Princess Cruises - Emerald Princess Review

The Emerald Princess, is part of the Princess cruise lines Grand-class ships. It is a new ship, debuting in April 2007 and sails the Mediterranean, Caribbean and Trans-Atlantic itineraries. All areas are rated 1-5 stars

Cabins ****

The Emerald Princess offers six basic cabin types ranging from insides to suites. We had an outside room with a balcony. The cabin was well laid out but, still tight for more than 2 people. My feeling is the balcony is worth being crowded in the room, especially for long voyages. The color scheme is a subdued gold/green and since it is a new ship, all new beds and bedding. The bathroom was compact (to say the least) with toiletries from the Spa. One nice thing was the flat-screen television with multiple channel choices.

They have a family suite which is two rooms connected with a living room. Each of the rooms can sleep up to eight people so if you were going with a large group, this would be worth checking out. Remember the price drops for all guest after the first two so this could end up being a great deal!

Dining ****

All Princess ships offer four main dinner dinning choices:

Traditional dinning in the Botticelli Dining Room. If you choose this, you would sit at the same table at the same time every night and have the same wait staff. Anytime dinning in either/both the Michelangelo and Da Vinci Dining Rooms. If you choose this option, you can eat at either/both of these main dinning rooms any time during the dinner hours. They have a decent wine list.

Specialty restaurants are where you can make a reservation for when you want to dine there and then pay a pp cover charge. Sabatini's serves Italian and Crown Grill is more of a steak and seafood place.

Casual dinning is available Horizon Court Buffet, Pizza Bar, Trident Grill or room service.

Personal Viewpoint: I like having multiple dinning choices and so we opted for the Anytime dinning. We ate in both of the restaurants as well as the Crown Grill and found the food to be good in all of them. I am not a buffet fan but thought it was nice the silverware and napkins were pre-placed on the tables.

Entertainment **

I have never felt that ANY cruise ship has entertainment worth booking a cruise for. I usually enjoy the comedians but have stopped going to the production shows a long time ago. Their was a Motown tribute show that we chanced and well, NOBODY should have to watch white people that can't sing or dance well cover the Supremes and Temptations! Princess does have MUTTS (movies under the stars) where you watch movies outside on a giant movie screen - great fun.

Toddlers *** School Age *** Teens ***

The Emerald Princess is one BIG ship - carrying over 3000 passengers but not a lot of kids on our sailing. They have worked hard to provide spaces and activities for all ages. They offer children's program for kids aged 3-17. We only had the twins with us and like most teens, they prefer to just hang out and meet people on their own.

I did visit the kids' areas and the children all seemed to be having fun. We were traveling when most kids were in school so that cut the numbers down. My kids did swim, used the sports courts, the gym and ate a ton of the pizza which was New York style. I am giving it 3 on all ages because normally Princess comes through around 3.5-4 with their kids programs and I am assuming when there are more kids aboard, the Emerald does too.

Adults ***

The casino is a bit larger is than many ships and it does offer a couple of "smoke free" night which makes a HUGE difference! We came out about even over the few times we went. There are multiple places to catch some music, Adagio is a nice out of the way piano bar worth visiting.

The Emerald has  five fresh water swimming pools including a swim-against-the-current lap pool which I loved. There is a nice size gym but with so many passengers, we did have to wait a couple of times for machines. There are a lot of hot tubs around the pool areas as well as a nice steam room and sauna up in the spa.

There are also multiple classes, movies, activities and lectures offered daily. And if you want to spend some money you hit the Spa, get your hair or nails done, pick up so art, have dinner in the kitchen or play bingo. One fun thing was their Nine-hole putting course and golf simulator.

Crew ****

The Emerald's crew is very friendly and hard working. The ship was clean, the waiters quick (trust me, that's important) and our room was made up as soon as we would leave in the morning. All Princess ships take out $10 per person, per day (adults and children) 12) gratuity which is automatically put on your shipboard account. Kid club staff should be tipped separately.

Overall ****

I don't having any major complaints about The Emerald Princess but I don't have anything to really applaud them about either. My two favorite things were the MUTTS and the itinerary. I like the anytime dinning but they have an option to eat at the same time and table with it and isn't that why you'd choose traditional? It ends up blocking certain tables and times slots.

What I don't like is the size. The 3,000 plus passengers make getting on and off at the Ports, eating at the Buffet and Grills, finding a chair by the pool etc. a big pain! That being said, we had a great time and loved the Ports.