We had a great time on the Emerald Princess (1/9/09-1/19/09). I took over 1200 pictures (ship, islands, & excursions). We enjoyed our excursions and I think this was one of our best cruises. The Sea Princess, two years ago, comes in a close 2nd. This was our 6th cruise with Princess and we're Platinum members coming into this cruise.
Our leader and Commodore was Giuseppe Romano. He joined Princess Cruises in 1976 and has cruised all around the world.
Our cruise director was Neil Chandler, a very entertaining and funny guy. DH and I don't normally watch/listen to the early morning show put on by the cruise director. This cruise was different and Neil had a great sense of humor. I found myself smiling or laughing while I was watching his show. I understand that Neil has left the Emerald after our cruise. Not sure where he is right now.
We originally booked the Caribbean Princess from San Juan. Princess cancelled that cruise (CB going into drydock) and we immediately booked this one. Don't need to twist our arms to change from a 7-day cruise to a 10-day cruise. We had to change our personal booked AA flight from San Juan to Miami. No big deal, Princess took care of us there. They also gave us a nice OBC for having to rebook a cancelled cruise.
As Platinum members, we did take advantage of using the Platinum check-in as there was a long line for the Dolphin deck check-in. We also signed up for the Internet package on the first day. I selected the $100 package with 250 minutes. I ended up getting an additional 30 minutes for free. Plus, Princess refunded the $100 within a few hours of signing on.
We did come across an issue with signing on initially. DH had no problem. When I tried to sign up...that's when the problem arose. We both have the same "first name initial" as in "S". George, who runs the Internet Cafe, helped me out. I needed to use the first two letters of my first name and then our last name and cabin number. Whew! There was no way I was going to be able to share my DH's Internet account as I knew I would be blogging my way through this cruise. George acknowledged that "gotcha" was not documented anywhere. So, if any of you fellow cruisers run into this same problem...there is a resolution.
Also, as Platinum members, we did not get a chance to take advantage of the Platinum lounge on disembarkation. We were one of the first groups to get off the ship.
New Additions:
DH & I noticed some significant new additions on this cruise. Note: I'm comparing this with our last cruise on the Crown Princess. First off, there is Lemonade. You have to ask for it. It was available in the Horizon Court/Caribe Cafe.
Next, the Internet Cafe is available 24x7 whether we are at sea or in port. It's available. I overheard a conversation with George...1Gigabyte bandwidth.
We tried the fish and chips in the Wheelhouse Pub. We enjoyed our light fare there. Not sure what the other stuff on the menu was. Sorry. Cottage pie?
We also tried the freshly made waffles (waffle bar) at the PIzzeria for breakfast. The waffles are also available during 3:30p-4:30p in the Horizon Court where they serve the free ice cream. Hint, hint.
The Princess Patter got a slightly new look. The Patter header had changed.
We did notice that halfway through our cruise in the Caribe Cafe, they started to place the silverware on the tables for dinner. Also, the salt and pepper shakers appeared as well. At the beginning of this cruise, we were given our silverware when we entered the buffet area (Horizon Court and Caribe Cafe) and then we had to hunt down packets of salt and pepper. The staff was readily available to serve us water and juice. I do recall the Emerald experiencing some issues with the Norovirus on previous cruises. They were probably taking precautions at the beginning of our cruise.
The Excursions/Islands:
Aruba:
We went to DePalm Island and had a wonderful time snorkeling and lounging. The snorkeling is pretty good here. DH ventured out along the buoys (and a little beyond) and saw some big fish here. The Island has snorkeling equipment (masks, fins, and snorkel) available if you didn't bring your own. There is a water slide park for the young and old. DePalm offered three eating venues. Only two were open today. One cafe offered hamburgers and fries. Another restaurant offered a fish entree and some side dishes. We ate at the restaurant and enjoyed the fish lunch.
Bonaire:
We took the water taxi over to Klein Bonaire. We had a blast here. I personally had a great time here. The water was quite clear and I was able to take a lot of pictures. We drift snorkeled several times. Getting out of the water and walking further down the beach to start our drift again. Next time, we'll walk as far as we can to the end of the beach area and get into the water. We were given a token for a free drink (water, punch, etc). We left our bags and towels on the beach closer to the brush/bushes. It was windy and we didn't want to come back and find our stuff all over the beach. I've posted pictures in my previous post of Bonaire. Between DH and myself, we took A LOT of underwater pictures here.
I will definitely come back to this island!
Grenada:
Not our favorite island. But we still like to pay them a visit. We had no excursions here and just enjoyed a "down day" of R&R. I have to add, I do like their Clarke's Court Rums.
Dominica:
We took boat out to the Champagne Reefs and went on a guided snorkeling tour. We prefer not to do "guided tours" and get entangled with a group of snorkelers. So, DH & I hung back and followed the group at our leisure. I love swimming through the tiny bubbles and the warm water.
St Thomas:
We had an absolutely wonderful time here. We did the Full Day Snorkel and Lunch excursion. We boarded the Dancing Dolphin catamaran in Crown Bay and headed to Buck Island (2 snorkel stops here). Then we headed to Honeymoon Beach for lunch and 2 hours of glorious fun in the sun. Everyone on this excursion had a great time and a few commented that this was their best excursion on this cruise. I have to agree, but Bonaire is still high on my list.
Princess Cays:
Cloudy and passing showers. We stayed onboard and enjoyed the quiet time on the ship. I did take some pictures of the beach area from the ship and they can be found in my previous post on Princess Cays.
On-Board Experiences:
Internet Cafe: There are several PCs available here, but only two have a card reader. It's on the other side of George's (Internet Manager) desk. I use an XD card for my Olympus waterproof camera and I was able to use the reader to download pictures to my blog. There is a catch for the XD card. You have to turn the card upside down (with the metal contacts facing up) and it will slide into the reader and work fine.
International Cafe (cookies):
Gosh darn, I just love their peanut butter cookies! Yes, I turned my nose up at the oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip, & chocolate/chocolate chip cookies they had. At one point, they went so many days without peanut butter cookies that I made a special request with the guy behind the counter. Wouldn't you believe? The next day, I got my cookies! I was an extremely happy camper. Oh, around 3:30pm, the staff would come out with freshly baked cookies and cold milk and walk around the Piazza on deck 5 distributing these goodies.
International Cafe (coffee bar):
DH & I got hooked on their green tea smoothies. We tried all three (mango, peach, and pomegranate/blueberry). I loved all three, but DH favored the berry smoothie. The smoothies are additional cost.
Piazza:
I enjoyed the Piazza area of this ship. It's a great place for people watching. The boutiques are located in the two upper decks. Vines, International Cafe, Internet Cafe, and the Future Cruise Sales office are located in the lower deck.
There was daily entertainment in the Piazza which included this string quartet.
There was also a veggie/fruit carving demo I attended.
These chefs were hard at work to get as many carvings done. The creativity was endless. A lot of them were really cute.
Our Cabin - D616: Mini-Suite
We love the mini-suites. We enjoy our time in our cabin and especially the balcony. We love having the extra room with the sitting area and 3-seat couch. It allows us to spread out and have our own space. I use the sitting area to lay out the snorkeling gear to dry (on a towel of course). We enjoy the bathtub and the layout of the bathroom.
Oh yeah, we did get locked out of our cabin on the last night of the cruise and we even had our cruise cards with us.
Here is our empty closet. Our luggage had not arrived yet. I wanted to take this picture before we cluttered it with clothing to give an idea of the spaciousness. The safe is large. I was able to put my DSLR, travel papers, pocket camera, MP3 player, etc. There were plenty of hangers available. Personally, the closet has more than enough space for the both of us. To the right of the closet is a door that leads into our bathroom.
Our bathroom consisted or a full tub with shower. This came in handy for soaking our snorkel gear and for washing our swimsuits.
We had a spacious sink countertop. Plenty of room to spread out our toiletries when needed. We stored most of our toiletries on the shelves. Princess provided us with plenty of their Lotus Spa products (lotion, shampoo, conditioner, and body wash gel). I love using their products.
This is two twin beds pushed together to make a queen bed. We were able to put our two large luggage underneath the bed. We each had a night stand that included a top cubby hole with two bottom drawers. Plenty of storage space.
Here's the desk area. Behind the door are two shelves with plenty of storage space.
Here's our sitting area that includes a 3-seat couch. It's also a sleeper sofa.
Large sitting area
Small fridge with bucket of ice (free) and sample of sodas ($). We're not soda drinkers, so the sodas remained untouched in our fridge. There's room next to the ice bucket for our bottled water.
Here's another view of our cabin with my back to the balcony. We found a great place to store our snorkel gear in the sitting area.
Here's what our closet area looked like after we unpacked. There's plenty of space. The safe and shelves are located behind the mirrored double doors. BTW, great place for the long mirrors.
And finally, the two TVs. This was great to have, especially when DH wanted to watch football. No problem. I just turned the other TV on and watched some great movies.
MUTS:
We enjoy watching the movies outdoors in the evening and eating popcorn. Note: the MUTS lounge covers fit the lounges perfectly. On the Crown Princess, they must have shrunk and was a snug fit. It was hard to lay on them when they made the padding bunch up. On the Emerald, the covered lounges were nice.
Laundromat:
There is one on each deck with living quarters. On our port side, we had two sets of washer/dryers. They had two ironing boards with irons set on timers. There was a change machine for quarters. Also, there was a soap powder/softener sheet vending machine. The soap was $1/box. The washing machine and dryer was $1.50 each. I ended up doing a load of laundry while we were in Grenada.
Lotus Spa/Gym:
As a ritual, DH likes getting his haircut on the ship. As soon as we boarded the Emerald, we headed to the Lotus Spa. He made an appointment for early evening.
Here's one of the hair stylists waving to me. The folks here were extremely nice and personable.
The gym is fully equipped. Lots of stepping machines...
and lots of treadmills.
Our Meals:
We're vegetarians majority of the time. We were both brought up as meat eaters. DH has been a vegetarian for several years now. I became a vegetarian when I went on the Sea Princess exactly two years ago. We have found that it doesn't hurt to each chicken every now and then. We need our protein. We ate our meals at the Horizon Court or the Caribe Cafe. It's easier for us to get our veggies and fruits here. The fish was lacking. We were lucky if we found a fish dish here. We did try their BBQ chicken and cornish game hens...delightful, tender, and juicy.
Eating in the dining room is not a big thing for us. We've been there and done that. We find eating in the dining room, takes a long time. We also don't take part in formal nights. Lets face it. With the 50lb luggage limit, it's either the snorkel gear or the formal wear that gets packed. Easy answer for us...snorkel gear.
They had my Chamomile tea bags in Horizon. They also had Earl Grey for DH. Every afternoon, DH & I would make the trek up to Horizon to get our cup of tea and bring it back to our balcony to enjoy. Of course, it was even better when I found my peanut butter cookies to go with the tea.
We tried the free ice cream in Horizon one afternoon. We had hazelnut and vanilla. We enjoyed that treat.
Here is the Ice Cream Bar located next to the PIzzeria or Pizza Bar. Besides scoops of ice cream, you can get sundaes, shakes, etc. There is a cost for the ice cream items here. I hardly saw anyone hang out at this bar.
When we didn't find anything good in Caribe Cafe for dinner, we headed to the Pizzeria or Pizza Bar. Their Margherita pizza was pretty good. Not as good as the the pizza on the Sea Princess. Pretty good, though.I made my way to the Grill a few times. Not to get a hamburger, but to get their french fries. I just love their fries!
This was the first cruise I actually went on an eating craze. Not to worry, I managed to eat a lot of veggies as well. My DH said something about having a tapeworm. I wasn't going to dispute that, it was true. Guilty as charged.
Other Areas of the Ship:
Teen/kids play area
Video Arcade for the kids
1 comment:
Amazing - I found your blog through Pattern Review and see that you were on the very same cruise I sailed on in January. The world is very small indeed.
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