Empress of the Seas sailing dates 10/20, 10/24, 10/29

We took three back to back cruises on this ship starting with a 4 night traveling to Key West and Nassau and the next two were identical 5 night cruises traveling to Key West and Cozumel. For such a small ship it handled well in the water. There wasn’t much rocking as I was expecting. The only exception being the trip back to Miami from Cozumel on the second cruise the ship did rock harshly enough for them to close the upper decks and the boat decks which encompassed both smoking areas.

When we boarded the ship I purchased the soda package which is something I did at the beginning of each cruise I take on Royal Caribbean ships. However on this ship the only place to get soda at sailing was the pool bar, none of the other bars were open to passengers until after the ship sailed. I went up to the pool bar and patiently waited my turn. There were three staffers working the bar and on this visit there were three passengers all being waited on so I sat and waited for my turn. Four people arrived after me and all four were served before I was. Then while I waited another wave arrived and all were waited on before I was. A total of 16 people were waited on before my turn finally came. One person waiting the bar named Paul looked directly at me three times and when I went to open my mouth he turned away and went to someone else. It finally dawned on me why. I had the reusable cup that Royal Caribbean gives with the soda package. I wasn’t getting alcohol so there was no tip involved. Read more