A very short update this time around just to announce that – if the title of this blog post hasn’t given the game away (and, honestly, it really should have so if this next part of the sentence comes as a shock to you then please seek medical advice) – we’ve just got back from our week in the Mediterranean aboard Emerald Princess and we’ve gone ahead and booked another cruise off the back of that.
There will, of course, be a full review of the cruise in due course, and there will, of course, be the regular travelogue diary posts covering what we got up to each day on the cruise. But briefly, because I know you want to know, here are some takeaways from the far too short vacation:
- It was good to see some of the design changes that have been put in place on some of the Princess ships over the last few years. These were mainly around the pool deck area with new decals and decorations with a clean black-and-white feel, some rebranding and expansions of food and drinks locations there (Trident Grill becomes the Salty Dog Grill, for example), and a far better range, arrangement, and look-and-feel to the buffet (no longer Horizon Court; now the World Fresh Marketplace).
- Staff and service were all excellent on this cruise; not a single issue to report (I think). Impressive memories on show from some members of staff when you consider how many people they must see on a rotating basis; a waiter in the Share restaurant in particular remembered our names days later.
- We decided to try to hit all the speciality dining venues for this trip but failed to realise that Planks BBQ and Steamers Seafood work on alternating days and were closed for the last two of the cruise. As a result we didn’t manage Planks so I guess we’ll have to try again at some point. Some pain in that Salty Dog Gastropub, Planks, and Steamers all require booking ahead of time but this isn’t clearly identified. Share by Curtis Stone was the best of the new dining options we tried as the portion sizes were sensible; everything else felt too big (that’s the American market for you) or too full of peppers (that’s the American market for you) which limited appeal. Quantity was too much, quality not quite enough; that’s a balance that needs addressing.
- Met some good people on the cruise. One couple ended up on every excursion we took and in the same group so that was nice.
- Liked our excursions though none of them were spectacular. We did avoid the major cities and tourist destinations in favour of more out-of-the-way trips so that probably accounted for some of that.
That’ll do for now. Again, full review of this Emerald Princess cruise and travel diary details will come over the next couple of months.
We bought a couple of Future Cruise Deposits on the ship as we had none. They’re like free money for Princess. If you don’t use them then you get them back. If you do use them then you get additional credit onboard depending on the length of the cruise.
Now, we’d had our eye on a cruise before we left and there was a promotion running where if we booked before the 3rd September we’d get additional credit again. In addition, if you book onboard then you get additional credit on top of that too. That’s a lot of credit! Great! Not so fast.
We knew how much the cruise cost because we’d looked ahead of travelling. However, on the ship the price of the cruise was coming out at a ridiculous figure (yes, we converted dollars to pounds). What should have been £2000ish each appeared as around £3500 each onboard. Ultimately, we declined that because we’re not idiots. Whether that was a glitch on the main Princess site or some issue with the ship’s internet connection thinking we were in Mykonos all the time (a pain of the MedallionNet service) I can’t say.
Back home we checked the Princess site again and the price was what we expected. Looking at other cruises it looks like the price for a 21-night cruise was appearing for the 14-night cruise we wanted. We’ve gone and booked it now because it’s the cruise we wanted but it does mean that we missed out on the promotional credit and the ship’s credit as a result. Disappointing, would have been nice, not a deal-breaker, and the cruise is something we wanted to do and we wanted to make sure we had the cabin we wanted so we’ll live with it and look out for a sensible Move Over re-pricing deal before we sail if one turns up.
The cruise itself is a trip to Norway for some midnight sun above the Arctic Circle. We’ve not crossed the Arctic Circle before so that’s another experience for the list to check off. It’ll also be on another new ship for us, although an older one in the Princess fleet, the first of the Grand-class ships, Grand Princess herself. Just under two years to wait for that one.
Update July 2020: Ship redeployments following global turmoil in the wake of the pandemic means Grand Princess is now replaced by Regal Princess which is a bit of a downgrade for people who booked a specific cabin with a large balcony to watch the fjords and will now have to stand next to each other on the parcel shelf that Princess deem an improvement.
Still to come on the site: the conclusion of the Star Princess cruise. There’s only the Los Angeles port to conclude there. After that I’ll make a start on writing up about Emerald and see how far I get through that before we hit our next cruise which will see us traverse the Suez Canal and visit Jordan.