Cruise Lines: Princess Cruises
Cruise Ship: Emerald Princess
Cruise Destination: Mediterranean
Cruise Dates: November 10, 2007
Guest Contributor: Robin Moore
My voyage on the Emerald Princess was my sixth cruise, my past history consisting of trips on Carnival's Imagination, Paradise, Triumph, and Glory as well as the Emerald's sister ship the Crown Princess. While my overall vacation was a blast, I feel that the Emerald itself provides just an average value for the money at this time and I don't think I would choose Princess for Europe again any time in the near future.
Embarkation on the Emerald Princess
The Emerald Princess Mediterranean itinerary runs between Venice and Barcelona. We embarked in Venice, which I was pleased about as I had a basic familiarity with the city after spending four days there previously. Most passengers fly in a night before boarding is permitted, which I highly recommend.
Embarkation was scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. Saturday and run as late as one the next day, when the ship would finally depart. We boarded at around 3:00 p.m. Saturday and faced a very short wait at check-in. The embarkation process was particularly easy for mr_chelledun and I since the Venice airport lost all of our luggage leaving us with nothing but a small carry on-bag containing toiletries and medications and my laptop. My parents did have luggage to check in with the ship, and received it in time for our 8:30 p.m. dinner time. After two Princess cruises, I have to say the line does an above average job with making the embarkation process as smooth as possible.
Our Room on the Emerald Princess
Per usual, mr_chelledun and I booked one of the cheapest, smallest rooms on the ship. This time our room, E310 was literally in the lowest class, due to the astronomical costs associated with going up even the tiniest category on a twelve-day Mediterranean cruise. Despite this, we actually ended up in better shape this time than on our previous Princess cruise since we had a room intended only as a double rather than as a quad. This meant no fold-out beds overhead and no bumping my head every morning. The room was bland but clean, with beige walls and a couple of Greek-inspired paintings hanging on either side.
The bathroom was correspondingly tiny, with space for a shower, toilet, and little else. While people often complain that Princess gives less room space for the buck than other mass market cruise lines; and it does, in my opinion, the poor layout is to blame for the cramped feel of the rooms. In both my small room and my parents' much larger junior suite, it was a regular occurrence to open the bathroom door and smack someone in the head who was trying to get clothing out of the closet. The hairdryer, for some reason, is firmly mounted over the desk, making it necessary to primp in the main room instead of the bathroom. Larger, more expensive rooms are still far too narrow in terms of space between the bed and the wall. Mr_chelledun and I don't typically care that much about our room, especially on a port-intensive itinerary, but twelve days of bumping into each other did get a bit old.
Public Spaces on the Emerald Princess
The Emerald Princess is in very good repair as a result of being nearly brand new. The public areas are tastefully decorated. Some are very attractive, others are a bit boring. Our very favorite space was Crooner's Martini Bar, a well-staffed lounge overlooking the ship's central atrium. The Crooner's bartenders knew us all by name at the cruise's end, and contributed greatly to our cruise experience with their daily jokes and card trips. I also enjoyed watching shows in the plush chairs of the intimate Explorer's Lounge, and dancing in the top-floor Skywalker's Disco which overlooks the ocean.
Other public rooms left my group saying "why?" The main showroom, Princess Theater, is simply too small for the popular shows that play there. I complained about this after sailing on the Crown Princess and the poor design is echoed on the Emerald. During the first two out of four production shows, the theater was completely packed, with some patrons sitting on the steps and standing in the back of the theater. I just can't understand why Princess doesn't duplicate the grand theaters found on most other large cruise ships.
Club Fusion, a dance club which turns to showroom for the popular Princess Idol event, suffers from many seats with blocked views thanks to GIANT pillars situated throughout it. My dislike of these small showrooms is symptomatic of my major complaint about Princess - after two voyages, I still don't care for the layout. The ships' public spaces are too sectioned off, slightly claustrophobic, and lack a sense of awe. Why design a huge ship to feel like it isn't a huge ship? Princess fails to take advantage of the height and girth of its ship by limiting what could have been an amazing atrium to a three-story one, and breaking up its formal dining areas into three low-ceilinged rooms. Members of our group have sailed on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and NCL, and all of us ranked Princess last in terms of interior ship layout.
The ship's exterior areas fare better in my evaluation. None of the pool areas were ever terribly crowded during our journey, perhaps because everyone had more than enough sun during our lengthy times in port. Fresh water in the two main pools makes for a more pleasant swimming experience than on other lines. I also like the readily available pool bars, and everything outside was always neat and clean. It is also possible to walk laps around one of the ship's lower decks. All five of us participated in an on-ship Walk on Deck for the Cure 5K event for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and in doing so learned that 7.5 times around the ship equals 3.1 miles.
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Cruise Ship: Emerald Princess
Cruise Destination: Mediterranean
Cruise Dates: November 10, 2007
Guest Contributor: Robin Moore
My voyage on the Emerald Princess was my sixth cruise, my past history consisting of trips on Carnival's Imagination, Paradise, Triumph, and Glory as well as the Emerald's sister ship the Crown Princess. While my overall vacation was a blast, I feel that the Emerald itself provides just an average value for the money at this time and I don't think I would choose Princess for Europe again any time in the near future.
Embarkation on the Emerald Princess
The Emerald Princess Mediterranean itinerary runs between Venice and Barcelona. We embarked in Venice, which I was pleased about as I had a basic familiarity with the city after spending four days there previously. Most passengers fly in a night before boarding is permitted, which I highly recommend.
Embarkation was scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. Saturday and run as late as one the next day, when the ship would finally depart. We boarded at around 3:00 p.m. Saturday and faced a very short wait at check-in. The embarkation process was particularly easy for mr_chelledun and I since the Venice airport lost all of our luggage leaving us with nothing but a small carry on-bag containing toiletries and medications and my laptop. My parents did have luggage to check in with the ship, and received it in time for our 8:30 p.m. dinner time. After two Princess cruises, I have to say the line does an above average job with making the embarkation process as smooth as possible.
Our Room on the Emerald Princess
Per usual, mr_chelledun and I booked one of the cheapest, smallest rooms on the ship. This time our room, E310 was literally in the lowest class, due to the astronomical costs associated with going up even the tiniest category on a twelve-day Mediterranean cruise. Despite this, we actually ended up in better shape this time than on our previous Princess cruise since we had a room intended only as a double rather than as a quad. This meant no fold-out beds overhead and no bumping my head every morning. The room was bland but clean, with beige walls and a couple of Greek-inspired paintings hanging on either side.
The bathroom was correspondingly tiny, with space for a shower, toilet, and little else. While people often complain that Princess gives less room space for the buck than other mass market cruise lines; and it does, in my opinion, the poor layout is to blame for the cramped feel of the rooms. In both my small room and my parents' much larger junior suite, it was a regular occurrence to open the bathroom door and smack someone in the head who was trying to get clothing out of the closet. The hairdryer, for some reason, is firmly mounted over the desk, making it necessary to primp in the main room instead of the bathroom. Larger, more expensive rooms are still far too narrow in terms of space between the bed and the wall. Mr_chelledun and I don't typically care that much about our room, especially on a port-intensive itinerary, but twelve days of bumping into each other did get a bit old.
Public Spaces on the Emerald Princess
The Emerald Princess is in very good repair as a result of being nearly brand new. The public areas are tastefully decorated. Some are very attractive, others are a bit boring. Our very favorite space was Crooner's Martini Bar, a well-staffed lounge overlooking the ship's central atrium. The Crooner's bartenders knew us all by name at the cruise's end, and contributed greatly to our cruise experience with their daily jokes and card trips. I also enjoyed watching shows in the plush chairs of the intimate Explorer's Lounge, and dancing in the top-floor Skywalker's Disco which overlooks the ocean.
Other public rooms left my group saying "why?" The main showroom, Princess Theater, is simply too small for the popular shows that play there. I complained about this after sailing on the Crown Princess and the poor design is echoed on the Emerald. During the first two out of four production shows, the theater was completely packed, with some patrons sitting on the steps and standing in the back of the theater. I just can't understand why Princess doesn't duplicate the grand theaters found on most other large cruise ships.
Club Fusion, a dance club which turns to showroom for the popular Princess Idol event, suffers from many seats with blocked views thanks to GIANT pillars situated throughout it. My dislike of these small showrooms is symptomatic of my major complaint about Princess - after two voyages, I still don't care for the layout. The ships' public spaces are too sectioned off, slightly claustrophobic, and lack a sense of awe. Why design a huge ship to feel like it isn't a huge ship? Princess fails to take advantage of the height and girth of its ship by limiting what could have been an amazing atrium to a three-story one, and breaking up its formal dining areas into three low-ceilinged rooms. Members of our group have sailed on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and NCL, and all of us ranked Princess last in terms of interior ship layout.
The ship's exterior areas fare better in my evaluation. None of the pool areas were ever terribly crowded during our journey, perhaps because everyone had more than enough sun during our lengthy times in port. Fresh water in the two main pools makes for a more pleasant swimming experience than on other lines. I also like the readily available pool bars, and everything outside was always neat and clean. It is also possible to walk laps around one of the ship's lower decks. All five of us participated in an on-ship Walk on Deck for the Cure 5K event for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and in doing so learned that 7.5 times around the ship equals 3.1 miles.
Page 2 > > More of Emerald Princess Mediterranean Cruise Review > >
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