MS Emerald
It seems like I'm a bit late to the party. I thought I had time to book this new Rhone cruise because all of the sailings were labeled "available" rather than "limited". The fact is that April, August, and October are nearly sold out. We had been looking at the August sailing. But, only category 1 is available with an established wait list for the other categories. If anyone has used that category I would love to know if there was engine noise to contend with and how claustrophobic you felt. I imagine the tiny windows would mean a dark room.
BTW - I have gone on the Danube cruise with MS Inspire. Their category 3 has a two level 225 square feet room as opposed to MS Emerald's category 3, one level, with just 150 square feet. Not all of the riverboats are the same.
Comments
I have done a Cat 1 on the Emerald. I didn’t find it dark. No engine noise but you will hear the water running into the lock when you pass thru. It was very comfortable for me. I didn’t spend much time there except sleeping, etc.
We took a lower level cabin on the Andorinha ( we normally choose a cabin on the Ruby deck) and you do lose a lot of light in the Cat 1s when docked next to another ship or depending on the level of the dock. More so than other cabins. But there are plenty of public spaces to hang out especially if a warm weather cruise when the sun deck is usable.
We were on the Emerald last September. We thought we chose well, but frugally, with Suite 202, Cat 4 on the Ruby Deck. Nice location, but the shower was so tiny, we could just soap the walls and turn round and round! lol Awkward furniture placement made it very hard for 2 people.
I just love your description of your shower experience. That's how it was for us on our first Ponant cruise.
I too was in Suite 202–impossible to wash my hair without bruising my elbows!
150 sf is painfully small. You could book and try waitlisting for a larger cabin or suite.