then had to sit and wait yet again to be able to board the ship. We had
arrived at the pier around 11:15am and were on the ship in our cabin by
12noon.

Now the question is why did we book the Emerald Princess?

In August 2006 we cruised on the Crown Princess, sister to the Emerald and
other then a problem with a huge beam in the middle of our balcony, we
really enjoy a lot of what the ship had to offer. We had also had very
good food and service, particularly enjoyed having the International Café
available and had excellent dinners in the two specialty restaurants.

Because of the problem with our balcony on the Crown, Princess gave us a
credit that had to be used by a certain date. Looking at the available
itineraries we saw that the Emerald Princess was doing a 10 day cruise,
going to Antigua, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Kitts, St. Thomas and Princess
Cay. We liked this very much because we had never been to St. Lucia,
Barbados or St. Kitts before. Then of course it put us in St. Thomas on a
Saturday, which would make it easier to see my nephew and his fiancé who
live there and are teachers.

So it was a combination of what the ship had to offer and the itinerary
that made us decide to book this. The Emerald Princess did not disappoint
us in any way and turned out to be our best cruise ever.

Princess Patters:
As most of you know the Princess Patters is the daily schedule that you
find in your cabin each day. The reason I am even writing about it, is a
few things I noticed and don't remember seeing in the past. The Patters
for the day we sailed had the usual information about that days
activities, drink of the day etc. It also had a small article and a
picture of Captain Giorgio Pomata, telling about where he grew up and also
about his career. It also listed all the ship's officers by name and job.
What I haven't seen before and really like having in the first days
patters is an itinerary showing our ports of call, arrival and all aboard
ship times, also listed the dress code day by day. What was even nicer was
a separate "cruise planner" that again listed day by day the dress code,
times in port, but the nicest thing it did was to show what the evening
entertainment was in the different venues. This was esp. nice since there
were some shows that were on more then once.


Our Cabin:
For this cruise we decided to book a balcony cabin on the Caribe Deck,
which we understood was partially covered and partially open. This turned
out to be an excellent choice, not only did we have a choice of sun or
shade, but if we sat in the covered area, no one could see us from their
balcony. We had a table with two chairs, plus two chairs that had backs
that could be adjusted and were very comfortable. Our cabin was a typical
balcony cabin with plenty of storage space and the refrigerator kept
things cold. There was more then enough hanging space in the closet area,
lots of shelves, but we could have used a few more drawers. The bathroom
was sufficient, 3 shelves over the sink and a long shelf under the sink.
The only negative to the bathroom was the tiny, tiny shower, but this is
normal for princess.

Our cabin steward Marlon was very good and the few things we asked for
were always there. He was on the quiet side, but always greeted us when he
saw us. A few days into the cruise I decided that an egg crate would make
the bed more comfortable. Kevin went to find him and I asked Kevin to tell
him that we wouldn't be upset if he couldn't find one. His comment was
that he "would" find one for us and when we next came back to our cabin it
was already on the bed. This is just one example of how great the service
was on the ship.

The Ship:
The Emerald Princess is a very large ship, but no longer the largest at
sea and it is 116,000 tons and has a 3100 passenger capacity. There were
only three places on the ship that felt crowded, the theatre which wasn't
really large enough, the Horizon Court (which I will talk about later on)
and the deck space by the pools.

There are 4 pools on the ship, the Terrace Pool aft, the Spa Pool, both of
these are "adult only". Then there are two mid-ship pools, one of which
has the MUTS screen. There are two hot tubs by each mid-ship pool, 2 by
the Spa Pool and one aft hot tub a few decks up from the Terrace Pool.
Unless you are an early riser it is almost impossible to get a deck chair
poolside. They do have an upper deck or two with plenty of lounge chairs,
but from what I saw they are in full sun.

We are hot tub people and found that the hot tub by the Spa Pool was the
best. It not only had the right amount of bubbles, but it hot as a real
hot tub should be. Most of the other hot tubs had water that was like a
luke warm bath.

Being such a large ship there are many entertainment venues/lounges on the
ship,
The Princess Theatre, Explorers Lounge, Wheelhouse Bar, Club Fusion, and
entertainers in the Piazza. In the Piazza there is Vines, and The
International Café which was a favorite of ours. Also the Crooners Bar
which is where we meet friends every night for a drink and lots of talk.

This ship really has something for everyone, no matter what your tastes
are.

Food, Food and more Food...

Horizon Court:
We went to the Horizon court for breakfast everyday and for lunch a couple
of times. At breakfast the ready made omelets were very good and there
was always bacon, sausage, smoked fish, fresh fruit, breads, croissants
and pastries available. The one time I saw their pancakes, they were
sitting under a heating lamp and didn't look enticing. I am sure there
were other things that I didn't notice.

A few times we found a table in the Horizon Court, but most of the time
went to the Café Caribe to find a table and never had a problem. Within a
minute or two after sitting down, someone would come and ask what we
wanted to drink; we never had to wait long. They would bring us juice and
coffee in the morning and iced tea at lunchtime. Also one day Kevin didn't
see any bread that he could eat on his diabetic diet, so he asked the
person who got us our drinks. No problem, he went and brought back a plate
with a couple of different kinds of bread that Kevin could eat. I was
pleasantly surprised to find such good service in the Horizon Court.

The couple of times we went to the Horizon court for lunch, we were not
impressed with the selection, but one thing they seemed to have every day
is a decent salad bar. The Café Caribe had different things, but we
didn't
check it out.

International Café:
First stop after seeing our cabin on the first day was the International
Café to buy our coffee card. It costs about $25 for 15 specialty coffees
and all the freshly brewed coffee you want. The coffee card can also be
used in the dining rooms and it was very nice having some great coffee to
finish off the meal.

Most days we ate lunch in the International Café, they had several kinds
of small sandwiches, salad, quiche and shrimp. After a light lunch, I
always had to get some kind of dessert. They had many cakes, pastries and
of course their famous cookies available an all at no charge. We also
stopped by the International Café at different times of the day, sometimes
to sit and relax with a good coffee, other times to get coffee to go.

Botticelli Dining Room, second seating:
The most important thing about our dining room experience is that all the
food was excellent and the beef melted in your mouth. There were 4 or 5
main courses that were available every night and the one or two I tasted
were excellent.

As we entered the dining room the first night, we saw Marino who had been
our Head Waiter on the Crown Princess in August '06. We recognized each
other right away and Marino escorted us to our table and said he would be
back later to chat. Later in the cruise Marino showed us where our group
sat on the Crown and also said to give his regards to "The Coin Lady".

We had a table for four, but the other two people never showed up during
the entire cruise. If we had not had Marino as a head waiter, we would
have asked to be switched to a table with other people. There was a table
for two next to us and part way through the cruise we started to get
friendly with the couple sitting there. In the long run we took pictures
of each other and exchanged email addresses.

The first night Kevin reminded Marino about his diabetic diet and of
course Marino made sure that he was well taken care of. Our waiter Gordon
was very quiet and a bit reserved, but made sure that we got everything we
needed and asked for. From the first night on, there was always a basket
of rolls that Kevin could eat. One night Kevin asked if one of the sugar
free desserts had any cake in it and Gordon came back with a bowl of
berries since what Kevin had asked about did have cake in it and he knew
Kevin couldn't have it.

Our assistant waiter Rico was very sweet and efficient. He would remember
what we had ordered the day before, scotch, iced tea, wine, etc and ask us
right away if that was what we wanted. What ever we wanted that day, we
got very quickly.

Kevin and I have always agreed that we don't want a table for two on a
cruise ship. We both like interacting with other people and we eat dinner,
just the two of us at home everyday. On this cruise we discovered that we
enjoyed a table for two, but it isn't something that we will do by choice
in the future. After a few days of our table mates not showing up, Marino
said that he would keep us company. He was true to his word and frequently
stopped to chat with us.

Crown Grill and Sabatini's:
These are the two specialty restaurants that you have to pay extra for and
they are both well worth the money we spent. Soon after boarding the ship
we went to each of the restaurants to make reservations. There were no
lines and we got the days and times we wanted without a problem.

We ate at the Crown Grill first and the entire meal and service were
excellent. We ordered a bottle of wine and they brought over the cheese
cart for us. Kevin said the cheeses he had were very good and better then
else where on the ship.

Kevin and I both ordered onion soup, but I asked for it without the
cheese. When the waiter brought mine with cheese, it was no problem taking
it back and getting it right. He even took Kevin's back and brought him a
fresh bowl of onion soup when he brought mine. It just wouldn't be right
Kevin having his soup while I sat and watched. We both ordered the lobster
and it was more then worth the $9 extra each. The presentation was lovely
and most important the lobster was the best we have had and we have had
the best in NYC and up in New England many times.

After going to the Crown Grill I wanted to cancel our Sabatini's
reservation and go back to the Crown Grill again. Kevin was against this
idea and in the long run I was very happy that we did go to Sabatini's.

The service in both was very good, as was the food. I still think the
service in the Crown Grill was a bit better then in Sabatini's.

Ports and day by day stuff:

I had joined the cruisecritic.com role call for our sailing and we had
decided to have our get together on Sunday, the first day at sea, at 11AM.
We meet a nice group of people and saw some of them from time to time
around the ship. Also attending this gathering was James Deering, the
Passenger Service Director and he set up another gathering for us on the
last sea day in the Adiago Bar. I found out that part of Mr. Deering's
job is to monitor the cruisecritic roll calls, so I guess Princess does
hear a lot of what we post.lol Mr Deering is a very friendly and caring
person and did all he could to help a couple of our roll call members who
had problems. As Kevin and I walked around the ship during our cruise, we
often would see Mr. Deering and he would stop and chat with us. We had
many very nice conversations with him and it was interesting to hear about
his backround, what cruise lines and ships he had worked on etc.

For Sunday afternoon I had set up a meeting with someone I knew from one
of my cruise groups, but I didn't know him well and we had never meet in
real life. We decided to meet for a drink and see how things went. Paul
and Linda turned out to be so much like me and Kevin that it is scary.
They always went to dinner early and we had 2nd seating Traditional
Dining, so we decided we would meet at 7pm every evening for a drink and
some talk. As it turned out we had all booked the same excursion for of
the ports, so we spent the day together and of course we kept meeting here
and there on the ship and in the ports. We will be keeping in touch and I
hope that we will all cruise together many times in the future. Meeting
them turned out to be one of the highlights of our cruise!!

Antigua
We had been in Antigua before and other then visiting Nelsons Dockyard, we
weren't impressed with the island. Since we are not beach people, we took
our time going ashore and did some shopping.

St. Lucia
We booked a Whale and Dolphin watching excursion with Princess and it just
turned out that our new friends. Linda and Paul and a couple they were
traveling with had booked the same excursion. The boat took us way out in
the hope of seeing some Whales and/or Dolphins, but there were none to be
seen this time. It was disappointing, but they told us up front that this
might happen.

We had a lovely boat ride with good friends and we did see some great
scenery along the way. We also got to see the Pitons from the water, many
different views. There will be pictures of this trip and lots more on our
Webshots site, the link will be at the end of my review.

When we got off the boat we stopped in the mall at the dock and found a
lovely shop that had all kind of linens with flowers or birds on them. We
bought some Hot Pads as gifts for people back home. They also had
placemats, potholders etc. The designs were so pretty and are made in St.
Lucia.

Barbados:
In Barbados we did the Princess tour called "Finest Blends of Barbados".
The tour took us the Mount Gay distillery, where we show how the make
their rum and from there we went to the Banks Beer brewery. In addition to
seeing how the rum and beer was made, there was a lot of free sampling
available (grin). Both of these were interesting, but we thought the
Bacardi Rum factory tour in San Juan was much better

St. Kitts:
In St. Kitts we did another Princess tour called "Plantations & Art
Gallery with Lunch". We boarded a small van that was air conditioned and
comfortable. Our driver/tour guide told us about the history of the
island and on the way home drove in the opposite direction so we saw the
entire coastline of St. Kitts.

Our first stop was at the Batik factory, which also had a huge store to
buy things. We were told how Batik fabric is made, very interesting but
we all disappointed that they didn't actually show us the process. You can
see some of the things they make at:
http://www.caribellebatikstkitts.com...elle_batik.asp

From there we were driven to the Kate Design Studio, an art gallery on the
Rawlins Plantation which is in a restored West Indian house. You can see
some of the art work in our Webshots site; yes, they didn't mind us taking
a few pictures. Also they have a website:
http://www.katedesign.com/index_1.html

When we were done at the art gallery, we walked across the grass to the
Rawlins Plantation Inn to have lunch. We were greeted with a rum punch,
one of the best we ever had. Kevin could not have a rum punch because of
his diabetes, so asked if he could have rum on the rocks instead. There
was no problem, and they poured him one. Then we were invited inside to
enjoy a West Indian lunch buffet. Kevin and I have been to many Indian
Restaurants at home and I have to tell you that this lunch was excellent.

This tour was expensive, but worth the money and ranks as one of the
better of all the tours we have taken.

St. Thomas:
We docked at the new Crown Pier which has been getting a lot of negative
reviews. I can't tell you about transportation. There are some stores
there now and there will be many more opening with time. The liquor store
we stopped in had less of a selection then we have seen in the past at
Havensight. There is also a Bernard K. Passman store there that is famous
for its black coral jewelry.

This is always our favorite port and that is because my nephew and his
fiancé live here. This visit was even better since we were there on a
Saturday and they didn't have to take a day off from work to see us. Adam
had to take a test that morning, so Roxy meet us by the windmill and took
us back to their apartment. Since this is the first time we saw them since
they got engaged we wanted to take them out to lunch to celebrate. Our
normal restaurant Craig & Sally's wasn't open, so we all decided to try
Bella Blu instead and it was a very good choice. Bella Blu is a little
more expensive then Craig & Sally's, but both are excellent choices for a
really nice lunch.

After a lovely lunch we went for a ride down a very holey road that only
locals use and we wound up at an incredible beach. It was not a sandy
beach and not a place for swimming, just for incredible views. There are a
lot of pictures of this on our webshots site and you can see the waves
crashing on the rocks, just beautiful. Then it was time to head back to
the pier, having had another lovely, non-touristy day in St. Thomas.

We will next be in St. Thomas in the summer of '09 for a wedding on
Megan's
Bay!

Princess Cay:
We decided to get a late start so we wouldn't have to wait for a tender.
About 10:45am we wandered down to the deck with the tenders, found a huge
crown and were told to go to the Princess Theatre to wait. We got there
and found the theatre was almost full. They did at least have a good
system and told you where to sit as you came in and the crew knew what
order the sections had been filled. An hour after we arrived at the
Princess Theatre we finally stepped foot on Princess Cay. The story we
heard was that the ship had arrived late and it took time to transfer all
the food, beverages, crew etc. Needless to say there were many unhappy
passengers. A lot of us think that they should of made an announcement
that there was a delay and to take your time coming down for the tenders.

Once we got off the tender we found two lounges in the shade and had a
lovely day. We both spent some time in the water and some time relaxing on
our lounges. The lunch buffet did not impress us and I have seen better
on other cruise lines. The worst part of lunch was the flies all over the
place.

Overall we had a lovely day on Princess Cay and then had to head back to
the ship to start packing. This is always the saddest part of a cruise;
you know the next day it is back to reality.

Here is the link to our pictures:
http://travel.webshots.com/album/562350400bmdikn

Very nice review Sue. I enjoyed your pics.

Lola in Hamilton

John & Lola wrote:
"sue mullen" wrote in message
...
EMERALD PRINCESS - January 5-15, 2008


Very nice review Sue. I enjoyed your pics.

Lola in Hamilton

Thanks Lola! Hope all is ok with you and John.

sue

"sue mullen" wrote in message
...


Surfer E2468 wrote:
SUE;
Great review,and the pictures are really good,we have sailed many
different ships,but PRINCESS is the best of them all.

Thanks Annie, glad you enjoyed it. Princess is at the top of our list, but
only if we can get Traditional Dining. I know Anytime works for some
people, but it just isn't right for us.

sue

Depending on the time you want to eat, you can get continuous reservations
for the anytime dining at a specific table. We (wife and myself) did the
Emerald Princess, Dec. 16-26th and since it was a last minute booking,
couldn't get the traditional dining (we normally like early dining). Went
to set reservations immediately upon boarding and got the same table in
Michelangelo Dining Room at 6 PM with the same waiter and asst. waiter each
night, just like formal dining. Late sitting dining can also be reserved
the same way (IIRC for anytime after 8 or 8:30) but not between 6:30 & 8 or
8:30.

(By the way, the head waiter, Massimo, on that cruise in that restaurant was
the hardest working person I have ever seen on any cruise ship. He did
everything from being a great head waiter and the job that entails to taking
orders, to busing tables, etc. He made the Energizer Bunny look lazy. This
person got a generous personal tip in addition to the normal gratuity from
my wife and myself, as well as a personal letter of praise from me to
Princess.)