Emerald Princess Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The itinerary and the cruise ship were both very good. Great ports of call and nice rooms. The food was just OK and the food at the pay restaurants wasn't worth paying extra for. I wouldn't even give them a try if you are going. My biggest complaints were the alcohol. We bought the package...but the drinks were so week I don't even know why they call them alcoholic drinks. Plus, even if you have the drink package, if you want a double you have to pay extra. There were a few martini's that had decent alcohol...but that was about it. Lastly, I bought the internet package in advance in US dollars because they were promoting it as a discount to buy in advance. When I got on board, they were selling internet for the same price...but in Australian Dollars. There were some other customer service issues that makes me want to try a different cruise line the next time around.

There are 3 key ports in this cruise that one aspire and look forward to visit. They are Port Chalmers, Akaroa and Tauranga. We have to skip 2 out of these 3 ports due to heavy fog. Other than Tauranga, nothing else is worth visiting. Worse of all, having to skip Port Chalmers and Akaroa resulted in us having to cruise from 15Feb evening to 20Feb with limited entertainment. The entire cruise was a disaster and investment for cruise is as good as pouring our money into the seas.

After this episode, I am putting my plan for the 104 days world on hold.

The foods served in the Dining Room (Da Vinci) are salty making them not edible. More so for elderly where sodium intake must be kept to its minimum. To make matter worse, there isn't much choice of specialty dining available as compared to the Golden and Diamond ship. Otherwise, we could have opted for specialty dining to replace those served in Da Vinci and Michael Angelo. Unlike the Golden and Diamond ship, the Grill and Pizza served in the sun deck of the Emerald are tasteless.  

The ports can be divided into essential and non essential. The essential ports being Port Chalmers, Akaroa and Tauranga. The rest are non essential.

This cruise, we have to skip Port Chalmers and Akaroa i.e. 2 out of 3 essential ports. While skipping the 2 essential ports are unavoidable due to fog, it would be good that an alternate ports be planned ahead rather just skipping the ports.

The saving grace for this experience being the good service crew. We appreciate their friendliness and hospitality. The embarkation and disembarkation were efficiently conducted. Kudos to the crew.  

Favorite part of cruise was south New Zealand. We took 2 days exeercusion tour at Floid National Park. Which includes Mildord Sound, Queenstown. Due to weather problem trip was extended to three days on ground and we were able to see most of South Island,

Princess treated us very nicely, food , hotel, transportation and guide was excellent.

thanks princess.

huk456@aol.com

11 days cruise that supposed to have visited 6 ports but have to skip 2 of the 3 main places of interest due to fog. As a holidays maker, we can understand that safety is paramount but skipping places of interest is unfair. You may have no alternatives at that point in time but am pretty sure there should be contingency plans on hand whenever face with such situation. An established cruise company like Princess would have better plan to make up for such a situation.

We especially enjoyed  New Zealand! The scenery unbelievable. The land tour done by Denise was great. What a great, caring hostess! We had been on this particular ship before so knew what to expect except to find a bunch of "tweens " on board for Holiday. Lots of kids!

We enjoyed our Cruise,very comfortable stateroom,whilst on board we celebrated our Golden Wedding,we had a wonderful time on our day in the Grill,and were made to feel very special.

we were ashore on the day in Madeira.

very enjoyable cruise,staff were all excellent.

overall the cruise was great, Since my last cruise, drinks have increased substantially.  much to my dismay. The entertainment was OK. On days at sea it is a bun fight to get a table for breakfast and lunch. And you see people wandering around looking for a table. The cabin was very comfortable in fact top marks.

we enjoyed our cruise , the places we visited were all that we expected and we could not fault any of them the ship was very good the food and entertainment were all that we had come to expect from Princess ,the only fault we could find was that my husband had served in the army and we found out that he should have received £200  on board spend we missed out on this  . Other than this we enjoyed our cruise

great 2 week cruise the ship was fantastic and the ports we went to was very good, the weather was really good until the last 2 days coming back to Southampton.

Favorite part of the cruise was the excursion in the Lofoten Islands which took us off to the small fishing villages. 

I wish there had been more variety in the buffet--like Mexican theme one day or Chinese, or Japanese.  It was very similar things day after day.  No sandwiches.

Some of the people who were working on the cruise ship were just plain rude to us.  It was like they didn't want to be bothered.  We were constantly bombarded with Princess advertising--way overdone!

Missed being able to go to Flaam Norway because of the weather--big disappointment.

We still prefer Celebrity and would recommend Celebrity to our friends.

The Emerald Princess crew were some of the finest on all cruise lines (including Oceania and Crystal) that we experienced.  Quite frankly, it was the crew that made the cruise great.  

The ship was well designed to enhance the activities and entertainment.  It didn't seem like 3000+ customers on board as the offerings were varied and kept people moving about.  The ratio of customers to staff didn't hinder the attentiveness of the crew.  They were always available and proactive in making our trip very nice. 

You have to want a cruise and ship experience to enjoy 14 days at the North Cape and Norwegian Fjords.  The weather is terrible and there isn't a lot to see and do.  The ports become very similar quickly.

We experience a very dangerous tour to Pulpit Rock in Stavanger which could have resulted in people being hurt or worse.  We were allowed to hike to the top in torrential sideway rain, high winds and intense fog without the proper guides to advise where we were on the trail.  The tour guide told us they advised the ship to cancel the tour due to the worst weather they had experienced at this time of year. The ship was delayed departing Stavanger almost 24 hours and we did not make our next port, Flaam due to VERY bad weather.  It's all too bad because it was one of the reasons we chose this itinerary was to climb Pulpit Rock.  We advised the ship of the experience since it appeared they really didn't know how bad the situation was.

The food is good, not fabulous.  Purchasing a Suite we should have been able to visit the specialty restaurants whenever we desired.  They didn't seem very utilized. The service by waiters/servers made up for the "good" food.  They made the experience always delightful.

All in all the cruise was a nice experience.  As I mentioned, the crew made all of the difference.  The entertainment was also good.

We spent a lot of time in the gym (a good one) and walked the promenade often.  Well designed to get your exercise. 

The best part of the cruise was seeing the fjords and North Cape of Norway. The food on the ship was not very good. It was very repetitive and not tasty. The best meals were on the shore excursions in Norway. We missed a stop at Flam due to whether. Also, we left Bergen at 1:30 p.m. I believe that Princess could have cancelled a sea day and rescheduled the missed day at Flam. Also, many of the passengers were very rude.

The best part of the Cruise was the visit to St Petersburg.

An improvement to the cruise would be to employ a new Chef

I am not interested in your views I have submitted mine

This was the first time with princess cruises always been with royal Caribbean 

we always fancied the Baltic and the emerald princess itinerary was ideal 

Love all the ports we went to especially  Tallinn very oldy worldly great markets 

good prices , st Petersburg unbelievable and prebook your tour with 118 cruises as excellent value we had a great tour guide even went down to go on the underground which was a amazing experience talk to other people on their tours and did not do as much as us so great value for money . Stockholm visit the ice bar in the q hotel worth a visit . Our cabin 215 was great and a good balconyalso our stwert also very good ,love the afternoon tea in the  Botticelli dining room good and nice treat ,all the staff were very helpful our only moan was the theatre for the top shows if you didn't get their early no chance of a seat and as we were 8.15 dining a proplem but other than that excellent cruise and great service from all at cruise 118 also lovely touch with the champagne 

thanks again Jean brian bacon 

Favorite part:  Not having to repackage our bags for each new seaport...unpack once...

Least favorite part: That Princess Cruises partipates in allegedly deceptive Art Auctions......

Would I recommend this Cruise to others?.....the Ports of Call I would recommend, but not the Princess Cruise Lines......Food was below par....many inconveniences, too many to name...e.g.  Cruise Entertainment was....not Broadway Show Quality...what is?.....but offerings were almost Amateurish......Overall, we were comfortable, but not Spoiled....

This cruise was the most physical cruise I have ever been on.  The ports of call all required much walking and mostly on cobble stones.  My legs were killing me,  But it was fantastic.  I saw wonderful med-evil cities, castles and palaces.  I recommend it .  But be prepared for tiring days.  Tour guides gave very good history of the areas.  It is a must see.

This was our 1st cruise on Princess.

Plus: We had a balcony room that was very good. The ship was well maintained and we experienced no negative issues.

Minus: Anytime dining and food were good, but not outstanding. Entertainment went from bad to exceptional. Overall it was OK, but not the level that it should have been on a 14 day cruise. Excursions were good to very good. 

We had a great time! Scenery was breath taking...took lots of pictures so we  won't forget the beauty.

The weather was not great, few rainy days and few cold days in the high 40's and 50's. My wife had to buy heavier clothing on board in order to keep warn going on shore for the day.

The favorite part of the cruise was visiting all the countries and viewing the beautiful countryside.  The staff was always very pleasant and went out of their way to make our cruise more enjoyable.  The food was very good and a great selection was provided every day.  Our cabin was kept clean and service was good.  We would have liked a chance to dance in the evening with music for ballroom dancing which I had expected a Princess Cruise to have.

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