tidygirl

I will give you my opinion with no snide remarks.

We just got off the Oasis yesterday, and enjoyed our time very much. This was our 16th cruise and the biggest ship we have sailed yet!

Overall I didn't think it was in bad shape at all and we were impressed! Hubby thoight Central Park was cool. If I wanted to nit pick I could say our couch looked a little worn, and the tile floor in the shower had a bubble in it, but all minor cosmetic things which should be expected considering it has up to 7,000 people on it every week not counting crew.

A couple of things I personally didn't like was having to book the shows ahead of time, since we were waiting on the arrival of our first grandbaby we didnt schedule our trip till the end of August. We couldn't book the comedy shows as the were full. We even followed the advice i got on here about trying to book as soon as we got on the ship and even though we were on by 11:30 no luck and no comedy shows! :(

I also miss the open air feel on the upper decks no walking track, or places to eat meals outside.

We would love to take our young adult kids on the ship, but for now the Caribbean is out for a couple of them due to the Zika virus. Maybe someday....

@dancernl- I did a review on here Oct 2014 of our DIY trip under our families viewpoint of our Mediterranean cruise.

It has pictures and tips on things to do in Barcelona.

Sagrada Familia was one of our favorites, my husband was more impressed with that than the Vatican !

You have to purchase your tickets in advance if you actually want to go in! The lines were extremely long and the people weren't even getting in that day!

Even if you don't go in its worth checking out the outside it is very detailed with the engravings!

You can also check out I think it was Gaudi (sp?) You can just check out the area and get a nice view of the city or go on into the museum if that's of interest to you (we didnt)

I was just doing some researching (briefly)and saw Etretat and was looking at maybe checking out Normandy beaches.Cost? That may be of interest for us. Now to figure a way to do it. What is traffic like? Not sure my hubby will want to drive as he prefers not to while on vacations, but will if he has too!

Do they rent mini-vans as there will be 7 of us?

Any recommendations on tour companies that will cater to your needs?

Or is there a public transportation option?

We are budget travelers, but will splurge if necessary?

I am open to any tips.

This is something as a family we will have to decide if it's really worth that long ride basically to go to the Eiffel tower. Forgot to add we Wil have an 8 month old also.

Could you tell me if the Vision has a mini gold course and how about a flow rider? I'm having trouble getting specific information on Royals website.:(

We are looking at cruises and 1 of them include a stop here. Of course being this would be our first time we would like to see the EIFFEL TOWER. My problem is how do we get there? Ships transportation is almost $110 pp and I will be paying for 6 adults from what I understand the ship won't leave with out us.

What other options would we have train? Idea on cost? Any tour companies that would be more reasonably priced?

Thanks for any help!

We did some of these ports Oct. 2015 we had our 4 adult kids (1 of those a son-in-law ) so we did some private tours

Corfu - we did a private tour to Mt Pantokrator, Angelokastro, Keiser throne and Corfu old towns fort

Athens - did public transportation to check out all the main attractions

Kotor -we did a private tour there to but wish we could have had time to hike to the fort! I think I would feel comfortable doing that by myself and then there are alot of shops and some churches to check out all within a reasonable walk from the ship

Kefalonia did a private 4x4 land rover tour very bouncy but fun.

Not sure if you check your roll Call whether you could join some others or get some to join you.

If you have more questions I can dig out my trip information and see if I have the answers.

Thank you, my husband takes aloe Vera that needs to be refrigerated so that should work

Even if it's not super cold.

Does anyone know if the inside cabins have a little refrigerator or cooler?

How long does a tour of the island typically last?

We haven't sailed Empress but have been on 9 Royal cruises different ships,several on Carnival ,Norwegian and Holland.

We only eat at the buffets and overall for dinner the options in the Windjammer are MUCH better than on any Carnival cruise we've been on!

Thank you. We will try to get right to the desk as soon as we board and hopefully we have good luck if not there's nothing else I can do.

:( we just booked the cruise Aug 29th so that must be why we missed out!

We will try to ask as soon as we get on the ship as my hubby really wants to go.

Bigbluegirl- what days and times did they have? Is it different times then the main shows?

We are booked for Oct 1st and have booked our shows in the theater, but it says I can't book the comedy shows online:( does that mean there is nothing left and we are out of luck or what? This will be cruise #16 for us but first time having to book our shows.

We have used Charlie's before no complaint with them but if you are planning on them taking you to the port be there before 4 and allow time for traffic we missed it by a few minutes and had to take a taxi.

Is there a charge for I-fly? What extra activities do you have to pay to do? Is there a dive show on this ship? Do you need to reserve a seat for any of the shows? Considering a cruise in Oct

Looking to maybe book a cruise as my first option sold out of driving to NJ. If we cruise out of Miami should I chance booking a 10:20 am flight out of Fort Lauderdale if we do self assist?

Or should consider a 10 from Miami but the times don't work as good for me as it has a layover and get in almost 3 hours later

Guess I'm out of luck. The site says that date was sold out.The date worked with my husband's work schedule and we needed to be home by Thursday afternoon and figured we could drive it. But babies are unpredictable and that's more important. I'll just have to wait till next year to cruise again😭

And how do you see that?

What do you need to click on to find that out? I did a fake booking and it just said inside rooms, but no way of finding out how many is left.

Any way to see how many cabins are still left? I just might have to skip this cruise but sure don't want to.

I've been watching and hoping prices would stay the same or even cheaper for the 17th of Sept. I am thinking I'd like to go on this cruise but can't book till my first grandbaby makes its appearance. It is due Aug 29th but not sure when it will actually arrive so I do not want to book till I know. 😞The prices are steadily going up is this normal?

Is there a way to find out how many cabins are not sold on a ship?

We don't eat at the main dining room as we prefer to eat and run not sit for an hour and a half or 2. We tried it once in 10 years and it was not to our liking it seemed to take forever.but that's just the way my family is feels

I don't know how they can get the word out, but I figured I would post this. We were to board between 12 and 12:30 the way our flight and rental car worked out we arrived at 11:15 and they seemed to be a stickler on time, so if a person thinks that they will show up early and maybe get on, you better be prepared I doubt it will happen.

The room Cleaning I had read that they were down to 1 time a day and just wanted to verify that was true also. I did read on another post that the person had requested 2 times a day and they did do that.

For me 1 time a day is sufficient as I don't clean my bathroom at home everyday!

One other thing that I heard some young adults complaining about was the night club was boring and they had come on Carnival as its the party boat!

Now once again we don't party or go to the night clubs so this did not influence my cruise experience at all.

I still hated coming home and getting back to our busy life!