Empress of the Seas 2018 Review (Cuba & More)

[tweetylori]

I can't remember if we weren't hungry yet or we slept too late for breakfast, but we left the ship and started wandering.  We had been to Key West several years before on a short cruise, and had loved it.  We had previously visited Hemingway House, so we going to go see Robert the Doll instead this time.  I do know I was having some tummy issues (gee, could it have been all the rich food and drinks?), so a first stop was the CVS that is just a short walk from the ship.

 

Got our first good glimpse of Empress this morning also.

 

 

 

 

[tweetylori]

Husband was starving, so we found a place with good ratings.  Two Friends.  They had a covered outdoor area, and a cooler indoor.  Indoor with A/C for us please!  It was already quite hot out.  Husband proceeded to devour a giant omelet along with upgrading to Stella's special hashbrowns, while I nursed my tummy with two sides...a single pancake and bacon (well-done at my request).  Really good food!  And they even had live entertainment.  Small stage.  A singer with a guitar.  Very enjoyable. Can definitely recommend.

 

 

[tweetylori]

[tweetylori]

After breakfast, we took a Lyft to Fort East Martello Museum, which was about an $18 ride each way.  Not a short ride either.  We arrived to a lot of standing water in the parking lot, and they had had some flooding, so part was closed.  The Gentleman who worked there gave us a discount since we couldn't see everything.  This is certainly an interesting enough place to visit once.  I'm sure you've heard about how you aren't supposed to take Robert the Doll's picture without asking permission first.  Well, we decided to keep it totally safe by not taking ANY pics at this museum.  Period.  Not taking any haunted chances.  Husband was even respectful enough to ME, to give up his plan of buying a Robert doll to bring home.  I felt about that the way Ozzy Osbourne did when Jack bought one.  So even though Husband had good reason to buy one (he does Magic and wanted Robert for part of his act), he refrained.  Yay for me!

[PhoenixCruiser]

Enjoying your review, thanks!

 

[EatonDoolittle]

Hi were you @ Pier B in Key West?  If so, did you find it convenient to everything?

I did this itinerary on Empress last year and we were docked right at Mallory Square, it was great.  

Returning in December on Majesty, and we are scheduled to be at Pier B. 

 

Thanks

[sjb317]

It’s great to read your review as we were on this cruise also!😀. When you say your cabin could not get any smaller, let me tell you it can!  Picture your OV cabin with a pull down bed hanging on the wall on each side of the bed.  This made for some numerous maneuvering getting in & out of bed😂.

 

sherri🙂

[lola2013]

Enjoying your review and pictures.  We were scheduled for an Empress cruise to Cuba at the end of September; when RCCL did some "ship shuffling", we ended up on Majesty.    We also had a teeny tiny cabin, but the W/C on Empress looks to be about double the size as the one on Majesty.  The casino on Empress looks bigger also.  Agree about the food being very good...especially the pizza at Sorrento's!

I'm looking forward to the rest of your review.

Susan

 

EatonDoolittle:  Laurie, enjoy Majesty!

[voyager70]

Really enjoying your review and great pics.  Can't wait to see more.  We're still trying to fit in a Cuba cruise.  Hopefully 2019 will be the year.  Thanks for sharing your journey with us.

 

 

[EatonDoolittle]

7 minutes ago, lola2013 said:

EatonDoolittle:  Laurie, enjoy Majesty!

 

Thanks, Susan!

I leave Sunday for a week on Oasis to hold me over till December.

Cannot even motivate myself to pack, I am much more looking forward to going back to Cuba than I am to this filler trip. 

 

OP - sorry for the hijack, thanks for your great review and pix. 

 

 

[lola2013]

1 minute ago, EatonDoolittle said:

 

Thanks, Susan!

I leave Sunday for a week on Oasis to hold me over till December.

Cannot even motivate myself to pack, I am much more looking forward to going back to Cuba than I am to this filler trip. 

 

OP - sorry for the hijack, thanks for your great review and pix. 

 

 

 

I'd take the filler Oasis cruise over the snow we are having in Chicago!  Enjoy

[tweetylori]

21 hours ago, PhoenixCruiser said:

Enjoying your review, thanks!

 

Thank you, I've got lots more to go!

[tweetylori]

11 hours ago, EatonDoolittle said:

Hi were you @ Pier B in Key West?  If so, did you find it convenient to everything?

I did this itinerary on Empress last year and we were docked right at Mallory Square, it was great.  

Returning in December on Majesty, and we are scheduled to be at Pier B. 

 

Thanks

 

I really don't think it was Pier B.  Mallory Square was certainly right there when we got off, I think.  Please excuse my ignorance.  All I can tell you is we got off and everything was right there.  Looking back at the Cruise Compass, it doesn't mention anything about it either, other than ship's arrival 8am, and gangway location deck 2 forward.

+

[tweetylori]

11 hours ago, sjb317 said:

It’s great to read your review as we were on this cruise also!😀. When you say your cabin could not get any smaller, let me tell you it can!  Picture your OV cabin with a pull down bed hanging on the wall on each side of the bed.  This made for some numerous maneuvering getting in & out of bed😂.

 

sherri🙂

 

Hi Sherri, I stand corrected!  And wow, that must have been interesting...would love to see a pic of your cabin!

 

[tweetylori]

9 hours ago, lola2013 said:

Enjoying your review and pictures.  We were scheduled for an Empress cruise to Cuba at the end of September; when RCCL did some "ship shuffling", we ended up on Majesty.    We also had a teeny tiny cabin, but the W/C on Empress looks to be about double the size as the one on Majesty.  The casino on Empress looks bigger also.  Agree about the food being very good...especially the pizza at Sorrento's!

I'm looking forward to the rest of your review.

Susan

 

EatonDoolittle:  Laurie, enjoy Majesty!

 

Thanks Susan, and oh my, I can't imagine a bathroom smaller than ours!  I thought the casino was pretty small also.  But hey, size isn't everything, right?  🙂

 

[tweetylori]

9 hours ago, voyager70 said:

Really enjoying your review and great pics.  Can't wait to see more.  We're still trying to fit in a Cuba cruise.  Hopefully 2019 will be the year.  Thanks for sharing your journey with us.

 

 

 

Thank you, I really appreciate you letting me know that my efforts can be share-worthy.  I'm hoping 2019 will be your Cuba year also!

[tweetylori]

So we are on Day 2 of our 7 night adventure.  We are in Key West, have just left the haunted Robert doll behind and Lyfted it back to our Key West fave...Sloppy Joe's!  The place was packed, but we managed to score a table right by the stage.  Love that there is always live music here, and you can wave to friends at home if they know about the webcams.  

 

 

[tweetylori]

So this was fun for me...the night before at dinner on the ship we sat next to a couple fun gals.  We got talking about pseudo names and what they would be.  I said I always wanted to be a Jenny, and that I loved Rome.  So I would be Jenny Rome.  (silly, I know, but we're on vacation!).  They said what their names would be.

 

Now, here we were at Sloppy Joes.  Our Server Gal brings us our drinks and drops off this napkin:

 

 

[tweetylori]

We looked all around for them and couldn't spot them!  I never ran into them again to tell them how much of a kick I got out of that note.  How fun!  Gals if you see this, please know that you sure added to our fun time at Sloppy Joe's!

[tweetylori]

By now, the pink meds I'd picked up at CVS earlier had taken effect and I was finally hungry, so we did what one must always do at Sloppy Joe's...the nachos with Sloppy Joe added!

 

 

[tweetylori]

On the way back to the ship we did our share of shopping that included shirts, a green frog (that is now on our fireplace mantel), hats (no one has ever talked me into buying a hat before, but this dude at a kiosk on the street didn't take no for an answer, and utilized passers-by to convince me as well), and I don't know what else.  I am proud to say that I managed to get out of the store that was trying to sell me fountain-of-youth lotions and potions unscathed.  I mean, that girl tried everything!  Someone please give her a raise!  All I know is it went from $300 to a secretive $100 "damaged packaging" option. I mean, how could I possibly say no?  Well I did, but I tell you, one more drink at Sloppy Joe's and she would have had me. Phew!  

 

Back to the ship we went, appreciating my $20 hat more.

[tweetylori]

Husband with his bag of goodies and his new hat, with our ship ready to be boarded.  I do believe this is probably when I lost my new sunglasses that I had bought in port in Miami.  Putting everything through the metal detectors.  I'm guessing that's what happened, because I never saw those purple sunglasses again.

[tweetylori]

Here is where I must warn all of my future Empress of the Seas passengers...don't believe everything you read!  I read repeatedly here on CC that there were no formal nights on Cuba sailings on Empress.  Well, let me tell you that our Compass for this day clearly says:  "Tonight's Dinner Suggestion Formal".  UH OH.  All I can say is...TOO LATE Empress!  Husband took the "no formal nights" cruise at its word and brought nothing to dress things up.  Now, here's the good news:  no one seemed to care.  For this night or any of the others.  Some folks dressed up a bit, but nothing like we've seen on other cruises.  But if you're a stickler for suggestions, do know that they either haven't changed the Compasses, or they really do have formal nights.

[tweetylori]

I will say that this was my favorite night in the main dining room.  Tonight's menu:

 

 

[tweetylori]

We had never heard of Malang before, but this is when the Cuban flair started up in the dining room.  We found out later that malang is an important ingredient in Cuba.  We were told that mothers serve it to their kids as kind of a cure-all.  It's fairly bland in flavor.  The fritters were good.  Our first taste of malang!