Empress of the Sea - June 2 - June 6 Review

[banderboo]

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.

[ltjessec]

Thank you for posting. I'm sailing Empress on June 16th. Although I do like the play-by-play it would be nice if you commented on the big concerns that people have about the ship. Food service? Air conditioning? Bar service?

 

Thanks again.

[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.

[ltjessec]

Thanks for the post. I'm trying to remain optimistic but I doubt that the issues will improve by my sailing. I'll make the best of it.

[Had2cruz]

Thanks for your review! Looking forward to hearing more.

[Had2cruz]

Thank you for posting. I'm sailing Empress on June 16th. Although I do like the play-by-play it would be nice if you commented on the big concerns that people have about the ship. Food service? Air conditioning? Bar service?

 

Thanks again.

 

I hope you'll post a review as well! Best wishes for a great cruise.

[Clarea]

Appreciate the feedback.

[coaster]

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. Royal says on their website that Empress boarding is suppose to be quick. Not an hour and half.

 

 

From the RCI website-

 

With fast and early boarding, dining what you want when you want it, and longer stays in port.

Edited June 8, 2016 by coaster

[Merion_Mom]

Someone who just boarded today posted that their pier experience was VERY fast and efficient. Sometimes it's the luck of the draw.

[banderboo]

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. Royal says on their website that Empress boarding is suppose to be quick. Not an hour and half.

 

 

From the RCI website-

 

With fast and early boarding, dining what you want when you want it, and longer stays in port.

 

Someone who just boarded today posted that their pier experience was VERY fast and efficient. Sometimes it's the luck of the draw.

 

I really don't think it would have been as bad if they hadn't kept trying to split us up into different lines based on C&A status (not letting the non- diamond members of our party to go in the diamond line even thought they were in the same cabin but with different set sail passes)

[banderboo]

Adventure Ocean Club - My two grandsons ages 3 and 5 really enjoyed going to the kids club. I will say the area is very small but the staff was great and had a variety of activities to keep this age group entertained. Each day had a different theme with bugs and superheros being their favorite.

 

Pool area - This is another area that as expected was small. there were two pools, the main pool and one for small kids. The main pool was generally crowded but people seemed to be enjoying themselves. We spent most of our time in the kids pool area which at most had 7 or 8 kids in it.

 

No movies were shown on deck. Not certain what the issue was but heard that they couldn't get the sound to work.

 

Chair hogs - did not encounter any issues finding a lounge chair around the pool. On deck 11 there are comfy cabana style loungers and a few hammocks. There aren't many so finding one available was hit or miss.