Empress Of The Seas 11 Night Cruise Review

Empress of the Seas Review

Embarkation went very smooth and was very organized. Suites, Platinum and Diamond get a private line and a separate lounge to wait in. We arrived at about 11:15 - 11:30 am and we would have been on the ship much sooner, but the picture taking machine for the Sea Pass cards was being fixed. We never stood out in the sun, but it was still a little hot until they let us into a very large air conditioned room where it took us less than 5 minutes to get through the registration process. It is very well done by the people in San Juan.

Disembarkation was also very smooth and very well organized. They gave us early color tags but we changed them ourselves to late because we were not flying out until 3:40 pm.

Suites, get an early color and a priority for disembarking.

Suites, Platinum and Diamond get a private lounge to wait in with coffee, tea and doughnuts, pastries and such.

The Empress of the Seas is a beautiful little ship.

We loved the whole cruise and the ports are very nice. The few things I do not favor on this review does not, and did not, have any effect on our loving this whole ship and itinerary.

The Crew of the Empress are wonderful and very friendly. They all greet you every time you pass them or use their services.

Our Cabin. My biggest complaint was the JS we had on Deck 9 was freezing. There was no way to really turn it off with the thermostat in the cabin, so we froze the whole cruise. My husband and I both came home sick with colds. Please be prepared for this. It was a very large topic of conversation on the cruise from the other passengers as well.

By the looks of the cabin it was not redone when they just refurbished the ship. I saw nothing at all new. The closet had one shelf where the safe sat, and an extra pillow. The safe was a bit too high and it made it difficult to key in a code. I had to stand on a chair to set the code. There were no safes in the cabins that were not suites according to many of the people. There are no mini refrigerators in the JS cabins.

There are two bars for hanging shirts, shorts, etc. There is also one bar that held all the pants and dresses. I bring a lot of clothes and got them all in the closet. My husband and I brought along extra hangers and many pants hangers that allow 4 garments to be hung on them to give us enough for the closet. Our 2 suitcases, 2 carry on bags fit in them, and 1 garment bag fit under the bed once my husband lifted it a little to slide them under.

The bathroom was small. The shower we had was shaped like a triangle and to bend over in it to wash your feet was next to impossible. Once you soaped up, the floor did get a little slippery.

I really feel that this cabin should not be called a JS suite just because of the balcony. It is just a plain old superior ocean view in my thinking. If you want a balcony as we did, you will pay for that privilege.

Dress Code nights.

A very important thing that is not shown on the RCCL website is that they have now added another formal night to the schedule. There are three formal nights for the 11 night cruise. Here is how it went on our cruise.

Day 1 is Casual.

Day 2 is Formal.

Day 3 is Casual/Caribbean.

Day 4 is Smart Casual.

Day 5 is Casual/70’s.

Day 6 is Casual/Western.

Day 7 is Formal.

Day 8 is Smart Casual.

Day 9 is Formal.

Day 10 is Casual.

Day 11 is Casual.

The public rooms are clean and very well kept.

The dining room is a two level area in the rear of the ship, with glass all around three sides. Early seating is at 6:00 pm and the late is at 8:30 pm.

When you are eating and the ship departs from a port, the whole dining room shakes and vibrates a lot. The silverware and glasses can be heard trying to escape from their holders.

We found the food to be very good. We are people who usually do not go to high end restaurants, so the food got no complaints from us. They served the warm chocolate cake one night and the flourless chocolate cake the next night. Leave room for both of them. There is a chocolate buffet held on pool deck and of course the gala buffet held in the dining room.

We had table 118, lower level, at the main seating. Our waiter Enderson and assistant waiter Claudio kept us well fed and were excellent with their service. Our head waiter was from India and was always coming to the tables to make sure everyone was well taken care of. I felt he was well deserving of earning a good tip from his tables he tended to.

The Windjammer is a very nice dining area and we did breakfast and lunch there everyday. We never ate dinner there. We found the variety and food was good. It is very crowded for these meals and there was more than one time when they ran out of silverware and plates, let alone tables. The area between the buffet bars was very crowded at times and difficult to pass through.

It seems that the dining room did not receive many passengers for breakfast or lunch according to our waiters and head waiter. They said that one lunch they only had 9 people eat in the dining room.

We never used Portofinos, so someone else will have to post about that restaurant.

The Strike up the band showroom is two levels and it is a lovely theatre, but the seating leaves a lot to be desired. It seems there are just a limited amount of seats in the upper level that have a good view. A lot of the people knowing this would go there and choose to sit an hour before the shows for the good viewing seats. Be very careful on moving around the theatre because many people fell down the steps that are very hard to see once the lights are down.

The Centrum is also very nice with the smaller than usual shops well stocked. I think the sundries that some people look for onboard could be a little better if there was more of a selection. They are in the liquor store and in only a very small area is set aside for these items. We had to purchase most of the things we needed on days in ports.

The Pursers desk was one of the better ones we have dealt with on ships. The staff was always friendly and the time waiting for information was minimal.

Bolero’s Lounge was a very nice place to hold many of the events on the ship. It does have a latin theme with the music and entertainers.

Sun Deck we do not use, so I will leave that to someone else to answer.

Fitness and Spa. Again I do not use them, so no comments from me.

Photos on the ship were not the best I have seen. They rush too much and the pictures are not very good. That is only my opinion.

The CASINO. There were some big winners, but I found them to be less freguent as the days went on. The machines we played seem to tighten up a lot around mid week.

Sailing from San Juan.

The have been many comments on these boards made about sailing from San Juan that were not favorable. We never came across a rude person, a line cutter, loud people who take over the elevators, nothing of that sort on this cruise. Everyone we met and talked to was very pleasant and from what we saw, got along very well. We have sailed from there many times and we will continue to do so.

As for tours and things like that, I am not the best person to ask. Post questions and hope for answers from the people who actually took them.

This ship, crew and itinerary are FABULOUS. Please remember that these are my views and not everyone will agree with this review.

Please feel free to ask me any questions about what I experienced on the Empress.

HI !

How was the stability of the empress during the cruise ? :D Did she rock a lot ? :p

great DAY !

Thank you so much, Alexis! Glad you had a great time. And so glad that you had so many positive experiences. We've left from San Juan a number of times as well and have never had any problems.

Can you do a break down of what you did in each port? We are old hands at sailing on the Empress, so we know all about the ship. I like to get new ideas for what to do in each port. We don't do too many shore excursions from the ship...we pretty much strike out on our own.

Thanks again for the great review. How did your own M&M party go? I've still not found anyone going on March 14th and I am amazed.

Still like to hear more comments from anyone!

I had a slightly different opinion of this sailing. To qualify my opinion I have been on 19 Royal Caribbean ship and this was the third time on the Empress.

EMBARKATION was easy especially for Suites, Platinum and Diamond members with their own line.

DISEMBARKATION very smooth and very well organized. Suites, Platinum and Diamond members get a private lounge to wait in with coffee, tea and doughnuts. The lounge was announced at the Platinum and Diamonmd members cocktail party. If you did not attend that function you were not told where the private lounge was. All other RCI ships I have been on, a letter was slipped under the cabin door concerning the lounge. I spoke to the loyalty manager who also was the future cruise person. It was very apparent to me that she was more concerned with future cruise sales than the crown and anchor members.

I have to also say that this was the first time I have been to a Diamond cocktail party when the captain did not even show up nor did any officer.

I personally did not enjoy the ship as many passengers at our table as well as other places commented. As far as the itinerary that was the main and only selling point, it was great and could not be better.

I agree that the crew was was excellent always pleasant, friendly and eager to help.

Our Cabin was the owners suite in the front of deck number 7. Our cabin was always hot with the therostate at its lowest. All night every night you could hear the wind blowing with a whistle across our balcony. The size of the Owners Suite was about half the size of the JR suite on the Mariner. The cabin came with a DVD player taking 1/4 of the counter space but no DVD's on board to use. Checked with Library and pursors desk and found there were no DVD.s for the DVD player. After a ling discussion with the pursor she agreed it was stupid to have a DVD palyer taking space with no DVD's to play.

For an owners suite their was very little closet and drawer space. We had to climb over things all week just to move around. Oh by the way it did have a nice flat screen TV.

My owners suite did not have a safe which I was told broke so they took it out without replacing it. I called Guest Relations and asked about the missing safe in my cabin. The gentlemen very nicely tried to tell me that not all cabins have as safe and he was sorry but their are no available safes. 10 munites later I was down at the guest relations desk demanding a safe. The young girl told me that not all cabins come with a safe. I told her that the owner suites come with a safe and I insist on getting one installed. She told me she was sorry but there are no availble safes on board, "wrong answer" their will be a safe in my cabin by the next morning or you hear from (dropped a name). An hour later I had a brand new safe put into the cabin.

Funny how they suddently found a safe when their were non on the ship. During the cruise I experienced and heard from others that the people at guest relations did not know what was going on and/or lied about it.

A few people of the Jewuish faith were upset that they did not have a Menorah for Hanukkah. Every other cruise ship including RCI has a small Menarah for the holidys. When they brough this to the pursors desk they were told that they dio not have religious items on dispaly. The christmas tree and christmas decoration is not religious? Every person they asked at guest relation gave them a different answer. From what I could make out guest relations did nor resolve one problem all they did was lie and tell you how sorry they were. There was one person at guest relation who said he acme from other RCI ships and they always had a Menorah. He did not know why there was none on this ship.

The bathroom was nice size with a tub. The only problem was the toilet which sits at an angle facing the tub. You had to sit slightly sideways as room between toilet and tub was insufficient. Cannot understand why they don't have it face forward their is plenty of room. Our cabin steward Maria was excellent could not do enough for us.

We were at table 56 lower level all the way in back next to the large windows.Vibration and rumbleing were common leaving port, entering port, and many times out at sea. The food was good but the selection left a lot to be desired especially at lunch. The windjammer had the same lunch selection every day of the 11-day cruise. The only change was the pasta and the soup. Breakfast was the typical selection of eggs etc. The eggs to order were terrible, the man cooking them put so much oil in the pan that it was dripping all over the plates. Halfway through the cruise they changed cooks doing the eggs but they were still floating in oil on the dish. Although we did not go to the dining room for lunch I was told by other that they did not even open for lunch several days.

We went to portofino's one night and was truly dissapointed. Been to portifino's on other RCI ships so I was expecting the same menu and food. Don't know if its RCI or the ship but the menu has changed, no more lobster tail or other favorites such as Filet Mignion. What we did order was not at all that good especially desert. We were looking forward to the Taramisu as we loved it on the other ships. It was nothing like what was given us at Portofino's on the other ships.

Around day seven they started to run out of items. The sugar substitute, Equal suddently was missing from the Windjammer. I asked about this and was told by two different waiters that they were running short so they kept what they had for the dining room.

On day eight or nine we went to the coffee bar and ordered a Moco Frio. No Frio they ran out a few day earlier. Counter person said he tried to order more in San Jaun but they would not ship it. In the owners suite we received a plate of snacks every day. Around day eight the snacks were starting to be repeated and in fact were missed on one day. Talking to the head waiter and other higher personnel they agreed taht things were running but did not understand what was happening as the previous 11-night cruise had no problems with quanity or quality.

The captain had a Diamond members breakfast which was very nice. I ordered the Filet and eggs. I was the last one served according to the waiter the chief forgot to make it. When I got it it was NOt Filet but sirloin. I mentioned this to the waiter who smiled and told me to tell the officer in charge. I think they ran out of Filet. They never had Filet Mignion on any dinner menu.

The only negative I have about the showroom is that when show was going on the bar people were walking around taking bar orders and serving drinks. There were times when they blocks our view. Most cruise I have been on they do stop bar service during the show.

We came across a lot of loud people froim San Juan. Sometimes they would sit on the steps making it diifficult to walk up and down. Asking them to move got you dirty looks and then the language barriier not understanding what you said

Comments from other at my table and all around ship were mostly negative for the ship but positive about the ports. Most first time RCI cruisers will never go back to RCI. I heard the same negatives on the bus back to the airport and at the airport waiting for our flight

My wife and I really love Royal caribbean but feel they really goofed on this ship. It was built for the 3/4 day cruise later refitted for a 7-nigh cruise, but from everything we experienced it was not good for an 11-night cruise. If this was our first RCI cruise we would not go on another but being on 18 others we know better and will sail them again

Thanks for the review Alexis. I agree with you and also had a wonderful time on the ship. My review is in a separate post. I heard a couple people complaining, but I think a cruise can be as good or bad as you make it. A couple minor inconveniences did not spoil my cruise. I loved the ship, the crew and the ports. The food wasn't the best, but at least I didn't gain a ton of weight:)

Alexis,

I have been following your posts since you first booked this cruise - glad you had a good time. Thinking of trying it for 2006. We have been on the Empress three times before, and it is one of our favorites. The itinerary for this cruise sounds really different. I'll have to start working on my dh.

Cathy

There were two nights where we felt the ship rock. Our cabin was on Deck 9 and so it would be felt more at that level. I can not remember where the first rocking took place, but it was not too bad. The last day out we sailed from Aruba to San Juan and she rocked pretty good at times. That evening it got very windy and rocked the ship well into the night.

I took 2 Bonine everyday and I was fine. One in the morning and one at night. I do become sick very easy on a ship and I did fine.

I think it was the best cruise offered on the RCCL site. Actually, I could not find a better one anywhere. That itinerary was fabulous. I was pleased to see some of the islands that we had visited in the late 80's and early 90's. It was super great.

I really loved the Empress. I did not need a bigger ship because the islands kept us busy everyday. We always seemed to be busy and the time just seemed to fly by.

I do not think you will regret taking this cruise. Go for it and enjoy.

EDIT: I forgot to tell you about the Meet and Mingle. I could not have been in my cabin 5 minutes and a girl delivered the Meet and Mingle invitation. The ship personnel changed the bad time to a good time. Some of us still met at the Viking Crown Lounge the night before for our get together and got aquainted. The next night we attended the real Meet and Mingle party given by RCCL. I asked them who changed the time and they told me that they had. I thanked them for being so nice. I was also informed that the other Meet and Mingles on future Empress cruises will be at a much better time. They were great hosts and we had a really good turnout to show them we do care about the Meet and Mingles. We had punch and canapes of caviar, shrimp and many different kinds of finger foods. They gave us each a RCCL Cruise Critic pin plus a RCCL landyard to wear. They wrote our Cruise Critic names in the space so we could identify each other. There were no prizes given out but they did a nice job of trying to make things better for the future. I thank them again for changing it on their own.

Island tours and etc.

We do very few tours anymore. We strike out on our own most of the time and just walk the towns and shops.

We took an island tour with Vigilante, (that is the big name printed on his windshield) while in St. Kitts. It cost us $20.00 US per person and was well worth it. He took 8 of us all over the island and stopped at many different places. We could take as long as we wanted at the places of interest and he was very good at telling us all about the island sites and the people. We also saw many monkeys that are the pets of the islanders. I had the pleasure of playing with one on the dock that had a baby with her. Her owner assured me that she was well tamed. I only jumped when she wanted to climb up my arm as I knelt to play with her. I just love any kind of monkey.

We mostly went to the towns and walked around. I always felt safe when staying where it was for tourists.

We took the shopping tour in Margarita Island, VE. That was also a great tour. We were taken to the older part of the island first to the pearl warehouse and then we were taken to the newer part of the island to a new mall. It was a very nice tour. I liked it because we got to see the island and do some shopping at the same time. The town is far away from where the ship docks and it would cost more to take a cab into the town, then to just pay $19.00 each with RCCL tours.

There is a large area of grass huts right on the dock to shop in. There are also two beautiful beaches right behind the huts. You can see the beaches from the Windjammer. A lot of people did not know about them until they were back on the ship.

We were very pleased to see St. Maarten and Curacao have been doing a lot of fixing up to improve their towns. We have always loved them, but now they will be even better to visit.

St Barts is as always, an island for the wealthy to vacation. I had a little trouble with directions to shell beach from a group of high school boys who probably found themselves an old lady they could send in circles. It was funny in a way because three of the four, pointed in different directions. I did find it and the people who went there said they enjoyed it.

As for the rest of the islands, we just walked the owns.

Alexis,

Thank you for your review and port comments! We're going on the 1/17 sailing, really looking forward to it!

We have enough for an M&M, so will be pleased to have a better meeting time.

Strange that they would not have a Menorah for Hanukkah, Nordic Empress was our first cruise back in the early 1990's, and they had a Menorah on display in one of the public areas ( cruise was a 3 night during Thanksgiving weekend). I remember this since one of our table mates on this cruise was a really nice old Jewish lady who seemed to have cruised on allmost every ship that was docked in Nassau with us, when asked where she was from, replied "MIAMI-- I just call the cab to take me to the dock." LOL

1201, Thanks for the review (you too Alexis). We've booked cabin 7006 for our April sailing. I'm not all that thrilled with your comments about your OS. Since there's a 50/50 chance that you were in 7006, I hope they at least fix the thermostat. lol By chance did you take any pics of the room???

We were on the same cruise with ALEXIS. WE loved the smaller ship and the itnerary. We never once ate in the main dining room. We found the WindJammer to be more to our liking. Getting on and off a snap. If anyone tells you different you can check your luggage 6 hours before in san juan so you can go sight see.

That was a bummer spending the day in that airport.

We took alot of expeditons. I would highly recommend booking thru the internet from home. Most of the popular ones were booked.

St Maarten. We shopped, but friends rented a car and had a blask

St Kitts, Did the railway, Friends went to Nevis and loved it.

St Barts, Don't go, Shell beach was nice. Seline Beach awesome. some people rented a car here and had a better time then us. went to more beaches.

Barbados, we did the snorkeling and 4x4. Oh what a blast. Plus those that went to the beaches loved it. We stopped on the Atlantic side and got to watch the huge surf for awhile. AWESOME. You can see the best beach from the pier so take a taxi if you don't want to do an excursion.

Margarite Island, we did the virgin side, un populated and un developed. Went to a beach then 4x4 around the undeveloped side. Very informative.

Alexis did the shopping to the developed side. It was like night and day on this island.

Curaco, Was the best for us. Quaint town and we got a treat by parking the boat in town. Just a short walk to the shopping area. Sea Aquaium beach is the most beautiful beach. Grab your snorkle gear, taxi is $4 per person, beach entrence $3 and a chair $3. For $11 you get a great day on your own time. The lady at the MAMBO beach entrence will call a cab for you to go back to the ship.

Aruba was a bust for us. Guess they had westerly winds the day before so our snorkeing trip was cloudy. Water 20 degrees colder. Those who rented a car and drove the island had an awesome time. plus they went to baby beach and loved it.

Pick early and book your excursion.

We had a room middle deck 3. More storage than the suites. Little movement and no noise from ship operation. It was actually very quiet. We found the food fine, we decided to treat this trip like our Sandals vacations. No time schedule, no worries, just have fun. Yes there were those who complained all the time. We just avoided them and had fun.

Hope this helps

1201, Thanks for the review (you too Alexis). We've booked cabin 7006 for our April sailing. I'm not all that thrilled with your comments about your OS. Since there's a 50/50 chance that you were in 7006, I hope they at least fix the thermostat. lol By chance did you take any pics of the room???

AltaJoe

I was in cabin 7506, Owners Suite.

I take video's my daughter took pictures with her digital camera. I'l see if I can get her do download it for me.

Strange that they would not have a Menorah for Hanukkah, Nordic Empress was our first cruise back in the early 1990's, and they had a Menorah on display in one of the public areas ( cruise was a 3 night during Thanksgiving weekend). I remember this since one of our table mates on this cruise was a really nice old Jewish lady who seemed to have cruised on allmost every ship that was docked in Nassau with us, when asked where she was from, replied "MIAMI-- I just call the cab to take me to the dock." LOL

geopa

There were about 40 jewish passenger that showed up at Friday night services. The main issue was the excuses guest relations made for not having a Menorah. There were two RCI employees at services who said that they asked about having a Menorah on board. Management ignored them

On day 10 I spoke to a young gentlemen at Guest relations who said he was surprised. He has worked on several RCI ships and this was the first time he did not see a Menorah.

Thanks for the review Alexis. I agree with you and also had a wonderful time on the ship. My review is in a separate post. I heard a couple people complaining, but I think a cruise can be as good or bad as you make it. A couple minor inconveniences did not spoil my cruise. I loved the ship, the crew and the ports. The food wasn't the best, but at least I didn't gain a ton of weight:)

Cruzin-k

It was many more than a few. Just talking to a guest realtions person they are anticipating a lot of nasty letters will be sent to RCI.

BTW, I still had a good time as I do not let major inconviences and problems ruin my vacation.

AltaJoe

I was in cabin 7506, Owners Suite.

I take video's my daughter took pictures with her digital camera. I'l see if I can get her do download it for me.

That would be fantastic!

Am booked on the January 17 sailing - and very exicted about it! No one has made mention yet about Grenada. I know it was heavily damaged by the hurricane, yet it is still listed on the itinerary as a port call. What kind of shape is it in now, and how will shore trips be affected?

Alexis and 1201, thanks for the review. I was on this cruise also and have to agree with Denisejoel, we had a great time and avoided the negative people. I'm sure there were some inconveniences but I haven't been on a "perfect" cruise yet!

We only did a few ship excursions, two were snorkeling. Barbados was wonderful to snorkel at as the coral reefs were beautiful. Curacao has beautiful and had very colorful fish. We did the beach tour on Margareta Island and it was very nice. The waves were fun to roll around in. We rented a car on our own on St. Barts. What a treat that was, the roads feel like they are only 3 feet wide! But we got to see 5 different beaches, our favorite was Governor's Beach. It was nice and secluded and you could snorkel there. Please note that most of the beaches on most of the islands can be topless. Didn't bother us but I wanted to pass it along.

We had a JS cabin, 9122, and didn't feel the cold that Alexis did. I agree that this should not be called a JS as it really is just a Superior Ocean view with a balacony. However, there is less storage space than other cabins. There are 3 drawers, a medicine cabinet with 3 small shelves above and very small shelves below. The desk the TV was on also had shelves. The closet was a very nice size and we ddn't have any problem storing things. Our cabin staff was Denise and Charles and they bent over backwards to make sure we had everything we wanted.

We felt the food was good, however, there could have been more of a selection at times. No Filet Mignon, that was somewhat disappointing. We ate breakfast and lunch in the Windjammer, there seemed to always be a good selection, but was somewhat crowded at times. They ran out of skim milk, but that's the only thing I know about. The dining room for dinner was really nice. The wait staff was excellant, friendly and positive attitude, as well as accomdating. They really made the dinner experience great. We were at table 54 on the lower level, our wait staff was Pinkan and Eri, our Head Waiter was Rocky (long 1st name so he shortened). Rocky came to our table every evening and spent time finding out how our day went as well as houw our meal was. Food is subjective but everything we had was very good.

Our meet and mingle was fun, we went to the informal one as well as the formal one and met many people that we continued to see and visit thoughout the cruise.

The 1st night out of San Juan and going back to San Juan from Aruba was a little rocky, more rolling from side to side than rocky. You could tell when the ship picked up speed as it seemed to roll alittle more at that time. I didn't have to take any bonine but some people did. I didn't have any issues with the Guest Relations staff, but there were a few errors in the Cruis Compass. Nothing major so we just rolled with the changes. All in all I would do this ship again. It was small enough to get to know people, everyone was friendly and we had a great time!

Linda

Welcome back...isn't it hard to believe that after all the months of planning....It's over??????

Glad you had a good time. We did like the Owner's Suite (9184) since it was our first but were told that the Owners Suites on the newer ships are twice the size. The 3 day was too quick and we wished we were staying on for the 11 but we did have a wonderful time in St. John...

Where are you going next??????????? We're going to Alaska in '05.

Have a wonderful holiday season.....pam

Am booked on the January 17 sailing - and very exicted about it! No one has made mention yet about Grenada. I know it was heavily damaged by the hurricane, yet it is still listed on the itinerary as a port call. What kind of shape is it in now, and how will shore trips be affected?

My travel agent informed us about 3 or 4 weeks prior that Grenada was out. Funny how many on the ship were not told and did not know until last minute.

As far as I know it is still a no go. lots of passengesr were upset but they cannot blame RCI or onyone except "mother nature"

That would be fantastic!

Will be happy to e-mail you pictures

Joe G

Will be happy to e-mail you pictures

 

Joe G

I'd love that. Send it to joealta @ netzero.net

I put in the 2 spaces to avoid e-mail harvesting.

We'll be gone for the next week, so if you send them and I don't immediatly send you thanks, that's why.

Thanks again (in advance).

We're sailing Jan. 31st and we are going to Grenda. Maybe if you tried to book an excursion you'd see if any came up. If they do, then you should be stopping there. Just a thought.

Why is it that the travel agents know that the ship won't be stopping in at Grenada 3-4 weeks ahead of time, but RCCI has nothing about it on their website? I'm on the Jan 31 Empress trip and when I spoke to RCCL today, the agent said that, as far as she knows, we'll be stopping in Grenada. If anyone hears differently, please post it for the rest of us. Apparantly the RCCI staff are the last to know!