Copies of The Daily Compass - Empress of the Seas?

[cawhite]

Anyone have copies of the Daily Compass for the Empress of the Seas (5 night itinerary)? We'll be on her in 6 days.

 

Thanks!!

[mmsalmon1987]

Will be on in October. I would also like to see a copy if possible. Thanks!

[cawhite]

Anyone out there that has Compass copies?

 

5 days and counting!

 

Thanks, in advance....

 

Carole

[zinman]

We didn't save any Cruise Compass', but we just got off the Empress last Thursday. If anyone has any specific questions let me know. Overall it was a great cruise. The biggest negative was the noise in the cabins. We had insides in an interior corridor, and the walls were paper thin. You could hear everything in the surrounding cabins especially to the left, and I mean everything down to the pop-tops of cans and hearing people yawn. During the day it's not a problem, but in the middle of the night it was very distracting even though people were not being rowdy at all. But otherwise the ship is in pretty good shape, and it was a pleasure not to have to deal with major crowds getting on and off the ship. I'd be glad to answer any other questions.

[cawhite]

Hi zinman...

 

I do have a few questions, if you don't mind! Some of these are questions that my kids have. We're leaving this weekend.

 

1) How long is the soft serve ice cream machine out? I've heard different answers... I read 1 hour on one post, I read "all afternoon" elsewhere. My kids love the soft serve!

 

2) How HOT / HUMID was it, both on the ship, and in port (we're going to Key West and Grand Cayman... you may have done KW and Coz).

 

3) If you did GC, were you able to tender in?

 

4) How many midnight buffets were there?

 

5) How was the food / service?

 

6) Did you enjoy the entertainment? Anything in particular you would recommend? Also, did they have any ship tours (galley, bridge, etc.)?

 

7) Were there a lot of kids on board?

 

8) Were the pool(s) crowded?

 

9) Did you experience much movement on the ship?

 

I think that's all... but may have other questions if I think of them.

 

Thanks so much!!

 

Carole

[cawhite]

Oh, and one more question... how were people dressed on formal night? Did most of the men have suits or sport coats? I know what I'm wearing, but I need to know what hubby should bring to wear.

 

Thanks.

[zinman]

Sure – I’ll answer in order of the questions …

 

1. I never saw the ice cream machine not out – possibly first thing in the morning but it was definitely open all afternoon and night as people always had cones in their hands.

 

2. VERY hot and humid but you’re on vacation, so somehow it doesn’t seem so bad. It did seem a little hotter on the islands (we also did Key West and Grand Cayman), because usually there’s a slight breeze when the ship is moving. Although if you go up to the sunbathing deck, it’s more like a major wind! But it was hot and humid the whole time – you will definitely need two changes of clothes per day.

 

3. Yes we tendered in GC. It wasn’t too bad – the boats are pretty big and hold a lot of people. It’s a little bit of a wait if they’re trying to fill the boat before leaving, but they come and go constantly. As for GC itself, it is in a major rebuilding mode after being hit by the hurricanes. So unless you have an excursion planned, there’s not much to do. There is shopping in the area where the tenders dock, but that’s about it.

 

4. Two midnight buffets – the first was called a gala buffet in the dining room and it’s more for presentation purposes. The lines were forever and when you finally got to the food it was pretty to look at but the variety was really poor. Everyone was complaining that it wasn’t worth the time to wait in the line. The second was a Latin party buffet by the pool – very fun and a great variety of food.

 

5. Food/service was very good. We ate all dinners in the dining room, and the food is top notch. You get a different menu each night with plenty of choices for even very picky eaters. Plus they will customize anything – you can mix and match what appeals to you. The Windjammer is where we ate most of our other meals and while the food isn’t as good as the dining room, it’s certainly more than adequate and there’s a huge variety. In the morning, you can get your eggs cooked to order. Service in the dining room is excellent, and the wait staff is very helpful with any requests.

 

6. They did have ship tours; we didn’t do any but I saw them listed in the Cruise Compass and saw some of them going around the ship. They had two Broadway style shows with singers and dancers, a comedian who did a “mild” show one night and an “adult” themed one at midnight the last night. They also had a comedian/magician who was really funny, and jugglers who weren’t very good. They do a couple of game shows with audience participation but geared to adults – one is called The Quest which is a scavenger hunt done in teams. It starts out tame but gets very risqué (by the end the guy in front of us was in his underwear only!). The Love and Marriage Game Show is a riot – they have three couples compete in a newlywed style question and answer competition. They take a newly married couple, one married around 15-20 years and the oldest married couple willing to participate and it’s very funny. But again it gets a little risqué so you have to decide if you want your kids to see it. Then they do some dance parties like one with music from the 50’s/60’s where they have a hula-hoop contest, and they do a “Name That Tune” game with songs from the 80’s and then a show with Village People impersonators. There is more than enough to do at night.

7. Tons of kids of all ages! I don’t know how old yours are, but they have Adventure Ocean with organized activities every day and night for different age groups. They are very strict with the ages though and won’t allow siblings to move to a different age group just to be together.

8. Pool was very crowded during the at sea days – it’s small even for a smaller ship. They do have a kiddie pool which was good for the real little ones, but it was a challenge moving around in the regular pool. Pool chairs are hard to find after around 10 a.m., but you can usually find them up on the sunbathing deck.

9. I felt the least movement on this ship of any of the others I’ve been on which were a lot bigger. I was amazed because I am prone to motion sickness, and I never had to take any medicine on this ship. Occasionally you feel subtle movements like you’ll realize you’re kind of tipped to one side a little and then you tip the other way, but it’s not bad. When you did feel the forward motion of the ship, again it was subtle but most of the time I didn’t feel any movement.

10. The men primarily wear suits on formal night. We saw a handful of tuxes and a handful of men dressed down, but primarily it was suits but sport coats and dress shirts would certainly be appropriate and would not stick out. Keep in mind that’s the night they take the formal pictures, so if you think you will want one of those pictures you might want to coordinate clothes a little. They used a dark blue sea background for our formal pictures.

 

Don’t hesitate to ask if you think of anything else; it’s all still fresh in my mind.

[cawhite]

Thanks, zinman,for all the great, detailed answers!! :) My kids will be so happy that the soft serve ice cream will be out most of the time!

 

And thanks for the 2 sets of clothing per day hint due to the heat / humidity. I always try to reduce the number of clothing items I bring, but it sounds like maybe we should bring a few extra.

 

My kids are 14 and 10 so they won't be there for the Quest or for the Newlywed Game... they will be off doing things with their respective age groups.

 

We're going diving (DD and DH) and snorkeling (DS and myself) in Grand Cayman so that's our big item to do. Can you recommend any place on GC for lunch after our dive / snorkel trip?

 

We haven't decided what to do in Key West to keep cool. We would like to parasail but DS is too young / doesn't weigh enough. We would like to take the trolley too and get off and on... I hope it's not too hot to do that! We'll have to find a good air conditioned restaurant. Any recommendations?

 

Thanks so much for all of your help!!

[RocketJ]

Which night was formal night on the five day? Our third day is in Cozumel docking at 1:00pm and sailing at 10pm and if that's formal night I need to coordinate our day around it (not missing my chance to wear my new silk gown ;) ).

 

Thanks.

[cawhite]

I just called RCI and they told me that Formal Night for a 5 night cruise is "usually" on night #2. So for us, that's the same night as our Key West stop. You should call them and ask what night it is for a 4 night itinerary.

 

I read a couple of posts that said they wished formal night would have been on a different night. They said it was so HOT and HUMID in Key West, they didn't really feel like dressing up when they got back to the ship. I wonder why they don't just do it on the night of a day at sea?

[RocketJ]

I just called RCI and they told me that Formal Night for a 5 night cruise is "usually" on night #2. So for us, that's the same night as our Key West stop. You should call them and ask what night it is for a 4 night itinerary.

 

I read a couple of posts that said they wished formal night would have been on a different night. They said it was so HOT and HUMID in Key West, they didn't really feel like dressing up when they got back to the ship. I wonder why they don't just do it on the night of a day at sea?

 

Sounds like you're doing the same itin as us. Second night is out of Key West. That's cool since we depart Key West at 2:00pm which will give me plenty of time to primp :p . I agree though, the night of the day at sea sounds like it would make more sense to me!

[cawhite]

Hi RocketJ, Yes, Key West for us too. But we arrive in KW later, and depart later, than you do... we sail away @ 5 p.m. so those with early dining won't have much time for "primping". We're scheduled for late dining right now because the early dining was full, but we're going to try to change that when we get on the ship. I don't think my kids can make it until 8:30 (or whatever time late dining is) for dinner!

[zinman]

I too wish they did formal night on one of the sea days, but we also had it on the Key West day. You have to be back on the ship by 4:30, so there is a decent amount of time to get ready for early seating dinner. You will probably be able to change your dinner time when you get there – we had early seating and there were a lot of open tables and we had a sold out ship.

 

On Grand Cayman, there’s a Hard Rock café directly across from the pier. There was also a Senor Frog’s on one of the side streets. Depending on the timing, you can also go back on the ship to eat but with the tendering it’s more of a nuisance to go back and forth. On Key West there are activity kiosks set up right where you get off the boat. Our girls did parasailing in the morning, and then my husband and one of them signed up for a jet ski tour in the afternoon. They only got out a mile or two and quickly had to return due to a storm coming in, but they got all the money back. It was a good price though for two people on one jet ski, and it would have been about two hours long so that’s an idea. There is a neat pirate museum on Key West – it’s not really worth the admission of $13 but kids would like it and it’s air conditioned! Be prepared to bake doing anything outside – I didn’t worry about anything I ate all week because I knew I sweated everything off!

 

By the way, I made a mistake about the ice cream. I asked my daughter last night (who took full advantage of it), and she said they only had it out until around 5 p.m. I thought I saw it at night, but it must not have been running. They can also get ice cream at dinner for dessert.

 

One other tip regarding the cabins. We had an inside – miniscule. The cabin steward offered to take our luggage and store it somewhere, and that made a big difference. Our suitcases didn’t fit under the bed, so it really helped not having to move around them in the cabin. You will laugh when you see the shower – you almost can’t turn around in it!

[cawhite]

Thanks Zinman. Glad to hear we might be able to get our dinner time changed.

 

I think my daughter would love to go to the Hard Rock (even though I prefer something w/ a more *local* feel)... she'd love to come back with a Hard Rock Grand Cayman shirt I'm sure!

 

I'll tell my DS that he has to get his fill of soft serve ice cream before 5 p.m.... thanks!

 

Can't wait to see the shower. We had a really small one on Canival's Sensation this past April, so hopefully it won't be any smaller... but you never know! We do have an outside cabin which is a little larger than the inside ones... but still VERY small as well (139 sq. ft. as I recall).

[zinman]

We ate at the Hard Rock the last time we were in Grand Cayman and had to get the souvenir glass. At least you know what you're getting if you go. Do you have to fly to Florida? We flew down the Friday before and stayed over near the cruise ship port, so we were on the ship early and made it feel like we had an extra day. We've only been back a week today - wish I turning around and going again. Instead we're packing up and moving my daughter to college next week. Have a great cruise!