Review: 5 Nights on Empress of the Seas (with 50+ Pictures!)

Empress of the Seas Review

Itinerary: 5-Night Western Caribbean Cruise (Cozumel, CocoCay)

Sail Date: March 27, 2017

Stateroom: 7006 (Forward Owner's Suite)

Since joining Cruise Critic a few years back, I've taken several cruises without writing a review. (I know, shame on me.) Well, that changes with this post reviewing our recent sailing on Empress of the Seas - little ship, big heart! And to make up for not writing reviews in the past, let me dump 50+ pictures into this thread.

Background

First, some background. My wife and I are in our early 30's, Emerald C&A members (only a three-night cruise away from Diamond - whoot!), and overall avid cruisers (we've both sailed on other lines). In fact, I proposed to her on Oasis of the Seas in 2014. Our jobs consume much of our time, so we like to vacation as much as possible. It's been a while since I cruised on a truly small ship (we were on Majesty last year, but does that count as a small ship?), so we booked this late March cruise.

From the Beginning...

We left our cold, rainy midwest state the day before our sailing. For fellow northerners, you know the feeling of leaving the cold and gray behind for something tropical...

Who would want to leave this "wonderland!?"

Rain drizzling outside our aircraft window

It was a morning flight, but hey - we're on vacation so don't judge

Random couple on the plane... nah, kidding - that's us

Stereotypical window shot while at 35,000 feet

Alright, enough of the airplane photos...

Although Empress of the Seas currently sails out of Miami, we flew into Fort Lauderdale. (Airfare was shockingly cheaper at the time I booked the plane tickets.) Learning from other CC members sailing out of Miami, we decided to stay the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay. Decent enough hotel, but showing its age in some ways. The REAL reason for selecting this hotel? The views. (Although my wife would say the short drive to the ship - a close, second reason I guess.)

Port of Miami at night

COMING UP NEXT:

Waking up to see Empress of the Seas from our hotel room.

Empress of the Seas Review - Continued

Perhaps it's the geek in me, but waking up to see your ship is quite a thrill. Anyone else agree?

You can see Enchantment of the Seas behind the Carinval ship

The ships weren't the only great views in the morning:

Looking directly out of our hotel room

Looking straight down from our hotel room

COMING UP NEXT:

We board the Empress of the Seas.

More pictures and more review to come! Might take me a day or two to finish though :) Hit me up with any questions you might have!

Following!

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Pics very nice so far, looking forward to more.

Following....I board in 9 days so am definitely interested in this review.

Following! We sail on Empress (CUBA!) in October.

Following! :D

Following[emoji924]☀️. We sail with her in July.

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Excited to see more!

Great pictures so far and I am looking forward to more. Definitely hoping for some positive vibes about Empress. We're booked for next month and, for the most part, all I've been reading is stuff from the Debbie Downers. Yes, I understand she's the oldest and (one of the) smallest ships in the fleet and there is no Diamond Lounge or Solarium and the rooms are smaller, blah blah blah but there has to be something good to report!

So, let's hear it! Thanks for your time in doing the review and sharing the pictures!

:D:D:D

Empress of the Seas Review - Continued

 

 

 

Perhaps it's the geek in me, but waking up to see your ship is quite a thrill. Anyone else agree?

 

 

 

 

You can see Enchantment of the Seas behind the Carinval ship

 

 

 

The ships weren't the only great views in the morning:

 

 

 

 

Looking directly out of our hotel room

 

 

 

 

Looking straight down from our hotel room

 

 

 

 

 

COMING UP NEXT:

 

We board the Empress of the Seas.

We were up, getting ready to disembark when you took this pic. Sad morning getting off that small ship with a big heart ❤️

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Empress of the Seas Review - Continued

Staying at a hotel near the port meant that our ship was only a "hop, skip, and a jump" away. Checkout was at 11:00AM, and the Empress began boarding new passengers at 11:30AM. Worked out beautifully. Grabbed a taxi and headed right for terminal.

Check-in and security were a breeze. In complete fairness though, we were suite guests with our own priority line. Even with that special access, the terminal wasn't crowded at all. (At least when we arrived.) With our SeaPasses in hand, we bypassed the ships photographers (who were using an outdated/pre-Pullmantur backdrop of the ship, BTW) and headed right for the gangway.

Enchantment of the Seas docked in front of Empress of the Seas

Just one... more... step...

Like most older RC ships, you enter through the Centrum

Near the bow looking forward on Deck 6 (Promenade Deck) toward Enchantment of the Seas

Looking back at our hotel from the ship

That's my mega yacht there (joking)

COMING UP NEXT:

The unveiling of our stateroom.

Great pictures so far and I am looking forward to more. Definitely hoping for some positive vibes about Empress. We're booked for next month and, for the most part, all I've been reading is stuff from the Debbie Downers. Yes, I understand she's the oldest and (one of the) smallest ships in the fleet and there is no Diamond Lounge or Solarium and the rooms are smaller, blah blah blah but there has to be something good to report!

 

So, let's hear it! Thanks for your time in doing the review and sharing the pictures!

Thanks! I'm still building up to the highlights and takeaways, but I'll just quickly mentioned that it's a fantastic ship, great crew, and the food was top-notch (and I'm VERY critical of RC's food).

More to come.

Following[emoji924]☀️. We sail with her in July.

We used a "Next Cruise" booking onboard for July! We're the last sailing of the month.

Thanks for the review.

Empress of the Seas Review - Continued

As mentioned before, my wife and I stayed in one of the "Owner's Suites." Like all staterooms onboard Empress of the Seas, they're much smaller compared to their category counterparts in the rest of the fleet. I've found that a Grand Suite on Oasis of the Seas (which is a step down from the Owner's Suite category) seems larger than an Owner's Suite on Empress.

Don't get me wrong, the stateroom was great nonetheless.

Window near the bed (balcony on opposite side of room)

Fresh fruit and flowers on our coffee table; sofa seen in background

The real selling point for the forward-facing Owner's Suites are the enormous balconies. Although it's windy at times, the space is unmatched:

Better angle to show the depth of the balcony

Forward view from the edge of the balcony

COMING UP NEXT:

The sail away.

We were up, getting ready to disembark when you took this pic. Sad morning getting off that small ship with a big heart ❤️

Aww. Worst part of any trip... the ending.

Can't wait to read more, thanks for taking the time to post!

Loving this review. Thanks for sharing.

Empress of the Seas Review - Continued

The Muster Drill was quicker than most cruises. Perhaps it was the small ship with few passengers that made it such a breeze. Or perhaps it was the rum and Cokes that made it go by so fast. It's anyone's guess.

Shortly after, we returned to our stateroom for the traditional champagne send-off.

Courtesy of Royal Caribbean Visa credit card reward points

Our stateroom was right on the bow of the ship. I was surprised how much rattling and shaking those bow thrusters make :o

Empress of the Seas was the first to leave port

Leaving the Port of Miami

Leaving the Port of Miami

COMING UP NEXT:

The rest of the first day...

Empress of the Seas Review - Continued

The rest of the first day was somewhat anticlimactic for us. In the spirit of "doing nothing" and relaxing, we decided to order room service for dinner, eat on our balcony, and watch the sunset before going to bed.

Sun setting on our first night

Little Empress glistening in the sunset

Final picture before the light faded

COMING UP NEXT:

Day two - sea day.

Empress of the Seas Review - Continued

Our first of two sea days! I'm a nautical nut, so sea days are typically my favorite days. Unlike most cruisers, I choose my cruises for the ship, more than the itinerary. (Although we'll be back on Empress of the Seas in July for Cuba - more on that later.)

Like most sea days on a given ship, it felt a little crowded in the public spaces (e.g. pool deck, sun deck, etc.) which is to be expected. On the whole though, the "crowd level" wasn't an issue, with the exception on the Centrum near the shops. The shop staff set up tables for watches and jewlery in the narrow aisles right near the central staircase of the Centrum. This made it difficult at times to squeeze through as shoppers looked upon the items on the tables. The other crowding issue is Windjammer at lunch time - but I'm sure that goes without saying.

Cruise Compass, Day 2

After breakfast, we decided to wander around the ship.

My lovely wife and I wondering the ship

Pool deck with no "upper deck"

On the ship's stern

Beautiful weather all around. We were sailing *with* the wind for the first few days, so our forward-facing balcony was the perfect spot to spend most of our day.

After more sunbathing than I should have done (it still hurts), we opened one of our bottles of champagne we brought onboard with us:

I'm attempting to be "artistic" with this photo. Did I hit the mark?

For dinner, we at at Chops Grille. Service was superb, but the "Dry-Aged New York Strip" was extremely disappointing. It's an additional charge (on top of the up-charge to dine at Chops), so I was expecting a phenomenal steak. After two bites, I sent it back. It was cooked to my liking, but the steak itself had no flavor. None. :confused: The waiter was quick to bring me out a filet instead. Quite satisfied with the filet I must say.

No photos from dinner, apologies. I didn't want to lug around the Canon camera anymore that day. Pure laziness.

COMING UP NEXT:

Day three: Cozumel, México

Empress of the Seas Review - Continued

Cozumel, México was our first port of call. There are two separate cruise ship piers, several miles apart. It was great to see both Freedom of the Seas and Navigator of the Seas sail in behind us, although they both docked at the other pier.

On the whole, I'm not a big fan of Cozumel, México. I've been there a handful of times and now it seems my wife just drags me around shopping each time. Of course, I'm the one fending off all of the merchants who want to sell me anything and everything. (See does this on purpose, I just know it!) I do love the blue water at Cozumel though - it's very "Caribbean Blue."

The sun was still rising on the other side of the ship, lighting up the water underneath

MSC Divina later docked next to us; she's a few feet longer I think...

At this point of this post, we haven't even left the pier; however Cruise Critic limits the photos to six per post. Most Cozumel coming up...

COMING UP NEXT:

Cozumel, México - Continued

Loving this review. Thanks for sharing.

Are you sailing on Empress soon?

It'll be quite different from our experience on Anthem last October but Mr. B and I are up for a new experience [emoji3]

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