The cruise was good. I don't think we will go at this time of year again..Twice and the weather hasn't been that great. Out of 9 Sea days, there were only 2 that were nice enough to sit out on the balcony.
Embarkation
2 out of 5
It was pouring down rain in LA during embarkation.We stood in the rain for over 30 minutes...no Princess people anywhere, no tarps to cover area. The storm had been predicted for at least 4 days prior. Later that night Princess tried to put all of the blame on the Port of LA sorry didn't buy that. Some people's luggage and clothes were completely wet.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
The food was mediocre in the main dining rooms..the beef dishes were tough and full of gristle (short ribs) and beef strogonoff . The pasta, chicken and fish were good though. The buffet food was good. I didn't do the specialty restaurants...I won't pay extra for my food.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
We are big trivia players. We teamed up with two other couples and became team mates and friends for life. I went to the Fitness Center 6 of the sea days. It was good, had the same machines as at the Y at home so was familiar...however, there was never any staff there to help with machines or answer questions
Entertainment
4 out of 5
There was a wonderful piano player(female) , a trumpet player (male, A great Ventroliquist (Don Horn) we had seen him before and loved him then. The Princess Singers and Dancers SUCK in my opinion.. no originality , no special costumes. One of the crew staff had a much better voice than the Princess group.There was a group of Hula dancers from a school in Honolulu that came on board. They were delightful.
Children's Programs
NO KIDS
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Room steward was good. Everything I asked for, it was in our cabin.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
After 22 Princess cruises, I sure wished they were update the staterooms. Still the same. They have taken out the arm chairs in the rooms...Room steward said it was a company decision. Sure would like an answer
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
This was a guarantee cabin ( we usually choose our own and prefer the aft of the ship. Weather wasn't particularly great so I felt the movement all night long. Won't have a forwatd cabin again.
Ship tip
The Emerald is a nice ship. The captain did a spectacular job of handling the ship during the rough seas.
We rented a car for the day to visit friends in Kula (about an hour from Lahaina. We took a LYFT to the airport as rentals were 1/3 of the price there . Coming back, we discovered that the city bus runs back and forth. The fare was $4 all day per person,while the LYFT cost $49 one way. Lesson learned. The tour desk n the ship knew nothing about public transporation.
Even though it was supposed to be very windy and the captain didn't know if we could get in, we did . We did a tour to he Fern Grotto via boat. It was a good tour.
We just went shopping. We did have an unexpeceted over night stay as a huge swell was behind us . The captain played it safe and stayed than getting caught in the storm.
We were late getting off due to the government shutdown and not having enough Custom agents working. We flew out of Burbank CA instead of LAX (so much easier and faster). We took a LYFT van to the airport.
Wow, what time did you arrive for embarkation? The building is so big I can't imagine why people had to stand outside in the rain unless they were too early. I'm not sure what a cruiseline is allowed to modify outside a port building like that. (Also since rain was predicted four days before, I would think people would have brought umbrellas 😉) But third time's the charm. There is no way you could come to LA on the same date three different years and see rain.
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