Don't Visit Cuba on Royal Caribbean

Empress of the Seas Cruise Review to Cuba

sealion2

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 2

Overall rating:

2 out of 5

8 Night Best Of Cuba (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: November 04, 2018

Ship: Empress of the Seas

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 4015

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

The bottom line we had less than a pleasant visit to Cuba on Empress of the Seas in November of 2018. We arrived after 3:30 PM. We had almost no day light for touring and the shops and museums close at 5 PM. The tours sponsored by Royal Caribbean were conducted in dark where nothing could be seen. I had less than one hour to see Cuba! The scheduled stop at Santiago, Cuba was canceled with no compensation to the travelers. So much for the "Best of Cuba" Told us tendering into Santiago not do able, but I read they plan to do it on later cruises in November! The substitution of Key West for Santiago is unacceptable. I signed up for a vist to Cuba not another port that I had visited before. I feel sorry for the staff and crew, they did their best, but management of Royal Carribean should have cancled the cruise and offered refunds or a choice of another cruise. I will think long and hard before I take another cruise with Royal Carribean.

Embarkation

1 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Main Dining Room

3 out of 5

Service was excellent

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

Entertainment

2 out of 5

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

Ship Quality

1 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

1 out of 5

Ship tip

Don't go to Cuba on Empress of Seas!

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Labadee (Cruise Line Private Island)

2 out of 5

Key West, Florida

2 out of 5

HAVANA, CUBA

1 out of 5

What visit, see comments Poor information from Cruise line, such as not telling passangers no way to sell back unused Cuban currency,

Thumbs Up 2

Nassau, Bahamas

2 out of 5

average tour at a average port

Thumbs Up 1

Disembarkation

1 out of 5

7 Comments

bumbleboy 5 years ago

They have offered nothing just say its out of their hands , and as for the sewage problems apparently that didn't happen either, i actually feel i was dreaming about the whole cruise & really didn't go 🤔😏

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zax 5 years ago

That's just poor customer service! We're on this same itinerary in January, now I'm concerned. Have you tried escalating the situation to manager to get some sort of compensation? At the very least I'd hope they offer a discount in a future cruise.

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bumbleboy 5 years ago

It was cancelled due to Empress of the sea hitting the dock 3 weeks prior to our cruise date of tge 4th Nov 18, lots of passengers were not informed of the change of port until they boarded the ship. We arrived at Havana Cuba at 3pm and did not get of the ship till 6.30pm in the dark to then find that the money exchange would shut at 8pm, RCL failed to inform pasangers of this, so unless you asked the counter assistant you would not of , known hence many people were stuck with CUC unable to exchange back to dollars. So we got 1.5 hrs on shore after paying RCL $75 pp for a visa. The line for customer relations was so long for two days with complaints & people were so upset, due to missing excursions & some had made plans to visit family in both santiago de cuba & Havana Cuba. Terrible planning & extremely slow imigration was the causes of this complete sham & mis sell of The Best Of Cuba complete joke Royal Carabean 😡

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jeanniemms 5 years ago

I’m wondering why it was cancelled. Can you please explain?

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graham123 5 years ago

☹☹

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KofiNaija 5 years ago

Seems like we've been having a several bumps with expanded Cuba sailings. I would be totally pissed if I got Key West instead of a truly foreign port as well. It's like thinking you're going to get on a flight to Paris and end up in Paris Texas.

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agfstamps 5 years ago

That’s too bad, we had a fabulous overnight in Havana.

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Other reviews of this sailing

Extremely disappointed and want to ensure others know. Promised 8 Night Best of Cuba and with Royal Caribbean changing ports ended up with 1 hour of daylight in Cuba!

The Not-So-Best of Cuba

The Best of Cuba what a absolute joke and waste of money . 1.5 hrs of port time in the dark plus a trip to key west instead of Santiago de Cuba . Terrible smell of drainage on deck 4 & 5. Food in windjamer luke warm & not kept at correct temperature.