Live (sort of) Empress 9/22/16

[MattInFLL]

[MattInFLL]

So if you remember from earlier posts- The Key West tour offer posted today. We were in Key West the day before. And it says we are in Cozumel the next day when we went to Nassau. Someone is asleep at the switch :)

 

[MattInFLL]

[MattInFLL]

[FLSteve11]

Empress is docking at the navy pier (OM) which has a shuttle into town (5 minutes, and required).

 

 

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Interesting, on the 9/3 sailing we docked right at Mallory Sq. It was a lot nicer that way!

[DisneyDatknee]

Interesting, on the 9/3 sailing we docked right at Mallory Sq. It was a lot nicer that way!

 

 

When Carnival's there, Royal docks at OM. You were lucky!!

 

 

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[A&L_Ont]

Matt, great review. If this ship was closer I'd try it.

[jktheangel]

There is smoking on the port side of the pool deck (left looking forward). Have not noticed elsewhere. The casino air - other than being warm - seems smoke free. But it's so small, not sure how you would split it. My friend told me it was 2 level casino. I guess if you consider 7 steps a floor it is :) more like a split level ranch. :) they were popular in the 80s. Lol. But seriously, for some reason the center of the casino is 7 steps below the rest of it. To be fair the ceiling height of deck 5 is higher so maybe they wanted to make it 7 steps easier to get to the casino. :)

 

 

 

Thank you

 

 

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[mjmiller]

Did many people dress for the theme nights (ie 70s on day 1)?

 

Thanks for the review and followup!

[MattInFLL]

Many dressed in white for the white party. And many didn't. If you want to do the themes, people and crew will appreciate it. If you don't want to - no one will care. These themes are nothing more than suggestions. Enjoy your cruise the way you are comfortable.

[MattInFLL]

Was so happy to run into another long lost crew friend tonight. Rabi was always my go-to pool drinks server on Majesty. He got sent to Quantum along with every other south Asian crew member. (He wasn't happy). Now he's back.

 

They see so many people week in and week out, but when you make a connection it's forever. Made the night.

 

Now back to reality.

[MattInFLL]

Matt, great review. If this ship was closer I'd try it.

 

 

 

Andrew you might be frustrated. Voom has not been fast enough for Scopes.

 

I was in Montreal last weekend and thought of you (even though I know you are probably like 7-8 hours drive from there) :)

[MattInFLL]

One great thing about a small ship - disembarking was a breeze.

 

I usually try to do self assist on short cruises and get off the ship before 8. That was not possible this time and I had 8:15 tags. I was a little concerned because usually getting off the ship in the 830 to 9 o'clock window in Miami is packed. To make it worse I heard my tags being called at 7:45. But I was still getting ready. So out of the cabin I went at 8:20 down three decks to deck five, waited approximately a minute and a half to get my sea pass scanned, and was in the terminal, got my bag and was through customs before 8:30. It was almost as fast as being escorted by the genie on allure. Allure actually may have taken longer only because the ship is so huge. :)

 

I was home in Fort Lauderdale 40 mins later. Luckily there were no accidents on 95 this morning.

 

All in all, a great cruise.

 

I would say the only department I wouldn't give a high score to was guest services. Twice I needed what I thought was a fairly simple question answered, and both times they looked at me like I was asking them for the meaning of life. And they did not seem that interested in finding the answer.

 

I never met Rosa the guest service manager unfortunately. (They did not offer the diamond plus and above lunch. Perhaps that is only on five days or more cruises). I hear she is great, but neither of my concerns was one that I felt needed to be elevated. So I just went on enjoying my cruise :-)

Edited September 26, 2016 by MattInFLL

[A&L_Ont]

Was so happy to run into another long lost crew friend tonight. They see so many people week in and week out, but when you make a connection it's forever. Made the night.

 

Now back to reality.

 

So true, it is always nice to catch up with "friends" from previous cruises.

 

Andrew you might be frustrated. Voom has not been fast enough for Scopes.

 

I was in Montreal last weekend and thought of you (even though I know you are probably like 7-8 hours drive from there) :)

 

No scopes would have been OK with me. So long as the Wi-Fi was responsive for normal communications it would suffice. As for the drive you are fairly accurate. It would be 7-8 hours for me, and cut the time in half if you are French.;) Anyone from eastern Ontario or Quebec would get that joke.

Edited September 26, 2016 by A&L_Ont

[A&L_Ont]

One great thing about a small ship - disembarking was a breeze.

 

I usually try to do self assist on short cruises and get off the ship before 8. That was not possible this time and I had 8:15 tags. I was a little concerned because usually getting off the ship in the 830 to 9 o'clock window in Miami is packed. To make it worse I heard my tags being called at 7:45. But I was still getting ready. So out of the cabin I went at 8:20 down three decks to deck five, waited approximately a minute and a half to get my sea pass scanned, and was in the terminal, got my bag and was through customs before 8:30. It was almost as fast as being escorted by the genie on allure. Allure actually may have taken longer only because the ship is so huge. :)

 

I was home in Fort Lauderdale 40 mins later. Luckily there were no accidents on 95 this morning.

 

I commented to Lisa, after seeing the embarkation time sheet, that it would not take very long. If you lived close by it seems like a great ship for a quick get away. I'd miss the flow rider but I'd give it a try just for the experience if it was minutes from home. My drive to work is usually 30 minutes, so to drive 40 for a cruise it would be no problem at all.:)

Edited September 26, 2016 by A&L_Ont

[dancernl]

Thanks for the great review! I am cruising on Rhapsody next year and they seem like similar ships so this was a great read.

[Rocket3D]

Interesting, on the 9/3 sailing we docked right at Mallory Sq. It was a lot nicer that way!

 

Ya..I was just on this 9/22 cruise also..booked late, cheap.

 

We docked at Navy Mole...unlike the 9/3 cruise...shuttle in...

Mallory dock better for sure.

 

Nice report Matt...thanks for the pics. I got some nice panorama

shots will put on FB though... easier.

 

Hey, comedian Steve McGrew 'Mudflap' was great....

 

Our next cruise is Indy at Thanksgiving.... see y'all there!!!

 

:D

[MattInFLL]

Ya..I was just on this 9/22 cruise also..booked late, cheap.

 

 

 

We docked at Navy Mole...unlike the 9/3 cruise...shuttle in...

 

Mallory dock better for sure.

 

 

 

Nice report Matt...thanks for the pics. I got some nice panorama

 

shots will put on FB though... easier.

 

 

 

Hey, comedian Steve McGrew 'Mudflap' was great....

 

 

 

Our next cruise is Indy at Thanksgiving.... see y'all there!!!

 

 

 

:D

 

 

 

Sorry we missed you. But I'm sure we will cross paths on Indy.

 

Some more final thoughts on empress: space is definitely at a premium on a small ship. So there are some odd uses of it because cruising was very different in 1989 when she was built.

 

The windjammer serving areas are always tight. And it can be a little like bumper cars when it is crowded, but the seating area which was clearly redone with fresh new modern furniture was not crowded at all. At peak times there were always tables available.

 

It was the same in the dining room where larger tables are packed in leaving little space for the waiters to get around. I think it is a challenge to get a two top or a four top in that room.

 

But the schooner bar is the largest one in the fleet. And there is an area on deck five where you go from schooner and Chops to the photo area back to the dining room and it is a very large open space with lots of intimate seating areas. Indeed, there are a lot of intimate seating areas throughout the public spaces. Because, after all, in 1989 people still had conversations and weren't completely focused on their telephones :-).

 

I suppose we are lucky that Royal left some of these spaces open and untouched to ensure that the ship didn't feel crowded, instead of turning every nook and cranny into a revenue producer. :-)

[FLSteve11]

Ya..I was just on this 9/22 cruise also..booked late, cheap.

 

We docked at Navy Mole...unlike the 9/3 cruise...shuttle in...

Mallory dock better for sure.

 

Nice report Matt...thanks for the pics. I got some nice panorama

shots will put on FB though... easier.

 

Hey, comedian Steve McGrew 'Mudflap' was great....

 

Our next cruise is Indy at Thanksgiving.... see y'all there!!!

 

:D

 

Hey, Nice to see you again!! We are seriously thinking of switching our January 13th 3-night on Enchantment to the January 12th 4-night on Empress. This time my wife WILL be with me (and my daughter, she's off on the 13th and has an early release on the 12th), not doing it solo. :)

 

We leave in 2 days to do an Avalon river cruise in France. Our first river cruise, so we're excited about it!

[FLSteve11]

Sorry we missed you. But I'm sure we will cross paths on Indy.

 

Some more final thoughts on empress: space is definitely at a premium on a small ship. So there are some odd uses of it because cruising was very different in 1989 when she was built.

 

The windjammer serving areas are always tight. And it can be a little like bumper cars when it is crowded, but the seating area which was clearly redone with fresh new modern furniture was not crowded at all. At peak times there were always tables available.

 

It was the same in the dining room where larger tables are packed in leaving little space for the waiters to get around. I think it is a challenge to get a two top or a four top in that room.

 

But the schooner bar is the largest one in the fleet. And there is an area on deck five where you go from schooner and Chops to the photo area back to the dining room and it is a very large open space with lots of intimate seating areas. Indeed, there are a lot of intimate seating areas throughout the public spaces. Because, after all, in 1989 people still had conversations and weren't completely focused on their telephones :-).

 

I suppose we are lucky that Royal left some of these spaces open and untouched to ensure that the ship didn't feel crowded, instead of turning every nook and cranny into a revenue producer. :-)

 

I agree with you (about much of your whole report). I loved the Schooner Bar, and the area leading from it backwards. There was a lot of room there. I also really liked all the little seating areas. They turned the Centrums into panoramoic OV's on so many of the ships, it was really nice to have an area with seating and windows on each deck off the Centrum. It really expands the area and makes it useful. That and the seating off the back stairwell on most decks (including the indoor ping-pong table on deck 7).