Emerald Princess Review

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Review for Trans-Ocean Cruise on Emerald Princess
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2lips4tori
10+ Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Sep 2016
Cabin: Balcony

Although we were on the 30 day portion of this cruise there were a number of disorganized or poorly administered issues that prevented this from being a home-run. Most notably among the administration issues was the India visa fiasco. We booked months before we left home and were told we would not be able to board in Southhampton if we did not have all necessary travel documents including the India visa regardless of whether we wanted to disembark in India or not. For two US citizens the cost associated with obtaining the visa was more than $700; a ridiculous amount for a visit of less than 10 hours. However, when we arrived in Southhampton we discovered that there were many passengers who did not possess the necessary visa and they were permitted to board. We were then told they would be forced to leave the cruise in Dubai regardless of their original terminal port.

This did not happen. They were permitted to remain on board and we were then told that Indian immigration were going to examine our documents and if we didn't have a visa we could apply for one on board at a much lower cost than what we paid; or, if we preferred we could remain on board and not purchase a visa. After already providing our documents at embarkation in Southhampton where we waited for about two hours to board (after an overnight trip from LAX) we were furious to have to stand in line AGAIN FOR OVER AN HOUR.The anger that this has caused absolutely colored my opinion of Princess, not to mention their decision to return to the filthy city of Cochin over and over again. To add insult to injury the Princess legal team had a letter presented to us while still on board basically throwing India under the bus and not taking any responsibility for this mess. We heard from many, many passengers that Princess stops in Cochin because it's the cheapest place to off load their garbage. I believe it! It looked like it was all strew over the streets and alleys of the city. Note to Princess; if you say that passengers will not be allowed to board without their documents stick to it. Allowing people to board just made the cruise line look like a bunch of liars and only interested in as much money they could get out of passengers if they even intended to force them off the ship in Dubai.

Food, I don't consider huge amounts of food to equal good food and mostly the food on the buffet lines were marginal with the desserts rated as poor. Dry and tasteless. Best bets were the vegetables on the salad bar if we were a day or two away from the port we had just departed from. After a few days the fresh fruit and vegetable options were limited.

Cabin Review

Balcony

Clean, comfortable and well maintained.

6 Helpful Votes
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