Empress Cruise Highlights

[mabkcruisers]

Having cruised Nordic Empress an EOS a number of times, I often called her a "pocket megaship." :D

 

 

This is exactly how we felt! You had everything you would expect, but it was just a mini-version.

[mabkcruisers]

Disembarkation Day- We went to breakfast around 6:30. With a long drive ahead of us that day we planned to do self-assist at 7:30. With only a handful of suitcases out the night before we assumed many others had similar plans, and we wanted to be some of the first in line to disembark.

 

The Windjammer was still doing made to order omelettes this day, and there were plenty of other options for our last breakfast.

 

We didn't receive a statement on our door, but one was emailed to us later in the day. I went to guest services to ask for a copy before disembarking. While I was waiting I realized they were letting passengers off the ship (it was about 7:20). We hadn't heard any announcements about clearing customs though. I texted DH to spread the word to DS to be ready as there was no line.

 

We walked off a few minutes later with no wait and were through customs and in our car in the parking garage by 7:40. :) Easiest disembarkation ever! It helped being in the right place at the right time.

[DENNAS]

Thanks for the informative review. We embark tomorrow and are Very Excited! We were on one of the originally canceled cruises in April and can't wait to see a refurbished ship that we sailed a few times many (many!!) years back.

Any day at sea is better than a day at work!! 😉

[coaster]

Thanks for all the details. We leave tomorrow also and this is our replacement cruise for the April one that was cancelled.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[robinbtigger]

I want to thank you so much for your review! We sail in mid-August for my daughter's 17th birthday.

 

Were there a lot of teens on board? You said that your son didn't do any of the teen activities. Did he meet and hang out with other teens?

[mabkcruisers]

I want to thank you so much for your review! We sail in mid-August for my daughter's 17th birthday.

 

Were there a lot of teens on board? You said that your son didn't do any of the teen activities. Did he meet and hang out with other teens?

 

 

Hope the information helped! Yes, there were quite a few teenagers on board. We saw them in the dining room with their families and around the pool deck. We would also see groups of them together around the ship participating in the games and various activities. My sons tend to hang out together quite a bit at home, and they get along well, so the younger one was content to stay with his older brother (18- just graduated from high school). He also enjoyed doing some of the trivia and other activities with the adults. They would go to the movies at night together, and there were always big groups of kids there.

 

They had a schedule of activities for the teens at guest services on embarkation day. Since there isn't a specific spot for the teens, like there is for Adventure Ocean, they would meet in different locations for the activities. He would say he was going to participate in a certain game, but then he would change his mind at the last minute I think he would have done more if he would have attended the initial "meet and greet" time with them. I think he felt like he would be joining late after that poiint. I could be wrong, but that tends to be his MO.

[Shellygonz]

Key West- After our second day at sea, we were ready to do some walking. DS had never been to the port, so we did the typical sightseeing (buoy, 0 Mile marker, Duval St., etc.). We also went back to Peppers of Key West and had frozen key lime pie dipped in chocolate on a stick. As excpected, since it was July, it was a really hot day. We walked around for about 4 hours and decided to board the ship for lunch. The pool deck wasn't busy then either, since most were still in port, so we took advantage of that time as well.

 

As others have mentioned, we did have to go through a quick inspection with US immigration before disembarking. This process was for ALL (US and non-US citizens) regardless of whether or not you were going ashore in Key West. They were set up in the Royal Theater starting around 8:30 am and checked Sea Passes and passports. The RC folks punched your Sea Pass card to show you participated. It sounded like there was a hefty fine if you missed it.

 

Hello I am confused about the disembarking. I will be going without my passport only birth certificate and ID. So my question is when I disembark I will have to carry my birth certificate or the Sea Pass is good enough??

[mabkcruisers]

Hello I am confused about the disembarking. I will be going without my passport only birth certificate and ID. So my question is when I disembark I will have to carry my birth certificate or the Sea Pass is good enough??

 

 

Whatever you used to board the ship will be fine. Immigration was checking passports (birth certificate in your situation), and the Empress staff was punching Sea Passes to indicate you participated. It was just like the customs process you go through when you exit the ship at the end of your cruise, but you don't have to submit your sheet showing what you are bringing back into the country for tax purposes. We returned to our staterooms after the inspection and put our passports back in our stateroom safes. When we disembarked the ship in Key West we only took our driver's licenses and Sea Pass cards.

 

We have been on other cruises where we have had ports of calls outside the US and then had our last port in Key West, but this was the first time we had to go through an immigration inspection. It was very informal and quick, but it was a big deal if you didn't participate.

[wolfcathorse]

We didn't receive a statement on our door, but one was emailed to us later in the day. I went to guest services to ask for a copy before disembarking. .

 

this concerns me, passengers are now responsible for going to Guest Services on the last night and ask for a copy of their charges. Then they'd have to quickly go over it to see if there are any extraneous charges to contest. If they don't do that, then when they get the emailed copy, and there's something amiss, it will be their word against RCI's customer service rep

[mabkcruisers]

this concerns me, passengers are now responsible for going to Guest Services on the last night and ask for a copy of their charges. Then they'd have to quickly go over it to see if there are any extraneous charges to contest. If they don't do that, then when they get the emailed copy, and there's something amiss, it will be their word against RCI's customer service rep

 

 

We were surprised to not have a final statement, but it was an easy solution. We did have a mid-cruise bill in our stateroom on Day 3 which was new for us. All was as we expected on our statement so no concerns. I am just wondering if we disembarked before they were all delivered.

[Scotty G]

this concerns me, passengers are now responsible for going to Guest Services on the last night and ask for a copy of their charges. Then they'd have to quickly go over it to see if there are any extraneous charges to contest. If they don't do that, then when they get the emailed copy, and there's something amiss, it will be their word against RCI's customer service rep

 

We were on the same cruise and did receive our Super Bill under our cabin door and also received one by email.

[Paulette3028]

We were on the same cruise and did receive our Super Bill under our cabin door and also received one by email.

 

Are the TV's unable to show you your seapass account on an ongoing basis???

[Scotty G]

Are the TV's unable to show you your seapass account on an ongoing basis???

 

TVs on Empress do not have this interactive ability.

 

Accounts were not shown on our recent cruise. About mid cruise a statement did show up on our bed. Never had that happen before.

[Paulette3028]

TVs on Empress do not have this interactive ability.

 

Accounts were not shown on our recent cruise. About mid cruise a statement did show up on our bed. Never had that happen before.

 

DH did not expect them to be....

[Clarea]

... About mid cruise a statement did show up on our bed. Never had that happen before.

I've seen that on longer cruises, such as transatlantics, but not on short ones.

[robinbtigger]

Hope the information helped! Yes, there were quite a few teenagers on board. We saw them in the dining room with their families and around the pool deck. We would also see groups of them together around the ship participating in the games and various activities. My sons tend to hang out together quite a bit at home, and they get along well, so the younger one was content to stay with his older brother (18- just graduated from high school). He also enjoyed doing some of the trivia and other activities with the adults. They would go to the movies at night together, and there were always big groups of kids there.

 

They had a schedule of activities for the teens at guest services on embarkation day. Since there isn't a specific spot for the teens, like there is for Adventure Ocean, they would meet in different locations for the activities. He would say he was going to participate in a certain game, but then he would change his mind at the last minute I think he would have done more if he would have attended the initial "meet and greet" time with them. I think he felt like he would be joining late after that poiint. I could be wrong, but that tends to be his MO.

Thank you! That does help. My DD is a bit of a social butterfly but I will encourage her to go to the initial meet and greet so she can meet kids from the get-go. She will also have her best friend sharing her cabin with her so if worst comes to worst it'll be like your two boys.

[CRUISEBOY305]

TVs on Empress do not have this interactive ability.

 

Accounts were not shown on our recent cruise. About mid cruise a statement did show up on our bed. Never had that happen before.

 

I've seen that on longer cruises, such as transatlantics, but not on short ones.

 

I received a mid-cruise statement on the Vision transatlantic in April. Never got one on the short cruises.

[attitudeda]

We just booked the Empress last night for the August 11 sailing. Our first RCI cruise was aboard the Nordic Empress look forward to sailing on her again. Thank you for your review.

 

Doug

[amptravel]

Would anyone have available Cruise Compasses from any of the sailings above? I am looking in particular for the dates that the Beatles tribute band "Britain's Finest" performed. The particular days might be on the 4-night, the second night out; and on the 5-night cruises, would be the third night out shows.

 

Thank you for your help.

 

Anita Pederson