Empress Four Night (Key West / Nassau) Bullet Pt Review

[Mott1086]

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to read our quick bullet-point review of our four-night trip to Key West and Nassau. My wife (Tara) and I were looking for a quick getaway, right before the craziness of the holiday season, and the Empress price and itinerary fit the ticket. This is going to be a streamlined bullet-point review of our trip, and, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask and I will answer them as soon as I have the chance. Thank you and happy reading!

 

DAY ONE (Thursday, November 17th)

 

We arrived at the Port Of Miami around 11:00 in the morning, and in port with with The Empress was the Carnival Sensation, The Norwegian Pearl, and an Oceania ship that I was not to see the name of.

 

Security was a breeze, as was the check-in process at the pier. The pier agent asked where we were from. We told her Orlando, and she replied that Orlando wasn’t part of Florida, it was it’s own country, led by Mickey Mouse. It was funny, because it’s true.

 

We were on the ship by 11:15, and immediately headed over to the Schooner Bar, for our traditional first cocktail. I had my favorite, The Mudslide, and Tara had the Drink Of The Day, A Miami Melon. With drinks in hand, we headed up to the Windjammer, which is located on deck ten. Both sides of the Windjammer were open, and they also had a small buffet outside, which consisted of burgers, hot dogs, salads, and select desserts. I think a lot of people didn’t realize the Windjammer was open, as the buffet area was busier than the actual Windjammer itself.

 

As you enter the Windjammer, there are two Purrel “washy washy” stations, as well as three sinks with soap to wash your hands. I love the idea of actual sinks and soap, as the hand sanitizer tends to dry out my hands. That said, I am / was still amazed how many guests did either wash up or use the sanitizer as they walked in.

 

The Windjammer is a good size, and, at no time during our trip, did we ever have a hard time finding a seat.

 

After lunch, we explored the rest of the pool deck, (the hammocks up there are incredible), walked through the machines-turned-off-casino, and were in our cabin shortly after one.

 

The first impression of our cabin, number 7017 (great location toward the front of the ship, and a handful of cabins away from the elevators), was that it was incredibly small. There was a small table on the right side of the bed, and a small white chair near the desk area. Several times throughout the trip, we had a hard time getting out of the bed, based on the size of the room and placement of the furniture. Although it was smaller than expected, it worked as we hardly spent any time in the cabin.

 

The muster drill was short and sweet (it was outside) and then we headed up to deck eleven for sail away (we were the first of the ships to leave).

 

We always do My Time Dinner, and we had made reservations for 6:00 in the evening throughout this trip. Our table was 574, and our serving team of Chandan and Denerary were great; one of the top serving teams we have had on the cruises was have taken with RCI.

 

The Theme for night one was Italian; sadly, there was no lasagna on the menu in the Main Dining Room. I opted for a Caesar Salad, NY Strip Steak, and Royal Chocolate Cake. Tara went with Shrimp Cocktail, Claim Linguini, and no dessert.

 

After dinner, we watched some of "Ghostbusters" on the TitanTron by the pool, but, that remake was terrible, so, we went and donated some money to the Casino Fund. After losing, roughly $20, we headed to bed.

 

Tomorrow (Day Two) was Key West...

[easyboy]

Nice start. Following.

 

 

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[Kdamghani]

Following

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Clarea]

Looking forward to more.:)

[RoLoHa]

So far so good!

 

 

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