Emerald Princess Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Good value. Food and entertainment could be improved. Lots of dancing options. Evening entertainment was limited. Wish they had newer movies. Inconvenient port design in Malta, made us walk unnecessarily.

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.

The ship was wonderful (steady as a rock) and the staff took good care of us, especially the cabin steward who was a jewel. The food was excellent in both the dining room and buffet. The ports of call were O.K. Had we anticipated the heat better, we would have booked this cruise in the Spring or Fall. Our bad. What we found disconcerting was the attitude of Princess, availing itself of every opportunity to separate us from our last euro. Very grasping. Indicator: their daily shipboard newsletter focused on port sites that were available on their tours, ignoring some wonderful sites (Naples Architectural Museum, etc.) that they offered no tours too and the countless bombarding of X % off this and that. It was easy to ignore but we were surrounded by it. Tours were not worth the money. Additionally, the cruises. com agent that booked our tour, Chris H., was very professional, helpful and thorough (and always accessible for our questions)

As usual the cruise was wonderful.  All of the staff did their best to make a great experience.  Easy to board the boat.  Very fast and efficinet in Barcellona. 

This was a highly enjoyable cruise. We really have nothing to complain about. We took the transfers...which were great...and were pampered from being met at the airport to embarkation and to the cruise itself. The Mediterranean is one of our favorite places to visit and we had a delightful balcony cabin that was conveniently mid ship. The crew did all they could to please us. The ports of call were beautiful and the excursions were well done too. We found the food fine so we really did not eat in the specialty dining rooms.  We will have to try that next time. Princess took good care of us. All -in -all it was a fine week that went by too fast.

The last day of the cruise, they want you out by 10:30 (everyone) not a real day to do any thing. Loud noises started at 5:30 in the morning. The artists were good but the overall show to limited.

I have been on 28 cruises and this by far has been the most enjoyable. The ports of call and the excursions were the best and the pricing was also in line. I found that the staff with very pleasant, kind and always ready to help and serve in a timely manner.  I can not say enough regarding our waiter Francisco Nido and Jr. waiter Mark Malimas.  I always felt like I was in a 5 star restaurant with all the attention and service we received.  Last but not least the head waiter manager Silviu has been most gracious and accommodating in the Botticelli Dining Room where we dined very night.  Thank You Annette Smith and Teofilo Useche.    

We liked practically everything about the cruise. The ports and tours were great as was the ship, pool, dining, and staff. It was 1 of the best cruises we have been on. My only complaint is that Internet access was expensive and it should be free.

This cruise turned out to be four seven day bined. Menus were the same every day of the week. Special entertainment was very good. The production shows were the same as was the movies under the stars.

This was such an easy and pleasant way to travel from the United States to Europe. I loved the many ship days to relax before reaching the ports.

The only port I didn't enjoy was Rome. It took much longer than Princess advertised to get from Civitavecchia to Rome and therefore there was not much time to see Rome. I thought the price of the Princess train to Rome was a bit steep at $99.00 a  person especially since the round trip price on the train was 12.00 a person.

The buffet on princess is poor when compared to the buffet on Royal Caribbean. Princess theatre productions are not in any way comparable to Royal Caribbean theatre productions.  We stopped going to the shows on this cruise, since the shows we attended  were such a disappointment.

We did enjoy the outdoor movies. The international café was good and the food in the dining room was okay. Princess seems to have only one sugarless dessert available each day and I thought they could do better than this.

All in all it was still a good cruise and I would use Princess again, but not if Royal Caribbean were going to the same ports at a comparable price.

Maybe it was the time of year, maybe not, but the majority of the ship was filled with 65 plus seniors.  The upside for us it was very quiet.  The downside was we felt the entertainment was also geared toward an older crowd.  Beautiful ship, wonderful service.  Food was average.  

We really enjoy Princess cruises and this is our second time on the Emerald Princess.  We were on the Aloha deck, inside cabin.  We had a really good cabin steward, enjoyed room service for coffee each morning, and the food and dining service was all very professional.

We have been on 13 cruises and seem to enjoy Princess best.  We would love to see more land and sea experiences offered for a new experience where we could explore the ports a bit longer.

The ship was perfect, excellent food, cozy room, easy to find quiet spots, places to walk on deck, not crowded, as much or as little activity as you want, very nice people of all ages, from many different countries, great staff, and everything spotless. It was worth trying something new on our 10th anniversary, and blew away a bunch of preconceptions about cruises. Do your homework and you will be rewarded. I caught myself peeking at the Alaska, Denali cruise when we got home.

The Emerald Princess was very much understaffed for this cruise.  Princess has to learn about "knowing your audience" for instance only 12 kids on the cruise and all the movies that played during the day at the pool with all adults were kids movies.  There were also no movies being played while at port and there had to be 100+ people at the pool.  Also there was crew members overseeing the kids in the pools and the parents just leave them off...from jumping and diving and taking over the whole pool, there were several guests that yelled at the kids and still nothing was done.  Then there was the Private Zumba class that closed down the adult pool from 10-11 am....during high peek time for six people to attend the class.  This class should have been done at 7-8 am or 8-9 am...once again not knowing your audience.  Being understaffed showed at formal night at Crooners bar there was only one bartender on and the place was packed.  Also there was only one person serving food at the burger/hot dog area.  The food I would say was "marginal", the room service lunch was terrible and lunch in the horizon was also not that great.  If you wanted to have a nice lunch or dinner you would have to go to the dinning room.  I really believe that when Princess comes out with "new ships", the service on the other ships go right down hill. Also, since when has "casual smart" in the dinning room become shorts with tee shirts, ripped jeans.  Other ships have guidelines on dressing for dinner, but on the Emerald Princess the guests got to wear what ever they wanted.  IT WAS A DISGRACE.... I am a Platinum member on the Princess and would have to think twice before sailing on this cruise line again

This was an excellent vacation for my wife and I.  Princess does an excellent job taking care of it's passengers.  Great destinations and fun excursions.  Entertainment was top notch as well.

We had a great trip from beginning to end! The cruise was our first. We had a great time and enjoyed every minute of it.  We can't wait to book our next trip.

If you are a smoker pass on Princess. There are only 3 very small smoking areas on deck and 1 night club with a very small smoking area. The food was ok but not very tasty. The DJ's in the club with the smoking area don't know how to read the crowd and are in love with techno crap. Will NOT use Princess again.

Of 15 cruises my wife and I have taken, this was probably the finest (and our first on Princess).  Princess was extremely well organized from start (security/checking in) to finish (departing), in every aspect of the trip.  The wait personnel in the Horizon Court Buffet were especially efficient, to include Claudia (from Peru) - always available to offer drinks or to offer assistance.  The food was outstanding, and the daily themes (Mexican, Italian, etc) were especially appealing, topped off by delicious desserts.  I would offer one recommendation for consideration:  Napkins with silverware enclosed are placed at each table seat throughout the day.  Several times I noticed that the napkins on our table had already been used, folded and left on the table without silverware; several times I felt that the silverware on the table may have been used previously and left there.  One possible way around this potential problem would be to provide the napkin and silverware when the customer sits down.

I was very disappointed with the Emerald Princess.  I was told by others that this cruise line was the best one and I have to say that Carnival was much better in several aspects.  The Carnival had several different food choices where the Princess had three cafes and all of them were serving the same meal.  The majority of the meals were made with curry which I am not a fan of.  They had basically the same meals everyday.  The evening shows were a big disappointment except for the Comedian.  The Carnival shows were bigger and better almost like Broadway shows where the Princess shows were more like high school musicals, plus they were only 45 mins long.  The Princess had movies under the stars but they started them at 7 p.m. during the dinner time dining instead showing them after the last dinner time maybe 9:30 p.m. would be much better.  The café staff was slow in waiting on you for drinks and silverware.  All in all I was very disappointed with the Princess.

A wonderful and relaxing week! The weather was perfect, the seas were calm and the ship catered to my every whim. Cruise staff were very friendly and always willing to help if needed. Destinations were lovely and offered numerous things to do.