Boarding Emerald Princess

We arrived at the ship a few minutes before 6 PM, with sail away scheduled for 8 PM. We gave our tagged bags to a stevedore at the entrance and breezed through security to one of thirty empty booths to check-in. I've said it many times, but it bears repeating here: while the old rule of thumb used to be to beat the crowds, arrive early and enjoy lunch on the ship, these days there can be hundreds if not thousands of people arriving before the opening embarkation time.

If embarkation starts at 1 PM, don't show up until 2, or you'll find yourself behind the herd that started showing up before 11 AM. If you arrive early and have the option to leave your bags with stevedores and officially check-in later, do that, and go out to see your port city.



I walked into our balcony room at 6 PM to find the phone ringing. It was my brother-in-law Brooks, who had arrived a few hours earlier, during the cattle call. We decided to meet up on the Lido Deck at the “Movies Under the Stars” pool. It took a while to find them.



When you've been on a lot of cruises, you tend to forget how confusing a gigantic ship like the 113,000-ton Emerald Princess can be. I met up with Brooks and Darlene in the Horizon Court buffet and brought them out to where we had secured some lounge chairs with views of the Wimbledon men's finals.



As we munched on chocolate covered strawberries which we found in our room upon arrival, Darlene and Brooks related their harrowing experiences en route to that moment, which differed considerably from our delightful day. To make a long story short, they stood in long lines when they arrived around 12:30. When they finally boarded, the people hawking soda cards, drinks of the day and other items felt to them like hookers and beggars in Tijuana vying for their American dollars. That I have never felt that to be true for me on Princess should not invalidate their feelings. Then again, I have the cheap man's defense mechanism of holding up my hand and saying “no thanks” before I even know what somebody is selling. Once I say no a few times, the word seems to spread quickly that I'm not buying anything.


Anyway, I felt bad that they had hunkered down in their mini-suite bunker for the afternoon waiting for us to arrive. The fantastic city of Copenhagen was only a short cab ride or hop on/hop off tour away.

As we talked, Federer wore down Rodick at center court on the jumbo screen, and by the time some wine glasses were drained, I think Darlene and Brooks were slipping into Cruisitude.

We changed for dinner, and I walked Darlene and Brooks from their room to the midship elevator which we took to the last stop on Deck 5 for Michaelangelo's, one of two dining rooms available for Personal Choice Dining. For some reason, Princess took a different approach than I have experienced on past cruises. Instead of having several hosts or waiters seating several parties simultaneously as they arrived, a single hostess would ask the number in the party and then wait for a single head waiter to seat them. Needless to say, this was much less efficient at seating guests, resulting in a constant line. Looking around after being seated, however, we could see other open tables.

While the food was excellent this night and throughout the cruise, the service by waiters was uneven, sometimes slow and other times perfect. I ordered spring rolls, mushroom soup and Hawaiian Luau Pork followed by sugar-free cake for my four courses, but I ended up trading my pork for Jay's Pan Seared Baramundi, a very tasty fish dish. That night established a recurring discussion theme that we should have gone with fixed dining, a point driven home the next night when Darlene and Brooks ended up at Da Vinci's, the other Personal Choice dining room, and so spent the evening on their own.



Because of our late boarding of the ship combined with slow dinner seating and other factors, we uncharacteristically missed the first night's big show. Instead, we showed Darlene and Brooks around the ship, hopefully laying the groundwork so they could find their way around. We selected Skywalkers as “our place” for sail aways. Like Royal Caribbean's Viking Crown Lounge, Skywalkers is a disco bar surrounded by window walls perched high in the ship for excellent views. Before the disco starts, it is a quiet location for enjoying scenic views.

Often upon returning from port, we found Darlene and Brooks ensconced in Skywalkers, from which they had made unique observations about ship and port operations during the day. As I've said often before, a cruise can be many things to many people. There simply is never time to do everything, but you can enjoy your separate reality in your own way to your heart's content.