Cruise From Hell

Item: Empress of the Seas
Rating: 2.3
Author: ethnicempress

Empress of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Bahamas

ethnicempress

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 40

Overall rating:

2.3 out of 5

Verified Review

4 Night Key West & Perfect Day (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: December 30, 2019

Ship: Empress of the Seas

Cabin number: 4033

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

Horrible experience and the cruise from hell. We were promised on board credit... never received it. No porters to help with luggage. Bugs in cabin. Horrible, tasteless food... so much so I lost weight on the vacation because I refused to eat the slop they served. Watered down drinks. Lack luster entertainment.

Embarkation

1 out of 5

Horrible. Spent 2 hours on the phone discussing why the onboard credit we were promised wasn't showing on our account. Also very hot on this ship. Should have gotten off the ship while I still had a chance.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Disgusting brown "pepper" sauce covered every steak I ordered. The Chicken Marsala was red! Tasteless food and watered down drinks. Service was excellent but the food was horrible and made me sick.

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

Trivia was confusing and cruise director was not organized. Activities never started on time or were not as described.

Entertainment

1 out of 5

No words can describe the lack luster "entertainment" that was on scheduled. Comedian was not funny and crude while being homophobic.

Children's Programs

1 out of 5

The "children's program" consisted of the kids running up and down the halls and pushing every button on the elevator. Need I say more....

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

The staff did their best to make up for this lack luster cruise but nothing can help one ignore all that this line does not have to offer.

Ship Quality

1 out of 5

We found bugs in our cabin and the ship definitely shows wear and tear.

Cabin / Stateroom

1 out of 5

Small, cramp, and nothing to write home about.

Ship tip

Don't book it. Save your money and go to

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

3 out of 5

This wasn't a port but where we caught the boat from. No porters to help with the luggage and such. Long waits at lot J.

Thumbs Up 0

Key West, Florida

5 out of 5

People were nice and no need to book excursions as there is a lot to do right out at the port.

Thumbs Up 0

Perfect Day At Coco Cay, Bahamas

4 out of 5

Great little place with a little bit of everything to do.

Thumbs Up 0

Disembarkation

1 out of 5

Confusing and mismanaged. Reminded me of a preschool recess time with no adults.

Traveler Photos

TV in Cabin did this every minute or so.

8 Comments

wgammon1 4 years ago

You don't need to be cruising. Nothing is going to make you happy because you just want to complain.

Thumbs Up 0

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capeman 4 years ago

Sounds like someone woke up on the wrong side of their cruise. Sorry you let your cruise slip away like that. You chose to focus on the negative and lost the whole reason for cruising, which is to relax and take it easy. You need to write the negative comments/events that happen to the hotel manager/GM and get back to having fun and let them answer it and take care of it for you. Happy cruising to all!

Thumbs Up 4

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agfstamps 4 years ago

Too bad you didn’t enjoy your trip. We’ve had several great trips on the Empress.

Thumbs Up 1

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hunny68 4 years ago

My first cruise ever was Empress and I loved every minute. You rated embarkation as a 1 because you were on the phone haggling? Our food was okay on the ship, service exemplary and there were tons of activities all over the ship, including around the pool. Our cruise director was the best as was the activities director, although I heard he's now on a different ship.

Thumbs Up 2

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missnotanlines 4 years ago

We were just on the empress the week before Thanksgiving we had no bugs our food was very good the cabin was small yes it's an older smaller ship but everything else went very well service was excellent and an easy ship to get around

Thumbs Up 1

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15mustang 4 years ago

You can ask for all sauces to be on the side if you don't want them. I always ask this of my waiter. Sounds like you were upset about obc as you got on and let it influence your entire cruise. We always feel Royal Caribbean goes out of their way to help passengers.

Thumbs Up 2

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DerekMire 4 years ago

Exactly

Thumbs Up 0

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CruzeFan 4 years ago

Sorry you didn’t enjoy it. We’ve always had a great experience on Royal Caribbean. It’s interesting that other reviews from the exact same date rated most things 4 to 5 stars. When I see someone rate most everything with 1 star while others on the exact same cruise rated them 4 and 5 stars, that tells me much more about the attitude of the person writing the review than it does the actual ship or Cruise Line.

Thumbs Up 4

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