Empress of the Seas 5 Night Key West and Cozumel

[TheTides]

Hello there! This cruise we decided to self-title it The Empress of the Seas A.M. (After Mathew), 5 night western Caribbean visiting Key West and Cozumel! If you have any questions as the review progresses, please ask! Enjoy

 

Background:

 

Why the Empress of the Seas: I would say there are multiple reasons we chose this ship, the one I believe attracts everyone is PRICE.. I mean come on we're paying like 50 bucks a day for an ocean view, why would you not go? This being my eleventh cruise, I also really wanted to try Royal, as well as try a smaller ship. My smallest ship before this was probably the Celebrity Century, which is double the size of the Empress, so it will be a completely unique experience. To me, the Empress has attracted me since royal announced they were re-branding it, and have followed its progress ever since. To me, the Empress is a ship in the 21st century that represents the golden age of classic cruising. After trying the big ships, I was excited to compare those experiences with a newer, smaller vessel.

 

Like i said earlier, this was my 11th cruise, the rest coming from the likes of Disney, Celebrity, Norwegian, and Princess

 

So without further ado, lets get started.

 

 

[Moobaby214]

We were on this cruise as well, so I am interested to see your review. :)

 

I may do a short summary review in a couple days.

[TheTides]

Getting There:

So since I am still in Graduate School, I had no other choice but to leave the morning of. Would I recommend? Honestly it wasn’t bad but I still would try to fly in a day or two before, like we usually do. I left Atlanta at 7:00 am and Arrived in Miami at 8:45. I booked the 7 am flight just incase that flight was canceled, I would have a fallback plan. So after picking up my friend from the MIA Marriott Airport (which was nice) we headed to port, and arrived around 10.

 

The Oasis in Ft. Lauderdale

 

 

The first thing you will notice when you are driving over the Dodge Island causeway is how SMALL the Empress looks compared to all the other ships. It is important to go into this trip with expectations of it being a unique experience to itself, without all the bells and whistles. I think this point has been brought up a few times, but I just wanted to reiterate it for future cruisers.

 

With the Empress being smaller, we checked in to 0 security lines, and i believe waited for 15 minutes before we were ushered onto the ship at 10:30. Not bad right? I really enjoyed the entry on this ship, as you walk right into the Centrum, instead of the promenade or the casino which to me, ads a nice “your on vacation touch”. Now if they only served Champagne like Celebrity….

 

 

Since the rooms would not be ready until 1, and the buffet was not available until 11:30, we decided to do a walking tour of the ship. You can definitely tell where they have enhanced different places on the ship. From my perspective, the ship for the most part did not look her age. Boleros, the Cuban lounge was a beautiful space. The pool deck looked nice enough, and the carpeting and chairs all looked new. From a looks perspective I was impressed.

 

 

 

 

We headed to the Buffet, and this is where my main complaint on this trip lies. I know food is subjective, and I have cruised a variety of lines so I have some sense of what food should be like on the ship. The buffet to me was lacking. I mean it was essentially a salad bar, with a hot section of 2 starches, 4 meats, and some really ehh looking desserts. And to my chagrin,the options really didn’t change all too often. Yet, with that being said there was hardly a line in the buffet, and always a seat to be had in the buffet. Also the waiters brought you drinks, which was a touch I appreciated.

[TheTides]

We were on this cruise as well, so I am interested to see your review. :)

 

I may do a short summary review in a couple days.

 

Look forward to it!

[Langley Cruisers]

Sorry but I only see the first picture? The rest of the links are broken.

[TheTides]

I Will Work on the Photos! Please let me know if they become visible.

 

After lunch we headed to our room, 4102, which I thought were small, but adequate. They reminded me of pretty much the majority of Oceanview cabins I have stayed in over the years. Would I squeeze 4 in a room, no chance. But 2 was adequate. The beds were fairly hard, but if that bothered you, they were happy to bring you an egg crate. Our room steward, Frank did a tremendous job. He would come running down the hallway to open our door and always greeted us with a smile.

 

 

We decided to relax by the pool and wait for sail away and the muster drill. We may have been 2 of 10 people by the pool. We proceeded to order our drinks from a waitress named Beverley! If anyone has the pleasure of sailing the Empress, look for Beverly. She is fantastic and takes great care of you. We ordered our Coronas and sat there enjoying the sun and the uncrowded pool deck until the muster drill took place. The muster drill was the first drill I have had in probably 8 cruises that we actually went to our designated life boat location. I honestly preferred this method, as I feel if our ship is going down, I want to know exactly where I am going. The muster drill took all of 15 minutes, and It was back up to the pool deck to let the party begin!

 

 

 

 

The show that evening was a Cuban dance show, which was good. Would I see it again, probably not. But if it was my first time on this ship i would attend for sure. You can tell RCCL is marketing this ship to Cuban itineraries, as they have designed spaces, drinks, and shows off the country. From there, we headed off to dinner. I must say tonight, the Italian night, was easily the worst meal I had the entire cruise. Thankfully the meals got better throughout the trip! If I could recommend anything to anyone, take the discount and dine at Chops the first night. The Italian menu lacked inspiration and the dish’s tastes reflected that. Yet food is subjective, so some may really enjoy the Italian night. I was just less than impressed.

 

Thankfully, that evening entertainment made up for the meal, as we had the pleasure of being entertained by the piano man in the Schooners Lounge. He will take virtually any request, and his renditions of all songs are great. We ended up here pretty much every evening to wind down before bed with a few drinks. Next… Key West

 

[luvsunnydaiz]

We will be sailing on the Empress next Saturday! Great start to your review! Can't wait to see your pictures!!

[Debinnova]

We are boarding Empress on Monday. There has been a lot of discussion about them dropping lobster from the menu during the 5 night cruises. I think it was usually served the 4th night. Was it on the menu? Can't wait for the rest of the review!

 

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[Moobaby214]

We are boarding Empress on Monday. There has been a lot of discussion about them dropping lobster from the menu during the 5 night cruises. I think it was usually served the 4th night. Was it on the menu? Can't wait for the rest of the review!

 

Sent from my KFTHWA using Tapatalk HD

 

There was no lobster in the main dining room, it has been replaced with shrimp in a bed of mashed potatoes..... They even removed the lobster from the "included" part of the menu in Chops, it is now a crazy high up-charge.

[CapeCoralCruiser]

Thanks, Tides, for the review, keep the posts coming! We sail on Empress in a few weeks. Going from the Allure a few weeks ago to Empress will be interesting. We also decided to try her our due to the price, but knowing we should keep an open mind regarding expectations. Looking forward to more recon reports from you.

 

Note: I can't see any photos, either.

Edited October 22, 2016 by CapeCoralCruiser
Pictures comment

[debbo14]

Do you remember the order and names of the diner menus?

[Moobaby214]

Do you remember the order and names of the diner menus?

 

See this post http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2405585&highlight=Empress+menu

 

The order is the same, but there are a few changes to the menus themselves.

[Moobaby214]

Tides, are you coming back to finish? I was looking forward to seeing what you thought.

[barbatkins]

Tides, are you coming back to finish? I was looking forward to seeing what you thought.

 

Me too!

[Debinnova]

I am currently on this same cruise. The first night is Italian night, second night is American menu and third night is Caribbean menu. I can confirm that they definitely have stopped the lobster on the fourth night. No formal night.

 

Tonight, which was the American menu, had two salmon dishes, fried chicken, braised short ribs, vegetable potpie, NY Strip (which is available every night along with salmon). May have been one or two other things. A few of the appetizers that I remember from the American menu tonight are shrimp cocktail, corn chowder and crabcake.

 

Hope this helps.

 

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