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Emerald Princess - January 5-15, 2008 - review and picttures
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 |
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Emerald Princess - January 5-15, 2008 - review and picttures
"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. Excellent review snipped.... Thanks for sharing this account of your cruise, Sue. Princess continues to be one of my personal favorite cruise lines and I am glad you and Kevin had a good time. I dislike the part about having to pay extra for the lobster... but my complaints about things like this are minor if people feel the added cost is worth the value. I have had very few "added cost" meals on a cruise ship where I wasn't happy with the results. -- George Leppla http://www.CruiseMaster.com May 12, 2008 - 5 nt New Orleans http://www.cruisemaster.com/fantasy.htm October 26, 2008 Sleazy 5 http://www.cruisemaster.com/sleazy5.htm Feb. 8, 2009 Solstice Valentine http://www.cruisemaster.com/solstice.htm |
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Emerald Princess - January 5-15, 2008 - review and picttures
George Leppla wrote: "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. Excellent review snipped.... Thanks for sharing this account of your cruise, Sue. Princess continues to be one of my personal favorite cruise lines and I am glad you and Kevin had a good time. I dislike the part about having to pay extra for the lobster... but my complaints about things like this are minor if people feel the added cost is worth the value. I have had very few "added cost" meals on a cruise ship where I wasn't happy with the results. Thanks George. As long as we book early enough to get traditional dining, we also love Princess. I just am not crazy about the idea of anytime dining, even though others love it. If you had seem the presentation of the lobster and the utensils they had to pick it clean, you would of thought it was worth the extra money(grin). It was the best lobster we had and that includes some of the best restauants in NYC and the best up in New England. sue |
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Emerald Princess - January 5-15, 2008 - review and picttures
Wonderful review, Sue. I enjoyed every word. Thanks for posting it.
Ermalee sue mullen wrote: 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 |
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Emerald Princess - January 5-15, 2008 - review and picttures
In article , sue mullen
wrote: If you had seem the presentation of the lobster and the utensils they had to pick it clean, you would of thought it was worth the extra money(grin). It was the best lobster we had and that includes some of the best restauants in NYC and the best up in New England. Do you think they have live lobsters onboard for the specialty restaurant? I would guess they would if the lobster was that good. -- Charles |
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Emerald Princess - January 5-15, 2008 - review and picttures
Charles wrote:
In article , sue mullen wrote: If you had seem the presentation of the lobster and the utensils they had to pick it clean, you would of thought it was worth the extra money(grin). It was the best lobster we had and that includes some of the best restauants in NYC and the best up in New England. Do you think they have live lobsters onboard for the specialty restaurant? I would guess they would if the lobster was that good. My guess would be that they don't. Otherwise, I believe they would serve lobster, and not lobster tail. I learned this from Howard and Eileen, that if you want live lobster (tail) you should order the whole lobster. We found a small wonderful restaurant in Miami where the locals go, sort of in a strip mall. Don't remember the name. Ermalee |
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Emerald Princess - January 5-15, 2008 - review and picttures
Ermalee wrote: Wonderful review, Sue. I enjoyed every word. Thanks for posting it. Thanks Ermalee, we enjoyed every minute of the cruise. The only downside was coming home and getting sick.lol How are you feeling now? sue |
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Emerald Princess - January 5-15, 2008 - review and picttures
Charles wrote: In article , sue mullen wrote: If you had seem the presentation of the lobster and the utensils they had to pick it clean, you would of thought it was worth the extra money(grin). It was the best lobster we had and that includes some of the best restauants in NYC and the best up in New England. Do you think they have live lobsters onboard for the specialty restaurant? I would guess they would if the lobster was that good. I have a vague memory of a lobster tank in the Crown Grill, but I am not sure. It sure tasted like it was fresh to me. We sat two tables away from where we sat with you and Jeff on the Crown Princess.lol sue |
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Emerald Princess - January 5-15, 2008 - review and picttures
Ermalee wrote: Charles wrote: In article , sue mullen wrote: If you had seem the presentation of the lobster and the utensils they had to pick it clean, you would of thought it was worth the extra money(grin). It was the best lobster we had and that includes some of the best restauants in NYC and the best up in New England. Do you think they have live lobsters onboard for the specialty restaurant? I would guess they would if the lobster was that good. My guess would be that they don't. Otherwise, I believe they would serve lobster, and not lobster tail. I learned this from Howard and Eileen, that if you want live lobster (tail) you should order the whole lobster. We found a small wonderful restaurant in Miami where the locals go, sort of in a strip mall. Don't remember the name. On formal night they had the lobster tails. What Charles and I were talking about was in the Crown Grill, which is one of the specialty restaurants on the ship. They might have the fresh lobster in the specialty restaurant because they only need it is small quantity. No way could they have enough "fresh lobster" for the dining rooms. sue |
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Emerald Princess - January 5-15, 2008 - review and picttures
sue mullen wrote:
Ermalee wrote: Wonderful review, Sue. I enjoyed every word. Thanks for posting it. Thanks Ermalee, we enjoyed every minute of the cruise. The only downside was coming home and getting sick.lol How are you feeling now? sue Each day is a little better. No cruises booked yet though. Ermalee |
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