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Review: Emerald Princess 15-day Ocean-to-Ocean Panama Canal Holiday Cruise

By DojoMojo , January 10, 2020 in Princess Cruises

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Over the holidays, we went on a 15-day Panama Canal Transit from Ft Lauderdale to Los Angeles, on Emerald Princess.  The cruise was fantastic – and rather than a detailed chronological review, I wanted to share our highlights and lowlights.  For context, we have two kids (<10 years), and this was our fourth Christmas cruise on Princess.  We’ve previously been on Holiday cruises on Regal, Star and Caribbean Princess.  We’ve previously also been on Carnival, NCL and Celebrity cruises, but Princess has been our default cruise line for the past few years.

Sorry this post is long! 

Highlights There were many things we enjoyed about this cruise, but to call out a few:

• Ports and Itinerary – we enjoyed all of the ports on this itinerary.  In Cartagena, we went to the old city and then the bird sanctuary right where the boat docks.  In Puerto Amador, we went on the Embera Indian village visit – very enjoyable.  In Puntarenas, we went on the rainforest aerial tram, butterfly garden and sloth sanctuary tour – a big hit with the kids.  In the other ports (San Juan del Sur, Huatulco, and Puerto Vallarta) we mostly just went to the beaches and/or short city walks – each with its own flavor.  One other thing we enjoyed in this itinerary was the mix of sea days and port days … it was good to enjoy a relaxing sea day after every one or two port days.
• Panama Canal – naturally, this was a highlight of the cruise, and it was amazing to see this wonder.  The ship went through the new (Agua Clara and Cocoli) locks.  We alternated between viewing areas on multiple decks (16, 15, 8, 7) over the course of the transit.  They had commentary on the open decks and in the buffet area throughout the course of the day – giving interesting facts as well as calling out points of interest as we passed them.  I hadn’t realized it ahead of time, but the transit was a full-day affair … we approached the Atlantic locks around 6 AM, and by the time we were in the Pacific it was past 6 PM.  The decks were really crowded early in the morning as we approached the locks, but the crowds thinned during the day (especially when it drizzled a little).  It was still crowded, just not as much.  They had ship photographers on land taking photos of passengers as we transited the locks.  Some folks had made posters they held up while being photographed.  I had read “The Path Between the Seas” before the cruise – I highly recommend that book to more deeply understand the magnitude of what the Panama Canal builders achieved!
• Crew – As always, the ship crew were amazing.  They were very friendly and made the cruise memorable for us (especially the kids).  I particularly appreciated the waiters in WFM and at Tea Time who’d come talk to the kids every day, the servers at International Café, the ship photographers who worked hard to get smiles, and the room stewards (who even made towel animals on a couple of days!), Aaron (CD), Sophie (Assistant CD) and the entertainment staff, the cleaning staff around the ship … in short, pretty much everyone.  All with pleasant smiles on their faces!  The crew on every cruise we’ve been on have worked hard to make it fun for us, and this was no exception.  And as usual we spent the final morning filling out a thick stack of “Moments that Matter” feedback cards.
• Santa – This was a holiday cruise, and Santa came to the Piazza to hand out gifts to the little kids.  This is such a fun tradition on Princess.  (The captain or bridge officer of the watch usually makes announcements 5-10 minutes earlier saying they have spotted an unidentified flying object or boat, and as it gets closer they announce it’s a sled, they see reindeer … and then that Santa has landed on the ship and coming down to the Piazza … and then finally Santa walks down to the Piazza, preceded by the band playing “Santa Claus is coming to town”.  Santa sits in the Piazza, and there’s a long line of kids who go to Santa one a time to get a gift and pose for photos).  It’s such fun event for the kids.  One thing we liked on this cruise was that since the ship was going to be in port on Christmas day, they had Santa come the previous evening.  On previous cruises, Santa came during the day on Christmas day even when the ship was in port … which meant we had to cut short our port trip that day to be there for Santa’s visit.
• Duck Hunt! – I have to thank our fellow CC members for this.  Our kids found a few hidden toy ducks over the course of the cruise, and it was really fun for them.  The best part for me was that they never complained about waiting in any lines on this cruise no matter how long it took – they happily used that as opportunities to go duck hunting while we stood in line!  It was the first time I had even heard of the hidden ducks … thank you CC members!  Also thank you to the Santa’s helpers who left fun little things in the stockings outside our door.  

There were many other “standard” things we enjoyed about the cruise, such as the International Café, kids club, tea time, “British Pub Lunch” day, the Wake Show write-ins, music and football games on MUTS, daily sudoku/crosswords, and so on … too numerous to call out in detail, but all of them together helped make it a great vacation.

Lowlights Of course, not everything was perfect, and there were a few things we didn’t enjoy as much:

• Flooded Stateroom - we woke up at 4 AM on day 3 of our cruise to wet, soggy carpets across the whole cabin!  Apparently one of the pipes in the bathroom started leaking overnight, and overflowed to the room.  Everything on the floor (suitcases, bags, formal shoes, backpacks ... including stuff inside the backpacks) was wet.  Princess laundered and sanitized the stuff, but we ended up having to throw away a bunch of things.  They also sent some folks with vacuums to mop up the carpets, and had large fans in the room all day to dry it out (making the room inaccessible to us).  Despite this, the room had a very musty odor, and Princess finally offered an alternate room late that night (~10 PM ... well past the kids' bed times).  Even then there were disconnects between guest services and the hotel staff about the move.  It was a disappointing day overall, and we had to deal with some ongoing issues for the next several days.  But, you know, stuff happens, and I kept reminding myself that even a disappointing day on a cruise is better than a full day at work!  We moved on from it and still had a fun vacation overall.  Princess did give some OBC, and a couple of free onboard services to help with the inconvenience. 
• Ship Age - The ship seemed generally well maintained, and had new carpets, mattresses and so on after the April dry dock.  But there were a few minor incidents over the course of the cruise where I think the age showed.  On embarkation day, there was water dripping from the ceiling in Lido WFM buffet area.  On day 3, our room flooded due to leaky pipes as noted above.  Later in the cruise, someone was complaining about their bathroom getting flooded that afternoon due to leaky pipes.  In one of the tendering ports, we were delayed by an hour due to “technical issues” with the ship tenders.  One evening, the entire ship lost power!  The engines shut down (so did the room lights and TV, most deck lights, MUTS, hot tubs, etc), and only emergency lighting was on.  It was fully restored in 15 min – the captain came on air three times to reassure us that though we were drifting, we were in navigationally safe waters with no other traffic.  On a different day, one of the production shows was cancelled as the stage lift equipment stopped working – it was rescheduled to the following day.  Again, none of these were big in and of themselves … but I’ve never run into any of the above on other Princess ships I’ve been on.  These could’ve been isolated incidents – so if you’re booked on Emerald, know that it’s still a great ship that I’d happily go back on! 
• Food – This is of course subjective, but overall we were not impressed with the food choices, compared to other Princess cruises we’ve been on.  I have to note that we only go to WFM – so the MDR food might have been good.  Particularly if you’re vegetarian, there were not many choices on several of the days in WFM.  I think I still did put on a couple of pounds on the cruise though … so the hot dogs, pizzas, ice-cream and desserts were clearly not all that bad 😉
• Entertainment – This is also very subjective, but we were not impressed with the entertainment assortment on this cruise.  On other cruises, we’ve seen more variety (more comedians, acrobats, magicians, and other “kid-friendly” shows), compared to this cruise where it was mostly singers and vocalists other than the production shows.  The performers were good, but we’d have enjoyed more variety.  Also, they hardly had any performances in the Piazza … the Panama brochure said there’d be some “Panama carnival” festival in the Piazza to highlight local flavors – we didn’t have that on this cruise (unless I missed it).  Some of the organized events (in particular the Stargazing Event) were complete flops.

Overall we feel happy and very fortunate that we got to go on a great cruise, enjoy quality time as a family and see the marvel that’s Panama Canal.  

Thanks for reading and let me know if you have any questions!

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Colo Cruiser

Thanks for your review.

Wow sounds like the Emerald is rated right down there with the Grand with all those leaks.

1 hour ago, DojoMojo said: Aaron (CD), Sophie (Assistant CD)

Can you give the full names of those two? The CD listing here still has Kaylee Lloyd as CD. Glad to hear that has changed. Especially glad to see the Assistant CD has changed. The last one (Scottish Ken) was horrible.

snoozecrooze

Thanks for the amazing review! It was a great read! I also concur about Emerald having some leaking issues, as our sink in the bathroom in June was slow to drain and we discovered it magically drained super well one day before we realized the pipe was leaking! Hopefully the issues get resolved as the staterooms were refreshed with this dry dock.

Also, @Thrak , the new cruise director is Aaron Hawkins and I believe Sophie's last name is Gideon. Planning to update the list soon!

BoughtMyPoints

I was on the same sailing and I absolutely concur with your analysis. Having just finished a cruise on the Regal,  the downgrading of food items was shocking.  Eggs Benedict, French Toast only available on "rotation" now in the MDR.  Overall, looked like they needed a new chef de partie at dinner. Only the great head waiter Giovanni saved it for me. Well, here's a backhanded compliment :  the NY steak in the MDR was a lot better than the Rib Eye in the Crown. Shocking, unannounced cutbacks in the International Cafe on graveyard. The entertainment scheduling was dire.  Only 1 worthy lounge act :  Dwight Blake, only sparingly scheduled. Aaron is best described in his native vernacular as a twat.   He was the proverbial deer in the headlights with the stage lift fiasco.  Then they cancelled the next night's shows to allow 2 sparsely attended re-running of the originally cancelled performance (the later one did take place as scheduled). What's with the virtuoso steel drum player on the ships?   He ain't no substitute for ballroom dancing accompaniment. All said,  I was still loath to disembark after 15 days.  

@Thrak -  @snoozecrooze is correct, the CD was Aaron Hawkins.  He said he had just transferred over from Ruby Princess in Australia, and was jetlagged the first few days.  I'm not sure of Sophie's last name.  Scottish Ken was still onboard as one of the assistant CDs.  We didn't interact much with him other than for one event (Stargazing), that happened to be a complete disaster.  (Though I'm not sure how much of it was his fault, vs just overall poor event planning by whoever was scheduling it.)

Thanks for the review. Do you happen to remember who was playing in Crooners and the name of the full band? Thanks!

Crooners had Dwight Blake. Wheelhouse  had Touch of Class (no energy jazz) Also,  London Calling.  Truly awful.  Handsome guy on cajon with girlfriend singing in monotone, except for "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" that she sang off key. Caribbean party band, Topaz, with far too loud snare. Classical duo, over amplified.  Excellent Ukrainian players but not tea time music.  

47 minutes ago, BoughtMyPoints said: Crooners had Dwight Blake. Wheelhouse  had Touch of Class (no energy jazz) Also,  London Calling.  Truly awful.  Handsome guy on cajon with girlfriend singing in monotone, except for "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" that she sang off key. Caribbean party band, Topaz, with far too loud snare. Classical duo, over amplified.  Excellent Ukrainian players but not tea time music.  

Fantastic!! Thanks for the quick reply.

We will be on her in February and a friend just asked if the balconies have foot rests in addition to the reclining chairs and tables.

I couldn't remember.................

22 hours ago, BoughtMyPoints said: Eggs Benedict, French Toast only available on "rotation" now in the MDR.  Overall, looked like they needed a new chef de partie at dinner. Shocking, unannounced cutbacks in the International Cafe on graveyard. The entertainment scheduling was dire.  Only 1 worthy lounge act :  Dwight Blake, only sparingly scheduled. Aaron is best described in his native vernacular as a twat.   He was the proverbial deer in the headlights with the stage lift fiasco.   All said,  I was still loath to disembark after 15 days.  

We were on this same sailing. I agree with many of your points.

The selection of ports was very nice. We generally do not take excursions through the cruise line but made an exception this time. We were quite impressed with the "Panama Canal & Locks Transit By Boat" in Panama City and the "Discovery Family Las Caletas Private Beach Getaway" in Puerto Vallarta 

We found the meals in the MDR at dinner to be quite good. Other times it was really hit or miss. Princess serves an excellent French Toast at lunch time in the MDR and they refer to it as a "brunch" item. Too bad you cannot get this during breakfast hours. The breakfasts were generally poor in the MDR and served at a temperature that was somewhere between room temperature and lukewarm in the buffet. 

As for the International Cafe, cutbacks and changes have really ruined this. At any given time, about half of the available desserts are either gluten-free or sugar-free. Princess' attempt to placate a small minority with dietary restrictions has left those of us who want "real" desserts with few (and poor) choices. The same holds true in the buffet.

Aaron (CD) is NOT ready for Prime Time. He is amateurish, not funny and clearly out of his league. On a positive note, Alex, an assistant CD from Serbia, was great and will hopefully have a ship of his own soon.  

This cruise had the worst entertainment we have ever encountered on a cruise ship. The ship's own performers were the worst . The juggler/magician wasn't worthy of a 6-year old's birthday party. The few bright entertainment spots were Dwight Blake, an excellent violinist named David Klinkenberg and a singer/impressionist named Trish Kelly. There was a good comedian onboard as well. His name is Ken Boyd. He was never the main entertainer but did provide a couple good shows in one of the smaller venues on the ship. He would have been a lot funnier had he not been hamstrung by Princess' rules on acceptable language.

There was a gentleman named Chris Roberts who was the ship's "Destination Expert". He gave talks about the canal and many of our upcoming ports. He was funny and very entertaining. Pretty sad when a port lecturer provides some of the best entertainment on a ship. 

I know this has been covered in other threads but the Platinum/Elite happy hour held daily in Skywalkers offers an extremely poor selection of drinks at happy hour prices. The have cobbled together a menu of 6 or 8 drinks that you will find nowhere else (thankfully). Very odd concoctions consisting of unappetizing combinations of alcohol on mixers. 

Over the past 4 or 5 years Princess has gone from our preferred cruise line to 4th place. We spoke with many Elite passengers and the consensus was unanimously that Princess is headed in the wrong direction. We did purchase a couple more Future Cruise Certificates but have serious doubts about using them before they expire.

As stated by @BoughtMyPoints, "All said,  I was still loath to disembark after 15 days."

4 hours ago, chamima said: We will be on her in February and a friend just asked if the balconies have foot rests in addition to the reclining chairs and tables. I couldn't remember.................

Yes, on Caribe and Dolphin, there were footrests.  Not on Baja, where I was, and I assume not on Aloha or Riviera or Lido, either.

Proving that entertainment is as subjective as food, I completely disagree about Dwight Blake:  I did not care for him that much, but he was head-and-shoulders better than the terrible Scottish guy on the CB last summer.  And I enjoyed the string performers (LADO, I think they were called).    I thought the entertainment on the first half of the cruise was markedly better.  In Costa Rica, the solo acts switched, and while the comedian Ken Boyd was a plus, the remainder of the cruise had pretty sad entertainment and a dearth of true production shows.  Jugglers and magicians are not and never should be considered worthy entertainment for the main theatre, in my anything-but-humble opinion.   Still, I didn't leap off and swim home, so clearly nothing was that bad  . . .

Thank you for the review! We'll be on this sailing just in the other direction at the end of February. 🙂 I know y'all were on over Christmas, but how many families were on board for this sail? We'll have our kids with us too. What things did yours enjoy most when onboard for sea days?

I'm so sorry about your flooded stateroom! That sounds miserable.

Again thanks for all this great info!

For those of you on this sailing - did you receive the late embarkation notice (1:30 because of immigration ) that everyone sailing on future Emerald sailings seems to be getting?

And, if so, what time did embarkation really begin?

Also, was disembarkation delayed as they seem to also indicate?

4 hours ago, travkesa said: Thank you for the review! We'll be on this sailing just in the other direction at the end of February. 🙂 I know y'all were on over Christmas, but how many families were on board for this sail? We'll have our kids with us too. What things did yours enjoy most when onboard for sea days?   I'm so sorry about your flooded stateroom! That sounds miserable.   Again thanks for all this great info!

As it was a holiday sailing, there was a huge contingent of well heeled cruisers from Mexico City who tend to keep to themselves even though multi lingual. (Saving a slot) This would also explain Dwight Blake's multi cultural -  soul to salsa - musical sets. Of course, there are also smaller family units on board. Our family (father and son) enjoyed room service the most on sea days, choosing to hide in our cabin.  Pater might venture out for afternoon tea.

8 hours ago, travkesa said: Thank you for the review! We'll be on this sailing just in the other direction at the end of February. 🙂 I know y'all were on over Christmas, but how many families were on board for this sail? We'll have our kids with us too. What things did yours enjoy most when onboard for sea days?   I'm so sorry about your flooded stateroom! That sounds miserable.   Again thanks for all this great info!

On the holiday sailing, they said there were 345 kids (out of ~3100 passengers).  I’m assuming that number will be lower on your cruise.  In no particular order, our kids enjoyed the following on the sea days:

• Sports Deck activities – Deck 19 aft.  They enjoyed the golf, croquet, bocci ball and basketball on several days.  There were generally always other kids there when we went, but it was not too crowded and we didn’t have to wait long to get a turn.  We had a great weather though sometimes it was pretty windy up there (which added to the kids’ enjoyment).
• Camp Discovery – Deck 18, the kids club.  There were organized activities on the sea days (solar system/planet modelling with clay, ping pong and fooseball tournaments and so on) which were a hit.  There were 15-20 kids in camp on most sea days, so at other times that they just hung out and/or played games in smaller groups.
• Crafts – There were a few craft arts-and-crafts activities even outside of camp discovery (check the patter), that were suitable for the entire family.  On our sailing these got full relatively quickly, so you had to show up early.
• Wake-Show Write-ins – This may sound a little silly, but they really enjoyed sending in jokes to the Wake Show (there’s a box in the library, Deck 7 fwd) and having those (and their names!) read out on TV by the cruise director.  They even won a wake show drawing prize one day … it was a Princess coaster.  
• Family Fun-Fair – This happens on one of the sea days in the Piazza – they have a few activities like face painting, and a few games like bean bag toss.  There are small prizes for each game you master.  This can be fun, but it was a little crowded on our sailing.
• Pizzas, Fries, Ice-creams and Screen Time – We tend to limit screen time and food like pizzas and ice-creams on land, but are much more generous about these on cruises.  So the kids had a blast having ice-creams, jellos, pizzas, fries and so on every day.  And watching more movies than they usually get to.  The in-room TV had a selection of family movies, and also interesting documentaries and animal channel/science TV shows.
• Swimming Pool and Open Decks – There were a couple of days towards the end where it was a little colder and the ship rocked a little more, but otherwise the weather was great for pool and deck.  In addition to the pool, they also enjoyed lounging on the deck chairs and reading books they had got along.  There were a couple of kid’s books in the ship library, but I wouldn’t depend on it.
• Interacting with Crew, Santa Visit and Duck hunts – as mentioned in my original post.
• Cooking Show – on the final sea day, the Executive Chef and Maitre d’ put on a cooking/comedy show, followed by a tour of one of the galleys.  This has been a standard on all the Princess cruises we’ve been on, and is usually fun.
• Not Doing Homework – enough said.

Couple of other notes:

We went to the "Breakfast with Stanley" activity, but were not impressed with that.  It's just an MDR breakfast (with special bear-shaped pancakes for the kids), and Stanley comes to visit for a few min and poses for photos at each table.  We didn't feel it was worth it.

We got the unlimited photo package ($299 onboard and $249 pre-cruise).  It may be a little pricey but we felt it was worth it for us as it was a long cruise, and they had some formal or informal backgrounds setup almost every evening - and it was great to have photos as a family.  They had photographers roaming around the ship for special events (and the canal transit as I noted previously) - any photos from that was also included.  We ended up with a thick stack of photos from the cruise.

Hope you all have a great time!  

6 hours ago, chamima said: For those of you on this sailing - did you receive the late embarkation notice (1:30 because of immigration ) that everyone sailing on future Emerald sailings seems to be getting? And, if so, what time did embarkation really begin? Also, was disembarkation delayed as they seem to also indicate? Thanks!

We didn't receive the late embarkation notice for FLL, but embarkation was slow.  I'm not sure when embarkation began in the morning (maybe someone else that arrived earlier can chime in), but embarkation was slow and backed up when we showed up at around 1PM.  I think we waited around 30 mins or so in the lounge after getting our cruise cards.  

Unrelated, the ship also left port a couple of hours late that day, as they were loading supplies well into the evening.

Disembarkation in Long Beach was also delayed - they announced that this was due to unexpectedly long immigration times.  At around 10 AM, they were running an hour or so behind the times posted in the patter for the luggage tags, and all the disembarkation lounges were full.  They made announcements that passengers should wait in other lounges till further notice.  I'm not sure when it caught up, as they were still behind when we finally disembarked close to 11 AM.  

14 hours ago, DojoMojo said:   On the holiday sailing, they said there were 345 kids (out of ~3100 passengers).  I’m assuming that number will be lower on your cruise.  In no particular order, our kids enjoyed the following on the sea days:   Sports Deck activities – Deck 19 aft.  They enjoyed the golf, croquet, bocci ball and basketball on several days.  There were generally always other kids there when we went, but it was not too crowded and we didn’t have to wait long to get a turn.  We had a great weather though sometimes it was pretty windy up there (which added to the kids’ enjoyment). Camp Discovery – Deck 18, the kids club.  There were organized activities on the sea days (solar system/planet modelling with clay, ping pong and fooseball tournaments and so on) which were a hit.  There were 15-20 kids in camp on most sea days, so at other times that they just hung out and/or played games in smaller groups. Crafts – There were a few craft arts-and-crafts activities even outside of camp discovery (check the patter), that were suitable for the entire family.  On our sailing these got full relatively quickly, so you had to show up early. Wake-Show Write-ins – This may sound a little silly, but they really enjoyed sending in jokes to the Wake Show (there’s a box in the library, Deck 7 fwd) and having those (and their names!) read out on TV by the cruise director.  They even won a wake show drawing prize one day … it was a Princess coaster.   Family Fun-Fair – This happens on one of the sea days in the Piazza – they have a few activities like face painting, and a few games like bean bag toss.  There are small prizes for each game you master.  This can be fun, but it was a little crowded on our sailing. Pizzas, Fries, Ice-creams and Screen Time – We tend to limit screen time and food like pizzas and ice-creams on land, but are much more generous about these on cruises.  So the kids had a blast having ice-creams, jellos, pizzas, fries and so on every day.  And watching more movies than they usually get to.  The in-room TV had a selection of family movies, and also interesting documentaries and animal channel/science TV shows. Swimming Pool and Open Decks – There were a couple of days towards the end where it was a little colder and the ship rocked a little more, but otherwise the weather was great for pool and deck.  In addition to the pool, they also enjoyed lounging on the deck chairs and reading books they had got along.  There were a couple of kid’s books in the ship library, but I wouldn’t depend on it. Interacting with Crew, Santa Visit and Duck hunts – as mentioned in my original post. Cooking Show – on the final sea day, the Executive Chef and Maitre d’ put on a cooking/comedy show, followed by a tour of one of the galleys.  This has been a standard on all the Princess cruises we’ve been on, and is usually fun. Not Doing Homework – enough said.   Couple of other notes: We went to the "Breakfast with Stanley" activity, but were not impressed with that.  It's just an MDR breakfast (with special bear-shaped pancakes for the kids), and Stanley comes to visit for a few min and poses for photos at each table.  We didn't feel it was worth it.   We got the unlimited photo package ($299 onboard and $249 pre-cruise).  It may be a little pricey but we felt it was worth it for us as it was a long cruise, and they had some formal or informal backgrounds setup almost every evening - and it was great to have photos as a family.  They had photographers roaming around the ship for special events (and the canal transit as I noted previously) - any photos from that was also included.  We ended up with a thick stack of photos from the cruise.   Hope you all have a great time!  

Thank you for all the great info! I appreciate it!

20 hours ago, chamima said: For those of you on this sailing - did you receive the late embarkation notice (1:30 because of immigration ) that everyone sailing on future Emerald sailings seems to be getting? And, if so, what time did embarkation really begin? Also, was disembarkation delayed as they seem to also indicate? Thanks!

I have not gotten this notification...yet. We cruise at the end of February. But I'll be continuing to watch for it.

• 4 weeks later...

cruisequeen4ever

My favorite Christmas cruise was aboard the Emerald. 😍 That really sucks your room flooded, though! I don’t know that it necessarily has to do with age, though, because we were on the Pacific for Christmas, which is much much older than the Emerald and had 0 shipboard issues. Oh wait, the aft buffet door was occasionally out of service. Anyway, hope you can continue to enjoy your family tradition of spending Christmas at sea! 

Traveling Tiki

We were on this sailing as well. Agree with many things posted above, including the shout out to Alex from Serbia. He was great!  I think Aaron appeals to a certain demographic as both my daughter and my niece started following him on Instagram after the cruise  😂

We also did the aerial tram-butterfly garden-sloth sanctuary excursion in Costa Rica and that was the highlight of our shore excursions. Six of us went on that (age range 11-50) and we all enjoyed it. Touring the old city in Cartegena was probably my next favorite. Our kids did enjoy seeing Santa and I agree that I was pleased he came the night before rather than while we were on shore in Costa Rica.  We missed him in 2015 on the Ruby to Hawaii as we were on shore in Maui when he came. 

The Canal transit was such fun. We went forward on deck 15 - through what are often called the hidden/secret doors -and were able to film the first part of the transit from there. The lip at the front is just the right height to prop an iPhone and we did a time lapse video there ( along with about six other phones propped up there). It came out great!  I also watched for a while from deck 16 forward and kept explaining to people how the people on deck 15 got to where they were 😂 . I definitely wouldn't have known about that if I didn't read it here. 

The power outage was memorable. It didn't really hit me that we were just floating there dead in the ocean until the captain said we were "in a safe place". I still wonder what caused that to happen. 

Thanks for the review!

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2-Bedroom Family Suite

Layout (floor plan), balcony suite, balcony cabin, oceanview cabin, interior cabin, emerald princess cabins review.

Emerald Princess cabins with balconies are 881 (80% of all the 1103 outside rooms). Wheelchair-accessible cabins (for disabled passengers) are 31 (of which 1 suite, 4 mini-suites, 16 balconies, 4 outsides, 6 insides).

Follows the review of Emerald Princess staterooms as amenities, furniture and included (complimentary) services:

Emerald Princess Suites have a walk-in closet (ample storage space), living room (sofa bed, desk), vanity, table, armchairs, bathroom (WC, shower stall, whirlpool bathtub, double sinks).

Family Suites are with 3 connected rooms (the living room is in between). Both bedrooms are with ample closet space, bathroom (shower, bathtub), desk, drawer. The living room has a sofa bed, floor-ceiling sliding doors leading to a large balcony.

Bonus amenities in all Suites are the deluxe mattress/pillows, 2 smart HDTVs, CD/DVD player, upgraded bathroom amenities (massage showerheads, luxury bath products), luxury furniture on the balcony, complimentary services (Spa Thermal Suite, Internet Cafe, laundry/dry cleaning, one-time minibar).

All balcony accommodations feature sliding glass doors (floor-ceiling) opening to a private verandah, equipped with a round table and patio chairs.

Balcony cabins have ample closet space, bathroom (shower), desk, drawer, and some have additional beds for 3rd/4th person.

Oceanview cabins have picture window (category OE have Porthole Window, and category OV are with an obstructed view.

Inside cabins have the same size and amenities as Ocean-View rooms but lack the window.

All Emerald Princess cabins as amenities have living area (vanity, desk, seating), 2 twin beds (convertible to queen), deluxe bedding sets (Egyptian cotton linens), closet, desk, smart HDTV (infotainment system, Internet, on-demand-movies), direct-dial phone, electronic safe box and lifejackets (in the closet), hairdryer, bath products (shampoo, body lotion, conditioner), mini-bar/fridge, individual air-conditioning, evening turndown service, complimentary 24-hour room service.

During drydock 2019 refurbishment, all Emerald Princess staterooms were upgraded with the company’s new signature “Princess Luxury Bed”. The new “cruise bed” was developed in collaboration with PhD Michael Breus (commonly known as “The Sleep Doctor”) and the designer Candice Olson. The new beds feature a luxury pillow-top mattress, individually wrapped coils (reducing surface sway) and hypoallergenic duvets.

“Club Class Mini-Suite” is a new cabin category to be rolled out across the entire fleet through September 2017. The new (VIP-guest) Mini-Suite cabins include the following complimentary services and amenities – “Club Class Dining”, Elite Lounge exclusive access, complimentary in-cabin dining (hours d’ oeuvres), priority embarkation/disembarkation/tendering. Club Class Dining includes a separate area part of the MDR (main dining room) reserved for Club Suite guests only. The exclusive dining experience includes expedited seating, dedicated waiter staff service, exclusive menu (featuring chef’s specials) and tableside preparation of some dishes. Club Class Dining is available for breakfast and dinner every day, plus for lunch on sea days only. The new suites replace a number of existing mini-suites. Their cabin size and layouts remain the same as the other mini suite grades.

Emerald Princess cabin and suite plans are property of Princess Cruises . All floor plans are for informational purposes only and CruiseMapper is not responsible for their accuracy.

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Emerald Princess Debuts as Fifth Princess Ship to Return to Cruise Vacation Service

Emerald princess departs from port of los angeles on 15-day panama canal cruise to ft. lauderdale.

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Princess Cruises today marked the return to service of the cruise line’s third ship in the U.S. – Emerald Princess – departing from of the Port of Los Angeles on a 15-day Panama Canal cruise to Ft. Lauderdale. The very first Emerald Princess guests were welcomed onboard by the crew with a special ribbon cutting ceremony.

“Princess has been a part of so many special memories for us,” said Chris and Kathleen Lennon of Monument, CO, the first Emerald Princess guests to board the cruise ship. "This is our 20th cruise and our third time onboard Emerald Princess, and the excitement we felt when we arrived today was overwhelming. It truly feels like coming home."

Emerald Princess is scheduled to arrive in Ft. Lauderdale on October 30, 2021 and will sail a series of 10-day Panama Canal cruises, roundtrip from Ft. Lauderdale through December 2021.

Emerald Princess offers MedallionClass vacations, delivering the ultimate in effortless, personalized cruising. The Medallion is a quarter-sized, wearable device that enables everything from touch-free boarding to locating loved ones anywhere on the ship, as well as enhanced service like having whatever guests need, delivered directly to them, wherever they are on the ship. It’s been recognized as the most advanced wearable device in the global hospitality industry.

Princess Cruises sailings onboard Emerald Princess are available for guests who have received their final dose of an approved COVID-19 vaccine at least 14 days prior to the beginning of the cruise and have proof of vaccination. All fully vaccinated guests must also produce a negative, medically-observed COVID-19 test (PCR or antigen) taken within two days of their embarkation on all Princess sailings. Crew vaccinations are in accordance with CDC guidelines.

For the latest Princess COVID-19 health protocols, please visit https://www.princess.com/plan/cruise-with-confidence/cruise-health/covid-19-guest-protocols/ .

Additional information about Princess Cruises is available through a professional travel advisor, by calling 1-800-PRINCESS (1-800-774-6237), or by visiting the company's website at http://www.princess.com/ .

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