Empress Second Sailing Review

[firemedic1560]

Hello everyone! As promised, I will try to provide an update on our trip on the Empress. If you are looking for a lot of pictures, I suggest you read another review. This one will not have many, if any at all. I will try to provide an honest assessment of our trip, the ship, the crew, and our ports. I will also be happy to answer any questions you all have if I can. So here goes!

 

We are a family of four, husband wife and two daughters, 22 and 17. We also allowed our daughters boyfriends to come, age 23 and 17. As I mentioned in other threads, we had a very narrow window of time that we all could travel in, and this itinerary fit that window perfectly. We chose this trip purely for the itinerary and schedule. We knew the ports and felt safe allowing the kids some freedom in those locations that we might not have in say Cozumel. We knew the Empress was small, but we also knew she was coming out of dry dock a couple of months before we sailed, so everything should be fine! :)

We live about an hour and a half north of the port. We left our house around 10 with plans to stop at the Navy Federal Credit Union branch near the port. Our youngest daughter's boyfriend leave for Air Force boot camp in two weeks, hence the stop at the credit union. Around 11 my phone started buzzing more than normal but I was in heavy traffic and couldn't deal with it right away. We were in two cars navigating construction hell in downtown Miami trying to find this credit union. I see a call from my travel agent and answer. "I've be trying to get you for half an hour!" Royal Caribbean called me and says your rooms are not available and wants to bump you. I decided to proceed to the port and get my whole family together to discuss what we wanted to do. We were given a very fair set of options:

100 percent refund and 100 percent additional cruise credit, or transfer to the Allure sailing yesterday in balcony cabins for all of us. That would have been three interior cabins upgraded to balcony on a 7 day cruise for no out of pocket money. Because of work, school and Air Force commitments, we had to decline the Allure upgrade. (It killed me!) I polled the family and offered to keep driving to Key West since that's where we were going anyway and we had a big excursion booked on day 2. The family said they wanted to cruise, so we went inside to meet with customer service to see what the issues were and to make a decision.

I made a tactical decision not to check my luggage at this point feeling like it would be difficult to get it back if we did not cruise. So we went inside and kept getting sent to the check in line. It took me several tries to get some to understand that I couldn't just check in. Once I got a person willing to actually listen to what I was saying, we got put into a separate lounge with several other families who had similar issues. There were supposedly 20 cabins that were not going to be available. We had been told our cabins had plumbing problems, and that was all we knew. We didn't know if they were flooded or what. We were able to speak with a supervisor and after my wife got done with him, he went on board and found out exactly what the issue was. One of our cabins did not have hot water, but the issue had been repaired. We could cruise if we chose to, so we sent the kids to the cars to get our luggage, (teenagers can be useful sometimes) and we made our way aboard. Our three cabins were ready so we dropped our carry ons and made our way up to the Windjammer for lunch. Our cabins were clean and showed no evidence of any flooding and all three had hot water. Right after lunch it was time for the muster drill!

[firemedic1560]

For the first time in our lives we got to spend our muster drill in a lounge instead of out on a hot deck. Yay! The muster drill went pretty quickly, and we left the dock sometime after 5. We went exploring and quickly realized how small the Empress is in comparison to the other ships we have been on. This was our 8th cruise, and 3rd for our full family. We have been on Carnival twice, the Fantasy and the Legend, and Royal twice previously, the Majesty and the Jewel. The Empress makes the Majesty look big.

We decided not to eat in the Main Dining Room the first night. The Windjammer layout is tight and while we were always able to find a seat, it was just difficult to navigate. All the hot food was in two lines that were always long. You had to try to get everything in one trip instead of being able to come and go. The food was good, not great, but we certainly did not go hungry. One thing we definitely missed was the lack of alternate dining venues. There simply are none! You go to the MDR, Windjammer, or Chops. No sandwich places, pizza, nothing. Again, while we were pretty much always able to get something, the lack of variety was very noticeable. More to come in a bit!

[firemedic1560]

After dinner the first night we went to the theater expecting a show. According to the cruise director, something happened and we ended up with a comedian. He was pretty funny! No complaints there. We were wandering around and ended up in the casino when we realized a significant difference from all the other ships we had been on. THE CASINO ON EMPRESS IS NON-SMOKING!!!!!! This was a huge plus for us! We have always limited our time in the casino due to the smoke. My wife will not go in at all. While she didn't play, she did come by a couple of times while I was playing and she could at least watch for a bit. Big points to RCC for making this venue non-smoking, and enforcing it. I saw someone asked to leave for lighting up.

The next morning found us in Key West. One of the things we liked about this itinerary was the fact that there was an extended stop here. 8-8, which allowed us to get a great view of the legendary sunset on our way out of the port!We had a great time in Key West. We have been there many times but our daughter wanted to show her boyfriend a potential wedding venue so back to Key West we went. We booked a trip with the Fury company outside of Royal Caribbean. It was our first time parasailing and we loved it! Great boat, great crew. Pretty expensive, but I had a group of 6 so everything was expensive. No complaints with Key West.

For our second night on board we decided to try the MDR. We had tried to switch from late seating to My Time, but it was not available. When we arrived at dinner with our party of 6 we discovered that my wife and I were assigned a different table than the other two staterooms. That was a PIA to fix but it was eventually corrected. They found us a table, which had to be the worst table on the ship. Right in front of the kitchen with a bussing station right behind us. I can't count the number of time I got bumped by someone during dinner on top of the noise from the kitchen. Our wait staff was very nice, but service was slow. The food was okay, certainly not great. The worst part was when they tried to seat the people who previously occupied the table we were at. There was three of them and two open seats. Awkward.

We missed the show on the second night because of the late dinner seating so I cannot comment about that.

[Rosy1013]

Following your review!

[firemedic1560]

Day 3 was a sea day. We slept in and then took advantage of the brunch buffet if the MDR. Much greater variety than in the Windjammer. I would recommend that if it is available on future cruises! From what I understand this should be available on other ships as well. We did not do much during the day. A little rock climbing, a few drinks and some casino time. I won a bit at the blackjack table, but I have to admit I was disappointed there was no Texas Hold 'Em available. Dinner the third night was Chops. We have never done a specialty restaurant and since there was no formal night we chose to do Chops and dress up a little bit in order to get some nice pictures. More on the pictures later!

My family loves food, but we don't eat at high end places on a regular basis. Maybe it is supposed to be this way. We were there an hour before we got our appetizers! Seemed ridiculous to me. We barely made the 10:30 Quest show, and only after the maitre 'd came over and asked us if we wanted to pick up the pace of our meal. There was no entertainment inside so I don't get the long pauses in between courses. Maybe we were all just too impatient for that type of experience, but it seemed exceedingly slow. The food was very good for the most part although I got a baked potato with no offer whatsoever for butter, sour cream or anything else. Odd. Again, maybe it was just us not being used to how things go in a high end steak house? Either way, we probably won't do it again.

Quest was okay. We were in the upper deck so we could not participate. Maybe it's more fun if you are playing instead of watching? Not a horrible way to spend an hour but I would have prefered to go listen to some music or something.

Which leads me to the music. This is definitely a Cuban themed ship. Nothing against that but the only real band only played music in Spanish. The reggae band played in English, but we are not outside pool people. The piano players in the Schooner Bar were good. But there was no other option. No chance to listen to a guy play a guitar and sing Buffet, or whatever. In my opinion, four nights of piano bar was too much. Personally, I would have preferred some variety.

[Colorado Babe]

This ship does not sound promising. I am sorry you had to pay money to cruise on it.

[firemedic1560]

Day 4 found us in Coco Cay. Majesty was there with us and was assigned the better tender dock. We had a longer walk to get to everything. Not a big deal, but it would have been nice to be the only ship in port that day. You can't have everything, and this port has the capacity to handle more than one ship without a big problem.

I have snorkeled throughout Florida and the Caribbean and was not expecting much on Coco Cay. I was very impressed with the snorkeling here! I saw many fish I was not expecting to see in such a crowded area. Several large mutton snapper and a huge hogfish were two of the most notable examples.

A couple of things that I would do differently:

I would bring my own gear. The snorkel area was vast and not having good fins was a hinderance. Also, we brought our own gear for my wife, but she paid for the snorkeling "excursion." No need to do that. The fee is for gear rental. Since we drove, I would bring my own gear. Lesson learned!

My wife is just learning to snorkel and I went very slow to stay with her. Even with that limited time, there was a lot to see. Had I been with more experienced people we would have really seen a lot.

Some people don't like the manufactured feel of Coco Cay. We are fine with it. I understand that I'm not going to get fresh conch like I can at other places I go to in the Bahamas. Then again, I wouldn't get a comfortable lounge chair, inflatable slide, etc. We are going to Labadee in September. It will be interesting to compare the two.

[firemedic1560]

This ship does not sound promising. I am sorry you had to pay money to cruise on it.

 

I understand that point of view. There are certainly some things that I would have preferred to go differently. On a personal level, I had to make a decision as to whether I was going to let the negatives ruin my vacation or not. I chose to do my best to stay positive. I'm about to get to my biggest disappointment.

[Citymom92]

Following-thanks for doing a review!

[Colorado Babe]

I understand that point of view. There are certainly some things that I would have preferred to go differently. On a personal level, I had to make a decision as to whether I was going to let the negatives ruin my vacation or not. I chose to do my best to stay positive. I'm about to get to my biggest disappointment.

 

I am the same way, I try to think of my cup as half full and not half empty but there is something I don't like about this ship. Perhaps it's the way RC has handled everything.

Edited June 6, 2016 by Colorado Babe

[magicsoccer]

How was the A/C in most areas? Do you know if you can rent just snorkeling vests on Cococay?

[firemedic1560]

Last night after returning from Coco Cay we tried to get into an earlier dinner seating. Didn't happen. We chose to go back to the Windjammer instead of missing the rest of the night. There were few people there during the time we went, which was around 7. Many of the ship's officers and staff were there eating during that time. The food was good, not great and they finally had ice cream! Still no soft serve, but there was a person scooping some if you wished. My oldest daughter's boyfriend wanted to play some blackjack so we did that after dinner. The dealers were friendly and helpful to him, and we had a great time. Everyone at the table was enjoying themselves with a few exceptions caused by a couple of people that didn't know what they were doing. I totally get that everyone has to learn somehow, and everyone is entitled to play however they wish. The problem with blackjack is that one person can cost everyone else a bunch of money when they hit hands that they shouldn't. We managed to work around it and by the end of the night, both my daughter's boyfriend and I managed to walk away with a few hundred dollars! This was a first for me as I almost always break even or lose a bit. Perhaps the lack of Hold 'Em was a plus after all!

Now for my biggest disappointment. On night 3, as I said we planned to get a little more dressed up and take a bunch of pictures. We did, and we had a blast. The next day we looked for many of the shots and they were nowhere to be found. None of the shots from several of the various backgrounds were anywhere available for display. Not just ours, but everyone's. We waited for a picture with the captain, we waited for multiple backgrounds, etc. Last night we were told there was a problem with the printer and those shots would not be available. I asked for another option such as a CD, online purchase, flash drive, whatever. Nope! Sorry. The photographer said, "how do you think we feel? We spent a lot of time taking those pictures?" I about lost it. I told her that it wasn't her family in those pictures, and this trip had been planned for months. I spent thousands on this trip and was willing to spend more to get a bunch of overpriced, but nice pictures to commemorate the event.

It's interesting that the pictures are an absolute cash cow for the ship and yet they can't make it work. I know there is an option to purchase a package before you board and obviously in hindsight, I wish I had done that. What I don't understand is that if those images are stored electronically, why is it not possible to access them and sell them? I'm going to complain to management although I suspect it will not accomplish much.

 

Now for my rant

There were some things that I don't understand. and am not happy about. I bought the Royal Replenish package for our daughters and guests because it was advertised as having premium coffee drinks, fresh squeezed juices, bottled water, etc. The reality is that on the Empress there is no place to get many of those items. There is no Freestyle machine, no soda machines anywhere except the bar. Every time my kids went to the bar to get their cups filled the wait was excessive because the bartenders don't want to deal with the "free" stuff.

How hard is it to get a soft serve ice cream machine to work? They were on board but covered up.

The ship has a Cuban theme. In every bar there is at least one "signature drink" that uses mint. They were out of mint for much of the cruise. Even with a stop in Key West on the second day. That means they had a chance to fix it and didn't. How can it be a "signature" if they don't always have it?

Even the cups we were given for the drink package were cheap. I've seen the previous versions with the chip in them. They are nice cups. Similar in feel to a Tervis. The ones we had were just a cheaper feel with no insulation.

It was difficult, and at some times impossible to find iced tea. That is supposed to be a standard part of the always available drinks and yet many times it wasn't.

I feel as though we didn't get the value for what we paid. Not for any one really big thing, but for a lot of little things that should not be a problem.

For the first time, I bought a drink package for myself and my wife. We tried some things we probably would not otherwise have gotten, but here is one that makes me crazy. We buy a drink package, then when I order a drink out on Coco Cay, I have to pay $4 for the cup. In several venues they were out of an ingredient needed to make whatever the drink I asked for. Drink package is supposed to include bottled water but if you drink the bottled water they put in your cabin they call it a mini-bar and charge you again! None of these are big things by themselves, but overall they are.

Even with the significant delays, this ship still isn't right. Our cabin AC never really got the cabin cold. It was certainly tolerable, but not cold. My wife was about to get into the shower when she found the water turned off to our cabin. No warning, just no water. Our cabin steward didn't know it was happening. No announcement, just no water. Imagine if she was in the shower with a head full of shampoo?

All in all, our family had a great time. We had a great time because we chose to. For those of you that are booked on future sailings, I expect that many of these items will be worked out by the time you go. This ship is meant for a niche market that it is not currently in. Hopefully when it is put on it's intended itinerary things will be better and the issues will be fixed. If not, I cannot recommend this ship.

If anyone has specific questions, I will be happy to try to answer them.

[firemedic1560]

How was the A/C in most areas? Do you know if you can rent just snorkeling vests on Cococay?

 

The first day it was warm in the casino. The last night it was a little warm in there again. Our cabin AC was okay but not great. I did not notice anyplace else on the ship that was obviously warm.

 

I do not know if you can rent the snorkel gear by the piece. I suspect not, but I don't know for sure.

[firemedic1560]

Two other things I forgot. The outside movie screen was still not working. Picture but no sound. Also the in room TV offerings were very limited. While I enjoy a bit of the Royal Caribbean "how we built this ship" stuff, it repeats often. The channel I missed the most was what I call the map channel. The one showing a picture of the ship's chart plotter with so you have an idea where you are. Seems like they could have fixed that on a $50 million upgrade since they didn't spend it on ice cream machines!

[magicsoccer]

How did the internet work? Did you buy a package? Thanks for your reviews. They are very helpful for our cruise next week.

[firemedic1560]

We didn't buy the Internet. I had a friend on board that was able to watch live hockey on his I pad. It was working well for the few minutes I watched with him.

 

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

[lazydayz]

Thanks for the review. Sounds like Royal rushed this ship out way too soon. Glad you and your family were still able to enjoy.

[Had2cruz]

Thanks for your review. Not too sure about our upcoming cruise....

[Merion_Mom]

How was the A/C in most areas? Do you know if you can rent just snorkeling vests on Cococay?

 

The first day it was warm in the casino. The last night it was a little warm in there again. Our cabin AC was okay but not great. I did not notice anyplace else on the ship that was obviously warm.

 

I do not know if you can rent the snorkel gear by the piece. I suspect not, but I don't know for sure.

 

Yes, you can just rent snorkeling vests on CocoCay.

 

I have been wondering about the casino.

 

This thought occurred to me: They may not have PLANNED to have the casino be non-smoking, but with no ventilation (on the first cruise, they propped open the door to the outside so that the players wouldn't pass out!) and very poor A/C..........maybe it was just a decision on-the-spot to ban smoking there?

 

firemedic, thank you for your honest and well-written reviews.

[JamesEM]

Thanks for your review, sounds like RCL is trying to get their upgrade money back as quickly as possible.

[pstone1]

The food was good, not great and they finally had ice cream! Still no soft serve, but there was a person scooping some if you asked.

 

Now for my biggest disappointment. On night 3, as I said we planned to get a little more dressed up and take a bunch of pictures. We did, and we had a blast. The next day we looked for many of the shots and they were nowhere to be found. None of the shots from several of the various backgrounds were anywhere available for display. Not just ours, but everyone's. We waited for a picture with the captain, we waited for multiple backgrounds, etc. Last night we were told there was a problem with the printer and those shots would not be available.

 

On the May 28th sailing, the ice cream machine only worked on Day 1 and only had vanilla ice cream. My husband was very disappointed.

 

Also, after our stop in Grand Cayman, we went looking for the dock photos we had taken and were also told the printer was broken. We joked that perhaps they could go to Office Depot when we reached Key West and get the parts needed to fix the printer! Low and behold, the next evening the photos were all printed and available for purchase. Apparently, it was only a temporary fix. So sorry you were not able to get yours at all.

Edited June 7, 2016 by pstone1

[Royal Raynik]

Thank you for taking the time to post this review. We sail on Empress this Saturday, June 11. I have already warned my wife about the deficiencies that may not be corrected by our sailing. We are going into it with the "we are on vacation" attitude and make the best of it. We both also have the drink packages! I think Allure and Liberty really spoiled us! Thanks again!

 

Where were y'alls cabins located?

[njmomof2]

After reading your review (and I appreciate it), I'm even more glad that my clients ended up getting bumped off because they, too, were in a cabin that had some sort of plumbing issue. Now that I see there were cabins bumped the sailing before, it appears to be a real issue.

 

Clients were driving down to FL to visit family and leave their young children with the grands to spend a few days alone. They were offered the full refund and 100% credit for another cruise. Took it and we rebooked them on another cruise leaving out of Miami on another line. Reading about issues with A/C, drinks, food, service, etc., I'm glad they went on another line for this trip.

 

Hopefully, the deficiencies will be straightened out in due course. But for those who spent money thinking that they are getting a standard Royal Caribbean trip, many will be sorely disappointed.

[firemedic1560]

I was deck 8 aft.

 

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

[ShawninFL]

We too were on the second sailing and your review is pretty much our experience. Actually I think you were quite friendly in your overall review. We were a group of about 15. Overall we had a good time, because we chose to make it a good time in spite of the actually cruise ship experience. This ship is not ready for passengers...simply not. Our issues:

 

1. Chops on First night, party of 12 - After 1 hour and 10 minutes 6 six salads were served. 10 minutes later, still not a single appetizer or soup had been served to any of the other 6. 5 minutes later we made the decision to get up and leave.

 

2. A/C not working adequately. We found the casino to be warm during the day and outright hot at night. Nearly everyone in our group complained their cabin was warm.

 

3. On the last day our bathroom smelled horribly of sewerage (we were on deck 8)

 

4. T.V. in cabin wasn't working and couldn't get anyone to come from maintenance (Guest Services repeatedly didn't answer phone calls. Twice we called and the phone rang 37 times twice in a row before disconnecting. Someone finally answered the third time.)

 

5. Selections in Windjammer were limited and mediocre in quality. Also, food option times in the evening are extremely limited. There is absolutely nothing available other than room service between 9 and 11:30 PM. (Room service took 45 minutes for badly PRE-prepared sandwiches)

 

6. Bar Service was extremely slow. Getting a drink was a 15 - 25 minute undertaking. Thus when you just wanted a water or soda, as OP stated, it wasn't worth it.

 

7. Bought Internet but it would connect our device. Some others in our group also experienced this problem while others had not problem. Those that had service said it was very slow. Those that didn't ultimately received a refund as there is not IT manager on board.

 

Lot and lots a little things over and over all cruise long just added up for a bad overall cruise experience. But as I said we made the most of it and had fun. I'm a roll with it type of person, but I also recognize Royal Caribbean did not deliver what we paid for. Definitely will keep this in mind next time we research a trip. We've been wanting to give Norwegian a try for something different and this probably just pushed us in that direction.