Fun cruise until the immigration border control fiasco!

Emerald Princess Cruise Review

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Reviews: 7
Helpful Votes: 102

Overall rating:

3.4 out of 5
Emerald Princess

7 Night Canada & New England (Boston Roundtrip)

Sail date: July 28, 2024

Ship: Emerald Princess

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: E631

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 3 months ago

Review summary

The cruise was very nice. Just be aware…border control is a nightmare, Take an excursion to get off early.

Embarkation

5 out of 5
We arrived late at 2:30 and we got on the ship in less than 5 minutes.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5
Be aware Princess plus lunch deal doesn’t work on this ship. This ship doesn’t have any specialty lunch venues. You can use your package for dinner at Salty dog pub or Planks, but reservations are impossible to get. There is no easily found information on how to use this perk either. The app doesn’t have a any info about the venues t all. Very disappointing!

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5
We had a hard time finding activities. This is an older ship with very little going on.

Entertainment

3 out of 5
We saw the rock opera show. It was entertaining.

Club Fusion

2 out of 5

The set is strange. We ever designed the area must have been off that day.

Service and Staff

4 out of 5
The staff was very nice, service in mdr was great.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5
What can I say? Emerald is a older ship. It is difficult getting to the dining rooms as you have to either go up or down a floor to get to them.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5
We had an ocean view cabin. It was comfortable and the view was half obstructed. The cabin was nice and quiet. My only complaint about the cabin, the bathroom shower curtain was too short and water leaked everywhere during my shower. I would have wet feet trying to towel off.

Ship tip

The border control process is a nightmare! We lost 6 hours of port time waiting to go through the process. The border protection officer said Princess could pay for facial recognition, but chose not too. If you want to get off the ship early, buy a ship excursion, they get priority. We were still waiting at 2:30 to go through immigration and the excursions were already coming back. Princess needs to warn people this could happen! Now this horrible experience and process will be all we remember about our Emerald Princess cruise.

Ports of call

Sydney, Nova Scotia

4 out of 5
We went to the Fortress of Louisbourg and it was very interesting. Didn’t expect this. The Sydney port area is small, but walkable.

Portland, Maine

1 out of 5
Portland in August was crowded and walking was difficult with the crowds. I definitely recommend taking a Ship excursion in this port. Note: Each passenger will have to go through border control at this stop. Princess has a very bad system. Expect to have a long wait!

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

5 out of 5
PEI is absolutely beautiful. Wish the cruise gave us more time here. Our port back on board time was 1:30 and then we couldn’t leave due to high winds. I would say more time here and less in Portland, Maine. We visited Anne of Green gable and enjoyed the drive.

Halifax, Nova Scotia

3 out of 5
Halifax is big city and it’s a little gritty. We took the hop on hop off and enjoyed what we saw.

Boston, Massachusetts

4 out of 5
Summertime is crowded. Make sure to add extra time for sightseeing.

Disembarkation

4 out of 5
Since you check in with Border control in Portland, disembarking was easy.
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9 Comments

rje     3 months ago

I was on this ship for the July 13th sailing. It took over two hours to board standing outside in the heat. At Portland it took about 3 hours to go through customs. And we were near the middle of the groups.

jallaway     3 months ago

This doesn't seem right at all. I used to watch the Love Boat all the time and I don't remember one episode where they were delayed by the border control.

HeavySeas     3 months ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise experience

willwork4cruz     3 months ago

Agreed that going thru customs mid-cruise sucks. Did they say what the actual problem was that caused your six hour customs process? The passengers on previous cruises on this ship and itinerary apparently did not have any hold up. Must have been a problem just on that date.

Gwbigdog     3 months ago

Thanks for sharing

cruising2004     3 months ago

Thank you for your review.

deboftheseas     3 months ago

Yes, we were involved in that sh*t show 2 weeks ago. We were lucky to have a 10:50 appointment, but we got in an hour earlier than expected as there was no,lineup at that moment

javawoody     3 months ago

Cruise lines do not control customs.

bndfromaz     3 months ago

Thank you for the review and the advice.

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