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Louis Cruise Lines

MS Emerald

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Ava Jones
# previous cruises: 1
Date of Trip: April 13, 2007
Itinerary: Mediterranean

There is virtually nothing to do on the Emerald cruise ship, part of the Louis Cruise lines. It was my husband and I's first cruise and we went to Greece for a 9-day trip, 4 days worth on the ship. The staff onboard were creepy - our room was tiny, dirty and old, the food was mediocre at best. I got seasick the third day in on route from Rhodes to Crete - there are no stabilizers on the boat, it's too old so it was 8 hrs. of hell. Do not expect luxury on this ship, we actually watched the crew painting while we were docked on the different islands. For the money, I expected a lot more. I would never go through Louis Cruise lines again and I will probably not go on a cruise ship again - I didn't like being in the middle of the ocean with no one to really help if a situation called for it.

It was difficult getting on and off the ship, you constantly had to show your cruise ship card that proved you were part of the ship and it took a long time. Mind you, we took this cruise one week after the Sea Diamond sank - that was supposed to be our boat. They literally pulled the Emerald out of storage to accommodate us. Oh, and we were supposed to have 800 people on board - we wound up with 1200 so if you didn't like your room, you were stuck with it. Overall, the Greek islands made the trip - they were gorgeous - but the ship left a lot to be imagined.

Public areas were small, cramped and old. Everything needed updates. The buffet food was always the same and always cold by the time you found a table. You had to walk everywhere - there was maybe 1 elevator on the boat but not worth taking. We were constantly walking up and down flights of stairs to get everywhere. The pool was tiny and looked unclean, the casino was the size of a bathroom - and had maybe 8 slot machines.

Again the food was cold, mediocre and just plain bland every night and day on the ship...most of it looked inedible and didn't taste quite right. It seemed very cheap.

The cabin was small, noisy, in the back of the ship which means it caught a lot of rolling when the waves picked up, and cramped. We felt awful in there so we didn't spend much time in it.

The entertainment was cheesy at best and not worth watching. We saw one show and were bored to near tears.

We started off in Athens, Greece and went to Mykonos, Patmos, Turkey, Rhodes, Crete and Santorini. The ports were all beautiful except for Turkey and Crete. Never saw an onboard health club. We don't have kids so we don't know about babysitting.

Fellow passengers were very foreign and didn't know how to properly line up for things. I wouldn't care to see any of them ever again.