May 28 Empress first sailing back with RCI live review (many pictures!)

Hey everyone! I'm reporting in live from Miami. I flew down a day early to enjoy me some of Miami before boarding the wonderful Empress of the Seas! I plan on doing a full pictorial review of the ship and hope my pictures and insights can help those on the fence with the Empress to decide or to give those who are going to be on it wood a good look at the "brand new old ship!" :)

Once I figure out how to upload pictures, I'll have the first sightings up...

Hey everyone! I'm reporting in live from Miami. I flew down a day early to enjoy me some of Miami before boarding the wonderful Empress of the Seas! I plan on doing a full pictorial review of the ship and hope my pictures and insights can help those on the fence with the Empress to decide or to give those who are going to be on it wood a good look at the "brand new old ship!" :)

 

Once I figure out how to upload pictures, I'll have the first sightings up...

Can't wait to hear all about your trip! :)

Bon Voyage. Thank you for sharing your cruise.

I am anxious to see them. I had the Royal Suite booked for this sailing, but cancelled it when they announced the first set of cancellations, because I was concerned they would cancel our cruise and I would be left without any plans for Memorial Day.

Hopefully these work. I have not used this app before but I need it to get the pictures up fast.

We started our day back in Connecticut. Had a flight out of Hartford at 0730... Arrived at the airport at 0500! Luckily TSA lines were not that bad...

We have always loved the smaller ships. Biggest one we've ever been on was the voyager class. The Empress will be perfect for us!

Boat shopping time for us. On the way to the Miami Boat Club we saw this beauty staring back at us. Rapidly taking pictures while exiting the highway lol! (I wasn't driving!)

While at the Yacht club I snapped shots of a Norwegian ship (don't know the name) and the Carnival Fantasy(?)

Going for lunch now, going to try and get a place close to the Empress and admire the ship. Looks so much smaller in person than I imagined!

Edit: snapped a picture of the Enchantment! Loved that ship when we were on it...

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Photos look good to me.:)

Love the photos so far!

I always love photos of Enchantment. It was the ship we took our honeymoon on so I'm a bit partial to it ;)

Can't wait to see more

Can't wait for the review and the pictures. We are on the June 16 sailing.

Thanks so much for posting your review and photos! Looking forward to seeing and learning more about Empress.

Thanks for doing this review. Looking forward to reading it and looking at your photos. Our first three cruises were on the Nordic Empress and when we heard she was coming back we have decided to put her on our list. Can you find out when her fall schedule will be coming out. I haven't been on RC website recently, but last I looked it was not available. Have a great cruise!

Sailing 6/11. Same itinerary. Please post compasses if possible. Thank you and have a great trip.

Keep doing what you're doing! Photos look good!

Thank you so much for doing this. We're on the 6/6 sailing.

Following...anxious to see her inside!

Thank you thank you thank you for doing this! We sail the Empress on July 18 for our first cruise ever and are dying to see photos inside, cool spots on deck and throughout and of course menus and cruise compasses. But, please, above all enjoy your cruise! Can't wait for tomorrow!

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I was scheduled on the original 1st sailing. Looking forward to your pictures.

Love the photos so far!

 

I always love photos of Enchantment. It was the ship we took our honeymoon on so I'm a bit partial to it ;)

 

Can't wait to see more

I have only been on her once many years ago but she remained my favorite until the day I boarded the Oasis of the Seas. She did take a back seat. However, I am looking forward to the pictures and hoping to sail on her again in the future.

Looking forward to hearing your review.

Thank you for doing this! Never seen this class of ship before like many of the more experienced cruisers here on CC who have talked about her so really looking forward to your photos :D

Can't wait to see more pictures! We are booked on the sailing right after yours. This time next week we will be in Key West. Woo hoo!

Happy Sails To All Of You Booked On The Empress.

Thank you for posting these pictures! I can't wait to see what Empress looks like inside as well.

Looking forward to inside pics as well. Looks good for a ship approaching 30 years of age!!!

And I'm back again with an update! I wish I could reply to each one of your posts but it seems it's far too cumbersome so I'll try and address everything here at the beginning.

Thank you to everyone who posted so far! I'm glad to be sharing the Empress' rejoining of the fleet. I know I'm going to have a fantastic time! A little bit about our room... We booked the aft owners suite on deck 8, which I will post many pictures of!! So I am sad to say I can't give pictures of a more representative cabin. I will try and peak in a few when cleaning is going on and report back.

For requests, I will post the cruise compass each day, all of the pages. I do not done in the MDR often so I might not get a menu picture from there, I will try to get one if they have a stand outside! If anyone has any special requests for pictures of the Empress ask away! I want to document as much of the ship as I can.

I apologise for spelling mistakes the next few days small screen curse with added spellcheck nightmare!! :)

To bring everyone up to date... We are staying at the Marriott in downtown Miami. We are really close to the port for a good reason. Our previous room was upgraded and now we have a very spacious hotel room for the night. Not bad!

After lunch at a local place, I walked down to that triangular island south of Dodge Island. I hustled because it sounded like someone was leaving (at 1430!) But alas after waiting for half an hour, it was not to be. I wish I could have walked further or caught a ship leaving, but I did see Royal Caribbean's headquarters, and get yet another neck arching glimpse of the Empress of the Seas. The suspense is killing me! The Enchantment was perfectly content hiding behind RCCLs HQ.

We were given the opportunity to be one of the first ones on the Empress by the loyalty ambassador. We accepted the offer instantly! We are now going to head to the pier at 0800 tomorrow morning to be escorted on to the vessel. I plan on taking a lot of pictures!!

Getting on the ship early and one of the first will be fun. It turns what I always consider a wash day (embarkation day) into a fully fledged day on the ship. So excited!

I pre purchased voom surf stream. I will check it with D discounts and do some speed tests for those who are wondering. I will make to to have at least one, maybe two updates a day! I'll make sure to post an ongoing commentary about the ship, as well as my final review once I get back to Citrus county.

Hope you all enjoy the trip as much as I will!

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I'll be sailing on Empress when you get off so I'm really looking forward to your review. would you check to see if they have life jackets on-board for the kids.

Definitely looking forward to this review! Curious to see all the work they put into it.