Review - Empress of the Seas - Cuba May 20-25, 2017

I'm not even sure why I checked the Royal Caribbean website on that day but it happened to be the day when they opened the Cuba cruises.

The May 20 cruise proved to be perfect because not only did it fall into a not so busy week at work but it also stopped in Key West, a place that I have been wanting to visit for a while now.

It was only me on this trip so I booked an inside cabin for a fantastic price- I think the inside cabins were double the price just a few days/ weeks later so I was happy with my choice.

Day 0 - May 19, 2017

Washington DC - Tampa, FL

After a day of work it was time to escape the bad weather but even though the storms eventually passed, they were now responsible for closed airspace on the way to Tampa.

Ultimately this resulted in a two hour delay but United kept everybody informed and eventually we were on our way.

Interesting (in a bad way) to see though how people blame an airline for bad weather. Better safe than sorry.

Thankfully I had booked the Marriott at the airport so I basically fell from the gate right into bed.

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Day 1 - May 20, 2017 - Tampa, FL

Originally I had planned to leave the hotel early to go to the farmers market in Ybor and have breakfast there. Due to the delayed flight last night though, I slept in and didn't leave until about 10.30am. I took the bus from the hotel and with one transfer in Downtown and I found myself on 7th Ave in Ybor.

The plan was now to just walk around a bit, have a very healthy late breakfast/ early lunch of ice cream and then continue my way to the cruise terminal.

This plan worked perfectly and I enjoyed a nice late morning stroll through Ybor before taking the streetcar to the cruise terminal.

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Check in was smooth- no big lines when I arrived. The $75 visa for Cuba was handed to everybody during the check-in process- together with two pages of instructions and the warning that nothing can be crossed out because otherwise one would have to pay another $75.

I dropped off my bag and headed outside to enjoy the warm Florida sun.

Eventually we left the pier and made our way south towards Key West where we would arrive around 1pm the next day.

Great start to a short but hopefully relaxing and exciting vacation!

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Nice photos. Will be following your review.

Beautiful photos!

Great pictures. Looking forward to the rest of your review.

Jonathan

Very nice start, you got my attention.

Waiting for more.

Thanks

You also have my attention as we will be on the same cruise in Aug. What especially caught my attention was the $75 fee for a visa.

I had booked the Best of Havana tour. A few hours after submitting final payment yesterday, I got an email stating that the tour had been cut by an hour and you had to pick between two shorter tours. Not a happy experience for our first RCL cruise.

John

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm hoping to sail to Cuba in the future.

Day 2 - May 21, 2017 - Key West, FL

We wouldn't be arriving in Key West until about 1pm so after having breakfast, I just enjoyed the nice weather until it was time to go to a presentation about Havana. It focused on the history of the city/ county but mainly before the 1900s, which was still interesting. After that, there was a Q&A with some officers, might have been the hotel director (?) where the most common questions that were brought up in the first two cruises were reviewed and of course everybody could ask anything about the arrival process, money exchange, visa, etc. It was definitely helpful.

We did arrive eventually into a breezy but hot Key West where I first had lunch and gen just walked around the streets until it got too hot so I returned to the ship where I spent the rest of the day.

A definite plus was the movie selection on the big screen so I spend my evening watching "Finding Dory".

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We are interested in this itinerary so following along. Thanks for sharing.

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We are on this same itinerary next spring, so I am interested in knowing if you found most things in Key West to be open on Sunday. I am particularly interested in Kino Sandals.

We are on this same itinerary next spring, so I am interested in knowing if you found most things in Key West to be open on Sunday. I am particularly interested in Kino Sandals.

It seems to me that everything in the main tourist drag was open.

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I was on this same cruise! Interested to hear another viewpoint. I myself absolutely loved everything about the ship and Cuba was very intriguing

Thank you for your review. I look forward to the rest.

Your photos are amazing! Are you a professional photographer? Thanks for sharing!

Jan

Following too.

Your photos are amazing! Are you a professional photographer? Thanks for sharing!

 

Jan

No, sorry to disappoint you- just using the iPhone. [emoji4]

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Following along with you and very interested not only in the Cuba portion but also interested in your take on the Empress in general. We were getting off the ship as you were getting on (we did the May 15-20 cruise to Cozumel and Costa Maya.) We had a great time and really enjoyed the ship and the crew.

It would have been great to do a back to back with the May 15 cruise to Mexico and the May 20 cruise to Key West and Cuba. Guessing if we do the Cuba cruise it would be in the fall when prices hopefully come down a little.

I'm also in the midst of doing a review so it will be interesting to see where we agree/disagree. I have a feeling we will have a lot in common--I'm one of those people who like to take public transportation whenever possible!

We had a great time and really enjoyed the ship and the crew.

 

 

 

I'm also in the midst of doing a review so it will be interesting to see where we agree/disagree. I have a feeling we will have a lot in common--I'm one of those people who like to take public transportation whenever possible!

I definitely agree- the ship as well as the crew were fantastic. It felt very intimate and never felt crowded with a lot of space to relax and enjoy the sunshine. I would sail on the Empress again in a heartbeat.

And yes, having grown up in Europe, I prefer public transportation and it's definitely the way to go.

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Day 3 - May 22, 2017 - Havana, Cuba

During the Q&A session the day before, it was mentioned that we would sail into Havana around 6am. So today would be the only day during this whole cruise where I set the alarm. When I went up to the forward outside deck, it was still dark outside but the sun was slowly rising over the horizon.

It was a beautiful sail in and we finally reached the dock a little before 7am.

I had booked the walking tour through Old Havana and since all tours were staggered, once it was time for our tour to leave the ship, there were no lines at immigration. One thing that I thought was a nice touch was the fact that while waiting for the tour to start, everybody got a bottle of water.

The lady that was processing me didn't ask any questions- the only thing she was interested in was my tourist card (visa) and passport that she stamped quickly and gave back to me. She did keep the visa.

Everybody had to go through scanners like at the airport and put all their belongings through an X-ray machine and then it was off to the currency exchange. There were plenty of booths open and transactions were handled quickly.

The reason why I chose the walking tour was simply that I wanted to have some free time for myself afterwards. It worked out perfectly.

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No, sorry to disappoint you- just using the iPhone. [emoji4]

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Well the way you have framed your shots is just perfect! You have a great "eye" for photography. (I used to teach photography, back in the days of the darkroom. We would have killed for an iPhone ... :D)

Well the way you have framed your shots is just perfect! You have a great "eye" for photography. (I used to teach photography, back in the days of the darkroom. We would have killed for an iPhone ... :D)

Thanks!!!