tweetylori Posted November 25, 2018 Author #251 Share Posted November 25, 2018 3 hours ago, cmh said: Thanks for a great review. We will be on the Empress in April. Is there an internet cafe on the ship? Excited for you! And yes, there is. Just like everything else on the ship, it's small. 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetylori Posted November 25, 2018 Author #252 Share Posted November 25, 2018 20 hours ago, accio_7 said: Lori, this has been such a pleasure to read that I don’t want it to end! 😭 Thank you, that means a lot to me to hear! And sorry for the delay finishing this, but my laptop crashed, and I just had to buy a new one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cpayne Posted November 25, 2018 #253 Share Posted November 25, 2018 22 minutes ago, tweetylori said: Excited for you! And yes, there is. Just like everything else on the ship, it's small. 🙂 If there is an internet café do you know if they were selling internet usage by the minutes? All I've heard of them offering now is $10-12/day for one device. We are needing internet access for 5-10 min for our sea days only. Hate to spend $80+ to have internet access for the entire 8 day cruise for this little bit of usage. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetylori Posted November 26, 2018 Author #254 Share Posted November 26, 2018 22 hours ago, cpayne said: If there is an internet café do you know if they were selling internet usage by the minutes? All I've heard of them offering now is $10-12/day for one device. We are needing internet access for 5-10 min for our sea days only. Hate to spend $80+ to have internet access for the entire 8 day cruise for this little bit of usage. Thanks. I did not automatically know the answer to this because that is one thing we love about cruising...the ability to truly get away from it all...so I looked through the compasses I brought home. The only day I see anything mentioned other than the daily fee, is on the last day at sea. There is a "one hour internet special $9.99" listed. Otherwise, the mentions in the compasses that I see were all for rates "starting at $11.99 per day". So, no, I don't believe you can get a deal for just a few minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetylori Posted November 26, 2018 Author #255 Share Posted November 26, 2018 So where were we before Thanksgiving and a dead laptop got in the way? Sailing the high seas for our last night on this voyage. After another last dinner and emotional goodbye (sorry, but I get that way), we went for the last time to the Royal Theater to see their production called "Sequins and Feathers". It was as the Compass described: "Welcome to our studding celebrations of showgirls from yesterday, today and tomorrow. Visit all Three in this vocal and visual spectacular that will stimulate the senses. Starring: The Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers with the Empress of the Seas Orchestra and the High C's Horns". It was indeed a stunning show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetylori Posted November 26, 2018 Author #256 Share Posted November 26, 2018 The singers, dancers and musicians were all spectacular. You could tell they had worked hard on this performance. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Then it was time for the grand introduction of staff. This is something we have only seen done like this on Royal Caribbean, and to me, it's truly special to see the hard-working staff showcased. It's a reminder to never take any of this for granted. VID_20181017_195106733.mp4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetylori Posted November 26, 2018 Author #257 Share Posted November 26, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetylori Posted November 26, 2018 Author #258 Share Posted November 26, 2018 Before you know it, the last show on board is over, just the way the last dinner was. It's as emotional as that feeling of stepping on board a ship for the first time, only in a completely opposite way. As high as the former is, the trick is to try to keep the latter from being too much of a downer. Luckily for us, we didn't have an early flight, so our departure time was as late as could be. So we headed to the Schooner to enjoy Paul and his music for the last time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetylori Posted November 26, 2018 Author #259 Share Posted November 26, 2018 Also had to say goodbye to sweet Marita who (along with the other fine bar staff) had taken such good care of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetylori Posted November 26, 2018 Author #260 Share Posted November 26, 2018 (edited) Note: I only included that pic because Marita is such a beauty. I'm aware it is not a flattering pic of myself, but Marita deserves to be remembered. I know I had some last good times in the casino at a friendly blackjack table, where (as usual) it was up then down (sometimes it's vice versa). Before turning in, it was one last time to step out on the deck. VID_20181017_232135416.mp4 Edited November 26, 2018 by tweetylori Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetylori Posted November 26, 2018 Author #261 Share Posted November 26, 2018 Now, the rest of you might book early flights, but that's not our style. We had an afternoon nonstop booked from MIA, so we were not in any hurry to get off the ship. That being said, of course we still had to get up and get going. We had put our bags out the night before, just like everyone else. I always screw up leaving out everything that I think I'll need for the next day, and inevitably pack something that I could have used, but who the heck really cares? As long as we have clothes on, and identification, we're good to go, right? Last "where in the world are we" look Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetylori Posted November 26, 2018 Author #262 Share Posted November 26, 2018 So our total cruise distance sailed was just 1615 nm. Way different from our previous Transatlantic. Perfectly okay for a nice small ship like Empress. I hate good-byes...but I will say they are more comical when one is informed of nearby trailer parks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetylori Posted November 26, 2018 Author #263 Share Posted November 26, 2018 Time for a last breakfast in Windjammer and last usage of the deluxe drink package. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetylori Posted November 26, 2018 Author #264 Share Posted November 26, 2018 Oops, almost forgot about our last ladder view from our cabin before we departed it for the last time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetylori Posted November 26, 2018 Author #265 Share Posted November 26, 2018 Followed by our last walk-around of the ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetylori Posted November 26, 2018 Author #266 Share Posted November 26, 2018 The Royal Theater is where we were told to go to wait for our turn to get off the ship. It didn't take long. According to a crew member I ran into on the way out, we docked at a good spot. One that enabled folks to get off easily. Which is what we did. We had no trouble finding our luggage, and we were on our way to hire a Lyft to get us to the airport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetylori Posted November 26, 2018 Author #267 Share Posted November 26, 2018 On 11/23/2018 at 11:29 PM, accio_7 said: Lori, this has been such a pleasure to read that I don’t want it to end! 😭 Thank you so much...don't you hate it when cruises end??? 😞 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetylori Posted November 26, 2018 Author #268 Share Posted November 26, 2018 On 11/23/2018 at 11:55 PM, crmc said: Thanks for the wonderful preview! We'll be on board the Empress in less than 3 days! I sure hope this means you are on it right now!!! JEALOUS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdteacher Posted November 26, 2018 #269 Share Posted November 26, 2018 Thanks for the wonderful review! We are booked for this summer and in all honesty I wasn’t terribly excited about this cruise, but my husband really wanted to go to Cuba. I was leery of the small, older ship with no balconies but after reading your review, I can’t wait! Thanks for taking the time to do this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetylori Posted November 26, 2018 Author #270 Share Posted November 26, 2018 13 minutes ago, sdteacher said: Thanks for the wonderful review! We are booked for this summer and in all honesty I wasn’t terribly excited about this cruise, but my husband really wanted to go to Cuba. I was leery of the small, older ship with no balconies but after reading your review, I can’t wait! Thanks for taking the time to do this. Thank you, I really appreciate it! I will say that I would have loved it better with a balcony, but it's worth it to get to experience Cuba and you really can't beat the crew on this ship. Just keep your expectations on the right level and I'm sure you will enjoy it also! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgncruiser Posted November 26, 2018 #271 Share Posted November 26, 2018 Excellent read -Thanks for your effort Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teechur Posted November 27, 2018 #272 Share Posted November 27, 2018 Aloha Lori. Loved your review! We were right down the hall in 8648 on the same cruise. I looked for myself in your photos but it was not to be. How I wished that there was a great review (like yours) to read BEFORE the cruise. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip and remember seeing you both a number of times. Thanks for sharing wonderful memories. Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetylori Posted November 28, 2018 Author #273 Share Posted November 28, 2018 On 11/26/2018 at 7:04 AM, cgncruiser said: Excellent read -Thanks for your effort Thank you, and my pleasure! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetylori Posted November 28, 2018 Author #274 Share Posted November 28, 2018 On 11/27/2018 at 12:13 AM, Teechur said: Aloha Lori. Loved your review! We were right down the hall in 8648 on the same cruise. I looked for myself in your photos but it was not to be. How I wished that there was a great review (like yours) to read BEFORE the cruise. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip and remember seeing you both a number of times. Thanks for sharing wonderful memories. Alex Aloha! Boy you must have had some long flights! Sorry I didn't catch you in any of the pics I posted. Hopefully we were somewhat behaving ourselves when you saw us. 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetylori Posted November 29, 2018 Author #275 Share Posted November 29, 2018 In conclusion, I have to mention one thing about this ship that I was not only not a fan of, but flat-out detested most of the time... The restrooms. Especially the women's room outside of Windjammer. I hated that one. Had two small stalls, neither of which worked properly most of the time. Lots of clogged toilets on our cruise. By that, I mean the public ones, because the one in our cabin did not default. Really felt sorry for the cleaning crew for all of the public ones. They were all small and fairly dysfunctional. I felt like the plumbing on this ship could use a major overhaul. Just sayin'. Otherwise, it's a small, old ship with a huge heart. Crew is friendly and so hard-working. The ship's entertainers and musicians were excellent. We were treated kindly, respectfully and with regard throughout our cruise by almost every staff member that we encountered. Would we have liked more "things to do" options? At certain times (especially sea days), YES. Would it have been nice to have more dining venue options? Yes, especially on sea days. Would it have been nice to have a balcony? Certainly, if it wasn't too expensive! But would we have been able to see Cuba? Probably not. Speaking of Cuba...what about that? Does it live up to the hype? I wish I could say it did for us, but I have to be honest that while it was really really cool to experience it, I don't know that anything could live up to the hype we had read about before going. Which is why I'm stating this suggestion now...to maybe lower your expectations just enough to not be disappointed. Because it is relatively expensive to visit Cuba. Cruising there is not bargain cruising, especially when you factor in the $75 per person visa fee. And cruise accommodations are not plush as we all know. While you're there, touring options are all a bit pricey, but probably worth it. The one we took certainly was. We thought it was a fantastic tour...we loved Ana and learned so much about the culture. Truly fascinating. But there were times when we were on our own in Old Havana that we were uncomfortable and felt out of place. We were ready to get back on the ship when we did, and glad that we hadn't booked anything for nighttime. Just being honest. To anyone who has taken the time to read my ramblings and view my photo shenanigans...thank you! Would love to hear your opinions and feedback, and am happy to answer any questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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