Comparison of Princess to Carnival and disappointment of the Princess cruise line

Item: Emerald Princess
Rating: 2
Author: ggravalos

Emerald Princess Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

ggravalos

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 73

Overall rating:

2 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Western Caribbean (Houston Roundtrip)

Sail date: March 29, 2015

Ship: Emerald Princess

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: R242

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 9 years ago

Review summary

I was very disappointed with the Emerald Princess. I was told by others that this cruise line was the best one and I have to say that Carnival was much better in several aspects. The Carnival had several different food choices where the Princess had three cafes and all of them were serving the same meal. The majority of the meals were made with curry which I am not a fan of. They had basically the same meals everyday. The evening shows were a big disappointment except for the Comedian. The Carnival shows were bigger and better almost like Broadway shows where the Princess shows were more like high school musicals, plus they were only 45 mins long. The Princess had movies under the stars but they started them at 7 p.m. during the dinner time dining instead showing them after the last dinner time maybe 9:30 p.m. would be much better. The café staff was slow in waiting on you for drinks and silverware. All in all I was very disappointed with the Princess.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

The fine dining experience was the best part of the cruise as our wait staff were excellent.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

The evening entertainment was very disappointing

Service and Staff

1 out of 5

The wait staff in the cafes were slow and hardly smiled

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

They were painting and varnishing the ship during the curise which made me sick by the smell that overcame my cabin.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

The cabin was smaller than the Carnival balcony stateroom but the cabin stewart was very attentive. I was disappointed that their were no towel animals in the room like the Carnival had. I always looked forward to coming back to my stateroom to find a different towel animal on my bed with the Carnival cruise.

Ship tip

The formal nights were very relaxed. Several people were wearing shorts and jeans. They did not enforce the dress code. It was ok for men to wear shirt and ties with a coat.

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