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OceansOfTravels
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OceansOfTravels

OceansOfTravels

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To start I had an AMAZING cruise on such a great ship!!

 

I am sitting in the airport about to fly home. Within the next week or two I Hope to get some photos up here on the boards and write a review (maybe not a day by day, play by play, but some sort of ship review with ship pictures).

 

But until then, if you have any questions about Empress, embarking/disembarking in Miami, Royal Caribbean, or our ports (Key West, Nassau and Coco Cay, our itinerary was changed due to the storm), feel free to ask questions now! Also, let me know what you would like me to elaborate on when I do write my ship review!

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Clarea

Clarea

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What are the extent of the renovations? I'm curious how old it looks and if Royal gave it lots of TLC

 

I used my phone to type this, excuse any typos please!

They added Chops and pervasive WiFi. All the kitchens are brand new too.

Edited by clarea
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Scotty G

Scotty G

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What are the extent of the renovations? I'm curious how old it looks and if Royal gave it lots of TLC

 

Seek and yea shall find. Ask and you shall receive ;)

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/photos/ships/empress-of-the-seas-1103/

 

We had been on Nordic Empress twice out of Manhattan to Bermuda before RCI went on the of the seas kick. She was the first cruise ship with a 2 tier dining room and other innovations (Centrum glass lifts have external view all the way down to deck one).

Edited by Scotty G
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Scotty G

Scotty G

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They added Chops and pervasive WiFi. All the kitchens are brand new too.

 

Actually the steak venue was there with Pullmantur. RCI just renamed it but the galley portion might be new ;)

 

Bob, thanks for all your great input!!!

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Clarea

Clarea

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Were there any problems with the air conditioning in the casino or the rooms?

There were initial reports of A/C problems in a number of areas, but the last I heard, all were fixed except for some areas in the casino.

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OceansOfTravels

OceansOfTravels

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What are the extent of the renovations? I'm curious how old it looks and if Royal gave it lots of TLC

 

I used my phone to type this, excuse any typos please!

 

They went further than I originally thought, lots of renovations went into unnoticed things, such as carpeting and decor. The ship was thoroughly cleaned and spruced up, an refreshed in all of the decor, lights, and atmosphere in general. In all of my cruises, I felt the "new ship" feeling on Empress, a 26 year old ship. There is the new wifi, the flat screens in all of the rooms, new Centrum lighting, and as mentioned, all the decor and carpeting was refreshed. The ships looks beautiful!

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OceansOfTravels

OceansOfTravels

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Were there any problems with the air conditioning in the casino or the rooms?

 

My room was okay, I had it on the coldest it could be and it still wasn't ice box material. But I was never sweating or overheating in the room, but I will say the air conditioning in the rooms wasn't all too functional. Our table mates said it did not work at all for them, but after talking to guest services they had the maintenance crew come work on it, and then it was fine for the rest of the cruise.

 

As for the casino, I only saw the fans in there on the last night. It felt fine every other night.

Edited by OceansOfTravels
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OceansOfTravels

OceansOfTravels

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What did you do in COOCO Cay?

 

Doug

 

We got off of the tender, walked across the way to the tram station, and then took the tram to the area called "South Beach", and got two chairs within sight of the Floating Bar. We had an $8 credit from RCI due to the cancelled stop at Grand Cayman, so we got an umbrella which is usually $20 for $12 and hung out for the day, we made a trip to the beach barbeque once. If you want to go to the beach, CocoCay is the cheapest way to do it and most likely the best. The umbrella was not worth the original $20, as the palm tree nearby provide the same amount of shade. There are lots of water sports to rent, but other than the beach and some water sports, there isn't much to do on CocoCay. But I enjoyed the beach thoroughly and would love to be back :)

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rt1092

rt1092

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My room was okay, I had it on the coldest it could be and it still wasn't ice box material. But I was never sweating or overheating in the room, but I will say the air conditioning in the rooms wasn't all too functional. Our table mates said it did not work at all for them, but after talking to guest services they had the maintenance crew come work on it, and then it was fine for the rest of the cruise.

 

As for the casino, I only saw the fans in there on the last night. It felt fine every other night.

Thanks we were on her a couple of weeks ago. And were quite pleased with everything but the air conditioning. Great food, great entertainment. Can't wait till we go back for Halloween cruise.

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FlyingCruiserNJ

FlyingCruiserNJ

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There were initial reports of A/C problems in a number of areas, but the last I heard, all were fixed except for some areas in the casino.

 

It was my observation that it was pretty warm in the Windjammer also. That of course, probably has to do with the fact that right above it is the sun deck, and the hot rays just beat down right into there all day long. Hard for a/c to really do much in that situation. I thought our cabin was a little warm but not unbearable, I didn't see that it was excessively warm in the casino either.

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Ourusualbeach

Ourusualbeach

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They added Chops and pervasive WiFi. All the kitchens are brand new too.

 

That would be the public relations spin that Royal is putting on it.:D. The real question is...Why does the Empress have all brand new kitchens?;):eek:

Edited by Ourusualbeach
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kwazi07

kwazi07

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That would be the public relations spin that Royal is putting on it.:D. The real question is...Why does the Empress have all brand new kitchens?;):eek:

Nice for the cooks but I don't get why they advertised this as a good excuse for the delay of the deployment as Empress... we're not cooking in them!

 

I used my phone to type this, excuse any typos please!

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OceansOfTravels

OceansOfTravels

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Kind of rude, especially when you start a thread and don't return for almost 5 hours.:rolleyes:

 

Any rudeness was surely not intended, I was just saying that I can answer my own thread questions, as it is suppose to be coming from someone who just stepped off the ship. And according to Clarea's signature, they have not even been on Empress :rolleyes: But as for not answering, I was on a plane home.

 

Clarea, if you are reading this, know I did not intend to be rude in any way, I love your input in other threads and admire your dedication to these boards! :D

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OceansOfTravels

OceansOfTravels

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Thanks we were on her a couple of weeks ago. And were quite pleased with everything but the air conditioning. Great food, great entertainment. Can't wait till we go back for Halloween cruise.

 

Glad you enjoyed it! I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and definitely plan on cruising more on Royal after it! Where are you going over Halloween?

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Ourusualbeach

Ourusualbeach

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Any rudeness was surely not intended, I was just saying that I can answer my own thread questions, as it is suppose to be coming from someone who just stepped off the ship. And according to Clarea's signature, they have not even been on Empress :rolleyes: But as for not answering, I was on a plane home.

 

Clarea, if you are reading this, know I did not intend to be rude in any way, I love your input in other threads and admire your dedication to these boards! :D

 

I can accept that you didn't intend to be rude however on an open Internet forum it is unrealistic to expect that no one other than the OP answers questions that are posed by others. There is a wealth of knowledge on these boards with Bob leading the way and a high percentage of questions are easily answered without actually having sailed on a particular ship.

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