Emerald Cruises UK Reviews 

Having been on both the Emerald Sakara and Scenic Eclipse within 6 months, comparisons between them are inevitable. As both yachts are owned by Scenic there are many similarities particularly in service, accommodation and general excellent quality food & refreshments.
The Sakara being a smaller yacht, with only 50 cabins, allowed for many advantages such as getting close in to sandy coves for beach BBQs on very small islands and a greater opportunity to use its collection of water sport toys like kayaks, paddle boards and amazing Seabobs.
Having much more space, the Eclipse's 6 speciality restaurants offered a much greater choice for evening meals compared to the Sakara's single restaurant. There is also a theatre on the larger yacht, although the entertainment provided in Sakara's lounge was equally enjoyable and had a brighter décor in contrast to the rather drab greys in the Eclipse lounge. Surprisingly the smaller yacht had a larger on-deck jacuzzi, and even a small swimming pool which was missing entirely on the larger ship. Shouldn't really be a surprise as the Ellipse is clearly designed for operation in polar climates.
Having visited several Caribbean islands before, we saw the non-inclusive excursions as a cost saving benefit.
I would have rated this cruise as 5* were it not for the lack of attention to the whole disembarkation process.
Clearly for operational reasons the ship needs its guests to depart ASAP. However when the return flights (arranged by Emerald) are 8hrs later it's unreasonable to expect their guests to sit outside the terminal with their luggage for many hours before check-in opens. Other cruise lines arrange for accommodation with facilities for this wait why can't Emerald?
In conclusion a truly wonderful cruise but poor attention to transfer logistics will probably put me off repeating.

All went well until the last morning when I had to leave early for my flight. On the previous evening I had been told that a good continental breakfast would be available but in the event, along with others, I was given a box with a sandwich to which I was allergic, a dry biscuit & juice. We all thought this was disgusting and spoilt the experience.

Lovely cruise
Fantastic staff
Beautiful scenery
Amazing food

We enjoyed a 9/10 experience with Emerald.

Nearly perfect, but some niggles which took the shine off the otherwise exceptional holiday.

We were encouraged to complete an online satisfaction survey before leaving the vessel and within a time limited link which we did, but were quite surprised not to get a follow up considering the issues we raised around health and safety. We’ll see if this review provokes a call from Emerald!

Positives - Port calls were idyllic and off the beaten cruise track. Food and beverages were excellent. Staff wholly attentive and personable - the yacht’s greatest asset in our opinion. A true ‘super yacht’ experience at an affordable price point. Standard balcony cabin was spacious, well designed and super comfortable. Outside decks fabulous to relax on with plenty of space and never felt crowded.

Advise to research ports beforehand to get the most out of the time ashore as not much information given onboard. Not suitable for those with mobility issues or frailty due to most transfers ashore by tender or zodiac which can be challenging and weather dependent. Also some heavy doors out onto decks.

Entertainment was ridiculous, very amateur, poor and quite frankley, stupid!
Food ok
Staff good
Would I go again? NO!

I contacted Emerald to arrange to bring my husbands mobility scooter on our Douro cruise. They booked this in with the airlines and explained what we could and couldn't do on the ship. When we arrived to board the Emerald Radiance we found that they had upgraded us to a more suitable cabin. The crew couldn't have been more helpful in helping with mobility issues. Thank you for making our holiday exceptional.

I had a nice experience with Emerald cruise and I recommend, if you want to make a river cruise into Europe!

A fantastic journey well organised from start to finish would definitely recommend this holiday to Asia a trip of a lifetime to remember, Hanoi ,Ha long bay, Saigon and Cambodia, then on to Singapore to finish the trip.

Very well organised with interesting and informative trips. Both hotels and cruise ship were excellent including both rooms/cabins and food. The staff on the cruise ship were first rate and ensured that the cruise was memorable and enjoyable.

Terrible experience. Poor communications. Did not get to most of the ports advertised.. food was excellent as was the staffing in the bar.

It was fantastic from the moment we boarded the ship, staff were amazing and food magical.

Very well organised from start to finish.Beautiful panoramic cabin,fantastic food and service.Felt special

Excellent experience
Ship modern clean
Cabins very pleasant appointed
Dining room and bar area bright and modern
Crew on board highly trained , very knowledgeable, polite and friendly
Food
Breakfast good buffet
Dining experience superb fine dining each night and wine was complemented with each meal

Excellent from start to finish.Panoramic cabin ,food,drinks,service all great.Will definitely book again.

A wonderful adventure along the Douro on a beautiful and very comfortable boat. Great food and wine and helpful attentive staff.

A truly fantastic and memorable trip down the river Danube - one, just like our previous trip with Emerald on the Rhine, we’ll be talking about for years to come.
My wife and I were very sad to leave ‘our floating home’ at the end of the cruise, but very glad of the memories we’d made.
Thank you Emerald - we’ll be back😎

We have done a number of Emerald cruises and have found them consistently very good. We enjoy the well trained and efficient staff and the general level of attention paid to ensuring a good experience for all on board. Food, level of cleanliness of very high standard. It is lovely to be able to unpack and enjoy the days thereafter seeing new places without effort. We've always had great fun with the people we've met.

The ship Sakhara is beautiful, like an oligarch's yacht.
The interior is absolutely amazing. Fabulous lounge and bar, three fabulous dining areas, and the rooms are so spacious and very thoughtfully furnished, lots of window with door out to private deck
Only 100 guests and you meet them all during the time you're on the ship or on one of the tours ashore.
Food is all fantastic

Lovely friendly ship as usual with happy friendly staff.