watson61

I'm sailing on Empress next April and am really looking forward to it. I've been on Allure and Symphony, which I loved, but I also really loved Grandeur, Enchantment and Brilliance so I expect to love Empress as well.

Yep, same thing happened to me in Miami last month on Symphony. Uber driver was clueless. And Symphony is pretty hard to miss.

A couple of years ago I did a Canada/NE cruise on the Regal Princess. Due to windy weather we skipped Bar Harbor (one of my favorite ports) and it snowed (!!) like crazy in Halifax. I lived in Boston for 12 years so am well aware how unpredictable the weather is in that part of the country, virtually any time of year.

I just made Diamond and am excited about the free happy hour drinks. I probably won't bother with the deluxe beverage package anymore unless it's dirt cheap (say $18/day, lol). I usually travel solo so either get an inside cabin or a heavily discounted balcony (booking a couple months before sailing). Those are getting harder to find though. I'm Platinum on Princess and the best benefit to me is the free Internet. I forget how many minutes it was but it was more than enough for me. And on the Regal, it was fast internet; I was able to stream Netflix. Both Royal and Princess (unlike HAL) give double points for solos - that's why I got to those levels relatively quickly. I definitely appreciate that.

BTW, shelbyleigh, you and your daughter will love Coco Cay. I thought it was great, much better than Labadee.

Great thread, especially since I'm going on Empress next April for the first time. My last two cruises have been Allure and Symphony and I'm actually looking forward to a much smaller ship. Two of my favorites are Brilliance and Enchantment. Also loved Grandeur. I also love Key West (one of the reasons I chose this cruise). I'm just hoping there isn't a repeat of one of my Brilliance cruises where due to weather, we couldn't dock in KW. That was a bummer. Question for those who have been on Empress: since Chops is the only specialty restaurant (I believe), I assume the MDR is pretty full at dinner time? On Symphony last month there were a lot of empty tables, and I assumed it was because of all the dining options.

No compliments that I can remember. I've gotten "Bless your heart," "I would never do that" (which is worse that I could never do that, IMO) and the old perennial "You're so brave." I find that more condescending than complimentary. All of these comments have been from women, BTW. And not just married women. The "I would never do that" came from a single woman.

I was over Bolero's on my Symphony cruise last month. I thought as long as I wasn't under it I'd be fine. Wrong! Very loud, and they had a couple of Latin dance parties that didn't end until past 1 am. Never again.

I was on Symphony a couple of weeks ago and they really pushed the $99/3 restaurants deal on the first day. I didn't hear anything about a deal after that. I didn't get it but I'd consider it in the future. Went to Hooked for dinner and it was good but pricey ($60 including mandatory gratuity).

I did my first slot pull on the Grandeur to Bermuda last April. It was so much fun! I have no problem with the organizer getting the points. She put a lot of work into it and it was a blast. Carol

Thanks so much for your wonderful review! I"m going on this cruise in January 2020 and can't wait. I've done many cruises on RCL and Princess and this will be my second on NCL. My first cruise ever was on the Epic and I know this ship is nothing like that one. But, as you said, I'm going for Hawaii, not the ship. I had heard the food on the ship is not very good. I'll probably be in the buffet a lot; good to know about Cadillac Diner serving breakfast. I didn't know that. Thanks again for your review!

I did this on Allure last year and Symphony a couple weeks ago. I'm Emerald but my sister and her family are Gold. We had no problem boarding together in the Diamond/Emerald line.

I just got off Symphony and formal night really was "anything goes." I saw lots of shorts and baseball caps.

I just got off Symphony and as soon as we boarded, they were pushing the $99 package hard. After the first day, it went up to $117. I don't know if they do this on every cruise.