gatlinburg

Thanks Bob! Weird, cuz I had my settings set on PUBLIC already. Ugh. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. Awwww!!!! LOL

:D

It looks like you have to change a setting n FlickR to make the photos public.

Thanks Clarea!!! Not sure if this link will work from FLICKR, but here are Costa Maya and Cuba shots that I've uploaded so far!!! https://www.flickr.com/photos/154157486@N07/

quote=clarea;52981696]Get links to the photos and paste in your posts here.

Just now uploaded a few Empress 4/19 Cruise photos to Flickr......how do I share now with this forum?

Gatlinburg: Glad you guys had a wonderful time !!!! which beach is that pictured? how did you get to the beach?

This is where we booked privately ahead of time in Costa Maya. (A+ kind of place, nice and private), An American couple and their adult son David run the place. They only allow 50-60 people per day, so it's not crowded, no vendors trying to sell you stuff, and you don't have to rush off the ship. They have your private area reserved for you!!!! Highly recommended. We will definitely go back. Most of the people there on the day we visited were 3-4 times returning guests!!!! Drinks and Mayan buffet all you can eat/drink is included in your cost for the day, and transport from the port, and back to the ship. They make trips every 30minutes, and it's about a 20 min."bumpy" car/shuttle ride. :-) ***snorkel gear, floating chairs, paddle boards, kayaks are all included. They have clean showers, bathrooms, bottled water, and really good drinks!!!! lol

We loved the whole trip out of Miami on April 19th. We hadn't taken our kids on a cruise with us before, and this was the perfect one for them. I was told by a crew member in the Adventure Ocean Program that there were only 22 children onboard. LOL!!!!! Our kids had a great time, loved the food, and good customer service, even though it did rain a lot one night, during the two sea days we were laying out, or in the pool the entire time. Good times!!! Shows were good, Spa folks were kind of aggressive, but very nice. Was not approached by Sales people trying to get us to book another cruise, probably because they didn't want to be around people with kids under foot? Our children were well behaved, and loved every minute of this Cruise. We all certainly fell in love with Cuba, and no doubt will fly or cruise back sometime. Want a few beach days there. Our guide Blexie/Havana Tours we found on Trip Advisor, and was so incredible. Our walking and Classic Car tour was the best, and so affordable. Costa Maya restort-Maya Chan was fun, and not crowded because they reserve your area, and do not over book.

Maya Chan Resort

Thanks sooooooooooooo much for the pics!!!;p I can't wait to book now!!:cool:

I have this cabin one deck below. Love the pics. Do you mind taking a few more?

 

 

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LBB,

here you go~

SilkySal,

The views from our Oceanview #9664 is unobstructed, and above the lifeboats!! This picture shows a public area right at the stairway near our room, and after those windows to the right would be our two large windows. This is the view we had sailing into Cuba from our side of the ship where our room was.

SilkySal, I can honestly say that I don't remember the views of Cuba from #9664 because we were up on the Sun Deck getting all our photos most of the time. Sailing in we were up on the Sun Deck as well. We have at least 600 photos we haven't uploaded yet. Fell in love with Cuba and the people there as well. If you're on FB, we'll be posting tons of our photos in the next week or so. We hired a private tour guide in Cuba, and Blexie was incredible, and privately booked our resort when in Costa Maya-"Maya Chan." That was incredible and friendly as well.

we just were in #9664 Ocean View room with two large windows, unobstructed views.....lots of room if you have kids traveling with you. Three beds. Let me find a picture for you.

hello,

We're thinking about taking this ship on the holiday cruise over New Years. We're thinking of an ocean view room on deck 8, looking for room and deck suggestions. Thanks for any advice or input.

Moana, Arrival, Lion, Star Wars and a few others playing on Empress last week.

We exchanged quite a few Canadian $$$ at the Terminal in Havana, and have US Passports. No problem whatsoever!!! They also said they'd convert it back from CUC to $$$ if we had anything left over. We did not exchange anything upon returning. By the way, if you are traveling on the Empress like we did, there was NO LINE at all when exchanging. Very quick. ***just be sure you bring toilet paper in your purse/pockets. There was none in bathrooms in the terminal.

we just got back from Cuba on Monday. Where's the best place to share tons of photos? I have shared a few already on FB pages.

Please come back and let us know how the visit goes. Pictures if possible. :D

 

I was very much tempted to book one of those cruises to Cuba. But I have no interest in booking Empress so if we go we will most likely take a land trip. A co-worker of mine did that recently and loved it. Cost about the same as the cruise but they spent multiple days there

Only 22 children on our April 19th Empress Cruise. LOL

Loved our 9th floor (F1 category Oceanview) #9664

Kate- We will be taking lots of photos and giving everyone a full review of our RCI Inaugural Cruise to Cuba. Hope the room is as great as other's have told us because I know that the Empress is much smaller than the "floating malls" that they build now. lol:D

Here's an older article, but thought I'd share it. We leave this week for Cuba. Finally!!!!

http://landrykling.com/an-intimate-visit-with-the-empress-of-the-seas/

Thanks so much.......we cannot wait. Staying in the back on 9th floor.

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PMCK-

Can you share with us a little about your Cruise recently on Empress? We sail out to Cuba/Costa Maya early next week, and we're all getting very excited. So happy it's not one of the cruises with 4,000 plus guests!!!! Where was your Stateroom, etc???

Totally agree..It was perfect for my husband and I too!!

MD VBMom can your hubby upload a few of your cabin photos from #9664? We will be onboard on the 19th. Yay!!!

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Agreed~

It is not "cheapo" to give only the auto gratuities.

Would never want to remove automatic/prepaid gratuities....just did not want to be a "cheapo" by not added a little tip to our stateroom person, etc....thanks for all the helpful insight.

The problem is that you would then be missing staff who are included in the automatic gratuities that you don't necessarily come into personal contact with. It is so much simpler to leave the gratuities in place (it covers quite a lot of people for a small amount). If you wish to tip extra then by all means do so, but don't remove the automatic tips.

Thanks Geri.

So now you know - if you choose to remove prepaid or automatic gratuities and tip in cash, those people cannot keep the cash, they must turn it in. If the prepaid or automatic gratuities are left in place and you choose to tip extra to certain staff members, they are free to keep that money. Just the facts, madam.

Thanks for your reply.

"Above and Beyond" what is expected. Magic words. When I wake up in the morning, and leave my room and I return to it being cleaned, is not above and beyond, but status quo. They did their job. I'm not a slob. My clothes are put away, and the floor is clean. My towels are hanging.

 

My waiter at dinner, is efficient, does not leave me waiting. It is what is expected, and status quo.

 

Bartender, pours me a drink, that takes 1 minute to make, he gets my 18% tip. It is what is expected.

 

So all these cases, each person did exactly what I paid them to do, with my cruise fare, and prepaid tips. Saying good morning in the hall way, sharing a smile, etc. are all part of customer service, and part of the job.

 

Extra tips for people to go "above and beyond" are given out, but it has to fit the statement. Example, on my last cruise, I visited a bar nightly. The first night, I ordered a simple beer. It was out of stock. The bartender, told me, and said, he will run and get some from the next bar for me in which case he ran to get it. Every night after, when he saw me enter, he asked me if I wanted it. But I noticed that he did this for many of the other "regulars" so it wasn't just me, but a person that really took care of each guest. Most bartenders, will just smile, say I'm sorry but I'm out of it, and move on.

 

Maybe you kid, pukes all over the floor, and your poor room attendant needs to steam clean the floor.

 

Your waiter takes extra time, with you kids, to make sure they like everything, and helps them out with extra patience.

 

I think everyone knows what "above and beyond" means, and giving extra tips are good for those services. Getting extra towels, ice etc., are just basic request that they do and is expected that they do it.

 

There is no set price, but I will gladly reward someone that works extra hard, or makes extra effort to make my vacation enjoyable.

Especially like the idea of and extra $5 for the stateroom attendant each morning. Thanks~

We always do prepaid gratuities, so technically you are covered and any additional is not necessary. If you choose to tip extra though, there really is no science or "norm" to it. That said, we do typically provide extra

...for our waiter in the dining room the last night (depending on the experience), $10-20

...for our server in the concierge or diamond lounge, $5 nightly (since we usually enjoy a couple beverages each before dinner)

...for the concierge (depending on the level of assistance provided), maybe an extra $20 the last night

...for general bar service through the ship (even though gratuities are included in the beverage packages) we usually leave an extra $1 per drink

...for our stateroom attendant, we usually leave an extra $5 each morning as we head out for our days activities

 

 

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