Empress to Cuba July 12 (only a couple weeks late)

Hi All. First post, although I've had an account for awhile and lurked longer than that. I've gotten a lot of solid information from here, so I thought I might as well contribute something. I don't know nearly as much as seemingly any of the posters here, but if you have any questions, I'll try to answer!

Cruise: 4 nights to Cuba (Miami | Nassau | Havana | Havana | Miami), 7/12-7/16

Ship: Empress of the Seas, 7510 (ocean view)

Pre-cruise: flew into FLL and took an Uber to Miami. Stayed the night before at Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay. I'm sure there are cheaper options, but we had Marriott points to burn. The location can't be beat for a cruise--the port was just right outside our window. We were also able to walk to the nearby Publix to get a few odds and ends for the cruise, and then just had dinner at the hotel.

Embarkation day: no rush to get to the terminal, so we slept in a bit and walked to The Daily Creative Food Co for breakfast. It was good, though maybe a bit overpriced for what it was. Another Uber got us to the port--less than 10 minutes door to door. Check-in around 11:30 was a breeze. We carried on two small roller bags and were in the Windjammer just after noon. By the time we finished lunch and a couple drinks, rooms were ready.

The room: I'll say it was better than I expected, but there is no hiding this ship's age. I suppose the "toughest" part was simply not having a balcony, but we obviously made due (what a problem to have!). The room was a comfortable place to sleep, so it did the trick. It's located near the front of the ship, so not a ton of foot traffic, and it seemed pretty quiet. We were above the theater, but I never heard anything... the shows aren't running THAT late anyway.

The ship: It's small! You can get anywhere on this ship within 5 minutes; it's crazy. We really enjoyed the ship, although it doesn't really have the bells and whistles associated with RCI's newer ships. Nonetheless, we were able to relax and enjoy our time on the Empress. We never had trouble finding chairs around the pool, a spot in the Schooner Bar, or a seat at the blackjack table. Speaking of the Schooner Bar, we spent three of our nights there with the current Empress piano bar singer, Amber Gartner. She was great... kept us coming back anyway! I think she's there until October.

Food: We (or should I say, "I") forgot to note my wife's dietary restrictions (vegetarian, no dairy) on our reservation, but the wait staff in the MDR was amazing. She was able to figure something out from the menu on the first night, and then at the end of dinner, they would bring out the next night's menu to see if there was something she would be able to eat. If not, they would prepare something that would work for her. E.g., on Italian night, there weren't any satisfactory entrees, so they made a nice pasta with red sauce and a TON of vegetables. The headwaiter also made sure that an Indian vegetarian dish was brought out each night in addition to whatever else she ordered, as my wife indicated that she likes Indian food. As with every cruise we've been on, the service has always been top notch, and we really appreciated the effort they put in at the MDR. I enjoyed all of the food I ate as well! My entrees were salmon, swordfish, lamb, and... something else on night 4 (should have done this review sooner!).

Nassau: Not much to report here. Normally, I avoid booking excursions through the ship, but as we booked this cruise pretty near the sailing date, we just went ahead and took care of excursions through the ship as well. We did a 2 tank certified dive here, through Stuart's Cove Dive. We rode the bus with a couple that had booked on their own, and they saved about 80 bucks compared to going through RCI. The dives were good... warm water, good visibility. After the ride back, we were a little tired. We did a little walking around the shops and bars outside the port, but headed back to the ship pretty quickly.

Havana: What an experience! It really was an enjoyable port of call. We were there from approx 4:00pm Saturday through 4pm Sunday. We had booked the Tropicana for that night, but we got off the boat on our own at 4:00 to get our visa stamps, exchange money, and walk around for a while. The old architecture is really something else. We bought a small colored pencil drawing from a local artist we walked past on Oficios street.

The Tropicana: Based on what I have since read, this seems to be one of those things that you either love it or you hate it. We LOVED it. Part of it was luck, since we were the first two on our tour bus to get to the club, so we were also the first to get to our group's assigned table. We were center stage, one level up, at the front of the table... honestly, I think the best seats in the house. We heard some people at the back of the table complaining about not being able to see, but there were no real accommodations to be made, as all the tables were assigned. I'm guessing they would not have such a glowing review. The dances, costumes, voices, band, and everything that goes into the performance is an awesome experience. It's expensive, and I think luck of the draw depending on where you sit (and apparently if the weather cooperates, so you don't get stuck in the indoor venue)... but we had an awesome time, and definitely recommend it [[cue: person who hated it!]].

Cuba by classic car tour: We enjoyed this tour as well, but it could have gone the other way. You begin the tour on a bus with 4 tour guides and about 30 or 40 people, as you drive to where the cars are waiting. When we got to the classic cars, we all walked up and chose one for the ride. Although the cruise planner states that you will have an English speaking guide; however, our driver did not speak English. This would have hampered the tour a little bit, but luckily, one of the four tour guides that was with us on the bus actually rode in our car as well. She was able to provide information about what we were seeing, so it all worked out in the end. Perhaps they plan to have the "main" tour guides go along with the classic car drivers who don't speak English, but if we had a third person in our group, there would have been no room! It worked out though, and we had a good time. The end of the tour seemed to drag on though. You end the classic car portion at Hotel Nacional, which was cool, and then it's back on the bus.

From the hotel, we took the bus to what was supposed to be a cultural experience with African-Cubans who practice Santeria. It is known as Callejon de Hamel, and it was a bit of an odd experience, as we were led into a basement room of an artist, where one of the artist's assistants was trying to... sell us some of the art... I'm not sure. It was a bit offputting with a few dozen of us crammed into a tiny basement room. There was a band that was starting to play rumba after we had been there a while already, but they didn't get going until the tour bus was about to leave (the problem with not going at your own pace). This was the only place we were hassled for money during the trip. Otherwise, the murals on the wall were cool, and what we heard of the music was enjoyable.

The tour then brings you back to a couple of cigar shops and another art gallery. We peeled off of the tour before it actually ended because it was just getting too hot, and we were hungry. I'm not much of a rum drinker, but a buddy of mine asked me to pick up some Havana Club 7 Year while were were there. We stopped in two cigar/rum shops right next to Hotel Santa Isabel... the first shop we stopped in was out, but the second shop had a few bottles left. I snagged two, and by the time I paid, the rest of the 7 Year was gone.

Departure day: This was the first time we booked an excursion for the final day of the cruise, since our flight wasn't until 5:00pm out of FLL. One thing that was nice was that we did not have to wait in line at all to get off the ship. We went to the designated excursion depature lounge, sat down, and when it was our time to go, we were led directly off the ship to customs. It took a little while to get through customs, as they only had a few lines open. However, once we got up there, we didn't have to fill out a declaration form, and the agent didn't ask us any questions. He looked at our passports, and we were on our way to the tour bus waiting outside.

Everglades airboat ride and airport transfer excursion: It was OK, although in hindsight I think there would have been some better options (other than the fact that we would have had to deal with our luggage). The animals we saw were cool, but the cages seemed way too small. Although they stated the cages were more than double the minimum requirements, I think that speaks more to the awfully low minimums than it does to the size of the cages they had. It left me feeling pretty uneasy. The airboat ride was interesting, and we did see one gator while we were out on the water. However, it seems like this might have been a poor location generally, since some reviews of other sites indicated there were a lot more gators visible at those locations. Nonetheless, we had a good time, and it served the purpose of taking up time and getting us to the airport.

Well, that's about it for my first post. Hopefully something's in there that someone will find helpful or interesting.

Thanks for the excellent feedback.:)

Glad to offer some insight. Truth be told, my cruise withdrawal after this one has been worse than any of my previous cruises, so it was nice going back through all of it. (Also, it certainly helped that we just booked our next cruise yesterday!)

Thank you for reviewing the cruise. We are thinking about Cuba next year or in 2020, so I like seeing reviews!

Excellent concise review. Enough detail but not so much as to be a tome.

Thanks for sharing. We are on Empress in December, for the first time on RCI. We stop at the other two ports in Cuba, but not Havana (and Labadee and KeyWest). There aren't too many posts about her.

Question for the dining room, are there certain items that are available every night no matter what's on the menu? We usually cruise Celebrity, and they have a steak, chicken and salmon available every night in case you don't like what's on the rotating menu.

Question for the dining room, are there certain items that are available every night no matter what's on the menu? We usually cruise Celebrity, and they have a steak, chicken and salmon available every night in case you don't like what's on the rotating menu.

There are a few "standards," but unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of the menus. However, each night there were appetizers, entrees, and deserts that stayed the same throughout the cruise, along with the rotating choices. I recall there being a couple of each, but I'm struggling for specifics other than I at least remember shrimp cocktail app, strip steak entree, and cheesecake dessert. Also, lobster and the Chops Grille filet are available each night in the MDR for a fee.

The number of rotating choices seemed smaller than I remember from past cruises on larger ships, but I was always able to find something I liked!

I'm a picky eater, so that's good to know, thanks so much!

Thanks for the great review! We are planning to book a 7 or 8 night to Cuba in 2020 :)

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Thank you for the review. We were looking at a Cuba cruise last night so this was very timely for us.