An adventure on the Empress 7/28/16 - A detailed photo review!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Thank for the detailed review and all the pictures. We are on the Empress in a few weeks and these positive reviews are getting us more excited. Thanks again and happy cruising!

 

 

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You are very welcome. Thanks for reading along and for your nice comments. I am far from a pro photographer but I try to capture the general idea and highlights of things when taking pictures and I hope they do make reviews like this one that much better for readers and makes them feel like they are there experiencing the cruise alongside me. You will love the Empress. Like I said a few times, it is nice, good condition, decent food and nice crew and makes cool port stops. It is a good ship for a short 3-5 day cruise. I had read the bad reviews myself right before booking and was worried going into this vacation that there would be issues but they seemed to be fixed and things went just fine. Happy summer!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Thanks for all of the photos, I just booked the Empress yesterday.

 

I am glad you enjoyed reading along and happy to hear you liked the photos. They do help bring the review to life for sure. I sometimes wish I could get more photos but without having a pro camera (I just don't want to lug a dedicated digital camera with me when I am traveling light) and immersing myself in activities everywhere on the ship and in port, I am not always able to get good photos of everything, all the time. I do try the best I can to get as many good pics as I can with what I have though. I hope you have a good time on your upcoming Empress cruise and hope this review helped you prepare some for it. Thanks for reading!

[yerdsyerds]

yes, thank you for the great review. The wife and I will be on the Empress next month, and this review was a really great preview for us!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

yes, thank you for the great review. The wife and I will be on the Empress next month, and this review was a really great preview for us!

 

You are welcome, and thanks for reading. I hope this gave you a good idea of what to expect. I do like to share my experiences with others as I have gotten a lot of knowledge about cruising in general from reading reviews on this website. I do wish you a great time when you cruise the Empress next month.

[Yorkvillain]

Loved this review. Thank you!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Loved this review. Thank you!

 

Thank you, I am happy to hear that you love it. I appreciate you taking the time to read it, and thanks everyone for their kind words. These reviews are fun although they do take a while to put together, and they help me to re-live the fun of the cruise all over again while I write about it.

[SenatorsFan]

Thanks for another enjoyable review! I hope that you are planning on doing one after your next cruise?

Heather

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Thanks for another enjoyable review! I hope that you are planning on doing one after your next cruise?

Heather

 

You are very welcome Heather. Thanks for reading along with another one. Which one has been your favorite so far? :cool: I feel I learn more and more on how to make reviews informative, fun, and enjoyable each time I read others and write mine. And I am absolutely going to do one for my next California Coastal cruise (on Princess) - I am all ready for that one except for the packing. That one is going to be a biggie, can't wait to have a great time going to a few ports I have never seen from a city I have never actually spent time in (outside of an airport overnight a few years ago lol) and then write all about it.

[wolfcathorse]

You've whet my appetite!

 

1) yes, POM only allows booked passengers on the shuttle services. It happened to us 6 years ago. A policeman hassled our van driver after we picked a service for $10 each to MIA. He even grabbed the manifest from the van driver and demanded I show him our names. I lied and told him I tried to book while on the ship but the internet kept cutting out so I didn't know if they got the reservation request or not. Since then we just take a taxi to MIA. We never use RCI's overpriced shuttle service.

 

2) the straw market on Coco Cay is like Nassau's. The locals (who live at the house you can see on the horizon) sell t-shirts, items they "make" like straw purses, jewelry etc, sun dresses, carved items. The stuff is not brought over by the ship! This is why you have to have cash for the items, it does not go on your Seapass account.

[SenatorsFan]

You are very welcome Heather. Thanks for reading along with another one. Which one has been your favorite so far? :cool: I feel I learn more and more on how to make reviews informative, fun, and enjoyable each time I read others and write mine. And I am absolutely going to do one for my next California Coastal cruise (on Princess) - I am all ready for that one except for the packing. That one is going to be a biggie, can't wait to have a great time going to a few ports I have never seen from a city I have never actually spent time in (outside of an airport overnight a few years ago lol) and then write all about it.

 

Well, my favourite was not the start of your Sky cruise! :eek:

I've never been to California or on Princess so I'll be looking forward to your pictures and your take on this cruise. Have fun! :)

Heather

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

You've whet my appetite!

 

1) yes, POM only allows booked passengers on the shuttle services. It happened to us 6 years ago. A policeman hassled our van driver after we picked a service for $10 each to MIA. He even grabbed the manifest from the van driver and demanded I show him our names. I lied and told him I tried to book while on the ship but the internet kept cutting out so I didn't know if they got the reservation request or not. Since then we just take a taxi to MIA. We never use RCI's overpriced shuttle service.

 

2) the straw market on Coco Cay is like Nassau's. The locals (who live at the house you can see on the horizon) sell t-shirts, items they "make" like straw purses, jewelry etc, sun dresses, carved items. The stuff is not brought over by the ship! This is why you have to have cash for the items, it does not go on your Seapass account.

 

I guess I have just gotten lucky in the past when I did not have a booked shuttle to the airport that I didn't get caught. Most of the time I do have something booked, as part of a round-trip from/to the airport but the times I didn't, I never had a problem. Maybe they are just cracking down more now. I try to avoid the cruise line shuttle, but once or twice I have had to use it and yes, most of the time it is overpriced and not as quick as a private van due to them waiting for the bus to fill up. Private van shuttles can be had for under $20 a person per direction from pretty much every port if you are sure of your travel plans before and after the cruise. But yeah, a cab is the last option and is going to cost you a lot if you have to use one.

 

I wasn't aware that anyone actually lived on Cococay. I learn something new every day I guess. I really did not look too closely at the straw market setup but what you just told me is pretty cool. I might take a closer look next time I get there, whenever that might be. I did always wonder about the logistics of getting workers and supplies from the ship to the island and how much of it comes from the ship and how much is kept on the island when no ships are there. I am not a huge fan of the Nassau market either, have been to both the old and the new straw markets and usually won't buy anything as I feel a lot of the people who own space there are kind of aggressive and a lot of the products are overpriced and not of great quality - however it is a place to see at least once.

 

Anyway, thanks for the info about Cococay and Port of Miami, have a good holiday weekend!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Well, my favourite was not the start of your Sky cruise! :eek:

I've never been to California or on Princess so I'll be looking forward to your pictures and your take on this cruise. Have fun! :)

Heather

 

The Sky cruise was probably my worst overall cruise experience out of the 20 or so I have been on. Only thing that kept it mildly tolerable was that I was with two good friends and we made the best of it that we could, otherwise nothing at all went right. But my next time after that on NCL was much better and this Empress cruise was fun.

 

I cruised out of Long Beach a few years ago, on Carnival and that was really a good time. I went to Ensenada on that trip, and this upcoming cruise stops there but I booked a wine tasting excursion on this one, so that should be interesting. Other than that, this will really only be my second time spending any serious time in California. I am really excited to see San Diego (friends of mine used to live there and said there is a ton of stuff to do and see there) and Santa Barbara has that quaint small town on the ocean kind of feel to it based on all I have read about the place. I have been making sure I have enough memory on my device to take a lot of pics as I am sure there will be plenty to take on this journey. Can't wait to board, just a couple weeks to go.

[sandyh85]

Great review! I just booked the empress today for a western trip next month. I haven't cruised RC in a year and a half and your review reminds me of what I enjoyed on my last trip with them!

 

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[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Great review! I just booked the empress today for a western trip next month. I haven't cruised RC in a year and a half and your review reminds me of what I enjoyed on my last trip with them!

 

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Thanks, glad you liked it. I hope it helped you to get ready for your cruise. I think the Empress does two different itineraries, and they rotate them but I am not totally sure of that. My last RCCL cruise was years and years ago, on the Monarch and I was not impressed then, but this cruise was better. Not necessarily that there was more to do on the Empress as there was not but the ship seemed to be in better condition and the crew was much, much better. BTW, I do see that some people have had a hard time finding reviews of the Empress because there is no link to an Empress-related post search, maybe they can add one now that this ship has been sailing for a while now after the refurb. Would be awesome and could help people read about the ship without having to search all over to find info. Anyway, enjoy your cruise!