Glenn's Review of the Emerald Princess

 

Final thoughts from the Emerald Princess . . . .

We were docked in Port Everglades about an hour later than scheduled. If you had all your luggage you could have disembarked about 8:30AM.  We were in no rush since we are staying overnight in Fort Lauderdale and boarding the Odyssey of the Seas tomorrow.  Our luggage color and number was called at 9:15.  We were through immigration and customs by 9:30AM. Port Everglades has a Global Entry line. So if you have that service like we do, follow the signs.  The normal lines had about 50 people but only four of us in Global Entry.  

Overall, an enjoyable cruise.  The onboard experience was very good, especially considering this was the ships first revenue sailing.  Very disappointing that the Panama Canal mixup caused us to miss Bonaire.  I don't know why they could not have just skipped Aruba and kept with the original itinerary of Curacao (Tuesday) and Bonaire (Wednesday).  The captain told us it was a shoreside decision, out of his control.  

Great bar staff and bar waiters.  Because it was such a low capacity, we really got to know many of them. Such great personalities and we hope to see them on other cruises.  

The ship has the next six days off.  We heard from several of the crew that the ship was headed to Freeport, presumably to see if they can address the shaking and rattling in the aft part of the ship.  And then to Princess Cays where some or all of the crew will have a chance for a day off.  The next revenue sailing is November 6th.

We loved the live music, especially the party band Symphonee.   They played almost every night in Explorers Lounge and a few sea days they played at the Neptune Pool. The 2 Cool Duo was also fun. They had a couple of special "tribute" nights including Linda Ronstadt. If you like pianists, there were three onboard. 

The food overall was very good. The best variety was at breakfast where they almost always had some Indian and Phillipino dishes.  I had never had Pork Tacino before - and it is a new favorite. The dinner buffet also has some good Indian dishes as well as a variety of other dishes.  Lots of small tapas available at all meals,,.  Meats, cheeses, nuts, small salads and fruits in small bowls you took.   Every thing else was served to you.  A pretty good salad bar as well.  At the beginning of the cruise we ate most of our meals at the buffet because we wanted to have a nice big salad.  Those are hard to get in the MDR.  As the cruise went on, the lettuce choices became more limited so we had more dinners in the MDR.  

The Medallion App needs lots of work.  Hopefully they are working on adding much needed features such as the dining room menus and when venues are open.  The app is also clunky to use.  We gave up trying to find activities because the scrolling would not work properly or it would freeze.  Reinstalling didn't help so we reverted to the "paper app" after three days of trying to go paperless.  

October 2021 15 Night Panama Canal Cruise on Emerald Princess Week 2

 October 21, 2021 - Sea Day 
We had another sea day. The weather was good. I worked on the balcony in the morning. We attended the lecture on Aruba and Curacao. Then, I worked on the pool deck. We spent a lot of time in the pool and had our 2 pm Dance Party. Susan and Ma Crista love to dance so we’ve been having afternoon dance parties when the DJ or the band is playing. 

October 2021: 15 Night Panama Canal Cruise on the Emerald Princess Week One

October 14, 2021 - Travel Day 

 Today went really well. We both had emergency exit seats with no one in the middle. The flight went as scheduled. Our luggage came out quickly and we found our driver in the zoo that is LAX curbside pickup.
 
The Cove Hotel is adorable. They definitely took a rundown motel in a regular part of town and did a great job renovating it. 

October 2021; MerMaiden Inagural on the Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady

 On October 5th, we left Indianapolis where we had been celebrating my Mom's birthday and headed to Miami. We stayed the Holiday Inn Port of Miami and Glenn found a great restaurant for dinner, Ceviche 305, just around the corner. We called it an early night to watch the Red Sox game from the hotel. 

the next morning, We got late checkout at the hotel and I worked most of the morning. 

We headed to the port around 1 pm in an Uber. It took 9 minutes.

We dropped our bag with the Porter. He made us a luggage tag since we didn't have one. We got into a line that stretched down the terminal. We waited about 30 minutes in line to get to the first checkpoint. During that time, we registered for the test. 

To enter the building, we had to go through a security check and they checked we were sailing. Then, we finished registration for your test and got our nasal swab. Then we left that building and went to the building we would board from. We had another security check. 

We went to a large waiting room. We waited about 30 minutes for our test results. Someone brought us champagne so that was fun. 

Glenn's Review of Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady

 Disembarked this morning.  Wonderful cruise.  Great crew.  Amazing food (except for a dinner at Razzle Dazzle that went sideways).  Gunbae and Pink Agave were my favorite dinners  Very good brunch at The Wave.  And don't miss the mezze at The Dock.  Delicious grilled shrimp, octopus and hangar steak - all included in your cruise fare. They have lots of cold items also.   The Dock was my favorite hangout spot.  It was the only bar on the ship where you could feel connected to the sea.  Also don't miss the poke bowls at the Sun Bar Cafe (Deck 16 forward).  The tuna was very good.  

There are several "grab and go" locations around the ship which have cold sandwiches, salads, crudites and fruit.  Good options if you don't want a big lunch or plan to be sitting outside and want a snack.  I saw these at the doors right before The Dock (deck 7 aft) and at the Galley (deck 15 mid).

For disembarkation, they didn't provide luggage tags in your cabin. If you needed them you had to get from Sailor Services.  You do pick your debarkation time. They are letting people stay until 10:46. We left at 8AM since we had a bus to catch. 

My general tip for this ship would to stay curious and explore.   Especially on Scarlet Night.

Deck 7 will be your friend since you can walk all the way forward and aft on this deck. Deck 5 and 6 won't allow you to do this.  To get to some of the restaurants and venues on decks 5 and 6 you will need to use deck 7 to get forward or aft as needed before heading down a deck or two. 

The Dual Reality show was amazing.  Breathtaking, jaw dropping and mesmerizing.

Don't miss the pool parties - especially Scarlet Night. The pool party last night was unfortunately canceled due to the weather (thunderstorms).  They added activities indoors including karaoke at the Social Club.  Speaking of karaoke, they held that at least once at the Athletic Club (deck 16 Aft) one evening.  Not in the app.  If you knew, you knew.  

One complaint I have is that live music was hard to find.  There were some musical "happenings" that would pop up at random spots around the shio and those were fun. But I was hoping for more live music that was scheduled in the app. On the last night there was a great five piece band at On The Rocks.  We only knew since it was listed on the schedule.   Maybe they were there other nights as well but it wasn't in the app.  I understand that the concept Virgin is using is one of spontaneity.   Things may happen when you aren't expecting them.  I like that.  But I would like more of a mix of those types of activities plus a few planned.  

We will be back onboard in January to see what changes (if any) they have made to the onboard product.   I am excited for the future of Virgin Voyages.