Empress of the Seas Review 2/26/2018

[moethecat]

Hello,

 

Just got back from a five-night cruise (Mia, Key West, Cozumel, Mia) with my daughter, her boyfriendand my fiancée on Empress of the Seas. It was my six cruise. (3 RCCL, 2 Carnival,1 NCL) Decided to write a review about the experience. Bottom line the cruisewas well worth the money and all of us had a fantastic time.

 

Day 1:

 

Flew into FLL from BWI arriving around 9:50. We had pre-purchasedthe cruise ground transportation to the port of Miami from FLL. Due to a bushaving to take a group of 45 ahead of us to the cruise port we did not boardthe bus to the port until 11:45. Trip to the port was fine and we were checkedin and in the Windjammer before 1:00. My first impression of the ship was thatit was very clean. Everything looked in good shape and cared for. Metal wasshiny and carpet looked new. As we started to have some food it was announcedthat all cabin rooms were ready. This was very nice as we were all tired fromthe trip down to Miami.

 

The selection of food in the Windjammer seemed to be betterthen on previous cruises and the quality also seemed to be better. Nothingappeared to be old, dried out or sitting on a warming tray for a long time.After we ate we headed to our cabins (4612 and 4112) to grab a quick nap beforethe muster drill. My fiancée and my cabin (4612) had a large ocean view window.The cabin was very clean and looked “new”. It actually felt larger then Ithought it would and had plenty of storage. We brought a plastic shoe rack andhung it from the bathroom door to store some things. The bathroom and shower wererather small and I could see a “larger” person having some issues using theshower as it was a bit tight. Cabins 4*12 were both centrally located on theship which was nice but on a ship this size it was only a partial benefit asgoing from stern to bow did not take long on the ship. Throughout the cruise werarely, if at all, heard any hallway noise. The rooms by the Centrium, I canimagine, may experience some noise as a lot of events occurred in this area.

 

After a quick nap, we went to the muster drill at 3:30.Rather hot out but everyone on the ship was in good spirits and we talked witha few people who also had traveled from MD. After the drill we returned to ourrooms to unpack. All luggage except my daughter’s had already arrived. Later,we found out her luggage had been confiscated for having a power strip in itand she had to retrieve the luggage from deck 2.

 

We had chosen the “my time dining” option and headed to the dinningroom around 6:00. As a tip make sure to book a seating for my time dinning as wemany times saw people turned away when they showed up and just expected to beseated. The theme nights for dinner were Italian, Cuban, Classic American, Frenchand “Lobster”. I went with 2 NY strips, 1 prime rib, 1 pork tenderloin, 1 beeftenderloin. All were better then I expected and tastier then your average restaurant.Portion sizes were right and service was excellent. Our 6:00 dinner ended justin time for the 7:15 show.

 

The night’s show was the comedian Landry. Show was funny.Had a feeling he was holding back a lot of material for the Thursday Adult’sonly show. Still a very funny show. As with all nights when the show lets out peopleare funneled through the atrium where there is something going on. Trivia,dance, game show, etc. Instead of watching the trivia we walked across to theSchooner bar and listed to the piano player. The Schooner bar is rather large,plenty of windows and kind of serves as a sports bar with a lot of sportingevents on the TV’s. Around 9:30 we headed back to the cabin for the night.

 

Day 2

 

Day 2 was a stop in Key West. The weather was beautiful, andwe docked at the Navy pier. Being at the Navy pier we needed to be shuttled tothe center of town. Second time in Key West and the place was bustling with afew cruise ships docked. We had planned to walk around, visit the Hemingwayhouse and anything else interesting we came upon. Instead of walking we decidedto try the Conch Tour Train. It certainly was not what I expected. 45 minutes drivingaround on bumpy roads in the hot sun before reaching the first stop. About 40minutes into the trip the train had to stop because a woman had become ill. Wasrather unsettling to see her get off the train, take a few steps and collapse.The driver and bystanders attended to her until the paramedics could arrive. Wedecided to walk the rest of the way to the Hemingway House. The Hemingway Housewas enjoyable. Second time there. We did the guided tour, bought a few thingsfrom the gift shop and petted the cats. Overall a fun experience even thesecond time around. After the “House” we made our way back to Mallory Squareand Duval Street. Enjoyed some ice cream, looked around in the shops and peoplewatched. Probably around 1:45 headed back to the ship. Would have liked to havegone to Sloppy Joes or Truman’s Little White House but was just to tired. Maybenext time.

 

Once back on the ship we grabbed a quick lunch and took aquick nap before dinner. Dinner was at 5:45, which I believe is the earliest mytime dining. We were given a window table which we had for the remainder of thecruise. Service was excellent and the food tasty. After dinner, my fiancée andI, went to the show and my daughter and her boyfriend went off to do otherthings. The show for the evening was a song and dance show. Entertaining, notspectacular but enjoyable. After the show we went to a game show, “Who wants tofeel like a millionaire”. Very fun show as were most of the game shows and triviacontests we attended. The show was held in a large nightclub Boleros. The shiphad 4 “bars” (pool, Schooner, Viking Lounge and Boleros. We did not spend anytime in Viking but Schooner and Boleros were never overcrowded and never undercrowded.To close out the night we went and listened to some piano music in SchoonersBar. Probably headed to bed around 10:30. At the end of Day 2 I was fullyadjusted to being on the ship and having my travel fatigue behind me. I do geta little motion sick but overall this was the least I have ever gotten on acruise. There were a few spots where one could feel the ship move but for themajority of time very very smooth sailing.

 

 

 

Day 3 and 4 coming soon…

[plane2port]

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

We were thinking of taking the Conch Train on our next visit to Key West but i will have to rethink that after reading about your experience.

 

Did you eat four entrees the first night or were you just telling what everybody at your table ordered. I have been known to order two entrees myself which is why I ask.

[moethecat]

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

We were thinking of taking the Conch Train on our next visit to Key West but i will have to rethink that after reading about your experience.

 

Did you eat four entrees the first night or were you just telling what everybody at your table ordered. I have been known to order two entrees myself which is why I ask.

 

Good morning. I would recommend the Old Town Trolley instead of the Conch Train. They are owned by the same company. Trolley looked to be a "smoother" ride and had more stops. I have to admit we were riding looking backwards on the Conch Train. Kind of made the bumps more unexpected. Riding looking forward would have been better.

 

Ooops. My food listing was just what I had each night. Day 1 NY Strip, Day 2 Pork Tenderloin, etc My daughter had similar but had a few chicken dishes which she enjoyed. My fiancée had mostly fish/lobster and vegetarian offerings. All of which she enjoyed.

 

Thank you for reading and thank you for your comments.

[moethecat]

Day 3

 

Day 3 was a day at sea. As we did every morning we hadbreakfast at the Windjammer. One nice new thing was the hand sinks located atboth entrances to the Windjammer. An attendant was always nearby telling peopleto “washy washy”. Probably around 9:00 we headed up to the pool desk and found threelounge chairs, a deck chair and a hammock near the stern of the ship. Thelocation was rather nice as we could still hear music but also could feel anice breeze. The ship had three hot tubs and were not as crowded as I hadexpected them to be. The pool deck filled up rather quickly and until about1:00 we relaxed reading books, soaking up the sun and listening to music. Afterour pool deck time we had lunch at the Windjammer and took a quick nap in ourcabins. On a side note we never ate at the specialty restaurant Chops. Chopslooked very nice but we just never fit it in.

 

Dinner for the evening was at 5:45 in the main dinning room.By this time our waitstaff had become familiar with us and us with them. It wasenjoyable having the same waitstaff each night. After dinner we caught the showfor the night. It was a rock impersonator who did the show singing songs andimpersonating artists such as Jim Morrison, Johnny Cash, Rod Stewart andothers. The show was so good we attended both shows for the evening with thesecond show being better then the first. After the second show we headed backto our cabins.

 

 

Day 4 Cozumel coming soon…

[cpayne]

Do you know approx how far of a Walk it is from the pier in KW to the center of town or is a shuttle really the only option bc it’s that far? Didn’t realize there were 2 piers in KW. Guess we have just gotten lucky on our other stops at this port over the years and come in to the pier more centrally located. Thanks

 

 

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[wolfcathorse]

The Conce Train drives around with narration. If you wanted stops you needed to buy tickets on the Hop On Hop Off bus. That is also a narrated ride but you can get off at bus stops to enjoy the site more then reboard the next HOO bus when it comes.

[tweetylori]

Very much enjoying your review...tx! Can't wait for more!