Empress of the Seas 2018 Review (Cuba & More)

[tweetylori]

Then it was more tasting and shenanigans.  Husband's favorite was the Bourbon-barrel aged one.  It did taste a lot like bourbon.  Of course we bought a bottle, and Husband got a small flask as well (which they filled for him).  Pretty soon the place was so packed you couldn't move.  When we expressed wanting another taste, Nicki worked her way through the crowd to get us some.  Others were asking "how do I get this service?"  Her reply:  "book a private tour with me".    I agree, it made a huge difference all day for her to take us around, especially considering the number of ships in port.

 

 

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Next up was Rum Cake and Pattie time!  

 

 

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We got to try the original rum cake, along with a chocolate one.  Both were very moist and quite good, but golly they are expensive!  They also let us try two rums that were terrible.  Tasted like cough syrup.  Night and day from the distillery we had just come from.

 

 

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Interesting things all around!

 

 

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Next up to soak up some of the rum...our first experience with Patties.  We had our choice of beef, chicken, veggie...both of us went with the Beef & Cheese.  Nicki got it to go for us, since we were running a bit late, and one couple had to be back to their ship pretty early.  So we ate them in the car on the way to our next stop.  So delicious!  The crust was flaky like a pie crust.  Hand made, hot and full of cheesy goodness.  Loved it!

 

 

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Nicki drove us to such a beautiful non-touristy area.  Note, all day she was full of information and kept us entertained.  

 

 

 

 

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Nice Restaurant.  Beautiful Day.  So relaxing and wonderful!  Love this pic of Husband.

[tybeelucy2]

Can you share Nicki's contact info for a tour? Does she have other tours besides food? 

[tweetylori]

In this delightful setting, we were served an Avocado Sandwich with Coconut Bacon.  (No meat involved...bacon made strictly out of coconut).  Along with simple, yet delicious potatoes.  Note the utensils.  

[tweetylori]

2 minutes ago, tybeelucy2 said:

Can you share Nicki's contact info for a tour? Does she have other tours besides food? 

 

I don't know that I'm allowed to post a link to it here, but if you google Caribbean Culinary Concepts Georgetown Grand Cayman, it will come up.  

[truckmaker]

This is the best cruise review I have seen in a loooong time.

 

well done and thank you!

[voyager70]

19 minutes ago, truckmaker said:

This is the best cruise review I have seen in a loooong time.

 

well done and thank you!

 

I second that.  Thanks again Lori, although I think I've gained 10 lbs just looking at those amazing food pics 😉

 

[tweetylori]

3 hours ago, truckmaker said:

This is the best cruise review I have seen in a loooong time.

 

well done and thank you!

Thank you so much, I really appreciate you saying that!  I do have a little more to go.  

[tweetylori]

3 hours ago, voyager70 said:

 

I second that.  Thanks again Lori, although I think I've gained 10 lbs just looking at those amazing food pics 😉

 

Thank you so much...and just wait, I have more food pics!

[tweetylori]

Because we had a couple in our tour who needed to get back to their Carnival ship by 2:15, we needed to head back.  The plan was to drop them off then the other four of us would be taken to the last stop, which was to be gelato.  Thanks to FIVE ships being in port on this relatively small island, we had some killer traffic to deal with.  We can only assume our Carnival couple made it in time, but I can tell you they cut it CLOSE thanks to that traffic.  Nicki dropped them off then started to head to the gelato shop, but the traffic was so bad, we were now concerned as well.  So we asked her to turn around and drop us off also.

 

Which was a good thing, because we asked her to drop us off at the wrong place.  So we had to walk a bit to find our tender.  TIP:  pay close attention in this port because there are several tender locations...although none are too far from each other.  Before we knew it we were whisked away, back to the ship.

 

 

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Back on the ship, Husband had to check his bottle of Rum, of course.  Didn't matter to us, because we were coming back to Deluxe Drink Package anyway.  

 

 

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You know what's coming next, right?  

 

 

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Note:  Tonight''s Dinner Dress Suggestion:  "Casual/White Attire".

 

Also note, this was the first time we saw the 10 drink package offered in the Compass, with a note that "It's Shareable".

10 drinks for $79 plus 18% gratuity.  So if you hadn't taken advantage of a drink plan before, and with a day at sea still to look forward to, this would be the time to do this.

 

I know we are shameless, but we did proceed to "our" table for dinner at our "usual" time of before 6:00.  

 

And of course Fernando brought Husband his Cheese plate to start.

 

 

[tweetylori]

I really wanted something on the light side, but none of the Starters were calling out to me, so I thought this was a good night to try the Shrimp Cocktail, while Husband went with the Coconut Shrimp.  Note:  I didn't ask for TWO shrimp cocktails.  Fernando must have thought I looked like I had starved all day instead of having gone on a food tour!

 

 

[tweetylori]

For our mains, Husband had the Cheese Tortelloni with a Bleu Cheese Sauce, while I went with Fernando's recommendation of the Turkey.  (he recommended the lamb also, but lamb is not my thing).  Husband liked his just fine but said it was very rich (uh, duh!  that would be expected from the description).  My Turkey dish exceeded my expectations.  Seriously good.  They sure know how to cook poultry on this ship!  Side dishes were all terrific.  Truly excellent dish!

 

 

[tweetylori]

I wish I could say we were too full for dessert, and we probably were.  I'll blame it on Fernando that I have pics of not one or two desserts, but THREE.  The warm banana pudding one with coffee ice cream was the one that sounded the best, but it was not good at all.  Something had to have gone wrong in the process.  It was inedible.  The pavlova was okay in its simplicity of meringue, whipped cream and fruit.  Husband definitely won though with his Apple Pie.

 

 

[tweetylori]

One of the things I love most about sailing Royal Caribbean is the Crew International Flag Parade.  I am not ashamed to say I find this moving and memorable.  Truly touches my heart.

 

Note the folks that are watching from the elevator!  On this ship, I don't believe there was a bad view from any deck.

 

 

[tweetylori]

We also enjoyed the comedy of Sam Fedele in the Royal Theater.  

 

 

[tweetylori]

So after this fun day, what did we come home to in our cabin?  You know the disappointing drill!   I chose to ignore it though, because we still had one more full day at sea before it was back to the real world.

 

 

[tweetylori]

Oh, and we still had more fun to be had on this night as well!  How could I have almost forgotten that there was still Karaoke and QUEST.  If you have never experienced Quest, well...you SHOULD.