Empress Review - Southern Caribbean

[LuvShak]

San Juan – St. Maarten - St. Kitts - Antigua - St. Lucia - Barbados - Isla Margarita - Curacao - Aruba

 

My review of our 11d Southern Caribbean cruise on the Empress over Thanksgiving was just posted and is available for your perusal.

 

However, I wrote it yesterday while digging out from under our resulting 9 loads of laundry and I see now that I left some info out. I didn’t even mention the spa, Portofino and I certainly didn’t go in depth about alcohol….ha ha!

 

So please, ask away and I will share any experience that we had.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=35211

[Houston Traveler]

Hi

 

Thanks for posting your review. My DW and I will be traveling on the Empress of the Seas Jan 2th.

 

How was your experience dining at Portofino? We are considering spending both formal nights there.

 

Another question concerns Dinner on the night of sailing. Was the main dining room open for supper?

 

Thanks

[maxs mom]

Very nice review. I enjoyed it. We did this cruise in March of 05 and thoroughly enjoyed it. We've cruised on the Empress 5 times. She is special.

[Bargeo]

Thank you for posting this nice review. We will be on Empress next month. Did you eat at Portofinos? If so, did you like it? Which night would you recommend eating there?

[LuvShak]

Good Morning,

 

Portofino

 

We loved our dining experience there and the food was fabulous. It is like going to any fine dining establishment, people are well dressed and each course is served with great presentation. You seem to take even more time than in the dining room! I will never understand why people have an issue with the $20/person fee, you can't eat at a fine restraunt for that.

 

As far as which night?? That is a tough one, we certainly did not want to miss out on formal night in the main Carmen dining room so we ruled those out. Also, you may be interested to know that during our 11 night sailing, they had a Murder Mystery Dinner at Portofino one night. The fee went up to $50/person but was a longer event that clearly includes a play taking place around you. Every one of our table mates actually ate at Portofino that night and they loved loved loved the experience.

 

My recommendation is to simply do it, some night. I'm having a hard time trying to guide someone else to which night.

 

Carmen Dining Room

 

Yes, the main dining room is open every night. If I recall, the first night was about 15 minutes later with the seatings than all the other days. The Cruise Compass will be in your room for that first day and it will list the times. We looked forward to dinner every night simply because of the wait staff and our table mates. It was like a fun get-together to top off each great day. Lots of laughter and port stories shared by all.

 

I hope this helps a bit. And ask me more if you like.:)

[LuvShak]

Someone just asked about Portofino on Empress in another thread.

This had been bumped to page 2, so I thought I should move it up for another read....

 

I mentioned in the full review already, but not in this thread, we were in an Owner's Suite and for this ship it was an excellent choice, given the smaller regular and JS staterooms on the Empress.

[mediator]

San Juan – St. Maarten - St. Kitts - Antigua - St. Lucia - Barbados - Isla Margarita - Curacao - Aruba

 

My review of our 11d Southern Caribbean cruise on the Empress over Thanksgiving was just posted and is available for your perusal.

 

However, I wrote it yesterday while digging out from under our resulting 9 loads of laundry and I see now that I left some info out. I didn’t even mention the spa, Portofino and I certainly didn’t go in depth about alcohol….ha ha!

 

So please, ask away and I will share any experience that we had.

 

Hello Cruise Mates... this is Cindy... you did a terrific job, couldn't add a thing, except that we had a small M&M group we did on our own and enjoyed each other's company(twice)!!! Happy Holiday

[LuvShak]

Hi Cindy,

 

Thank you for the kind words...I tried to cover everything.

 

For sure, our own little 12 person meet & mingle worked quite well. Boleros was a great lounge for such and occasion. I'm still missing those awesome Royal Mojitos! ;) It was fun to see the other cruise critic groupies around the ship too!

 

I'm nursing a souvenior cold, but the great memories far out weigh any whining I may be doing because of my sniffles.:D

 

Happy Holidays to you as well....

Michele

[0ldog]

Which nights were the Formal Dress Please.

 

Thanks.........

[GMoney]

Thanks for your review; it was very helpful. I love the itinerary, but I'm just not sure I'd enjoy Empress. It sound like you had a great time though.

 

Barbados can be crazy, especially if you stay near Bridgetown. Try Crane Beach / Hotel next time.

[LuvShak]

Hi there,

 

Below I have listed what we experienced on our 11/19 sailing. Pardon my usage of the term Semi-Formal, I use this instead of the RCI “smart casual” term when I’m making my packing lists…tends to make more sense to me.

 

1-Mon: Casual

2-Tue: Formal

3-Wed: Casual

4-Thu: Semi-Formal

5-Fri: Casual

6-Sat: Casual

7-Sun: Formal

8-Mon: Semi-Formal

9-Tue: Casual

10-Wed: Casual

11-Thur: Casual

 

I hope this helps out. :)

[Bargeo]

Thank you......this helps a lot with the packing.