Empress 11 nt 1/29-2/09 review, a little overdue

[candhmama]

I tried to post this last week, but when I clicked submit all was lost. So here goes again.

We flew into San Juan the day before and stayed at the Sheraton Old San Juan. I got it on Priceline for $100 and I thought it was great. The beds were very comfy, of course, and it is in a great location. Easy to walk to everything in old San Juan. We got in in the afternoon so we changed our clothes and headed out to explore. We loved Old San Juan, very beautiful and just a neat atmosphere. After walking around for a little while, we were ready to go to Barrachinas and try one of there Pina Coladas. They were wonderful, best I have ever had. We hadn't eaten much that day considereing we had been flying since the afternoon before (we live on the west coast). So I told dh we better get something to eat or I might be falling off the chair before too long. We shared some nachos and I would say their food is okay but I wouldn't make a trip there to eat. We explored some more and then headed back to the hotel. The next morning we went to La Bombenera for breakfast. It was great. There were mostly locals eating there and it reminded me of a 50's diner. I had their specialty a mallorca. It is a pastry kind of like a danish that they cut in half and butter and toast and then sprinkle powdered sugar on. You can get it with different things in side like cheese and bacon. Delicious and very affordable. After breakfast we went to El Morro, it was really neat and we could have spent more time there but we had to head back to the hotel to check out.

Embarkation: It was a breeze. We took a taxi from our hotel and got there about 12:30, we were on board and in the Windjammer by 12:45. There was no line and we just walked right on. After lunch we walked around a little and then our room was ready so we put our stuff away and went to sit by the pool. We had main seating so we didn't stay out too long and then we went to get ready for dinner. We saw our luggage out by the elevators and dh asked if we could take it and they let him after he showed them our sea pass.

Day2-

St. Martin- We did the Beach Rendezvous. We rode on a bus to Orient Beach and then we were shown to the area where our beach chairs were. Dh and I paid the $3 for an umbrella and laid back and relaxed. This tour included 2 drinks and lunch. The first drink was rum punch they handed us when we got there. The lunch was pretty good. We had our second drink there. We were not able to get a frozen drink, it had to be beer, wine, soda or a mixed drink. I asked for a couple different mixed drinks but the waitress didn't seem to know what I was talking about so I just had a diet coke, dh had another rum punch. Overall, it was a nice relaxing day at the beach

Day 3-

Antigua-We did the Tropical Delight Catamaran Snorkel and Beach. The catamaran was not very big and there were quite a few people. I would guess at least half of the people had to sit on the nets in the front. DH and I got the last seat inside which was actually a step so we had to move anytime someone wanted through. The sail out to the reef was really pretty but it took about an hour. The snorkeling was not great. The reef appeared dead and not a lot of fish. The lunch was pretty good. We stopped at a beach on the way back and we could either swim in or take a little boat in. Dh and I swan in but never got out of the water. There were quite a few people selling stuff there and that seemed to be the reason we stopped. When we got close to shore one lady started walking out into the water to talk to me, even after we told her we didn't have any money, we had swum in from the boat. There was unlimited drinks on this on the rum punch was dangerous.:p

Day 4-

St Kitts-We did the Catamaran Fan-Ta-Sea. This catamaran was quite large and very uncrowded compared to the day before. We had a beautiful snorkeling spot in a little cove and it was great snorkeling. After we were done there we went over to Nevis to Pinney's Beach and had a BBQ lunch, it was great. Then we had some time to spend on the beach, it was a very beautiful beach but not much shade and we were there long enough I was ready to get back on the boat and in the shade. On the sail back the crew was very entertaining and led some dances and we had a great time. Again, unlimited drinks.

Day 5-

St. Lucia- We booked a private tour through Cosol. He was great and I highly recommend him. We were fortunate enough to have him as our driver. We stopped at a banana plantation and he gave everyone bananas. We made another stop for fresh homemade bread and the loaves were so hot we could barely hold them and they were delicious. We stopped at a beach betweent he pitons and you could swim, snorkel or just sit on the beach. Dh snorkled and said it was some of the best snorkeling he has ever seen. I just sat on the beach. Then we went to the volcano, then a waterfall and botanical gardens. After that we sampled fish cakes, johnny cakes, and banana ketchup. We also had some cookies along the way. It was a very could over view of the island and Cosol is a great tour guide.

Day 6-

Barbados-We did the Tiami Five Star Catamaran and Turtles-The catamaran was big and roomy. The first stop was the turtles and it was amazing to swim so close to so many turtles. But, there were a lot of people from our boat and many other boats so it got pretty crowded in the water. Our next stop was snorkeling over a reef and it was okay, they didn't supply fins so it was harder to swim around. Also, there was a guide and he wanted us to stay close to him so I felt like I spent more time trying to keep up with him than I did looking at the fish. Lunch was included and it was good. This was another day of unlimited drinks, I rather enjoyed the pineapple juice with coconut rum.

Day 7-

At Sea. We enjoyed a nice relaxing day by the pool, when we finally found some empty chairs. The chair hogs were out in force, I think there were more chairs with something on them than there were with people on them. I was surprised that there did not seem to be many activities but I was happy just relaxing. This was supposed to be our 2nd formal night but because it was Superbowl Sunday they postponed it until the next night. Although the dinner remained the same so it was lobster night in the dining room. They did put on the game in the schooner lounge and the strike up the band lounge one was smoking and one was non-smoking. They provided hotdogs and some other food, I didn't eat any of it so I'm not sure what all they had.

Day 8

Margarita Island- We did the day at the all inclusive Dunes resort. It was an okay excursion. We booked all our excursions before we left and the original departure time from this port was 3pm. The time was later changed to 2 pm. We were supposed to go to the resort and enjoy a lunch, drinks, the beach and the pools. Well, we left on the bus about 7:30am, it was an hour drive to get to the resort so we got there about 8:30 am. We did not know that we were making a shopping trip on the way back so that cut into our time too. We were told that we were going to have to leave the resort at 11:30am so we could stop for shopping and make it back to the ship by 1:30pm. Lunch was served at noon and the bars opened at 11:00am. So we had a late breakfast at the buffet there but we had gotten up early and eaten breakfast as we thought we were being provided lunch. The resort was nice enough but the excursion was not long enough to make it worthwhile.

Day 9

Curacao-We had nothing planned and just walked around Willemstad. It was a nice town and the floating bridge was neat. If we ever get back here, I look forward to seeing some other parts of the island.

Day 10

Aruba- We did the Aruba Sailaway Beach and Snorkel Cruise. This was a little smaller catamaran than some that we had been on , but not terrible. We had a beautiful sail out to our snorkeling spot which was great, we had plenty of time to snorkel and it was a really good location. Then we went to a shipwreck and the water was really rough so I didn't stay out very long, I felt like I was getting tossed around too much. We stopped at a restaraunt at a beach for lunch, which was provided. It was excellent. Then we had some time to enjoy the beach, it was very nice and there were some chairs out we could use. This too included unlimited drinks (I'm glad I never had to drive during this cruise) :D Since we were in Aruba until 11pm, our table mates and us went to Carlos and Charlies after dinner, quite a wild place but we had fun.

Day 11

Sea day-another day spent on the pool deck.

 

Day 12

Unfortunatly our cruise had to end, we got up and had breakfast at the windjammer and sat by the pool until our luggage tag was called. Our flight didn't leave until the afternoon so we were in the last group to get off. It went fairly quickly and it was very easy to find our luggage.

 

Overall this was our best vacation ever. We really enjoyed the ship and the itinerary was the best.

 

Food-Most of the time I would say excellent, a couple of times we had things that were just okay. But for the most part we thought it was great. We had wonderful tablemates and a great waiter, we couldn't have asked for a better combination. We had a great time every night and I would enjoy having dinner with these people on a regular basis and having our waiter join us for dinner. We had so much fun!

 

Entertainment-It was good, nothing that really wowed me but I enjoyed it all.

 

I can't think of anything else right now. If you have any questions I would be happy to answer them.

[Alexis]

Day 12

Unfortunatly our cruise had to end, we got up and had breakfast at the windjammer and sat by the pool until our luggage tag was called. Our flight didn't leave until the afternoon so we were in the last group to get off. It went fairly quickly and it was very easy to find our luggage.

 

 

This next Empress cruise we fly out of San Juan in the late afternoon. What time did you actually get called to leave the ship as last off?

Thanks ;)

 

Great review. :)

[candhmama]

I think it was around 10:00. The one benefit to being at the airport that long was the line to check-in was long and incredibly slow. So, we didn't have to be stressed in line and worried we were going to miss our flight.

Have a great cruise!

[Alexis]

I am also going to post this information on my Roll Call for fellow Empress cruisers who might ask this question. ;)