7 Night Western Caribbean & Perfect Day (Miami Roundtrip)
Sail date: December 09, 2019
Ship:
Empress of the Seas
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 4 years ago
Review summary
Very relaxing, excellent service & entertainment. Tends to be more for an older crowd. Great ports of call.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
We had “The Key”, but we arrived at 10:00am, so even if we didn’t have The Key, embarkation would still have been a breeze. In fact, for the first time in my experience we arrived TOO early, & we had to wait until they were ready for boarding. That’s when I was glad to have The Key, because we were treated (along with the Diamond members) to a nice waiting lounge equipped with coffee, teas, juices, water, danish & small sandwiches. My wife & I are just Gold members, so that was a pleasant upgrade. I’ll try to attach a couple of pic of the lounge.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Coco Loco was my go-to drink poolside. Did “The Key” Chops lunch on embarkation day: excellent food, but very limited choices. Main dining room food was excellent, tho my scotch on the rocks serving was stingy. Never had that issue at Schooners Bar or anywhere else on the ship. Desserts like the molten chocolate cake were amazing! The Windjammer buffet was excellent, except the scrambled eggs were runny every morning, so I opted for the ham& cheese omelets instead. Service was excellent everywhere.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
This ship does not offer water slides & zip lines like other ships, but the activities & entertainment they do offer is top notch. I did not participate in the rock climbing or use the fitness center. There is only one pool that we finally got to freely use on our Key West port day when we stayed on the ship.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Top notch entertainment! They had the BEST reggae band on the pool deck, and in the Royal Theater there were 2 excellent comedians, and the Empress of the Seas band, singers & dancers were amazing! How did Royal Caribbean book such talented people on the smallest ship in their fleet? I have no idea, but I’m extremely grateful.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Service was excellent: from Elvis the cruise director down to the repairman who fixed our loose shower curtain track. Our room steward, Arie, met our every need, including getting us some anti-allergenic pillows, & creating our “towel animals”. Our main dining room attendants Joel & Aulia were pleasant, competent & eager to please. The bartenders were also great, & well staffed, so one never had to wait very long to order a drink.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The smaller ship design was a notable benefit when having to walk from one end of the ship to the other. A much shorter distance compared to the Harmony of the Seas, which seemed to go on forever. Everything was very clean & well maintained. Our Windjammer attendant, Neilbert, was alway upbeat as he encouraged everyone to “washy-washy”!
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Small inside cabin with no frills, but plenty of drawer & closet space. Shower was pretty small, especially with a curtain rather than a sliding clear door. Sorry ladies, no footrest to shave your legs like they have on the Oasis Class ships. Nevertheless, even the bathroom was satisfactory with plenty of shelving space.
Ship tip
Sail Empress if you’re goal is to have a relaxing vacation. If you have kids, especially teenagers, I would recommend the Oasis, Voyager or Quantum Class ships for more exciting activities for them.
Weather was perfect. We went to the private beach resort of Nachicocom via taxi (about $20 each way). Great value for the dollar, & less crowded than Mr. Sancho’s. Included all you can drink + one appetizer, main entree, side & desert from the menu. Great beach. Water toys cost extra. Service attention not as good as Maya Chan in Costa Maya, but satisfactory. Nice pool with swim up bar.
We spent the first half of our time drinking Coco Locos poolside, then went to chill at the beach. Lunch was at the Snack Shack enjoying their absolutely delicious chicken sandwiches. If we had our adult children with us, I definitely would have done the water slides & zip lines with them. That just not my wife’s thing. Royal Caribbean has spared no experience to make CocoCay a literal tropical paradise!
We went to the private beach resort of Maya Chan, an exceptional value for the dollar. Full disclosure: the beach along that entire coast struggles with a constant seaweed issue which results in an unpleasant odor. It wasn’t too bad during our stay, which began with a shuttle ride from behind the port area (included in your excursion package!) and takes you to the resort via a very bumpy dirt road. We were warmly greeted, given a brief tour, then shown to our own private cabana. The service was excellent, all you can eat delicious food, and never ending drinks. My wife & I also splurged on a couple’s massage
Disembarkation was a breeze. The worst part was the day prior at Key West when EVERYONE on the ship had to go through a US Customs screening at 7:00am, stood in a very long line, but once it started, things moved fairly quickly. We had “The Key”, so that night we received special light blue luggage tags for our larger bags, which we set out in the hallway at 10:30pm. On disembarkation day, we had a delightful leisurely breakfast in the main dining room, and then basically walked right off the ship, found our bags waiting to for us, & walked right out.
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