We booked this mainly for the overnight stay in Havana, as had most of our fellow cruisers. We had decided to ‘suffer’ the ship for the Havana experience and boarded with ‘Cuba’ uppermost in our minds. I’ve done many cruises over the years and ‘Empress’ took me squarely back to my early days of cruising in the late 80’s, which I absolutely LOVED. The size of the ship was perfect - you could ‘see the sea’ on both sides from lots of places on the ship. The promenade deck was practically deserted, with comfy loungers and there was plenty of ROOM everywhere. I was quite often sitting in the jacuzzi on my own and the upper deck pool lounging area always had beds and was quiet, away from the racket of the music by the pool. We sauntered on and off at each port - never any queues. In fact, the only queue was at checkin and the time it took, despite having all documents filled out beforehand. I put it down to the Cuban Visa paperwork, which a lot of cruisers didn’t seem to have filled out. Windjammer was busy in the mornings and at lunch, but there was always a nice space, where we wanted to sit. We LOVED Boleros lounge and the Bamboleo group! We’re avid salsa dancers and boogied the night away, every evening. We had tried to book an outside cabin but the ship was practically full, but even our vibrating bed above the engine room in an inside cabin couldn’t dampen out enthusiasm! We had a ball! If you want bells and whistles, this ship isn’t for you, but for fans of ‘old school’ cruises, it’s PERFECT!!!!