Emerald Star – Simply The Best !

I have just returned from my first European River Cruise on the fabulous Emerald Star and I really don`t know where, or how, to begin to describe this wonderful ship that far exceeded my expectations, in fact the whole trip was probably the best one I have ever been on since I started selling cruises!

From start to finish everything went unbelievably well, apart from the very early start with a 6.20am flight from Gatwick to Munich which meant a very, very early check in! The Easyjet flight was from Gatwick`s newly refurbished South Terminal, where the shopping there is so good you would think you were in London, in fact you can almost get carried away and forget where you are! A little tip – the terminal has no clocks and makes no boarding announcements, and if you have  ever looked at the signs in airport terminals that say it takes 20 minutes to get to the gate and thought no way, 5 minutes will be fine,  well at Gatwick it means what it says or maybe even longer. Enough said on that subject except that finally but we all arrived safely and on time to start the journey down the Danube.

Munich is a lovely little airport and the sun shone brightly as we collected our baggage in what seemed like record time, made our way out to meet our smiling Emerald Representative, Daniel, and boarded the coach for the 2 hour trip to Nuremberg. A long transfer is probably the last thing you need at the end of an early start to the day, but on this one the time flew by and we sped along the Autobahn ( in Germany there is no speed limit for cars, thankfully there is for coaches – scary ) to arrive at the ships dock outside Nuremberg in just over an hour and a half.

As we arrived at the ship in the early afternoon, and our cabins were not quite ready, we were through the modern reception area into the lovely bright lounge for drinks and a light lunch. Emerald Star is a modern contemporary ship with lots of sleek fittings and stunning lighting. The lounge is at the front of the ship with an outside area for warmer days and, believe it or not this was warm and sunny as we sat outside enjoying our lunch of pasta and salad, washed down with a really good dry white wine or, of course , German beer.

After lunch we head along to our cabin, a Panorama Balcony Suite, on deck 3 on the starboard side. There are 4 types of cabins on Emerald Star – Emerald Window or ” Swans Neck ” cabins, Panorama Balcony Suites, Grand Balcony Suites and Owners Suites. There are also 2 single cabins on the ship. Our cabin was quite compact but had everything you could need in it, including a 42″ TV , a good hairdryer, a mini bar, lovely comfortable beds and ample storage space. All the cabin types are quite similar the main difference being the style of balcony.

Single ” Swans Neck “

The Grand Balcony Suites do have an outdoor balcony, as do the Owners Suites which are also larger with a sitting area. Both of these cabin types have Nespresso Coffee Machines – jealous or what !

Grand Balcony Suite

Owners Suite

The balcony in our  cabin was really a modern French Balcony, as you cannot sit outside on it. There is an area of decking  by the floor to ceiling windows with a table and 2 chairs, if you want a balcony effect the window drops down at the touch of a button  to leave the whole top half open, meaning you can have the best of both worlds , fresh air whatever the weather and a beautiful view if the weather is not so good.

The staff on the cruise were wonderful and Christian, our cabin steward was no exceptions. Everything we asked for, like more coat hangers ( a girly thing ) or extra towels he produced and we discovered, later on in the cruise that, he could sing quite well too! Now it was time to unpack and take a look at the rest of this lovely ship before our first nights sailing.