Ok cruise that was relaxing

Emerald Princess Cruise Review to Coastal - West Coast

RetiredRay

Contributor Level: Staff Captain

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 13

Helpful Votes: 473

Overall rating:

4 out of 5

7 Night Classic California Coast (Los Angeles Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 20, 2023

Ship: Emerald Princess

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: A503

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

This trip was not as good as the one taken in January on the same ship. I picked it because it was not Spring Break and it went to San Diego. I think I will start with the negatives first. I made reservations for the Crown Grill ahead of time. Unfortunately they said I had a package that gave me 4 meals, but they could not use it since it was not loaded yet and to give them a credit card number to make the reservations. I should see the service desk to get the refund and my 4 free meals applied to the reservation. The ship says they can not refund my card, I have to get OBC, and it would be paid out at the end. I looked at my final statement and it appears that that was not done. SIGH! The App is still a piece of garbage, I could not make dinner reservations that would stay. I called the help line and they could not do it, but after 45 minutes they used another way in to get us our time. At least this trip we did not lose our reservations. Also, the dinner menu on the app (and TV) only roughly matched the actual menu with usually a couple of things missing or different. Biggest issue is that many venues seem to still be undermanned and with a different set of people than in January. The Coffee & Cones had a hard time making a plain milk shake. First they tried to give me the coffee shake, then they made one with ICE CUBES and would not remove the ice cubes. The last one I got I walked them through the ice cream, some milk, blend it, serve it. Had issues at the juice bar and the grill that I did not have before but they were still good We had the Premium package and found that some of it is not as good as the hype says. If in port then the prize perk does not work. Even though each person is paying, the paperwork onboard says only one winning per stateroom. The daytime musical entertainment was lacking this trip, and the few performers that were on were mostly not very good. Internet was lousy, downloads in the 0.3 to 3 Mbps and sometimes with a jitter in the 300-400 msec range. Usable but a bit slow for anything that requires a lot of downloading. Now the good, food overall was good to very good, our waiters were excellent, The staff at the MDR door were very good too and they remembered us from January. Room was comfortable, I liked the bed, wife said she had a back ache. Captain was very vocal and kept us informed and gave out some tidbits about what he talked about. Embarking and disembarking went smoothly (but then we are elite). Weather was not very good, foggy and cold with some wave action. Due to the *^&$#*@! app and the lobster cut back, I think I will be looking for other lines for year or two (like Celebrity) unless a deal I can not turn down pops up.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Embarkation was nice and easy, arrived early and was in the elite lounge.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Food and dining we did have some not so good stuff, but overall very good in the MDR. Marked down one star because they further cut lobster night to one per person, $10 for each extra. They tail is so small it is about three bites (four for the wife). Crown grill was ok, the rib-eye was dry, very little fat in it and the lobster was very good and twice the size of the MDR one. Liked the tacos in the Grill, the pizza was good, and the juice drinks were good

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Some activities, but Princess is not one with a lot of toys and stuff.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Onboard entertainment was not as good as January, did three star because of the lack of daytime music. There were some game stuff going on that had a good attendance as I walked by. Michael Misko was a decent magician, Erik Bryan had a good several shows.including a tribute to Frank Sinatra, Dan French was a LOUSY comedian, a lot of walk outs, including us. The show "Magic to Do" was very good this time, but a bit confusing (third time to watch), Carlos Oscar was a decent comedian,

Children's Programs

No kids with us and not too many aboard, but sounded like they were having fun in the kid’s areas.

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

Service and staff for our MDR experience were great, but then the important players we knew from January, that is what got it up to a four. Biggest issue is that many venues seem to still be undermanned and with a different set of people than in January. The Coffee & Cones had a hard time making a plain milk shake. First they tried to give me the coffee shake, then they made one with ICE CUBES and would not remove the ice cubes. The last one I got I walked them through the ice cream, some milk, blend it, serve it. Had issues at the juice bar and the grill that I did not have before. But the products were good. Room attendant was responsive but with too many rooms and not the best.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Overall clean with a few spots where you would not expect food service to be like the theater where several people left plates full of food and junk that was not cleaned up before the show. I suppose I could complain about Botticelli being had to get too, but after so many cruises it is normal to me.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Room was comfortable, I liked the bed, wife said she had a back ache. Had several maintenance issues but they were fixed in a reasonable time frame. I suppose I could complain about the bathroom size like some, but it is about standard size for most of the ships.

Ship tip

Look around as soon as you board

Thumbs up

Ports of call

San Pedro (Los Angeles), California Did not visit port

straight from airport to the ship

Thumbs Up 0

San Francisco, California

3 out of 5

No good tours for the wife, two days is too long

Thumbs Up 0

San Diego, California

5 out of 5

Wish this had two days instead of SF, USS Midway museum is close and worth the effort to see. I am a bit prejudiced, I have always liked San Diego ove SF.

Thumbs Up 0

Ensenada, Mexico Did not visit port

Been here several times and did not feel like going ashore.

Thumbs Up 0

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

Debarkation was easy. We waited until the last half hour or so and then strolled out. Because this trip had a lot of older and/or less mobile folks, the elevator had a back up but there was a staffer making sure the line flowed nicely.

16 Comments

willwork4cruz 1 year ago

RetiredRay, I know in February Celebrity was charging $20 for an extra lobster tail. It probably started at the beginning of the year if they weren’t charging last year. Princess didn’t used to charge either but all good things… once Princess had lobster in the buffet! My son ate a dozen. If I were you, I would physically go to the IT person to get help with an app. Pretty hard for them to do much on your phone over the phone. I had to do that to help me figure out Disney’s app. I’ve had issues with Princess’s app charging for drinks I never had but haven’t had a problem with reservations.

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Ladyjunecliff 1 year ago

Thank you for your review. From my math, 5 stars for embarkation, San Diego port, And deembarkation. I was looking for the lobster photos but missed them. I am going to echo that once you get spoiled, well, it’s tough when you expect it and don’t get it.

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RetiredRay 1 year ago

AuntPinkie, Erik did mention his parents meeting while working on a cruise ship in one of the shows. Neat story.

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RetiredRay 1 year ago

willwork4cruz, interesting on the lobster since in October we were on the Solstice and I had three lobster tails, no added charge. As far as the app, I called the Medallion help desk for help and THEY could NOT get the app to work either, they had to go through another route to do the reservations (about 45 minutes on the phone).

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Itspeace4me 1 year ago

Thanks for the review.

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byhisgrace 1 year ago

Appreciate your feedback

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willwork4cruz 1 year ago

LOL, don’t try Celebrity if you don’t like $10 for extra lobster. They have been charging 16.95 plus 18% extra gratuity ($20 total) for each extra tail for a while now. They are just as small also. I haven’t had any issues making reservations on the app. Maybe try it at the IT help desk to make sure you are doing it correctly. Sounds like the Emerald should borrow some staff from the Island Princess. I swear they were over-staffed including a cleaning team of a dozen or more attacking the Theater between shows.

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Gwbigdog 1 year ago

Thanks for sharing

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javawoody 1 year ago

Thanks for sharing your experience

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debflip 1 year ago

Great review!

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dengage 1 year ago

Ray you are a 🌟

Thumbs Up 1

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AuntPinkie 1 year ago

Just wanted to add a fun fact: we knew Erik Bryan when he was a teenager. His parents met working on a cruise ship. Glad to hear that he’s doing well!

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Carnivalfoodie 1 year ago

Great detailed review. Thanks Ray

Thumbs Up 3

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RoyalCruzer 1 year ago

All Carnival owned ships are drastically cutting back. They now have an $11 stock that has yet to rebound. They have large financial issues. In an unrelated note the Captain of one of their ships went right into a storm and flooded the first four decks just to get back to pick up the next load of passengers for the next cruise. I can only comment from a Royal Caribbean perspective, but service levels, staffing and food quality remain consistent. BTW, their stock has more than doubled from the pandemic low. Now trading at over $80/share from the mid 30's.

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AuntPinkie 1 year ago

Appreciate your detailed and balanced review. Glad you MOSTLY enjoyed your cruise. The trouble with being a seasoned cruiser is that you know how it could be.

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cruising2004 1 year ago

Thank you for sharing your cruising experience. Great detailed review!

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Wonderful trip, love the relaxed pace

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