The Emerald Sun itself was lovely, and the staff went out of their way on every level. We were a party of six and sat at the same table every night and became friends with our three wait staff people ... they were exceptional and we had a lot of fun.

The negatives on this cruise were there was virtually nothing to do after dinner most nights. There were two evenings with group participation - Name that Tune and Disco Night and they were fun. On the optional cruise review the last day we mentioned they needed more of this type of thing. Movies were second run and although pool sans theater could probably seat more, it was never set up for more then 10 - 12. One disappointment was due to the number of low bridges we would be going under from Amsterdam to Nuremberg, the sun deck was only available the first two days. They explained that everything needed to be removed from the top (perimeter railings, shade canopies, all deck chairs even the bridge (which was hydraulically lowered), but we weren't expecting it to be pretty mjuch the entire cruise. Nothing is mentioned about this in the cruise write-up. We had expected to take a drink up top in the evening and watch all the small communities go by ... but that couldn't happen.

While the breakfast and lunch buffets always had something for everyone, the evenings meals were not as great as we thought they would be, or maybe we are just used to ocean cruising. The chef always announced his recommendation at the port review for the next day, but the alternative selection was basically the same every night. Also could have used more chocolate desserts, however the ice cream that was available every night was very, very good. Some very unusual entrée offerings, but Emerald is an Australian company and very possibly they were catering to Aussie taste-buds, not U.S. I would guess 75% of the cruisers were Australian, lots of really nice people we truly enjoyed meeting. Read more