Review of 9/15 Empress cruise to Bermuda

[mpocd]

For those of you who may be interested, here's our review of our recent Empress cruise to Bermuda:

 

 

Embarking procedure

 

We arrived at the Philly naval port around 11:30am. RCL had us stop first in a empty parking lot to place tags (those plastic, long, sticky tags) on our bags. Then porters took our bags in front of the departure terminal.

 

It took less than 15 minutes to show our ID, get SetSail passes, and walk the gangway up to the ship. There weren’t that many passengers present at that time.

 

Parking lot

 

We parked our car in the long-term parking lot. It looked pretty secure – high, wrought-iron fence with a guard booth. Cost to park is $70 for a seven day cruise (you pay when you leave).

 

Motion impact

 

I had gotten a prescription for the Scopolomine patch (worn behind your ear). I say numerous other passengers wearing them. Mine worked well – I never got nauseas. My wife had no problems on the ship but felt a little dizzy when we got off in Bermuda.

 

Our worst weather day on the Empress was our second day (Sunday). The ship was noticeably swaying in what looked like maybe 5 foot seas. A few passengers were getting sick. Anyone can go down to the sick bay on the 2nd deck and get treatment. Not sure what they will give you, though.

 

Remember, the ship’s motion is least noticeable when you are down low and in the center of the ship.

 

Cabin

 

We had booked one of the small, outside cabins. Around 106 square feet. We expected it to be tiny. We were really happy with the layout of the cabin. It was small but very well organized.

 

Enough room to walk around. Desk and chair, two, small sets of drawers, open shelves, and two closets. We had enough room to hang all of our clothes. There are about 20, wooden hangars provided.

 

Inside one of the closets was a small safe. There were storage nooks and crannies above the desk. The bathroom was indeed small. The shower took up a third of the space. There were storage shelves below the sink and glass storage shelves above the toilet. Even so, we made good use of our toiletry organizer that we hung from the door.

 

I think the thing that really made the cabin such a nice experience was that everything was clean, in good condition, and worked properly. This included the air control, shower, toilet, lights, etc.

 

Condition of ship

 

My wife noticed that some of the ship’s carpeting seemed worn, but overall the Empress seemed in pretty good shape. All elevators worked. Nothing appeared broken. The public bathrooms were in good shape and clean. Didn’t notice any form of rust or flaking paint.

 

Meals

 

Overall, I thought the meals were fantastic – especially those in Carmens. A tremendous variety, you could order as many entrees or desserts as you wanted, and the service was pretty good. We had the 8:30pm dinner seating and that worked well for getting other things done before it was time for dinner. Most folks followed the dress recommendations for casual and formal nights.

 

The Windjammer café (on deck 10) had longer hours and had buffet meals with no dress code requests. Sometimes it was difficult to find an empty table to sit at. Food quality wasn’t as good as Carmens – as you might expect.

 

Lounges

 

All of the lounges were popular on the cruise. Often there would be some type of activity (trivia, etc.) going on at the same time in the lounge. You could watch live sports in the Spinnaker bar. I believe smoking was permitted in all lounges and the casino. Boleros (a dance club) even had a cigar smoking section.

 

Shops

 

There were quite a few shops – a general store mainly sold booze and cigarettes, but also had toiletry items. Several shops sold jewelry, watches, etc. Others sold perfume and clothing. Towards the end of the cruise a lot of the clothing was placed out in the Centrum area and put on sale.

 

Sunday’s weather

 

Our only bad weather day was on Day 2 – Sunday. Sky turned cloudy and the waves got a bit higher. This lasted all day and the ship rolled a bit more noticeably. A few folks appeared to be sick. But by the next day everything had calmed down and the weather was fantastic for the remainder of the cruise.

 

Portofino’s

 

We had opted to make a reservation at Portofino’s and pay the $20 per person service charge.” We had heard great things about the food. So we had high expectations when we went there for dinner. We were really disappointed. Our entrée (veal) did not taste very good and I sent mine back. Worse, our waiter provided poor service and did not seem to be available when we needed her.

 

I’m sure our experience with Portofino’s was an isolated one. It’s just that we weren’t able to enjoy our meal the way we had expected. The manager there apologized and they even sent a plate of chocolate-covered strawberries to our cabin later. But our dining experience wasn’t what we expected.

 

Midnight Buffet

 

We only made it to one of the midnight buffets – near the end of the cruise. This one had all the ice sculptures (which looked very nice). The problem with the buffet was that, although it was in the very large Carmen’s dining room, the buffet was confined to a small section of the dining room. There were two, long serving lines that snaked around and a 30 minute wait to reach the food. But most disappointing was that after you got your plate of food, the staff gave you plastic utensils and “suggested” you go back to your cabin to eat. The staff did not want anyone sitting at the dining room tables (which were already set up for breakfast). This seemed a bit cheap.

 

Entertainment

 

We didn’t make it to all of the live shows in the showroom. But what we saw was much enjoyed. Everyone has their favorite type of show. For us it was the Love and Marriage show. Very funny. Some of shows have only one performance (instead of split performances to handle the different dinner settings). These shows would fill up the room quickly and it helped to have one person go into the showroom early and “reserve” the number of seats you needed (although this was strictly against ship policy).

 

There was a LOT of other entertainment activities around the ship. Bingo, trivia, cooking demonstrations, etc. You couldn’t possibly do it all – so you pick your favorites.

 

Bermuda Docking

 

One of the BIG benefits to cruising on the Empress was its smaller size. It could dock at both Hamilton and St. George. Bigger ships docked at the Dockyard. The Dockyard can be inconvenient for getting easily to other parts of the island (although the high-speed ferry can get you to Hamilton in 20 minutes).

 

While docked at Hamilton and St. George it was a pretty easy and quick process to go into town, sight-see, and come back on the ship for lunch or dinner. You do have to go through Bermuda customs each time – but it was a quick event every time for us.

 

Hamilton

 

We did the walking tour in Hamilton – it was okay. There are so many locals on their scooters and in their cars that noise is a problem and crossing the streets is an adventure. I think they place we most enjoyed in Hamilton was Fort Hamilton. And, walking around on some of the “Tribe” roads nearby. Our only real time in Hamilton was Monday afternoon from 3pm (time we docked) until dinner.

 

St. Georges

 

St. Georges was a very pleasant surprise and more enjoyable than Hamilton. My wife LOVED the perfumery (now located in St. George) and we both enjoyed the history museum and St. Peters Church. We also took the local bus to Crystal Caves (we found just so-so) and had lunch at the Swizzle Inn (very enjoyable).

 

Beaches

 

We spent several hours at Horseshoe Bay beach. It was nice, large, pretty and good for swimming. The sand didn’t seem that pink, though. They also have free showers for rinsing and changing clothes.

 

While in St. George, we walked to the nearby Tobacco Bay beach. We were really surprised how small this beach is. But we had a fantastic time there – mainly because the snorkeling around the nearby rocks was fantastic. We highly recommend this beach and it is only about a 15-20 minute walk from your ship.

 

Tours

 

We only took one organized tour provided by Royal Caribbean – the Hartley’s Helmet Dive. We had heard this was somewhat hokey and silly. Instead, I think everyone had a great time on it. We spent the extra bucks for the CD with our pictures – I think it was worth it. The fish we saw and touched were amazing.

 

Transportation

 

We bought a two-day, unlimited transportation (bus/ferry) pass. You can get it n the ship at the Guest Relations desk. $20 per person. Well worth it.

 

I had wanted to visit the Maritime Museum at the Dockyards and we had to pay the extra cost ($25) of a taxi to get there by 4pm. I figured that the hour until the museum closed at 5pm would be enough time. Surprise – when we got to the museum they said they were closed at 4pm that day. So we instead walked around and saw a glass-blowing demonstration and some other shops.

 

Overall

 

We both enjoyed the available time on the ship (about 4 days) and Bermuda (about 3 days). It would have been nice to have had another day or two in Bermuda. But overall, the trip was very nice.

 

The Empress is being sold next year to a Spanish cruise company. If you have the chance to book her before then, you should strongly consider doing so.

[wolfcathorse]

I'll be solo cruising on Empress in Jan. Thank you for your review, hardly any current ones have been posted. I don't think Empress has an adults only area, so did you spend any time around the pool and have trouble finding a lounger? How was service in the dining room? Does Empress have a Johnny Rockets? Did you talk to the Loyalty Ambassador at all? Did you go to the Captain's welcome aboard reception? Was there even a welcome aboard! Who was the captain, Olsen or Todal. There was more than one midnight buffet?!? What were the others!

[mpocd]

I don't think Empress has an adults only area, so did you spend any time around the pool and have trouble finding a lounger? How was service in the dining room? Does Empress have a Johnny Rockets? Did you talk to the Loyalty Ambassador at all? Did you go to the Captain's welcome aboard reception? Was there even a welcome aboard! Who was the captain, Olsen or Todal. There was more than one midnight buffet?!? What were the others!

 

The pool area was pretty much packed on the nice days. But you could ask the staff to bring lounge chairs from the deck just above. The pool wasn't very crowded - water must have been a bit cool. The spas were usually full. Both pool and spa close around 10pm.

 

The crew told us that prior to Labor Day the ship had had over 400 "under-18" persons onboard during a cruise. On our cruise there were very few children due to school. In fact, on our cruise there were only about 1,600 total passengers (out of a possible 2,200).

 

Our waiter in Carmens was Carlos (we were at table 32). He was superb, great service, funny, etc. Breakfast or lunch at Carmens is open-seating - so you won't have your normal waiter.

 

No - the ship does not have a Johnny Rockets.

 

No - did not talk to the Loyalty Ambassador.

 

There was a Captain's reception in the big showroom. We went and they had FREE champagne and some snacks. The Captain posed for pictures. Captain Olsen - he had a thick, accent.

 

We only went to the one midnight buffet I mentioned. I think there was another on a different night. In addition, there was usually midnight snacks in the different lounges that stayed open past midnight.

[wolfcathorse]

ty mpocd.

[dolfinmusic]

Thanks for the review! We sailed on the Empress last year - same week as you. The only bad weather day we had was Sunday too! Although, we woke up with yucky weather and by afternoon - it was gone! It was kind of rough too. Glad you enjoyed your trip. I really enjoyed the Empress!

[Cnd_Cruiser]

Thanks for the review, were sailing on her in Feb.

[dawnn12]

thanks for the review we are book on her oct 20-27 we cant wait

[Cruisin' Kim]

Thanks for the review! I can't wait- only 10 more days!:D

[iheartbda]

Thanks for the balanced review.:) Even though your experience at Portofino was not the best, it was nice to see that you understood that it may have been a one time thing. All too often people zero in on one bad thing, can't get over it and rate the ship or cruise line solely on that one point rather than considering the whole experience.

 

Anticipation is quite high waiting for Oct. 13.:D

[knb0504]

Thanks so much for the review! We leave on Saturday!! Woo-hoo!!! :)

[bchbms]

We were on this cruise also, and have to agree it was one of the best we ever took. The staff was phenomenal to us. Case in point - on the day we left St. George to sail back to Philly, the smokestack above our aft cabin on deck 7 began belching an enormous amount of soot. In less than a minute, our balcony was covered, as were we. I looked down at my RC robe and it was full of soot. My husband called housekeeping right away because we knew we would be tracking this stuff all over the place. They were there within 10 minutes with vacuums and cleaners. Our stateroom attendant brought new robes to us right away. We dressed and went to breakfast and when we returned the room and balcony were spotless. They said that has never happened on their ship before, so I don't know what the problem was, although I have read about it happening on the Voyager class ships.

 

I really wish this ship was staying here in Philly - it was a lovely cruise from start to finish.

[Shelli]

thanks for the review we are book on her oct 20-27 we cant wait

 

Dawn, come join our roll call for this cruise:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=469357