The Emerald Cruise Ship

1 reader found this review helpful

The itinerary for this cruise is very interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect. Thank you to the Captain., crew and staff members for a wonderful trip. We hope The Emerald continues to provide pleasure in the future for passengers, she is a beautiful ship, and like a good wine, has improved with age.
We look forward to returning to the Black Sea with the Celebration....

We were allocated an inside cabin numbered 294 on the Emerald Cruise ship for the week 11 to 18 July 2008. On the first night we had hardly any sleep at all due to the high/horrendous noise from the ship's engines. Immediate complaint to Reception was only answered by an apology for the high noise levels, advise that we could not be moved as the ship was full & the staff member issued us with ear plugs! Every night we dreaded returning to our cabin & every night we experienced the same levels of constant noise. At the end of the week we were exhausted from sleep depravation. This we consider to be not just an irritation or being pernickity, it had a major affect on our cruise. We made two further visits to reception but to no avail. On return we immediately (22July 2008) made a formal complaint to Thomson Cruises & requested some compensation and to date i.e. 19 October 2008, we have had no satisfaction whatsoever & consider we have been treated shabily.
Has anyone else had a similar experience & if so what was your outcome?

My wife and I have just returned from our first Thomson Cruise ''Pearls of the Aegean'' on board the Thomson Emerald. We had a fabulous week on a great old ship. The service we recieved was first class, the food was excellent, the crew and staff were very friendly. The cleanliness of the ship was excellent as was the entertainment.
We have previously cruised on the larger American cruise ships but on the whole we found that the Thomson ship offered better value.
The only criticism we had was that after we could not tender in at Zante because of the high swell we diverted to Patros this is definitely not a cruise ship port mainly because of the illegal immigrant problems on the docks. Some of the older passengers that went ashore felt threatened with the violence they experienced.

1 reader found this review helpful

Had a very enjoyable cruise, our 4th with Thomson. Previously been on the Spirit and the Celebration. Emerald has pluses and minuses in relation to these other ships. Main downside was that there are no laundry rooms on the Emerald for passenger use and you cannot use an iron in your cabin so you have to send away to the laundry service any items needing ironed - at a cost. Staff very good as usual and food also. Emerald leaves the Thomson line at the end of this month.
Itinerary was very good - Santoroini outstanding. We did our own thing on local buses (Metro in Athens) and saved lots of money and had more freedom than if using the Thomson tours. They are now better at providing information for the independent traveller. Couldn't land at Zante due to swell (tender transfer) - disappointing as the alternative port of Patras was not so nice - but you cannot blame Thomsons for the weather.
Atmospehere perhaps more Butlins-y than previously in the game shows etc but otherwise good value for money.

1 reader found this review helpful

This was our first time on a cruise and we absolutely loved it.My husband is 36 and I was 32 the day we set sail on the 5th of september and it was an amazing way to celebrate my Birthday.It was a fabulous holiday.The ship is lovely and yes a little bit dated but spotless clean and kept to amazing high standards.The service, food and staff were out of this world.The food in particular was absolutely fabulous.From breakfast,morning pastries, lunch, BBQ ON deck and evening dinner, buffet or sit down, both were fantastic.
We had a basic indoor cabin with no window and it was perfect for the small amount of time you would be spending in the cabin anyway.Waking up in a different port each morning was amazing.Our favourites were mykonos and santorini...these were amazing.
We were one of the youngest couples on the boat but that didnt bother us.Would recommend it to anyone as a great holiday.We will definately take a cruise as a holiday again and thompson were an excellent company to travel with.
Liz & Philip Murphy

2 readers found this review helpful

This was my first cruise and it was outstanding. This ship was spotless first class staff and nothing was to much trouble. The food and service was execellent, and having worked in the public sector the customer service was second to none. Please do not listen to negative comments as this cruise was the best money that I have spent.
The ports I called on were fantastic and was kept fully informed of the intinery by the ship's personnel. I shall definately be going again and with Thomsons who have never let me down. Jim Phillips

1 reader found this review helpful

25th Wedding Anniversary
What a fantastic week - food, weather, entertainment, itinery - it was brilliant.
A very big thank you to everyone even the passengers who were so friendly.
How I do agree with the earlier review reference the sun loungers!!! We had great difficulty in finding one at times and I even saw men at 8.30 am going out and putting towels out and reserving their spot! This issue should be addressed as I was tempted on more than one occassion to move them.
Cabin clean and tidy every day - not huge but acceptable - what more do you want.
The experience in the restaurant was great - every night they made you welcome and when they knew it was our 25th wedding anniversary they were so kind. Poor hubby - who doesn't do fuss - couldn't believe it when they came to the table and sang to us!
As for the entertainment team - they were brilliant - worked so hard every day and the shows were definately worth seeing. Well done to all the team especially to Georgi and Nick - we saw them on the Calypso last year and how they have improved - the deck parties and I'm an entertainer get me out of here were great fun.
I seriously advise anybody who hasn't experienced this ship this year to hurry up and book as you really will enjoy the happy atmosphere this ship has to offer - it will most certainly be an experience I will never forget.

1 reader found this review helpful

Went on my first ever cruise with my partner and 11 year old son and had a fantastic holiday. Having my son with us I had been worried that everyone would be very elderly but there was a fantastic range of ages with the youngest being six week old twins!!!! Lots of extended families holidaying together and there was a real party buzz (although you could easily relax too). Itinery was brilliant, I fell in love with Mykonos and Athens. Not so keen on Turkey but as we only saw Kusadasi I suppose thats a bit unfair. It was a fond return to Zante for us, having stayed there a few years ago and Santorini was as stunning as everone says.
Although the ship is old she treated us well and was absolutely spotless.Every day they seemed to be cleaning, painting or servicing something and the cabin stewards worked so hard for us. The entertainment was good, the only criticism being that the shows did get packed out meaning we had to stand / sit on a table sometimes but we found we enjoyed the bars and the bands more anyway. Had a great time at the sail away party out of Corfu which really set the holiday off on a high.
The food was very good with no complaints from us and the waiters treated us extremely well. The maitre'd excelled and we were sat with another couple and their son who was the same age as mine, glad we had the late sitting as a few times we were the last to leave the restaurant. I think I enjoyed the waiters entetainment more than the shows! We spent most of time on the ship up on the lido deck where my son grew gills and hardly left the pool. We just sat drinking cocktails and enjoying the peace. We had the AI package and it was great not to count the pennies with the drinks. I tried a variety of cocktails which was an adventure in itself.
The jacuzzis were great but we didnt spend much time on top deck where the usual towel brigade were out reserving their sunbeds ready to roast ( had to laugh at one guy who was only concentrating on tanning his front and was bright red on the front and lilly white on the back all the way down to his legs!) There were requests in cruise news about not leaving towels, but this was sadly ignored.
I really felt that this was the ideal holiday, not too formal but like any very good hotel , with much better, friendlier staff and fantastic views. Everything comes to you! The captains cocktail night was fantastic, I loved wearing my posh frock and seeing everyone else dress up. The men looked so smart with anything from lounge suits to military wear and kilts. My son wore his suit and looked so grown up. All of the staff were very pleasant and couldnt do enough for us and Gavin Carroll, the cruise director worked so hard every minute of the day and night.
We did two trips, Athens and the Acropolis and the tour of Mykonos. I liked the way that Thomson gave you the costing of the trips when you receive your tickets so there were no nasty surprises regarding the cost.
Will definitely cruise again and would definitely consider booking through Thomson as well as it seems to get the right balance. My only regret is that we didnt book two weeks.

2 readers found this review helpful

Just returned from our stay on the "Emerald". The itinerary was fantastic. Although the ship is showing signs of its age it was spotlessly clean, the food was superb, the crew were fabulous down to a man , special mention for the waiting staff (very talented) and our cabin steward Kosta. although we are not into "show" type entertainment we enjoyed the bands. We would have liked an easier transfer system from airport to ship, it was slightly gruelling for older people after the flight. Would also have liked the crew to be firmer with the awful deckchair "TOWELLERS" and their selfish way of thinking they can make chairs their own property for the duration.

1 reader found this review helpful

My husband and I have just spent a week on The Emerald and have to say that although this ship is 50 years old and going out of service at the end of October,
we had a fantastic week. The shows were excellent and the staff and crew could not
do enough for you. The food was excellent. In fact, there is nothing bad that I can
say about it. It is a shame that she is being taken out, but I will not have any hesitation in trying all the other ships that Thomson have. This is was our second time on this ship and I have to say that this week was even better than the first one.