twangster

Day 13 continued...

On our sea day towards a Perfect Day here are some pictures around the ship on a sea day.

Live music by Mass Effect on the pool deck.

Lots of sun, various pool deck activities by the CD staff I have neglected to capture but here is the pool deck situation.

I love ships with these outdoor covered decks.  A good book, a drink, good company, whatever...

This is day 7 of an 8 day cruise and the 10 drink card has appeared for $79 plus 18% gratuity.

What cruise is complete without a sale.  T-Shirts, jewelry, watches, booze - all the regular stuff on sale and equally popular as ever.  

Ah... wake views.

Plus forward views.  Smooth seas.

Welcome to the message boards.

Royal Caribbean follows US health code and does not allow diapers or swim diapers in any pools or water features except the baby splash area where swim diapers are allowed.  The rest of the SplashAway Bay area will be off limits to diapers.

26 minutes ago, kittysoul said:

@tiny260  i think this is just a little bit overboard, myself....  I know that they are trying to keep people from cheating them by sharing the alcoholic drinks..but geez... 

All the major cruise lines have this policy.  Royal didn't for a while but then changed to follow the industry.  

In some cases there were four or more college kids sharing a package, openly, and binge drinking heavily.  People were abusing it and combined with the industry trend they decided to change.

The side benefit of that is that prices often approach what they were in 2016 when the Deluxe package first was introduced.  It went on sale for $46 back then for a 7 night cruise.  Recently 7 night cruises have seen sales down to $47 three years later despite rising costs.  If they continued to let people abuse and share the prices would not be $47 here in 2019, they would be higher across the board.  

Cruise length is still the biggest factor in the supply and demand pricing of drink packages.  You can't just say I paid X with considering cruise length, time of year, holidays and other details.  

Bottom line - the drink packages cost a certain amount for any given sailing.  If you can find value at that price then buy it without worrying about what someone on a different ship with a different itinerary paid.  If you buy it keep on eye out for price drops but be happy knowing you decided the original price had value.  If you can't justify the cost then don't buy it.  

They have never rushed me.  

Feel free to request another entree, or appetizer, or dessert.  Not sure how people do that, I am usually so stuffed, but no judgement, order away!

For me the benefit of MTD is flexibility.  5:45pm one night, 7pm another night, 6pm another night.  Really enjoying time in a pool?  Miss your reservation and use the "no reservation" line when you feel like it.  

4 minutes ago, KathyC said:

So running out of Guinness is a normal thing for RCCL?  They always seem to run out on the ships we've been on recently.

Empress doesn't have a pub and lacks the craft beers or any beers beyond the large scale breweries.  Earlier when I asked for Guinness they had a limited stock and were saving some for a beer tasting event.  The inventory manager will ensure he picks up some more for my next cruise.

 

3 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Not once in all those nights, just for research and to have fun with the waiters who all wonder why you're traveling solo? I'm shocked!

The Hotel Director's Table was in the MDR but I was so deep in conversation with the table I didn't notice.

37 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Did anyone play at that piano during dinner times?

I haven't been eating the in the MDR :) 

If you like a Main Dining Room with windows to the sea, the Empress dining room is waiting for you.

With generous windows on the sides and aft, this dining room is about seeing the sea.

They were setup for a sea day Brunch when I took these photos.

Located at the aft and down on deck 5 nearer the water there are fantastic wake views.

The area where the chef is waiting to serve slices of meat on the black table is where the Hotel Directors Table was held earlier in the cruise. 

It's one of the nicer MDR's in the fleet.

Meal with an officer lunch in Chops today.  

Unfortunately I left my memory card in the cabin so no pictures.

Very enjoyable meal with the IT Manager on one side and the Inventory Manager on the other.  Another Chop's steak in my belly. 

Our IT manager has requested an upgrade to O3b Voom but so far it hasn't come through.  He has increased the bandwidth commit for the ship's Voom.  Currently it is 80Mbps down and 50 Mbps up.  That is shared between guests and the ship's needs.  Individual guests are capped so no single guest will ever see those kinds of speeds.

Our Inventory Manager has promised there shall be Guinness waiting for me the week after next when I return.   Really nice guy who has been with Royal for 24 years.  His last ship was Freedom.  He has a wife and two teenage daughters at home.  They do get to come on board and spend time when schedules permit.  As a 3 stripe officer he has his own cabin.  On larger ships his family can stay with him in his cabin when they visit.  His cabin on Empress only allows 2 so when his family visits they need to use a guest cabin.  He volunteered that he makes a lot more money with Royal than he ever could back in Nicaragua.  Providing a good quality education for his daughters is a priority so that why he is here, he could never do so trying to get by at home.  It's all about providing a better life for his family.  

Loading and unloading the ship has it's challenges.  On Empress there is one door that everything goes through.  He has to wait until after luggage and some other items have been moved before it's "his" turn.  On larger ships there are usually separate doors dedicated to luggage vs food vs. waste offloading and other supplies.  Bayonne will be interesting due to tidal changes.  At times all supplies and luggage have to be hoisted by crane using a basket vs. forklifts directly.  The crane slows things down a lot.  Using one door and a crane will be a challenge.  

Come to think of it in Vancouver when Ovation did its inaugural call in May they were using cranes and baskets.  That is likely why that turn around went so slowly.  It happens at some ports when the tides don't put the doors at the right level and tides change dramatically so using forklifts isn't an option.  The things you never think of.

In hurricane season we carry extra supplies on board.  We might run out of some perishables but there shall be food. 

Food is inspected by himself and members of the galley staff.  If they reject something that vendor is responsible to ensure replacement items are sent to the ship at the next port of call.  Vendors are therefore motivated to make sure that doesn't happen as it could be very costly to do so.

He likes Empress because of the smaller ship size.  On this ship the crew and guests become family because every one gets to know everyone.  On larger ships there are so many crew and guests you can go a contract and not meet everyone.  With the sense of family on board the time goes faster and before you know it the contract is over.  I have certainly experience that here on Empress where several offices and crew have recognized me and stopped to talk.  You don't get that as often on larger ships.

Forgot to mention, we changed time last night.  Back on Eastern time today.

Boleros

On this sea day I've got some time to kill so let's look at Boleros.  I can't say enough great things about Boleros on Empress.  it is the biggest and best Boleros across the whole fleet.

Located on deck 6 aft with entrances on port the port and starboard side.

This Boleros has a distinct Cuba theme.

Great bar with ample bar seating.

Nightly there is always something going on in Boleros.  From Royal game shows to live music and dancing Boleros has it all.  

Day 13, Cruise 2 Day 7 - Sea Day

Position report on our way to CocoCay tomorrow.

Calm seas today.  It has the makings of a beautiful day at sea.

Chops breakfast starts with some fruit.

Eggs Benedict.  Yum.

20 minutes ago, mom2mybugs said:

 

 the key port boarding thing is way wasted on the little ships. We've never waited in line and really we've never had an issue on the bigger ships either.  I think they are adding things trying to justify the 19.99 a day and for myself as a cruiser I could never justify it.  ESPECIALLY on the smaller ships!!!

This is why I don't agree with people that get upset about the key and think it's stealing benefits from loyal cruisers.  Royal has found a new revenue stream with little impact to existing cruisers.  That will keep cruise fares low for all us.  I have no problem with that.

Sounds like you are having a great cruise!

Day 12, Cruise 2 Day 6 - Cozumel

We were docked in Cozumel when I woke.  No plans today but I'm going to take advantage of my cellular plan including Mexico in my "home" area to make some calls and get some work done.  I like Cozumel so don't get me wrong but I've been a number of times this year with more stops booked.  With some overcast and rain clouds in the distance I'm going stay on the ship today.

#boring

From my office (balcony) I spotted the Carnival Paradise arriving. 

Carnival has modified some of these old ships to add balcony cabins.  Cool idea.

Voom has been pretty stable most of the day but towards the end my VPN was flapping occasionally so the on again off again Voom struck again for an hour or so.  I think it's a sign I need to stop working, like someone flipping the house lights on and off.  Time to move on.

With the work day done it's time to switch into cruise mode.  Happy hour is calling... and the bartenders are taking care of me.

A lot going on around the ship but I saw it last week and I'll be back the week after next so I took the time to enjoy a Crown & Anchor bottle of wine on my balcony.  Something about the sea air and sound of lapping water that recharges the soul.  The wine didn't hurt that effort either.

47 minutes ago, Curt From Canada said:

Sorry @twangster, I am coming to this Live Blog Party a little late.  My Soulmate and I are seriously considering cruising on Empress out of Montreal in the fall of 2020.  Montreal is just a short dog sled ride from our house. 

We love to dance, and find that all RC ships have wonderful live music all over their ships.  Three questions:

1) Are you finding a variety of live music being played?  Boleros looks like a great venue, and the Viking Crown Lounge always has potential.

2) We are not great dancers, but we always look for any place to take advantage of the most basic dance floor (we are not shy).  Is there anywhere in the Schooner Bar that could be used as a dance floor?  The two best Schooner Bar dance floors are Harmony (I think most people call this dance floor the "Entrance") and Anthem (it has a dance floor just for two beside the piano).

3) Any other opportunities for dancing that you have come across?

Any input would be great.

Curt From Canada

Boleros has the best opportunity to dance with live music.  The bands rotate mostly between the pool deck and Boleros.  Schooner has a piano with some but limited dance floor space potential.  Pool deck and Boleros would be the top dance locations for live music.  The VCL doesn't seem to have live music but hosts events like the 70's and 80's themed parties and when those are on the dance floor is popular but it's not live music, rather music played over the speakers.

Buy when you can afford it and it has value for you.  If it drops lower that that, refund your purchase and buy it again at the lower price.  

Many times it never goes lower.  Sometimes it does.  Enjoy the savings you score at a lower price, enjoy the package when you don't. 

Even a few dollars here or there is nothing in the overall cost of the vacation but saving a few extra bucks is icing on the cake.

Breaking news  !!

The cruise lines have been working together for years.

There are projects each does on their own and their are initiatives they collaborate on.  They even have joint ventures for this purpose, from a legal stance.

Like all stuff we see, when a ship pulls up to a destination, only then is it real.

Voom check in.

Morning in Belize before diving:

Also noted way out where the ships anchor was fringe for cell phone coverage.  Sometimes great, sometimes not so much.  This might vary based on who your cell phone plan is with.  The dive site had no coverage but as we got closer to where the ships anchor we had coverage on the dive boat.

After leaving Belize as we moved up the coast towards Cozumel much later that night after enjoying the evening activities:

Generally speaking Voom has been stable and not doing the complete but brief outages today.

Windjammer had American Night tonight.

Main theater tonight had the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers performing Jazz Cabaret with music by the Empress of the Seas Orchestra.

Some acts were solo, some duets.

Music was quite good.  Royal did a great job casting these performers.

Some older stuff, some newer stuff.  All very well done.

Later in the Schooner Bar was Name that Tune 70's music.  One group got them all correct, quite amazing given one very challenging song.

Day 11, Cruise 2 Day 5 - Belize

I awoke late after staying up late for the Milky Way and discovered we were at anchor in Belize.  Due to the great barrier reef system here and the lack of a pier or deep water harbor ships must anchor well away from shore (and the reefs) .  Guests use tenders to make it anywhere.

The tenders were queuing up getting ready to take guest ashore.

One of the many tenders in use today.

Today I booked Scuba Diving through Royal Caribbean in the Cruise Planner before sailing.  Catching a sale event and given the tender operations it's just easier booking through Royal especially in Belize since it's a tender port. 

Our meeting point is common on many Royal ships for ship excursions, the main theater.  Here all guests received a different sticker based on their excursion and we waited to be called.

When they were ready for us or excursion was called.  Our dive boat picked us up right at the ship.  We would never visit the Belize mainland today, we went straight to our dive boat and back.  A couple of Carnival guests were already on the dive boat since we shared anchorage with the Carnival Conquest today.

in the past sometimes these dive boats will take you their dive shop to get fitted.  In our case they came prepared with all of our gear and some extra stuff for size mismatches.  From here it was roughly a 45 minute ride to the reef we would dive today.

i had bought a new underwater housing for my RX100.  Yesterday as I was getting my stuff ready the inner gasket popped out of the track on the new housing.  I spent some time trying to get it back in but there was no way I could get it to stay.  Not willing to risk my favorite travel camera I went back to my old GoPro for underwater shots.

The reef is very beautiful here and the pictures don't do it justice.

A Green Moray eel wasn't very pleased with our presence.

Our dive master pointed out a resting stingray in the sand below.

Two Spotted Eagle Rays swam past at a safe distance to check us out.  Very majestic with their movement.

We enjoyed two dives with a surface interval in between.  This is all done with a plan to respect dive tables and how your body absorbs gases under pressure at depth.

Both were enjoyable dives but I was disappointed I couldn't use a better camera compared to my aging GoPro.

After the dive was over they served a box lunch and we headed back for the 45 minute ride to the ships.

We stopped first to drop off the Carnival guests at the Conquest.  The Conquest class was my first introduction to Carnival when I used to sail with them a number of years ago before switching to Royal.  It really struck me how badly the Conquest needed a paint job.

Finally we were off to our home around the corner.

Big difference that some routine maintenance can make.

2 hours ago, bmatrose said:

I have concerns as well about my two teens 13 and 15 being bored.  I see they don't have a designated teen area but from looking at cruise compasses they seem to do a lot of teen activities.  Im currently booked on the June 29th sailing and i'm going back and forth on if I should cancel.

There are a number of teens on this Empress cruise.  They tend to hang out together in the VCL around 4-6pm.  Also see them in groups in other areas.  The Teen Cruise Compass appears like most other ships but I have no knowledge or exposure to the Teens programming on board.

You know your kids best.  When I sailed a smaller ship with a teen a few years back we presented as "It's a smaller ship.  You can stay and we'll find a sitter/family/etc and go by ourselves or you can come but if you come don't complain it's a small ship".  Mine said okay, she wanted to come.  Of course that is the answer I expected but since she made the choice it paved the way for it to be okay, not like she was being forced to come on the cruise.

Adventure Ocean and Teens Cruise Compass for the first leg of the Empress B2B attached.

 

AO and Teens CC Jul 27, 2020.pdf

I've been getting a number of questions about how I shot the Milky Way photos.

I shot this using a full frame Sony A7III with a Sony 12-24mm lens.   A crop sensor body that most people shoot wouldn't be able to get this wide.  The A7III also has really good low light performance, night and day from my last full frame body, a Nikon D750.

Also keep in mind I have a pretty good investment in gear.  Body and lens for this shot are ~ $3,700.  Not trying to brag but let's keep expectations real.  A <$1k kit can shoot the Milky Way and produce some nice results but maybe not achieve the same results.

Camera settings shown at the top, Lightroom adjustments below that.

Using Adobe Lightroom I added a lot of clarity and adjusted other light levels and white balance.  This is why I shoot in RAW.  There is a lot of data captured in a RAW file that can be manipulated using software such as Lightroom.  Shooting in JPEG would lose all this extra data and you would never be able to achieve these results.  This is how JPEG produces a lower file size, it throws away all the extra sensor data it doesn't need for a JPEG picture.  A RAW file is much bigger because it contains all the raw sensor data that was captured.

Original picture as it was captured on the left, final picture on the right after adjustments in Lightroom.

The one on the left is closer to what you see with the human eye.  Between the two brightest stars you can sort of see a cloud like area with the human eye that is the center or heart of the Milky Way.

Keep in mind I've been shooting the Milky Way for several years now so I've got some previous experience on land with a firm tripod.  On land you have more control and can take longer exposures, up to around 25 seconds for this focal length.  That allows you to lower ISO or make other adjustments for better results.  I wanted to keep the exposure shorter because of the ship's movement.

I use an app called PlanIt Pro.  It has an AR feature where you can hold up your phone, adjust the time or date and it will show you where the Milky Way will be at that moment in the future.

After we left Belize heading North to Cozumel I used this app to see when and where the Milky Way would be on Night 11.

This tells me the MWC (Milky Way Center) will be visible between 8:43pm and 3:07am.  At 12:16am the MWC will be as shown for the location we are at this moment in time.  On land that works well, on a moving ship you don't always know where your position will be in six hours or the heading of the ship hours later so there is some guess work and extrapolation involved, but at least you know what direction to find it. 

With a full moon the results would have suffered a lot.  I don't try to shoot the night sky on land most of the moon phase, it works best without moon light.  New moon was perfectly timed for me, that's just luck.   For Costa Maya it was July 31st. 

The MWC in the Northern Hemisphere is visible at night in summer months only, you can't shoot the Milky Way in the winter up here but you can down under.

There is also a lot of luck involved.  Based on the cloud cover after leaving Belize pictured above the Milky Way would not be visible.  I got pretty lucky two nights in a row with the ship heading South towards the Milky Way, on the right phase of the moon, without major cloud cover.  Costa Maya and Belize are close so the ship was only moving at ~8 knots.  

I don't always bring my A7 with me, that's why I have the RX100VI - for travel.  I threw the A7 in my backpack at the last minute.

I was in the right place at the right time with cloud cover that was in my favor on a slow moving ship with the right gear.  It's pretty rare to get all that working in your favor on a cruise, on a ship with a public area that is dark.  I may never get another opportunity like this. 

I've done a B2B on Anthem and changed cabins. 

They ask you to pack everything except items hanging up in the closet.  You leave that in your cabin.  You'll be given a meeting time and place.  For me it was Boleros.  Other consecutive cruisers will all meet there and once the ship is getting close to zero count with all other guests leaving you are escorted to meet CBP in the terminal.  At that point we were given our new cards and we waited secluded by ourselves away from the new cruisers boarding that day.  Once the federal authorities cleared the ship we walked back on first.  Right after that it was Suites, Pinnacles and the regular boarding process commenced.  If changing cabins they ask you stay out until cabins are ready for the whole ship as they need to clean and sanitize your new cabin.  Your stuff will be there waiting for you in the new cabin.  

Consecutive cruisers were offered a special lunch.

You can read about my experience on Anthem and the B2B process here:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5068-anthem-112517-712-b2b/&do=findComment&comment=50324

If you are leaving to explore the area that day there is a different process to get new SeaPass cards early.

On 7/30/2019 at 5:10 PM, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Back to nice Stubborn Canadian.

Fixed it for you.  

After dark I thought I'd walk off some of my dinner.  There were a number of low clouds passing above us and it didn't look like a great night for the Milky Way again.  Our direction towards Belize puts the Milky Way at the front of the ship but after Belize we'll start heading back North so this would be the last chance to take advantage of the dark bow to capture it.

A passing storm in the distance caught my eye from deck 6 aft behind Boleros.

It didn't look good for star gazing but I thought I'd try anyways so back to deck 6 forward.  I settled in to let my eyes adjust and it seemed like it was opening up at times.  In between passing clouds I managed to get some more Milky Way shots.  Using lessons learned from the previous night I think they came out pretty good. 

Day 10, Cruise 2 Day 4 - Costa Maya

I stayed on the ship and took advantage of the much better Voom today compared to yesterday.

The Celebrity Equinox would join us again today.  She was with us in Key West and I caught her sailing into the sunset later that day.

There is definitely a lot of sargassum (seaweed) floating in the ocean this time.  Like many things in nature it varies day to day and it appeared there was more of it this time.

I stayed on the ship and got some work done.  Soon enough it was sail away time for both ships.   We arrived first and we departed first with the Equinox's helipad a popular spot for sail away.  The company ships did a "horn-off" each blowing their whistle following each others pattern.  Empress needs to step up it's whistle, Equinox put her to shame.

Dinner back in Chops for the second half of my BOGO.

I often forget to take pictures of the bread, I usually jump right in when it arrives.

The 16 oz bone-in ribeye tonight

Mushrooms and tater tots as sides.

Apple pie for dessert (with raisons).

Tonight's Headliner Show with Finis Henderson, former Motown artist, comedian, dancer, impressionist.

He did impressions of a number of different musicians and actors.

27 minutes ago, Tanner said:

Hey Twangster, I've searched for revenue by ship but can't seem to find anything reliable other than overall revenue and reports.  Is there a quick reference out of curiosity or do you need to be involved in shares to see that specific info?  Thanks.  

https://cruisemarketwatch.com/ship-revenue/