Our Excellent Experience on the Emerald Princess

My wife and I had a wonderful time on the Emerald Princess during our recent Scandinavian Baltic Cruise (May 8-22, 2025). We were very impressed with the crew members willingness to assist us whenever we needed help or seemed to need help! One place we would like to mention was their Pop-up Restaurants: Steamers Seafood and Planks BBQ. The Beef Brisket was amazing, very tender and flavorful. The other Pop-up Restaurant, Steamers Seafood, was excellent too. We would like to thank the following Pop-up Restaurant crew members for their excellent service: Massimo, Rhea, Rona, Jovanni, Edison, Catherine, and Lee (number 10). If we didn't mention the cooks, our hats are off to you! Thank you for your excellent cooking, meal preparation and service! Our Cabin Steward, Ramir was awesome. Our room was clean and orderly. He visited two times or more a day. Ramir was very friendly and helpful when we needed him or not. Thank you, Ramir!

Awesome first cruise experience.

This was my first cruise with my wife (DINK) so I found everything to be excellent. Plenty of activites between going to shows, information sessions, art auctions, hanging out poolside, ping pong, walking the promenade, eating, drinking and watching open air movies. The service was outstanding. I am not used to be waited on. I usually put my dishes and garbage where they belong so I found it uncomfortable just leaving my dishes and glasses. Otherwise, the staff were always pleasant and easy to find. We had an interior cabin which was fine. The decor was dated, but otherwise in good condition or a well earned patina. Our room steward was the great. It always seemed he was just around the corner, out of sight and waiting for us to leave so he could empty our trash, or top up toiletries. The 50" tv seemed enormous in the cabin. Dining, as our water in the main dining room said, "the best part". He was referring to the dessert menu, but I felt the same about almost all the food on the ship. Everything was fresh, plenty of whole, real food. I missed the food almost immediately after disembarking. Disembarking was a little chaotic, but please, I wish people didn't walk off with their luggage. Let the crew handle it and we can all get off the ship smoother. The entertainment was great, more than enough to distract you. I preferred lounging top side in the fresh air and daylight. The Movies under the stars was awesome. My only dislikes were beyond the control of the ship and crew. Lets just say there are some really entitled people out there, certainly they are more important than everyone else. I did not have any personal interactions, but I have to give the crew credit for having to deal with these people. Especially the bartenders, shaking, blending and pouring drinks 30 at a time and someone didn't get their lime.

Princess Emerald Cruise

The ports is what attracted me. 12 Day cruise, took an inside cabin due to my financial budget. Was very impressed by the size of the room and closet and shelf place. First time on Princess and went to Panama, it was very impressive. Staff was amazing and aiming to please, (amazing customer service) whatever area you were on. I would do the Panama again using ship board for excursions, this was just a taste for me. The DJ Calvin was amazing and took requests and make everyone happy. He was amazing, I had recently lost me daughter Dena Forever 33. I used to dance all the time but after I lost her I had no life in me. He revived me and I danced, (I am currently back home and have no desire to dance or go anywhere. The bar staff at the club were amazing and made me feel that I should be there, (My daughter wanted me to dance and enjoy when she moved back home, unfortunately I lost her too soon and she would have loved the itinerary. Besides DJ Calvin brought me back to life because I hadn't danced after losing her. Hands up to Juan Agus Ryan and Sintia, they made me happy, pleased me and were amazing. They gave me a personalized experience and made me feel special. DJ Calvin was very accommodating to the crowd and made everyone happy and dance and interacted to know what the passengers wanted.

Excellent cruise for the Panama Canal

Either Princess and the Emerald Princess has upped their games, or a bunch of the older sour reviews have no basis. Or maybe I just have not done enough of the competitors' cruises. But I believe the older sour reviews should be should be substantially discounted if you are thinking about this Panama Canal cruise. The "World Harvest" buffet food items were regularly rotated, and reasonably fresh. It's large, with plenty of choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The three main dining rooms provide different ways of scheduling, i.e., reservation, just-show-up, or traditional seating. 7 pm reservations were gone before the ship sailed; you need to log onto the Princess website to grab these. We used the just-show-up dining room most of the time and rarely had to wait long. They vary the menu with new items every day, combined with some favorites they repeat. We enjoyed all of the food. We also tried two of the restaurants with an up-charge - the Italian restaurant which was outstanding, and the steakhouse which was a bust, with an overcooked (but quickly replaced) steak, and some pretty tough ribeye that seemed like sirloin. We also frequented the International Cafe for daily gelato, fresh cookies, and an occasional sandwich, the soft serve, and pizza places, which were all good. You can also get coffee in to-go cups, but we eventually used their free room service for daily morning coffee. The cabin was good, and I would not call it "dated" or "needing a makeover" as some have said. The steward cleaned the room every time we left (which they know from the Medallion system). The steward never has to knock on a door to find out if you're gone. The Medallion system (which resembles Apple AirTags) was outstanding, automatically unlocking your door, making purchases easy by detecting you and putting your face on nearby point-of-sale systems, and clocking you on and off the ship for excursions. We did not need our passports to get on and off the ship; just the Medallion and a driver's license. The Medallions come with a neck holder, but we bought a watch band made for Medallions off Amazon which really worked well. Amazon and the ship sell various holders for the Medallions. This ship's WIFI, which uses StarLink, was reasonably fast and reliable. (WIFI has a fee, but it comes with a beverage+ package you're going to end up buying anyway.) The entertainment was good, but the theater sometimes filled up and we missed a couple of the "production shows". But there are plenty of other entertainment venues with plenty of room so there's always something to do. You're not going to get a David Copperfield magic show on a cruise ship, because the magician has got to carry all his props as he goes from the ship to ship. But the musical shows were really good, with a solid group of musicians and performers that Princess hires from all over the county and trains in its studio near LA (I learned this from a video on the ship.) We had mixed feelings about the various excursions (Bonair, Cartegena, Port Limon, and Grand Cayman), except that Princess nails (and controls all of) the Panama Canal excursions (or just stay on the ship for a return trip through the new locks). We did the Panama Canal railroad excursion which goes from the Atlantic to the Pacific which also included a bus tour and one of the Visitor Centers. We heard good things about the other tours too. Princess also had a knowledgeable speaker and videos providing information about the Canal, the train, and the locks. The tours start after the ship transits the Atlantic-side locks; then the ship turns around and goes back to the Atlantic to pick up all the people at Port Colon, Panama, who went on excursions. There are vantage points all over the ship to see the Canal, but we just stayed on our balcony with a room-service breakfast for the transit through the new locks to Lake Gatun. The ship broadcast the Chiefs/Bills on their giant outdoor movie screen ("Moves Under the Stars") serviced by plenty of bartenders. That was a hoot. We walked a couple of miles every day around the Promenade Deck 7 (deck 8 around the bow), and there were always workers cleaning that ship. We would not hesitate to book another Princess cruise, especially the Emerald Princess.