ADS94

Edit: Havana, Cuba

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More coming today. Greetings from the island of Cuba!

Phone GPS confirmed it... Sailing past Cuba this trip.

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What was the emergency?

 

The ship looks amazing!

It's even better in person!

I don't know. Everyone I talked to was mum about it. Don't know if that was because they didn't know or didn't want to say.

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Schooner Bar

Card Room

RC Online

Speaking of online... Heres the VOOM Surf + Stream speed test

The Centrum. Looks beautiful!

The ship looks brand new. Royal did an amazing job with this ship. She doesn't look her age at all! I was just on the Grandeur and she certainly showed her age. The Empress of the Seas could be a brand new ship for all I knew. Her age only shows with the junior suites with their door placements. If Pullmanter drove her into the ground then they spent enough time to make sure she was brought to Royal's standards.

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Boleros Lounge at Muster

I'm at karaoke right now. I took this picture during Muster.

Drink #3 of the cruise.

Staff have been nothing but eager and energetic. Everyone seems to be so relieved we are underway! Nothing but smiles and laughs. A few glitches here and there. The big word is Cuba though. It's the most talked about thing between the staff and C&A folks. Rumour is going around that it's August she'll go.

Prop wash, we are underway!

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Rock climbing wall!

Some construction still. This is the only area of the ship I've seen construction still ongoing.

Viking Crown Lounge & Fitness Centre

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I've started a tour of the ship. She's a lovely little thing! Get from bow to stern in no time flat. The walking track is on deck 6, which is a change from other ships!

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Since there is not a lounge do diamonds get 3 vouchers. Also the separate part of boleros for suite are the drinks complimentary?

 

 

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Love the pictures, has anyone acknowledged the delay in her first sailing?

If you mean the cruises we miss, yes. Everyone acknowledged it and always said how they are happy guests are finally onboard.

If you mean the 30 min delay we have from sail away yes they acknowledged that too

Gotta get ready for Muster... Will cut off part one here. Part two will come soon.

Bad News:

Had a medical emergency on deck two. Happened after lunch. This was at around 1200. Writing this at 1455, Miami-Dade fire, ems, and police have showed up. If anyone has any information from the news I'd like to see it. I will try and get the info from on board... Hope everyone is OK.

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Above is exactly what you think it is. A sink is on both sides of the entrance to the windjammer to wash your hands before eating. They also had the hand sanitizing machine but I washed my hands. It felt like luxury! The windjammer is so small and intimate. It was designed for looks and not traffic flow like the other ships.

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We have 2/3rds of the back of the ship as a balcony. It is two sections, each with their own door.

Went straight to the windjammer for lunch after checking the cabin. Again, my first impression was a WOW!

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The cabins were opened right away because there were no guests on before. We are in the Owner's Suite on deck 9. All I can say is WOW!

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We all got together with the ships officers and took a picture on the stairs. I'll try and get that photo pronto!!

The famous Super Mario!

Daniela took us up to Boleros to sit, chat, and have coffee. Only a few folks came up here to sit down, but we all met the staff as well as the food director. We learned there is no concierge lounge, no diamond lounge and no plans to have one. They are trying to market the Empress as a party ship. Boleros does have a special section reserved for suite guests only for drinks. Pinnacle Club members aren't even allowed. Onboard Party for suite guests and top level C&A members is combined. Junior Suites are excluded from the suite category.

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They greeted us personally with flutes of champagne!

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Here we go... The first Day 1 update. I might post about the night later but this is just going to be real picture heavy.

As I said previously, we were invited to be one of the first on the ship. In actuality, I was the sixth guest to walk on, along with Pinnacle Club members and the famous Super Mario!

We were invited to a back room where they server coffee, tea, sandwiches, and some sweet pastries. The Loyalty Ambassador, Daniela Munteanu sat and talked with us, learned our names and chatted.

Walking on board... Wow! The first! The tension was in the air as we walked down the gangway, a group of 15 or so.

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Can you please post the sheet of the senior officers e.g., Captain, Hotel Director, Chief Engineer, Cruise Director, etc..? Thanks!

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Couldn't resist a quick new picture... The cruise compass! I'll get these up daily... Make everyone feel like they are here with us all!

Of course everyone's favourite.... The pool bar!

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So anxious to see some pictures. Anyone have some to post?

I will be posting tonight! Heres some teasers....

She's such a beautiful ship!!!

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And I'm back again with an update! I wish I could reply to each one of your posts but it seems it's far too cumbersome so I'll try and address everything here at the beginning.

Thank you to everyone who posted so far! I'm glad to be sharing the Empress' rejoining of the fleet. I know I'm going to have a fantastic time! A little bit about our room... We booked the aft owners suite on deck 8, which I will post many pictures of!! So I am sad to say I can't give pictures of a more representative cabin. I will try and peak in a few when cleaning is going on and report back.

For requests, I will post the cruise compass each day, all of the pages. I do not done in the MDR often so I might not get a menu picture from there, I will try to get one if they have a stand outside! If anyone has any special requests for pictures of the Empress ask away! I want to document as much of the ship as I can.

I apologise for spelling mistakes the next few days small screen curse with added spellcheck nightmare!! :)

To bring everyone up to date... We are staying at the Marriott in downtown Miami. We are really close to the port for a good reason. Our previous room was upgraded and now we have a very spacious hotel room for the night. Not bad!

After lunch at a local place, I walked down to that triangular island south of Dodge Island. I hustled because it sounded like someone was leaving (at 1430!) But alas after waiting for half an hour, it was not to be. I wish I could have walked further or caught a ship leaving, but I did see Royal Caribbean's headquarters, and get yet another neck arching glimpse of the Empress of the Seas. The suspense is killing me! The Enchantment was perfectly content hiding behind RCCLs HQ.

We were given the opportunity to be one of the first ones on the Empress by the loyalty ambassador. We accepted the offer instantly! We are now going to head to the pier at 0800 tomorrow morning to be escorted on to the vessel. I plan on taking a lot of pictures!!

Getting on the ship early and one of the first will be fun. It turns what I always consider a wash day (embarkation day) into a fully fledged day on the ship. So excited!

I pre purchased voom surf stream. I will check it with D discounts and do some speed tests for those who are wondering. I will make to to have at least one, maybe two updates a day! I'll make sure to post an ongoing commentary about the ship, as well as my final review once I get back to Citrus county.

Hope you all enjoy the trip as much as I will!

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Hopefully these work. I have not used this app before but I need it to get the pictures up fast.

We started our day back in Connecticut. Had a flight out of Hartford at 0730... Arrived at the airport at 0500! Luckily TSA lines were not that bad...

We have always loved the smaller ships. Biggest one we've ever been on was the voyager class. The Empress will be perfect for us!

Boat shopping time for us. On the way to the Miami Boat Club we saw this beauty staring back at us. Rapidly taking pictures while exiting the highway lol! (I wasn't driving!)

While at the Yacht club I snapped shots of a Norwegian ship (don't know the name) and the Carnival Fantasy(?)

Going for lunch now, going to try and get a place close to the Empress and admire the ship. Looks so much smaller in person than I imagined!

Edit: snapped a picture of the Enchantment! Loved that ship when we were on it...

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Hey everyone! I'm reporting in live from Miami. I flew down a day early to enjoy me some of Miami before boarding the wonderful Empress of the Seas! I plan on doing a full pictorial review of the ship and hope my pictures and insights can help those on the fence with the Empress to decide or to give those who are going to be on it wood a good look at the "brand new old ship!" :)

Once I figure out how to upload pictures, I'll have the first sightings up...

7 more until the inaugural Empress sailing back with RCI!

For all of you sailing on the May28th cruise. Please report back with lots of details and reviews. Thanks!!!

That's what I plan on doing whilst onboard the ship.

We are also on that sailing and not really looking forward to it anymore. If it is not cancelled, I will board the ship with the intent to enjoy it and not be on the lookout for problems. Frankly, though, I will have to really push myself into a positive attitude, because all I feel at this time is trepidation. We have booked another cruise on a different cruise line with a final payment date after May 28. If the Empress is cancelled, the small amount we paid for it will go towards the new booking. At this point, we are hoping for cancellation.

I can understand the feeling! If we didn't have an OS at the insane prices they had on the first day I'd want it cancelled too and put towards another cruise. But I know when I booked it, this was an old ship and not up to standards of the new ships anyway, I just hope that it isn't a horrible experience.