Have taken cruises on DCL with family, friends and solo. Loved all of them; particularly the cruises with the young grandkids. However, with trepidation I shifted to Princess as a friend suddenly wanted to take a first cruise with me, but only wanted to go in September and to the Med, so DCL did not have the required itinerary. We sailed the Emerald Princess.
I described this trip to her as a wonderful way of seeing places that we had never been to, but to think of it as a cruise just getting us from a to b. That turned out to be totally untrue.
So pre and post cruise. I preferred the Princess website, and the boarding procedure blew me away. We got to the port near Rome around 10.30am and were onboard with no lines by 11am! As soon as we boarded the room was ready. Post cruise was incredible. You book a departure slot by no later than midday the day before and you are given a comfortable location to wait in until this location reaches its departure time. There is cooled water which you can help yourself to. Now I stress that I'm a Princess novice so I have no idea whether that is standard procedure but it was smooth and comfortable. No massive groups hanging around or lining up waiting to hear whether it's your turn or not. The ship was full so it certainly wasn't because there weren't many people.
There were numerous pools and some quiet ones. There was more than adequate seating, and enough shade. If you have young children there did not appear to be any lifeguards. The food around the pool looked varied although I only sampled a burger a couple of times. They were amazing and I would definitely rate them higher than DCL as each burger was freshly cooked and piping hot. There is a spa and outside quiet area with even more comfortable seating but that has a small upcharge. It was totally worth it. You receive scones, jam and cream and beautiful sandwiches with great coffee.
Drinks packages must be purchased. There is one that includes coffee, bottled water and alcohol. another that is just soft drinks and another which is coffee. The alcoholic drinks around the pool were not that great, but in some of the bars they were amazing. Beautiful cocktails in speciality glasses or pleasing wines. We had the drinks package but I wouldn't do so again. On days one and two I enjoyed the variety of drinks and locations but by day three onwards I was mostly drinking sparkling water and a glass of wine with dinner as that was enough. It was a novelty to begin with but didn't last long.
Main dining was on a par with DCL and we enjoyed the anytime option. Twice we chose to share and were put on tables of six and eight and never stopped laughing the entire time. It was absolutely great fun. It was nice to have options. Speciality dining was somewhat sad. I loved the menus and the food, but goodness the service was a real let down. Palo wins here by miles! It was obvious that these places were vastly understaffed and so the whole events became anything other than relaxing as I watched our server literally running around the dining room in an effort to keep on top of things. The upcharge was $30 and one night I paid $40 to have lobster and steak. The lobster was cold on arrival because again it sat on the pass for ages as there was no one to bring it. I sent it back and they cooked a fresh one but just reheated my steak which had one tiny bite out of it, so i asked for a completely fresh meal ,which was provided with great apologies. It's a shame though to have to do that. The dining room manager said that he had been given an order to release some of his staff as there was an event around the pool which was getting backed up? Think there must be a staffing issue right now. The buffet area was fine with a good selection of food, but not as good as DCL maybe but the food was much much hotter, and I loved that. There was also a nice area to get salads, snacks and breakfast muffins, granola etc and this was never crowded. The opening times of the eating places was fantastic. Much longer than DCL. We didn't sample room service.
The entertainment was extremely varied and there were many options right up until past midnight, which being a night owl I loved. There was a string quartet, pianists, singers, comedians, ,magicians, the usual quiz and trivia competitions and the equivalent of Match Your Mate. Entertainers were everywhere. The main theatre shows were nowhere near the standard of DCL, but I loved the variety and longer hours.
I didn't sample the casino as I don't gamble. The shops were on a par DCL and Princess. I didn't see any movies. I saw no drunk people whatsoever, nor any rudeness. The staff were super friendly and the service everywhere couldn't be faulted. I would say that the dress code was stricter than Disney's and I adored formal nights, which really were dressy and formal not just in name only. However, my enjoyment of adhering to a dress code might be someone else's nightmare. The standard of photos was higher than my experience of shutters. Maybe I was just lucky. The ship was sparkling clean everywhere.
Our excursions through Princess were fine and well organised. We had to pay on reserving them online unlike DCL. The future cruise desk was useless! I went there several times at the designated times only to find no one there or the person that was there was in an office and didn't even look up. There was a bank of future cruise computers that you could use but they didn't seem to work as the wifi was too weak as was verified by the person in the office when I just gave up and walked in to speak to him.
Finally our room. It was beautiful. Very clean, nice bathroom. The veranda had adequate seating, although I didn't bother to sit out there as I never do. Very good stateroom host and the usual chocolates each evening. I'm pretty sure that there were no towel animals though. Now to price, I'm afraid that I can't compare this trip with DCL as it simply isn't offered. My recollection is that for seven nights, embarking in Rome with stops at The Amalfi Coast, Kotor Montenegro, Chania (Crete). Corfu and MIkanos then debarking in Athens we paid around $3500. Of course this is September though.
Will I sail with Princess again? Absolutely! I'm totally in love with their interesting future itineraries too from Vietnam to Australia, New Zealand, South America and all places in between. I never once felt price gouged and I'm pretty certain that I paid a fraction of what this cruise would be on offer for with DCL. So going forwards I will only sail DCL with my little ones as you cannot beat that experience and I will sail DCL if the fancy takes me, but I've stepped outside my comfort zone and thoroughly enjoyed it. Princess I will be back!
I described this trip to her as a wonderful way of seeing places that we had never been to, but to think of it as a cruise just getting us from a to b. That turned out to be totally untrue.
So pre and post cruise. I preferred the Princess website, and the boarding procedure blew me away. We got to the port near Rome around 10.30am and were onboard with no lines by 11am! As soon as we boarded the room was ready. Post cruise was incredible. You book a departure slot by no later than midday the day before and you are given a comfortable location to wait in until this location reaches its departure time. There is cooled water which you can help yourself to. Now I stress that I'm a Princess novice so I have no idea whether that is standard procedure but it was smooth and comfortable. No massive groups hanging around or lining up waiting to hear whether it's your turn or not. The ship was full so it certainly wasn't because there weren't many people.
There were numerous pools and some quiet ones. There was more than adequate seating, and enough shade. If you have young children there did not appear to be any lifeguards. The food around the pool looked varied although I only sampled a burger a couple of times. They were amazing and I would definitely rate them higher than DCL as each burger was freshly cooked and piping hot. There is a spa and outside quiet area with even more comfortable seating but that has a small upcharge. It was totally worth it. You receive scones, jam and cream and beautiful sandwiches with great coffee.
Drinks packages must be purchased. There is one that includes coffee, bottled water and alcohol. another that is just soft drinks and another which is coffee. The alcoholic drinks around the pool were not that great, but in some of the bars they were amazing. Beautiful cocktails in speciality glasses or pleasing wines. We had the drinks package but I wouldn't do so again. On days one and two I enjoyed the variety of drinks and locations but by day three onwards I was mostly drinking sparkling water and a glass of wine with dinner as that was enough. It was a novelty to begin with but didn't last long.
Main dining was on a par with DCL and we enjoyed the anytime option. Twice we chose to share and were put on tables of six and eight and never stopped laughing the entire time. It was absolutely great fun. It was nice to have options. Speciality dining was somewhat sad. I loved the menus and the food, but goodness the service was a real let down. Palo wins here by miles! It was obvious that these places were vastly understaffed and so the whole events became anything other than relaxing as I watched our server literally running around the dining room in an effort to keep on top of things. The upcharge was $30 and one night I paid $40 to have lobster and steak. The lobster was cold on arrival because again it sat on the pass for ages as there was no one to bring it. I sent it back and they cooked a fresh one but just reheated my steak which had one tiny bite out of it, so i asked for a completely fresh meal ,which was provided with great apologies. It's a shame though to have to do that. The dining room manager said that he had been given an order to release some of his staff as there was an event around the pool which was getting backed up? Think there must be a staffing issue right now. The buffet area was fine with a good selection of food, but not as good as DCL maybe but the food was much much hotter, and I loved that. There was also a nice area to get salads, snacks and breakfast muffins, granola etc and this was never crowded. The opening times of the eating places was fantastic. Much longer than DCL. We didn't sample room service.
The entertainment was extremely varied and there were many options right up until past midnight, which being a night owl I loved. There was a string quartet, pianists, singers, comedians, ,magicians, the usual quiz and trivia competitions and the equivalent of Match Your Mate. Entertainers were everywhere. The main theatre shows were nowhere near the standard of DCL, but I loved the variety and longer hours.
I didn't sample the casino as I don't gamble. The shops were on a par DCL and Princess. I didn't see any movies. I saw no drunk people whatsoever, nor any rudeness. The staff were super friendly and the service everywhere couldn't be faulted. I would say that the dress code was stricter than Disney's and I adored formal nights, which really were dressy and formal not just in name only. However, my enjoyment of adhering to a dress code might be someone else's nightmare. The standard of photos was higher than my experience of shutters. Maybe I was just lucky. The ship was sparkling clean everywhere.
Our excursions through Princess were fine and well organised. We had to pay on reserving them online unlike DCL. The future cruise desk was useless! I went there several times at the designated times only to find no one there or the person that was there was in an office and didn't even look up. There was a bank of future cruise computers that you could use but they didn't seem to work as the wifi was too weak as was verified by the person in the office when I just gave up and walked in to speak to him.
Finally our room. It was beautiful. Very clean, nice bathroom. The veranda had adequate seating, although I didn't bother to sit out there as I never do. Very good stateroom host and the usual chocolates each evening. I'm pretty sure that there were no towel animals though. Now to price, I'm afraid that I can't compare this trip with DCL as it simply isn't offered. My recollection is that for seven nights, embarking in Rome with stops at The Amalfi Coast, Kotor Montenegro, Chania (Crete). Corfu and MIkanos then debarking in Athens we paid around $3500. Of course this is September though.
Will I sail with Princess again? Absolutely! I'm totally in love with their interesting future itineraries too from Vietnam to Australia, New Zealand, South America and all places in between. I never once felt price gouged and I'm pretty certain that I paid a fraction of what this cruise would be on offer for with DCL. So going forwards I will only sail DCL with my little ones as you cannot beat that experience and I will sail DCL if the fancy takes me, but I've stepped outside my comfort zone and thoroughly enjoyed it. Princess I will be back!
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