So here I am on board Emerald Waterways Emerald Dawn, cruising down the Danube
River. In this video I'm going to take you on a tour around this modern and
contemporary ship, and it's very typical of all of the ships in the fleet.
By the way keep watching the video the whole way through because at
the end of the video I have a special bonus related to river cruising that I
think you'll find helpful if you're interested in finding out more about
river cruising. And so this is the Horizon Lounge and its the real heart
and social hub of the ship.
It's where you have things like the Captain's welcome party and farewell party,
where people meet for drinks before dinner or after dinner. It's where the port
talks take place and also where if there is evening entertainment it also happens
here. There's also a 24-hour coffee and tea machine. It's a really bright
cheerful place to be, and important because on river cruise boats you don't have
lots of different venues. This really is the heart of the social world on board
the Emerald Dawn. At the end of the Horizon is an open area
in the front of the bow of the ship, to watch the scenery go. One of the areas that
I really like on the ship is a public access area which is just up on deck three,
just before the Horizon Lounge and bar. In this area behind me
it has some very eclectic an unusual artwork. It adds a
nice touch to the ship, and also it's a very bright area because on both sides
there's floor-to-ceiling glass windows - so it's very nice and bright welcoming space on
the ship. And, of course, an important part of the ship is the Reception area which
is manned twenty-four hours a day. Down here you have the Reception Desk
and the Cruise Director has his or her desk down here. It leads onto the
the Reflections dining room, which of course is another key public
space. One of the great features in the Reception area are these
big screens behind which are digital screens which have things like the daily
program and CNN - and basically lots of information around what's happening
on the ship. Very nice touch. And so this is the Reflections Restaurant - a very
important part of the ship. It's where breakfast, lunch and dinner is served.
Breakfast is a buffet as lunch is. The evening meals are
served, which consists of starters, soup, main course and dessert or
cheese course. Very beautiful room. It's very light very bright. Lots of light
on either side of the ship from the floor-to-ceiling glass windows. So you have
great views particularly if you're cruising during the day or in the light
summer evenings. And so now I'm up here on the Sun Deck which is the whole of the
top deck of the ship. So it's a really big space and it's a great space. There
are lots of places to sit and relax with sun loungers. There's also a couple of other
features such as a walking or running track around the outside, there is a place you
can play "noughts and crosses", little mini golf place. It's a great place
on a summer's day. And definitely one of the most innovative parts of the
Emerald is the plunge pool at the rear of the ship. It
has glass on three sides so, as you move down the river, you can see the sights. You can
splash about or just relax on the seats around it. It's very good fun in
the pool. Theres is a strong current on the other side of the
pool so you can actually do exercise. The current pushes you
back. So that's really nifty. In the evening it gets converted for social
events such as a cinema. The pool gets covered over and it becomes a cinema.
Also when you're in the pool area you can help yourself to coffee
and there is also a full bar menu as well -so you can order drinks here. Actually I want
to give you a little tip. I mentioned that there is 24-hour tea and coffee making
facilities. One of the fantastic things by the tea and coffee making facilities are
these jars which have the most amazing biscuits. I strongly strongly
recommend you give them a try.
And so what about the cabins on board? I'm going to show you the
cabin I was staying in, which is a great cabin and it's called a Panorama Balcony
Suite - and it is quite an innovative cabin. And something that I know is Emerald is
very proud of them as its unique to their ships. Like all of the cruise ships, the
cabins are not large because obviously the ships are constrained by size but
it's a good size.
It's very comfortable, and one of the big innovations is the balcony with in the balcony in the
room. So what happens is the floor-to-ceiling windows you push a
button and the top half lowers down. So you get loads of fresh air into the room
and effectively part of your cabin becomes a balcony - but without having a
balcony.
The bathroom itself is great. There is a shower and most river cruise boats will
only have a shower.
There's a basin and obviously toilet. The great thing I like about
the bathroom is it's not one of those with prefabricated bathrooms - it's got
actual tiles and ceramic basin. There's pretty good storage across
the room as well. You have a minibar, you have a safe and all that kind of stuff as
well. The beds are big and very comfortable. They are quite long for
someone like me who is 6'2", so that's a real plus. Other cruise boats have
beds a little bit shorter. And so river ships tend to not have a lot of
facilities because they're constrained by their size on board. The Emerald
has a couple of features. Behind me
you have a small hairdressers and spa, which can offer things like massages and
things like that. And they're even though space is very tight on the river cruise boat,
as part of Emerald Active program is to try and encourage
people to be more active when they're on a river cruise,
they also have a very small gym which is located on Deck2 - which has
some cardio equipment and some weight equipment. It also is the only place on
the ship with scales so you can track how how much weight you put it on (or
unlikely not putting on) during your cruise. And another feature that they
have on board the ship is a elevator for people who can't get up and down the
stairs. So that goes from level three, which is where the restaurant is,
down to the first level where the the lowest level of cabins are. I hope you
enjoyed that tour around the Emerald Dawn. If you did be great if you left a
"thumbs up" and also be super if you subscribe to the channel. If you'd like the
bonus for watching the whole video, I also have a book about river cruising
that you can download. It's an ebook and contains lots of tips advice and answers
lots of questions about the river cruising.