I've always said that stepping on the Emerald Princess is a bit like returning home after a long shore excursion. Sure, this shore excursion was 21 months long, but the wonderfully familiar and welcoming feeling was no different. We are home.
Embarkation day today was as painless as it could be. We did set an alarm for 6am this morning, but we had gone to bed early and slept well, so it wasn't a hardship to get up that early. We wanted to have enough time to enjoy an excellent breakfast at the Embassy Suites and get to Publix before our taxi pickup at 10am.
We've decided that the Embassy Suites really is our favorite pre-cruise hotel in Fort Lauderdale. If we aren't going to arrive until late in the evening, it doesn't matter where we stay, but the few extra hours we had yesterday to enjoy the manager's happy hour and watch the Broncos game, and with the made to order omelets available with today's breakfast, it's worth the little extra money it costs to stay there. Its location and the microwave and refrigerator in every room make it perfect for a multi-night stay. We loved the sitting room and two TVs; and the two bathroom counters and space (what I wouldn't have given for that on Rapa Nui!), and everyone who works there was very welcoming.
Following breakfast, I walked over to Publix to purchase a few things we didn't want to bring from home, mostly heavy liquids like mouthwash and coffee creamer for G and laundry detergent. There was a bit of a misty rain falling at the time (around 8am), but that didn't surprise me; today's forecast had called for showers, and I had resigned myself to a rainy sailaway. But by the time I finished my shopping, it was already starting to clear. Yay!
Back at our hotel room, G was busy rearranging things in the suitcases. With none of the usual flying restrictions on liquids, we moved our toiletries and over the door shoe rack items (such as sunscreens) into our carry ons and the beach bag/cooler, to carry on the ship. It really simplifies the unpacking process to get those things put in their places immediately when we board, before the large suitcases are delivered to the cabin.
We had arranged for our taxi driver from yesterday, Ronel, to return with his Town and County van. We had scoped it out on our ride from the airport, and, knowing how lightly Suzan and Greg pack, felt it could accommodate four of us and our luggage in one trip. Ronel phoned just before he arrived at the Embassy Suites, and within minutes we were driving into Port Everglades. Surprisingly, the north security gate to Port Everglades has been moved, and we did not have to go through any security to get to the Pier 2 drop off point.
We were lucky; although we ended up standing in line until 11am before we could begin the check in process, at least we were in the front of the line, instead of stretched out along the entire west side of the terminal. Suzan and Greg are also Elite, and by 11:30am we were all in our cabins (Riviera Deck aft, just two doors apart).
We had seen the holiday decorators pushing large boxes out of the Piazza, and it was obvious that we had missed seeing the Christmas decorations by mere minutes. That's okay...we've spent four Christmases on the Emerald Princess over the past few years, and know how beautiful they are.
Still more Christmas decorations packed up in the aft elevator lobby.
G vacated the cabin to do some exploring, and by the time he returned 20 minutes later, I had everything we carried on board unpacked. We didn't have to reach agreement about where things go; it's the Emerald Princess and we know this cabin as well as our own home (even better, actually, as there are fewer places to lose things). We happily went down to lunch in the DaVinci Dining Room (oh it is so nice to still have those keyboard shortcuts on my iPad. I knew we'd be back in the Emerald Princess (another shortcut) some day!). Just as predicted, I was soon having a napkin placed in my lap and a menu in my hand and things made sense again.
The Emerald Princess still has the old, "good" embarkation day menu with the salmon and the G's fav beef tenderloins, though he did say the beef tenderloins didn't seem as tasty as they used to (and the man is an expert on Princess' embarkation day lunch beef tenderloins. We have in the past pulled ourselves away from all sorts of fun and adventure in Fort Lauderdale just to return to the ship in time for lunch in the DaVinci Dining Room on embarkation day). We both had an orange soufflé for dessert, just because we could. ;-)
The maitre d', Giuseppe Franchina, was in the Michelangelo Dining Room between 1pm and 3pm for dining inquiries, so G left lunch for a few minutes to talk to him about our dinner table. We had been assigned a table for two in the DaVinci Dining Room, about four tables away from a window. We were fine with that, but G asked if we could be moved next to the window starting next cruise. Well, by 5pm, we received a notice in our cabin mail slot stating that we were being moved to a table for two next to a window in the Michelangelo Dining Room, just one deck below. Well...yay!
It was 2pm before we returned to our cabin to find that all four (grrrrr...) of our suitcases had been delivered. And by muster drill at 3:15pm, we were completely unpacked. Though this cabin is smaller than our window cabins on the Pacific Princess, there is even more storage, and it is more accommodatingly organized. Even with everything we brought with us, we have empty shelves and lots of vacant closet space. The clothesline is stuck to the walls, the over the door shoe rack is holding a myriad of makeup, first aid and toiletry supplies, and the walls are full of magnetic clips holding the embarkation day planning Patter, Elite Lounge drinks schedule, our cruise calendar and our spreadsheet of the ships in port with us each day. We are well settled in!
Muster drill (our third and possibly last of the season) was at 3:15pm. We were lucky and made a quick exit out of our muster station in Club Fusion and managed to get on an elevator before the crowd hit. I did not want to climb stairs from Decks 7 to 14 if I didn't have to. Everyone talks about only using the stairs on cruises to burn calories, but we have learned that, sometime around the end of the second week of doing that, our knees let us know all about it. We're better off exercising restraint in the dining room.
We joined Susan and Greg on the Terrace Deck to watch sailaway. I phoned Mom one last time, and Suzan, who had been sending Mom notes and cards while I was out of the country, was able to talk to her for the first time. What a wonderful friend she is!
As I mentioned, Port Everglades was busy today. I counted six ships (Emerald Princess, Island Princess, Serenade of the Seas, Celebrity Constellation, HAL Zuiserdam and HAL Prinsendam), but I thought I had read that there would be seven, so I may have missed one somewhere. That many ships always make sailaway fun, and we were especially lucky to have clear blue skies and bright sun as we sailed through the entrance channel out to sea.
The Zuiderdam leaving behind the Island Princess with the Serenade OTS in the distance
Too soon it was after 5pm and time to dress for dinner. We aren't thrilled with our 5:30pm dining time, but it is still our best option. We don't want to eat in the Botticelli Dining Room at the back of the ship because it seems so far removed, and we do want a table for two and the same waitstaff every night. 5:30pm dining is the answer. We skipped the Elite Lounge tonight and headed directly to dinner.
Speaking of the Elite Lounge (from this point I'll refer to it as the PES Lounge for Platinum, Elite and Suite Lounge), our schedule of drinks and hor doerves clearly states that we can have any of the eight drinks of the day for $5. That's nice; we haven't had that option very often. It's also dangerous... Breeza Marinas every night?!?!
I was anxious to see the new dinner menu that has created such a stir on Cruise Critic. The usual always available items like salmon and chicken breast and beef tri tips have been replaced by three Curtis Stone items, and I know that's resulted in a lot of unhappy people. I opted to have two items that were new to me: a butterfly shrimp appetizer with a Cuban garlic citrus oil and the Curtis Stone mahi mahi. Well, the butterfly shrimp were to die for. I loved the sauce so much that I kept it to dip bread in, and when I was served the pretty tasteless mahi mahi, I poured what was left over on the fish. That was good; the mahi mahi by itself was not bad but very blah. The plantains served with the entree were also tasteless. I'd order it again, but just if I could pair it with the garlic oil sauce from the butterfly shrimp. G ordered the prime rib and said it was a delicious and generous serving. For dessert...flourless chocolate cake, of course!
Service by waiter Victor from Mexico and Darko (no, not that Darko!) from Serbia was excellent. I was able to purchase a wine package of 12 bottles of wine priced up to $29 each for $240. I hope I can use it over the course of several cruises, but, if I can't, I'll just take the bottles back to our cabin at the end of this cruise.
I was not particularly interested in seeing the Welcome Aboard show (with comedian Al Katz), and so we walked across the Promenade and Lido Decks to see what was going on, and I then returned to the cabin. G is still out and about somewhere, but I wanted to take some time to prepare this blog post before it gets too late. We move clocks ahead an hour tonight, and it's nearly 11pm the new time.
Finally, some information that I promised I'd report on about the Emerald Princess after dry dock. We are on the Riviera Deck aft in an inside cabin.
- Water pressure and hot water are fine. The cold water is not real cold (it never is) but it is certainly cool. The toilet flushes as expected.
- Cabin temperature is fine. The thermostat is very responsive. We have it set to just below midway and are perfectly comfortable.
- We have the new Princess mattresses. This may not be the best thing for my back, but I'm willing to adopt a wait and see attitude. They are very plush and cushy and not one bit hard. The pillows and linens appear to be new.
- Our cabin carpet is slightly stained in several places, but that's not a cruise-ruining issue. There is a lot of new carpet in the elevator lobbies and other public areas. The Wheelhouse Bar now offers the Salty Dog gastro pub from 6pm to 10pm, but there is still a band playing in there with dancing in the evenings and anyone can enjoy that.
- We haven't been up to Deck 16 to check out the new Curtis Stone S h a r e restaurant yet.
- I haven't been all over the ship yet, but so far everything I've seen seems to be in excellent condition. The crew has been friendly and service has been very good.
If my back can tolerate the new mattresses (fingers crossed!!!!!), I predict we're going to have several wonderful cruises on the Emerald Princess.