Food is always available in mass quantities of varying quality on any cruise. We weren't really as concerned about the ship's food on this particular trip, since we ate many meals in port to sample local cuisine. Still, we definitely ate enough meals on the ship to get a good feel for the available options. The main dining room food was a big notch above average in terms of quality. One night I enjoyed the best rack of lamb of my life. Other recommendations include most pastas, the beef Wellington, baked spinach, and the Neapolitan ice cream dessert. Really, I would love to have dining room food this good on a less port-intensive cruise.
While we generally enjoyed our server team and food in our 8:30 traditional seating, my family commented repeatedly that Princess seems to understaff its dining rooms. Whereas other cruise lines offer a cocktail server/wine steward in addition to wait staff, the Princess setup requires the assistant waiter to disappear into the wine cellar for long periods of time, leaving the main waiter alone and stressed out for much of the meal. As a result, occasionally we had a wait of as much as an hour between appetizers and the main course or a half hour between receiving our dessert and our coffee.
While the formal dining room food was great, the more casual venues definitely disappointed on this trip. I complained about the layout of the casual Horizon Court and Cafe Caribe buffets on my last cruise, as the lack of a defined line going one way results in traffic jams in every direction. This problem was dramatically amplified on the Emerald as so many passengers skipped formal meals in favor of an attempt to grab something quick. Even once we were able to get our food from the buffet, it wasn't very good. I tried flavorless pastas, oddly mushy desserts, and bland omelets before swearing off the buffet altogether.
Mr_chelledun and I took to ordering a breakfast of fruit and bagels from room service each morning in an effort to avoid the whole zoo. We weren't thrilled with the grill food either, which consisted of overcooked hamburgers and hot dogs which had sat too long. The one bright spot for casual dining is the International Cafe and its fresh sandwiches, salads, and cookies.
Entertainment on the Emerald Princess
After receiving amazing entertainment on the Crown Princess this January, mr_chelledun and I were psyched to enjoy some excellent shows and movies during our trip. While the itinerary is port-intensive, a couple of sea days (one unexpected) and a couple of short port times make it so, the on-ship entertainment experience does still matter somewhat. Unfortunately, we were very disappointed with the shows and activities on the Emerald. It seemed that fewer activities were being offered than on a typical cruise, perhaps because a week's worth of events was being spread over a twelve day period. Worse, any time interesting events were made available, they were scheduled in competition with each other.
Several of the comedians we saw were absolutely terrible. One was so bad I walked out of a show for the first time ever on a cruise ship. We aren't easily offended folks or anything, this was just a matter of him being incredibly unfunny. Each Princess ship also advertises at least two different Las Vegas style shows spread throughout the duration of the cruise. This twelve-day trip actually had four. The newest of these production shows, Groovy Shoes, has some potential but also some parts that are just odd, cheesy, or boring.
This show feels like several different music videos have been stuck together, and a few of them seem to be from a much earlier decade. Also, there are only so many songs which can be twisted to be about "shoes" or "feet" without sounding completely stupid. We didn't use Movies Under the Stars, the on-deck, open air theater facility, at all on this trip. This was mainly because many evenings the facility was designated for a child or teen gathering. Very, very little on-deck music was played in the pool area. On our Ephesus port day, everyone had to be back on ship by around 12:30, so the afternoon was for all practical purposes a sea day. Still, the band performed only from 3:45-4:45.
To be fair, there were some entertainment highlights. We enjoyed the production show Motor City, which had a great set of songs performed by talented vocal artists. One very funny comedian had the entire Explorer's Lounge in an uproar with his physical stunts. Princess Pop Star, an American Idol-style competition, is always entertaining. My sister participated this year, which made for a good time for the family. We also had a good time enjoying free cocktails at both the Captain's Welcome Party and the Past Guest party. On the whole, though, entertainment this trip seemed to be lacking.
Page 3 > > More of Emerald Princess Mediterranean Cruise Review > >
