erbunny

I booked our 30 April cruise in December and was told about the visa at that time, even though the website did not have a lot of info yet.

Not much of a Bloody Mary guy, so not sure. Sorry.

Bloody Marys and Mimosas are served during brunch on sea days.

We found the $1 (!) mimosas in the casino bar to be fabulous.

I sailed Empress on April 30, and agree with everything OP has said. "Little ship, big heart" is very true.

Where is your review posted? I cannot seem to find a couple of reviews that people said they have made.

I posted it yesterday. CC sent an e mail yesterday saying that it might day a few days to post on the site. :)

We were also on the April 30th cruise, and I have posted a review. We had a lovely, relaxing time. I love the bells and whistles on the big ships but also enjoyed this smaller one. Be prepared for cabin shock, tho, very small, even compared to dear old Monarch. I hadn't cruised for 2 years and have wondered whether some of the changes I noticed are due to the size of the ship or overall cutbacks. Typically the service and staff were outstanding. Entertainment, except for one comedian , was good. The interior of the ship is lovely, more sophisticated than I thought. I hope they get a new lecturer. Cuba is the reason most people chose this cruise, but she was BOring in the extreme, very sad.

Does anyone know which pier in Cozumel The Empress of the Seas pulls into?

Thank you in advance

It is the one closest to the newly remodeled shopping area.

We got back a few days ago, had a great time, have reviewed.

Apparently this will be fleet wide soon. It was in an e mail I got yesterday. Not a big fan of room service , except for breakfast, but this is not a good trend.

We just booked a cruise. My husband has always wanted to see more of Cuba after being in the Navy, at Gitmo, 50 years ago. I think it would be very interesting to see it now, altho I doubt we would be able to return. We went to China in 1985, and I know it has changed tremendously since. Having also been to Russia, we are very aware of how sanitized a tour to these countries can be. We are just happy to be able to travel before we get much older.

I just booked a cruise to Havana on Empress. The licenses are required only if you are venturing on your own instead of using a ship sponsored excursion. The agent also told us that we will not be able to use US$ even for tips, we must change for Cuban money. I think we would be using the ship's excursions anyway because their tourist industry is so new, and it would be hard to get good references.

Forming a team is great fun, and you meet the most interesting people. My husband doesn't like trivia, so I really need teammates. We always trade answer papers with another team, so it is good to have at least one person with legible handwriting.

I am sure that if Quantum is successful, one of the big girls will go to the Asia/Pacific market.

Even money says at least one of the big girls, and it will probably be Harmony, will end up in the Asian/Pacific market.

I am afraid I have lost interest with news of the changes to deployments.

The announcement of the new deployments is upsetting. We were really looking forward to sailing Anthem out of Ft Lauderdale. I just hate that they are catering to the Chinese, who will definitely make a lot of money from Quantum. I still love cruising, still looking forward to my Navigator cruise next year, but doubt if I could be exactly "Loyal to Royal" after this. Not so high up in C&A that it would be a great loss to look at other lines.

Vision of the Seas is my favorite ship, and Bonaire is really nice. We took a snorkel cruise on the Chinese junk and loved it. Bonaire also has an open air market with surprisingly nice crafts.

I don't really mind trading the Viking Crown for 270, but will be very sad if there is no Schooner Bar

Thank you for this very concise and helpful chart. My DH and I are really looking forward to this new concept.

Thanks for doing this, it looks pretty darn good to me.

There often more than one/day. Sometimes they will be a special category, but most are general. On our last RCCL cruise, on Vision of the Seas, they had a progressive trivia, which was lots of fun, especially as our team won!

I hope you like key chains!!

Recently on NOS, the Texas Tenors were great!

They are going to be back on Navigator Feb 8, 2015. They will be on the entire cruise, as there is a TTT charter group going, with lots of fun benefits.:)

We haven't been to Belize yet, but our all-time favorite excursion was salsa and salsa in Cozumel with the two dancing chefs. Lots of margaritas, food, dancing , and fun !

I am glad you're enjoying your cruise and that your injury heals quick. Looking at your photos later will be lots fun! Thanks for doing this.

We just did this on a Princess ship and it was well-worth getting up early not to have to search for our bags or wait forever at customs.

Thanks so much for doing this. We sail in exactly one year, and are really looking forward to it.

Thanks for all the comments. We are thinking of just the partial transport, as we have a place in Florida that is driving distance from Ft. Lauderdale so no airfare would then be involved.

We just finished the partial transit on the Island yesterday, and it was wonderful. We really loved the excursion that goes all the rest of the way to the Pacific. We got a much better view of the lock operation than from the ship . There is a thread here that discusses this trip in great detail and controversy, but a short summary follows.

Yes there are some issues for those with lesser mobility, but you get on and off on a ramp, not stairs, and there is a lower seating area that is just fine.

The lunch is okay, and DH and I thought the skewered chicken was very good.

Cold bottle water and soft drinks (no sugar free available) are provided as part of your day, and there was plenty available.

The bus trip may seem long, but we had a great narration by our guide, so it went by quickly.

I hope you have as wonderful a time on either ship as we did