Empress of the Seas Review

3.0 / 5.0
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The Worst Cruise Ever

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on Empress of the Seas
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diana61
10+ Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Feb 2017

I am a diamond plus member and have sailed on over 30 cruises with Royal Caribbean. I have also sailed with Princess, Carnival, Norwegian, Holland, Disney, MSC and Costa. This cruise will go down as the worst that I have sailed. Royal Caribbean has always been my favorite but they are going down hill at a fast pace. I was on the Freedom during New Years and I was displeased with the food, entertainment staff and service. I didn't think it could get any worst but it did on the Empress. We were a group of 7 and 3 were first time cruisers. Confusion began at the pier, we were docked on the other side at pier J. Getting into the parking garage was madness, very unorganized. Then when we went to check in 2 of my friends were given someone else's sea passes and their credit cards were connected to those accounts. It took 45 minutes for the agent to correct the mistake that she had made. We proceeded to the windjammer for lunch. The food was horrible, tasteless and lacking. No beverage service and wait staff took forever to pick up dirty plates. I went to the ice cream machine to make me a cone and there was a staff member there making the cones for the guest. I told her that I wanted to make my own and she said she had to do it and yes some one was there daily making cones. We all proceeded to our stateroom (3 cabins among the 7 of us). The same 2 friends of mine that had an issue with check in had an issue with their cabin not being available due to maintenance. They went down to customer service and was given an upgrade to ocean view, their keys didn't work twice and they had to go up and down to get this resolved. Both of them being first time cruisers and everything going wrong was a turn off for them. We went to the dinning room for dinner and they had a table for 6 although there was 7 of us.They squeezed in another setting and it was uncomfortable, The dining room food was not worth the trouble, worst meal ever. We ate at the windjammer for dinner for the remaining duration of the cruise which wasn't much better. They served the same food every day in the Windjammer. Room service can't get the order correct. Bar staff was standing around doing nothing, we had to go up to the bar to get drinks. This was the first Royal ship that I didn't see bar staff walking around selling drink of the day or taking orders for drinks. The public bathrooms were not kept clean, down right dirty. Our stateroom attendant was pretty good, we did get animal towels for 2 nights but my friends didn't get any and they were not happy with their stateroom attendant.

This was basically the cruise from hell. It was hot in our cabin and other areas on the ship, especially the casino. Entertainment was the worst that I have ever seen on any cruise line. The entertainment staff was lazy and non existent most of the time, limited activities. Staff members were not friendly and officers would pass by without speaking, this is not acceptable, Royal Caribbean has lost focus on what made them Royal. They used to have excellent food, excellent service and excellent entertainment. Royal Caribbean has been going down hill for the past 2 years and they have reached the bottom. I will not be sailing with Royal Caribbean for a while. I have booked my next 3 cruises with Princess.

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