Questions about Empress of the Seas

I booked a 7-night cruise on Empress of the Seas as my first Royal Caribbean cruise, and I have some questions about things that I've found online about the ship and wonder if they are still true. I realize that Empress of the Seas is RCI's smallest ship and won't give me a full experience of what it's like to sail on Royal Caribbean. As someone said in another post on here, I believe, "they do things a bit different on Empress" from the rest of the line. When I did a search on the forum, the results don't come back chronologically, making it difficult to find the most recent posts on the ship.

So here goes,

1) Does the 7-night cruise have a formal night? I saw articles that said no formal nights, but was that for all cruises, or just the shorter ones?

2) What about theme nights? I've seen people say that theme nights are pretty hit-or-miss on Royal Caribbean, but any experience with this on Empress/

3) Brunch bloody mary's and mimosas, are these every day? Are they only in the MDR or can you get them at Windjammer as well?

4) Since the ship only has the MDR, Windjammer, and Chops, is the pizza part of Windjammer?

5) If Windjammer closes at 9, does that mean that there would be no food available after 9 unless we did room service?

6) What about drinks--I've heard some ships don't have the lemonade and tea available, does Empress? And is that also in Windjammer, so after 9 pm, you don't have access to drinks?

I'm sure I have other questions, but can't think of them right now. Any other info you can provide on Empress of the Seas is appreciated as well.

Thanks.

No formal nights at all on Empress.

Same drinks available as any other RCI ship. Tea, coffee, lemonade, etc........breakfast had juice, coffee, milk, etc.......

Brunch was on sea days only.

Pizza was in the Windjammer. Not sure how good it is.

 

1) Does the 7-night cruise have a formal night? I saw articles that said no formal nights, but was that for all cruises, or just the shorter ones? No formal nights on the ship at all

 

2) What about theme nights? I've seen people say that theme nights are pretty hit-or-miss on Royal Caribbean, but any experience with this on Empress/ Never really experienced a theme night on Empress. Doesn't mean they don't have them, but I don't recall anyone following the "white" or "caribbean" theme

 

3) Brunch bloody mary's and mimosas, are these every day? Are they only in the MDR or can you get them at Windjammer as well? This is only for the MDR brunch, where they will bring one small weak mimosa OR bloody mary when they seat you. The brunch has a varied menu, so I do suggest you try it at least once, but don't expect too much, it was a little underwhelming

 

4) Since the ship only has the MDR, Windjammer, and Chops, is the pizza part of Windjammer?

 

5) If Windjammer closes at 9, does that mean that there would be no food available after 9 unless we did room service? That's sad but true. Also the room service menu is very limited (in general, not just late night). I cannot speak to the quality of food since I never ordered room service since they added a charge.

 

6) What about drinks--I've heard some ships don't have the lemonade and tea available, does Empress? And is that also in Windjammer, so after 9 pm, you don't have access to drinks? When I was on Empress in 2016 they had lemonade, and tea is also available right next to coffee. I wish I could remember if they had any beverages available after windjammer closed, but we always finished MDR dinner with coffee, and had brought water onto the ship.

 

All in all you will find Empress to be a quaint and cute ship. The ceilings are pretty low and the cabins are tiny (unless you have a suite). Inside and oceanview you could literally spread your arms out and touch each of the side walls. Also her layout is entirely different from any other ship in the fleet, which I found refreshing and interesting. Lmk if you think of other questions, i'll try to wrack my brain to come up with other answers.

Thank you for your answers.

Are you allowed to bring on bottled water?

Are you allowed to bring on bottled water?

Technically prohibited, but usually allowed.

I believe I read elsewhere that the wind jammer is open until 1 AM only on the ship because there are no other options late night.

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I believe I read elsewhere that the wind jammer is open until 1 AM only on the ship because there are no other options late night.

 

 

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Unless things have changed WJ is open from 11:00 PM to 1:00 AM. Also, the new room service menu is expanded and much better than the old one, although you do have to pay ($7.95 plus 18 percent service charge).

I READ SOMEHWRER

I think I read somewhere that the ship has plumbing problems. How bad are they? Do they also have air conditioning problems?

Also, I booked an 8 day interior cabin cruise (deck 7), is this too much for the smaller ship?

I booked a cruise on Empress because it is going where I want and like the idea of a smaller ship.

I READ SOMEHWRER

 

 

 

I think I read somewhere that the ship has plumbing problems. How bad are they? Do they also have air conditioning problems?

 

Also, I booked an 8 day interior cabin cruise (deck 7), is this too much for the smaller ship?

 

I booked a cruise on Empress because it is going where I want and like the idea of a smaller ship.

There were plumbing and A/C problems when Empress first returned to the Royal fleet but they have been fixed. We had no issues on our sailing.

We enjoyed the sea day brunch in MDR and had multiple free drinks. We asked and received.

There was a "white party" but we had other plans and did not attend.

The food in MDR on Empress is the best we have been served on Royal. Extra lobsters on lobster night if you requested. Friend requested steak with her lobster tail and not a problem.

We really liked the Empress and wish they had kept her in Tampa for short cruises.

What night is Lobster Night on the Key West - Havana cruse?

RLK

We enjoyed the sea day brunch in MDR and had multiple free drinks. We asked and received.

 

There was a "white party" but we had other plans and did not attend.

 

The food in MDR on Empress is the best we have been served on Royal. Extra lobsters on lobster night if you requested. Friend requested steak with her lobster tail and not a problem.

 

We really liked the Empress and wish they had kept her in Tampa for short cruises.

My question is about the sea day brunch. Were the mimosas and bloody marys complimentary? I do not have the liquor package. Thanks!

Sailed Empress last July to Cuba, first time on that ship. Have to say, I loved it. Had a nice quaint feel, crew was wonderful, and it never felt crowded despite being full.

We had the drink package, so I don’t remember if the bloody Mary’s/mimosas were free. Brunch on Sea Days was great, very nice spread in the MDR. We arrived in Havana at noon, so they also had brunch that morning.

No formal nights. Very relaxed atmosphere, and everyone was pleasant and having a great time. Seemed to attract a different crowd.

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I just booked Empress for our first RC cruise also. I'm looking forward to it!

We’ve been on Majesty before, so definitely hope Empress is still doing Cuba in 2020 :)

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