There were rough seas the first three days and this did limit things to do but a great time was had. We made some new friends and enjoyed the well deserved vacation.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Very smooth, no waiting
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
There was only one specialty restaurant on Empress and it is Chops Grille, it was excellent, and I would recommend everyone try it.
The Bar Staff at all of the Bars were exceptional.
The Main Dining Room was very good except the maître d’ mixed up our table every night. On Surf and Turf night we got a lobster tail that was inedible, after speaking the head waiter we found out it was farmed lobster.
The Windjammer Buffet is just like any other buffet, it caters to the mass public with little seasoning or flavor. They had a Gluten free section that had only 5 or 6 items.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
Being a smaller ship there is only the pool, rock climbing wall and a fitness center. I did not use any but everyone I knew that did enjoyed them.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
All of the shows were very good to excellent, my favorite was the comedy shows.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our Room Steward (Ewayan) was excellent, he was always available for our needs. All of the ships personnel that we encountered was very personable and friendly.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
For an older ship it was clean and maintained. We had some rough sea days so when we docked the maintenance staff was doing repairs as needed.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
The room size was perfect for two people who only use the room to sleep and get changed for the next adventure. This was a very comfortable and clean room thanks to our room steward.
Our Walking Tour of Labadee was one of the worst on any cruise regardless of the Cruise Line. The guide mostly gave his political opinion. What history he did give was accurate, but he kept saying the no one is taught the truth about Haiti.
The Food and Culture Tour was amazing, Nadia was very well versed in the history of Puerto Rico and San Juan. Since it was a walking tour she made sure that the group stayed together and blocked traffic as we crossed intersections. She was in contact with each restaurant before we arrived so they knew we were coming. We had the chance to make traditional Puerto Rican dish (mofongo), as she gave us the history of the dish.
We did a Food and Culture Tour here and it was excellent, Lisa our tour guide was very well informed even though she was not a native of St. Thomas. This was a combination of walking and riding tour and Lisa made sure that as a group we stayed together.
We disembarked at a different dock than our departure, while Royal provided a shuttle to the parking lot we departed from, there was no one to direct us to that shuttle and it was not identifiable from any other bus there.
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