Blue Skies

Emerald Princess Cruise Review to Europe - Eastern Mediterranean

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 35

Overall rating:

4 out of 5
Verified Review
Emerald Princess

7 Night Greece & Turkey (Athens To Istanbul)

Sail date: July 18, 2015

Ship: Emerald Princess

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: C619

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 9 years ago

Review summary

Princess runs these as 7 day cruises with four of them back to back for a total of a 28 day cruise.  We were on the 1st leg from Athens to Istanbul and the second from Istanbul to Rome.  The first leg was not as popular as the ship was not crowded and was mainly older couples.  That changed in Istanbul and the ship was packed with kids.  We were on the trip to see history sites so we were very pleased with the itinerary and never went on the excursions that most of the ship went on.  Please be aware that doing this in late July and August is very difficult as the temp and constant sunshine really wears down on you.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5
It would have been nice to have a rules sheet to know how to play shuffleboard. Ping Pong at 12 knots is a fun challenge :-)

Entertainment

3 out of 5
Didn't attend any

Children's Programs

3 out of 5
The teen center was small but adequate, not much to do for a teen other than hang.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Room stewards were the best with service, with others you could tell it was just a job for them.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
If you are tall or have a bad back, the bed(s) are going to be problematic for you. It's amazing how small they can make a shower, but the balcony more than makes up for that.

Ship tip

Be aware that there are formal nights. I am retired and on principle am not wearing a tie on a vacation, that limited me to secondary venues and I was not happy about that. If you pick anytime dining you can end up sharing tables and being in off hours, they really want assigned tables and dining.

Ports of call

Piraeus (Athens), Greece

5 out of 5

Santorini, Greece

5 out of 5

Iraklion (Heraklion), Crete

5 out of 5

Rhodes, Greece

5 out of 5

Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey

5 out of 5

Istanbul, Turkey

5 out of 5
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