banderboo

Windjammer – I was very disappointed in the Windjammer. On all previous cruises, I found the service in the Windjammer to be excellent, food good (not great but good) and with the exception of embarkation day the lines reasonable. On this cruise, service was severely lacking; rarely did a waiter come by asking if we needed a drink, food was generally cold, limited selection, not very appetizing and in many cases we encountered empty pans and had to wait for them to be refilled. As far as lines go, don’t get me started….even with lines out the door they only had one side of the Windjammer open.

Dining Room - 1st seating 6 p.m. – Day 1 in the dining room was a mess for us. They had part of my family at one table and part at another. I met with the maitre d prior to dinner and was basically told there was nothing he could do to correct the problem. During dinner there were multiple large tables empty so after dinner I tracked him down, showed him the tables and impressed upon him the need to fix the problem which he did for the next night.

Our head waiter and assistant waiter on day 1 were extremely slow and not very talkative. Day 2 waiters were great. Both Joeriz and Daniella were personable and attentive. They both made an effort to get to know us, remembered our names, what we liked to drink and made suggestions on what to eat.

The food in the dining room was much better than the Windjammer but still not up to par with what I've had on other ships. Nothing we had was bad, just not great. My biggest complaint in the dining room was that many items listed on the menu weren't available.

Bar Service and Specialty Coffee - Between us we had several different packages. 1 person had the Ultimate, 1 (me) had the Royal Replenish and 1 had soda only. Service at the bars was very slow especially during the time when diamond members could get free drinks. It was not uncommon for it to take 15 to 20 minutes to get a drink. Trying to get a soda took just as long or longer. It felt like once the bartenders saw the soda cup you were pretty much ignored.

The specialty coffee area was small and had a limited selection but overall the coffee and service was good.

More to come tonight.

Since there have been a lot of questions regarding Empress of the Sea, I thought I would do a quick review of our experience on the June 2nd – June 6th sailing. This was a 30th birthday cruise for my youngest daughter and her friend. There were 9 people in our group ranging in age from 3 to 50. Myself, 2 DD (ages 32 and 30) and 2 grandsons (ages 5 and 3) are all Diamond members and have been on several different classes of ships. Also in our group were my niece (1 prior cruise), her boyfriend (1st cruise), my DD friend and boyfriend (both 1st time cruisers). We had 2 oceanview cabins on deck 8 and one Jr suite on deck 9.

Getting there – the family is very spread out so coordinating flights and arrivals was a bit like herding cats. Some flew into Miami, some Fort Lauderdale and then there’s me who got stuck in Atlanta, which by the way I do every time I fly through Atlanta. I eventually arrived and vacation officially started. We stayed at the Springhill Suites Miami Airport South which I would highly recommend. The hotel was clean and the staff was friendly. We used Uber to get to the port which would have cost a bit over $15 but I had a free ride up to $22 by downloading the app.

Embarkation – The entire process took about an hour and half from arrival at the pier to walking on to the ship. I’ve sailed out of Miami before and don’t remember it taking that long or being so disorganized. In our case a large part of the problem came from workers trying to direct us to different lines based on C&A status rather than cabin or just allowing us to stay together. In the end, those of us staying in the JR suite checked in via the suite line while the rest used the Diamond line.

Cabins - both of the oceanview cabins (8100 and 8102) were what I would consider typical oceanview cabins. Both grandkids loved the porthole window and the drop down beds. Only con to these rooms were that they were very close to the DJ station so they were very noisy when the music was being played. Luckily they didn't play into the wee hours.

My cabin was a Jr. Suite on deck 9 (9636). Comparatively speaking it's about the size of a regular balcony cabin on other ships. I think the main difference was the shower which had a curtain instead of the rounded glass thing. I would not recommend this cabin if you like sleeping. You could hear the music from the pool deck very clearly and on the night before Coco Cay we heard carts being moved around, banging, running and clanging all night long.

Have to get to work so I'll continue later.

If you get a chance...I'd love to see the kids areas

I'll be sailing on Empress when you get off so I'm really looking forward to your review. would you check to see if they have life jackets on-board for the kids.

Thanks...I put everyone on their own set sail pass "just in case". Worse case we'll get there and they tell us we have to wait for everyone.

whooohooo....I can start getting excited now. Hurry up June 2nd

Do all persons in a cabin have to check in at the same time? On our upcoming cruise we have 4 people staying in a cabin (3 adults 1 child), 2 of the adults are coming in on a separate flight and I was wondering if we could check in before they arrived and then have them check in later when they arrive. Is that possible?

Talked with my TA this week (a large warehouse) and they called RC and confirmed that if we brought our coupon for the soda package to guest services it would essentially be $ off our purchase of any other beverage package.

I'm hoping it's the same "large warehouse" that I bought my cruise from as I also received the soda package for free. I don't drink soda at all but definitely drink my fair-share of coffee.

Is there a way to see what sailings have Havana Suites or balconies available without having to do a "fake" booking for every date. I pretty flexible on dates but I want one of the Havana suites or a Havana balcony (no inside) but all of the sailings I've found are sold out. Short of calling Carnival directly (or a TA) is there a way to filter on cabin type?

Does anyone know when the October 2017 Itineraries will be released?

The port I'd like extra time in is Halifax NS catching the ship again in New Brunswick. My mom's family is from Halifax so I'd like to do some genealogy research while I'm there and possible meet up with some of the relatives that still live in the area. I might be able to get everything done in the allotted time but I'd rather just not have to worry about time.

I'll contact RCI for confirmation but thanks for the info so I know what to ask for.

I'm looking at possibly doing a Canadian cruise later this fall and I'd like to spend extra time at one of the ports and meet up with the ship the following day at the next port. Is it possible to pre-arrange this?

Each to their own I think.

 

I have to say I thought the cabanas on the barefoot beach at Labadee must be a bit like the emperors new clothes. People are too embarrassed to say that they spent $XXX to sit in an open beach shed surrounded by other people and so they say they are great.

I think this is one where I'd have to say Don't knock it until you try it....

I'm not embarressed at all to say that I spent $225 to rent a cabana on Labadee. I enjoyed every minute of as you say sitting "in an open beach shed surrounded by other people".

For some, having that small bit of shelter is the difference between enjoying the day on the beach and being miserable. I'm very fair skinned and burn very easily. I don't like being covered in sand and I don't like laying out in the sun baking. When we don't have a cabana I spend no more than 2 hours on the island before wanting to go back to the ship. This past cruise we got a the cabana and I spent the entire day on the island. I was able to go in and out of the water without getting covered in sand. I could get out of the sun complete while enjoying the views. The furniture was much more comfortable than a beach chair and the cabana was fully stocked with towels, and cold water.

Hourly option was not available on our sailing last week. All other options were the same as posted.

We had no problem taking our two grandchildren (1&3) into the concierge or diamond lounge on Freedom last year.

From the future, tomorrows drinking schedule, I mean Compass.

 

 

Thank you!!!!!

On oasis you can eat at JR for breakfast. Not so on Freedom. Here's an example of the Freedom compass which has the info you would be looking for. Oasis will have something similar.

 

Thanks for the compass. Would really appreciate if you could post one for each day as you get them. I'll be on the western itinerary in a few weeks and would love to see them.

To help her avoid confusing the doors, I'd suggest getting a night light for the bathroom.

Your child may order from ANY menu....the Family time dining is at the main/early seating....they expedite your childs meal, and take them to the club...leaving parents to finish their meal how they choose!

In theory this is how it should work. When we were on Freedom last year our server wasn't very good at the expediting part. We had to remind him several times that they kids would be leaving early and would he PLEASE get their meal. And yes, the kids can order from any menu.

for cocktail hour, none of them do. children are allowed at any other time.

Not true, we took our grandkids in the lounge during cocktail hour on Freedom. No one complained or said anything about them being there.

Does anyone know if the smoothies on Freedom are included?

Thanks for the great review. You had me laughing so hard my DH came to see what was going on.

How big is the splash pad for children not potty trained?

It may have changed after drydock, but when we sailed May 2014 with our 2 grandsons I was very disappointed in the pool area for non potty trained kids. I'll see if I can find a picture. It was basically a small shallow circular area that the kids could sit in. I think capacity said 10 kids but in reality it was probably big enough for 5 or 6 kids and their parent.

At least on our cruise the pool attendants would go nuts if the kids even walked through the splash zone area.

I'm not sure if they are strict or not. If nobody chimes in here, you could start a new thread.

It depends on the number of kids on board in those age groups. If there are a lot of kids on board in the group you are trying to move to then you probably won't be able to put the kids together. On the other hand, if you are sailing when there aren't a lot of kids you probably won't have a problem. Go in and talk to them as soon as you get on board.

On FOS last May, I pre-booked 3 specialty restaurants and had difficulty getting the discount. After going through multiple people they were finally able to get the discount added but it did take some work.