(Edited 4/23/25 to add our bridge tour)
In late March/early April 2025 we took a transatlantic cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Civitavecchia, the port closest to Rome. Several stops on this cruise were repeats of ones we took during our World Cruise in 2024. This post will focus on the ports we visited and our experience on board the Emerald Princess.
Onboard the Emerald Princess
We always enjoy our time on what one of the staff referred to as the “floating United Nations” that is a cruise ship – one of the highlights is always the wonderful staff from all over the world, all happy and getting along, representing 65 countries on this cruise!
Our cruise started with eight days at sea, followed by several ports interspersed with a few more days at sea.
Due to a large credit from the change of itinerary on the world cruise we did in 2024, we choose to stay in a suite on this cruise. There were a few benefits besides the larger cabin, some we liked, and some were not important to us or not our preference.
The food on Princess cruises is generally quite good and wins awards when compared to other cruise lines. We do notice that the food quality seems a little better on smaller ships (like the Island Princess we were on for the world cruise) compared to larger ships (like the Emerald Princess), particularly in the dining room. Maybe a coincidence or maybe it is because they are trying to serve a larger volume of people.
We usually eat breakfast and lunch at the buffet, because we feel we can make healthier choices, in particular we can find more vegetables. We like fine dining, so we usually have dinner in the dining room. There was a “reserve” dining room for suite guests, but we found the service overbearing and prefer the slightly more casual and varied experience in the “regular” dining room. On formal nights, we eat lunch in the dining room and dinner at the buffet and usually play some dice or card games.
We ate in a few “specialty” restaurants. We ate in Sabatini’s, the Italian restaurant onboard, the first night of the cruise. The food was good. Suite guests can also eat breakfast in that restaurant, and we did that on shore days when the buffet is usually overwhelmingly chaotic; it was an oasis of calm.
We ate in the Crown Grill, the steak and seafood restaurant, twice. It was by far the best restaurant on the ship and quite a treat. We also enjoyed some nice wine and visiting with the sommelier.
On all non-formal nights, we usually start our evening with a cocktail in one of the lounges, sometimes with entertainment.
On sea days we both also enjoyed a walk. I preferred the small “jogging” track (with only walkers) and Kevin preferred the promenade deck, although I found it too crowded and only walked there when it was too rainy and/or windy to be on the top deck of the ship with no shelter.
A final and major highlight of our time on board was the opportunity to tour the bridge. For non-boaters, that is where they drive the ship. We were shown the bridge and some of the navigational equipment by one of the officers. We were allowed to ask any questions we wanted to, and we (and others) did ask a lot of questions. What I found interesting, but not completely surprising, is that many of the systems on board (radar, chart plotting, etc.) were very similar to what we had on our sailboat 20 years ago, so it was very relatable. The bridge tours are invitation only, and they asked that we not tell any other guests on board that we were having one before the tour. This is another thing that might have been because we were in a suite. Regardless of how we got the invitation, we were thrilled to see the bridge, something we have wanted to do since our first cruise in 1987.
First three ports – Funchal (Madeira), Gibraltar, Málaga (Spain)
The first three ports on our itinerary were ports we visited last year, and the history of these places was covered in this blog post if you are interested in learning more.
Funchal, Madeira, Portugal
Madeira is a Portuguese island approximately 2/3 of the way across the Atlantic from Fort Lauderdale to the Mediterranean. We visited the port city of Funchal.
After 8 days at sea, we were anxious for a walk on land, so we visited the Parque de Santa Catarina, a small but nice park near the cruise port.
We next walked town looking for a lunch spot.
We wanted to find a place that had traditional Madeira food, in particular grilled limpets (a type of shell fish) for an appetizer. We found somewhere that fit the bill, Restaurante O Almirante. We had a great lunch – grilled limpets (shared), a bowl of vegetable soup each, and shared scabbard fish (another local specialty). They had fabulous looking strawberries for dessert, but we were too full to even consider having any.
After lunch we (mostly me) did a tasing of Madeira wine at Blandy’s Wine Lodge. Madeira (the wine) is similar to port, a sweet, fortified wine that for my taste is best for dessert. I had a tasting of 4 types all aged 10 years, from driest to sweetest. The wine, along with the location of Madeira, were what made this an important stop between Europe and the Americas during the colonial period.
After the wine tasting we returned to the ship.
Gibraltar, British Overseas Territory
Gibraltar is most known for the Rock of Gibraltar, the large cliffside marking the closest point on the European continent to Africa. We did not visit “the rock” last time we were in this port, so we decided to do so on this visit.
The area surrounding it is a nature reserve, so we thought a nature walk was in order. The cable cars to the top were closed the day we were in town due to high winds, which is fairly common. We could have taken a taxi up, but we decided to walk up instead.
We hiked up the very steep streets and stairs to the park, paid the entrance fee, and continued to walk up. The park was very crowded with taxis and tour vans, making it less than pleasant. We made the best of it, saw a few sights, and managed to find a couple of short walks that were not on roads with traffic. But it seems that while a nature reserve, there are few nature trails, at least not in the part of the park we were in. We found no need to hike to the top and made our way back down to town for lunch.
When looking for a pub for lunch, we found somewhat by accident the same pub, the Aragon, that we ate in last year! It is very small and has a mix of local and tourists, good beer, and great food – we enjoyed it so much last year that we decided to eat there again. I guess we now have a favorite pub in Gibraltar 
Our next port of call was Málaga, Spain. We first visited this port last year on the world cruise, and felt it was our favorite place we have been in mainland Spain. After being there a second time, we still feel the same way!
We started our visit to the port in a similar way to last time, walking through the beautiful Parque de Málaga on our way to the city center. We then had an errand to run. Since we are planning to spend a few months in Europe, and it is almost impossible to travel without cell phone service these days, we decided to purchase a European phone. Purchasing one in Spain had a few advantages to us: 1) I speak Spanish so it is easier to purchase and activate a phone in Spain than in Italy where I don’t speak the language, 2) I would have time to setup the phone and download a few apps (Airbnb, Uber, etc.) before we arrived in Italy a few days later.
After that errand, it was time to find lunch. We ate at a new restaurant for us that turned out to be an excellent choice, El Pimpi. This restaurant was described in our guide book as one that is always busy but where the line to eat inside or out moves fast, and online reviews were the same. Reviews also said that the food is excellent despite the restaurant being very popular and crowded. We were there on a weekend and my observation is that there were more locals there than tourists, but there were both. It was nice out, so we choose to sit outside, within view of the ruins of the Roman Theater. We had an outstanding meal consisting of olives, Spanish tortilla, a great salad and some acorn fed jamon Iberica (really good ham) with good bread. Simple and delicious due to the quality of the ingredients.
After lunch, we walked back through the park and did a short walk on the beach, somewhere we did not have time to visit during our last time here. The beach is nice and was filled with mostly local families enjoying their Saturday.
After a wonderful day on shore, it was time to head back to the ship.
Ajaccio, Corsica, France
The only port of call on this cruise that was new for us was Ajaccio, the capital and largest city of the French island of Corsica. It is the birthplace of Napoleon and most of the tourist attractions in the city are relating to him.
It is believed that the city may have been founded in the 2nd century by the Romans as a port, but this is not certain. It has also been Genoan (late 15th century) and became French in 1768.
Today, the city and surrounding area have around 90,000 inhabitants. Services, shopping and tourism are the primary industries.
It is a relatively small city with only a few commercial streets. We enjoyed walking around the port and marina area prior to finding a place to eat lunch.
We had an excellent lunch at Prova. Our meals were filled with fresh and delicious ingredients. We enjoyed some local beverages. Most of the people in the restaurant seemed to be businesspeople or other locals having lunch, although there was at least one other table of people from our cruise ship.
After the delicious lunch we returned to the ship.
We continue to enjoy cruises as a method of seeing the world without needing to take long-distance flights.
The cruise ended in Civitavecchia, the port nearest to Rome. We disembarked the ship and boarded a bus for the train station. Our time in Rome will be covered in a future blog.
Wow! The sights and food look amazing!!!
Thanks for sharing, it lets me live vicariously through you ! I so like the way the two of you collect memories and experiences instead of just stuff.
Keep enjoying and living the dream guys.
Interesting that you guys have embraced cruising, it does not seem like it would be up a nature lovers alley, but I do understand the alternative to flying. I just found the brashy wisconsin dells touristy feeling too much on the 1 cruise I took lol
Hahaha … we try to avoid the tourist/game/pool crowd, which does exist on cruise ships. Many of the cruises we take are longer and more for transportation, so I think draws a bit of a different crowd. Also, different cruise lines cater to different personalities, so some are more or less of a party boat than others.
One of the other reasons we like it is because we love being on boats and on the ocean, but we like someone else to be in charge of the boat.
But, it definitely isn’t for everyone.
Thanks for the detailed travelogue! I thought the portrait above the bar at the pub looked familiar, and then realized the pub is called the Aragon, so that must be Katherine of Aragon (Henry VIII’s first wife, who was from Spain, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella).
Very observant! I did not know that — thanks for adding that detail
My observation from being there twice is that the owner and the staff are all women, so maybe that is why they chose the name for their bar.
Look like a wonderful trip!