twangster

In the words as sung by Britney Spears...  ? Oops, I Did it Again ?
For those who are wondering what is he talking about?  (or thinking I've enjoyed one too many happy hour drinks)  I just finished 14 nights on this little beauty last week.  You can read about that B2B experience here:
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/14213-empress-b2b-14-nights-on-the-biggest-little-ship-july-2019/
Those cruises were great but they were Western Caribbean and this 8 night cruise is Eastern Caribbean including a stop at Tortola in the British Virgin Islands.  Royal hasn't visited the BVI very much in recent years so when I saw the BVI added to the itinerary in the wake of the Cuba cancellations I knew I had to do it.  Icing on my cake comes courtesy of another visit to Perfect Day at CocoCay. 
Itinerary
Miami Perfect Day at CocoCay Sea Day San Juan Tortola St Thomas Sea Day Sea Day Miami Our Perfect Day ends at 2pm so we can make it to San Juan for a 3pm arrival after a day at sea.  We stay until midnight in San Juan so if all goes well I hope to get some evening and night pictures around San Juan.
Sailing in a Junior Suite I have scored one of the most forward deck 9 JS cabins this time.
I love this small ship and her big heart.  It's a good thing I love this ship because this will be my fourth cruise on her.  My Crown and Anchor points haven't been posted yet from my last cruise on her so with the "paint still wet", I'm heading back to the love of my life, or at least the love of my life right now. 
Because I'm flying I don't like taking just one cruise so with a night off the water in between, I'm doing a side-to-side over to Majesty right after this cruise.  A few years ago I started dreaming about a tour of the small ships and this marks another step towards completing that goal.  
I think I set a record this time having packed my suitcase a full two days before the cruise.  Basically I took my cruise clothes from the dryer and put them right back into my suitcase.  
      " You see my problem is this
       I'm dreaming away
       Wishing that heroes, they truly exist
       I cry, watching the days
       Can't you see I'm a fool in so many ways
       But to lose all my senses
       That is just so typically me
       Oh baby, oh "
Okay that doesn't make total sense but it's the only part of the lyrics that somewhat fit so I'm going with it.  

I think they have a no-whiners policy.  If you are a cranky guest, you are at guest services complaining the pillowcase is too white or trying to get something for free, you might not get invited.
On a small ship it's easier for guests to get to know the management team.  The reverse is also true, the management team gets to know the guests.

I think they have a no-whiners policy.  If you are a cranky guest, you are at guest services complaining the pillowcase is too white or trying to get something for free, you might not get invited.
On a small ship it's easier for guests to get to know the management team.  The reverse is also true, the management team gets to know the guests.

I think they have a no-whiners policy.  If you are a cranky guest, you are at guest services complaining the pillowcase is too white or trying to get something for free, you might not get invited.
On a small ship it's easier for guests to get to know the management team.  The reverse is also true, the management team gets to know the guests.

I chatted with Julie about the lack of a Diamond event.  Internally the Crown and Anchor department carries the financial burden of Diamond Happy Hour in their budget center.  They've looked at different ideas but some of it comes down to staffing.  Empress isn't staffed to host a Diamond event.  At a minimum it takes 3 crew to host and serve a dedicated happy hour event and with fewer crew on Empress that would mean pulling crew from elsewhere causing another area to be understaffed every night.  
It's not a decision the Hotel Director can make exclusively since C&A pays for it.  They are always considering ideas and I let her know it is one of the more popular discussion points amongst Diamond and higher cruisers who consider Empress when booking a cruise.  She was curious if I thought cruisers just wanted a meeting place to see other Diamond members or if the happy hour drinks were the issue.  I suggested that the drinks beyond the 3 happy hour 'coupons' were more of a point of contention.  
I'm not sure anything will come of it but it's nice to know they are aware of how us cruisers feel and they aren't just standing on policy but are thinking about our concerns. 
Next cruise will have 18 Pinnacles.  With 12 Pinnacles on this cruise that is high for Empress (last July to Cuba there were no Pinnacles on board).  Next cruise should be interesting.

Rather than going straight to the top of the company and spamming his inbox, the Crown and Anchor Society can also be used to questions,, concerns, compliments or complaints that don't warrant involving the CEO.  I try to save that email address for when I really need it.
[email protected]

Another gentleman is doing a B4B and has C&A points in the high 200s.  He was beside me at meal with an officer in the last cruise.
That itself is unique.  Meal with an officer should kick in at 340.  He was surprised he was invited.
Empress treats C&A guests very well.  

I chatted with Julie about the lack of a Diamond event.  Internally the Crown and Anchor department carries the financial burden of Diamond Happy Hour in their budget center.  They've looked at different ideas but some of it comes down to staffing.  Empress isn't staffed to host a Diamond event.  At a minimum it takes 3 crew to host and serve a dedicated happy hour event and with fewer crew on Empress that would mean pulling crew from elsewhere causing another area to be understaffed every night.  
It's not a decision the Hotel Director can make exclusively since C&A pays for it.  They are always considering ideas and I let her know it is one of the more popular discussion points amongst Diamond and higher cruisers who consider Empress when booking a cruise.  She was curious if I thought cruisers just wanted a meeting place to see other Diamond members or if the happy hour drinks were the issue.  I suggested that the drinks beyond the 3 happy hour 'coupons' were more of a point of contention.  
I'm not sure anything will come of it but it's nice to know they are aware of how us cruisers feel and they aren't just standing on policy but are thinking about our concerns. 
Next cruise will have 18 Pinnacles.  With 12 Pinnacles on this cruise that is high for Empress (last July to Cuba there were no Pinnacles on board).  Next cruise should be interesting.

Another gentleman is doing a B4B and has C&A points in the high 200s.  He was beside me at meal with an officer in the last cruise.
That itself is unique.  Meal with an officer should kick in at 340.  He was surprised he was invited.
Empress treats C&A guests very well.  

@JLMoran asked me if they ever have a piano player in the MDR during dinner.  

I was fortunate enough to be picked for the Hotel Director's Table once again.  I learned that it's not always just the top elite that get invited based on numbers.  The Captain or Hotel Director has the ability to choose. 
Once again Jorge our Guest Services Manager joined us.  This is the last cruise for Julie our Hotel Director and Jorge as well.  While Julie goes home for 2 months Jorge is heading to Majesty for a few months.   


Some of my tablemates tonight were the pier runners at CocoCay.  Long story.  The ship called one of their emergency contacts when they were late.  Another step in the protocol I didn't know about.
I asked Julie about the previous Eastern cruise when guests were left at CocoCay.  She confirmed there were 3 guests involved and they all made their way to San Juan at their expense.  They contacted Mariner first and confirmed they had space before leaving the guests.  When the decision to skip San Juan due to civil unrest was made it was Jorge who contacted the port agent to make arrangements to get the guests over to the BVI at Royal's expense. 
I asked about the process when a guest misses the ship.  Multiple security wearing body cameras enter their cabin.  They document everything on camera.  They will open the safe and look for passports, wallet, credit cards and money.  Money is counted very visibly on camera.  They collect it all and put it in a bag.  If they see diapers in a cabin of missing guests they'll grab some of those too.  Everything is put in a bag and readied to be handed off to the local port agent.  
She said when a guest does make it at the last second (pier runner) it's very sobering for them to see their stuff in a sealed bag when they realize how close they came to missing the ship.  If a guest does miss the ship they hand the sealed package to the port agent who later gives it to the guest.  In the case of the last cruise and missing CocoCay guests the sealed packages were left with Mariner's security team.
Julie is very personable and it was interesting to hear more stories from her lengthy time at sea starting as a revenue manager.  She shared a picture a friend (crew) on Mariner took using a drone showing Empress and Mariner at the pier in CocoCay.  She airdropped the photo to me so I airdropped the Milky Way photo from my Empress Western cruise the week before back to her.  Since the drone photo isn't my picture I'm not going to share it here but it's a pretty cool picture. 
Some of my table mates will be on a Navigator B2B I have coming up.  Another will be on a Vision Panama cruise coming up with me.   Last cruise a table mate at the HD Table will be on an Oasis B3B with me later this year.  You meet so many nice people at these events and I greatly appreciate the invitation. 
Once again we were presented with a memento of our dinner experience.


Loyalty does pay.

I chatted with Julie about the lack of a Diamond event.  Internally the Crown and Anchor department carries the financial burden of Diamond Happy Hour in their budget center.  They've looked at different ideas but some of it comes down to staffing.  Empress isn't staffed to host a Diamond event.  At a minimum it takes 3 crew to host and serve a dedicated happy hour event and with fewer crew on Empress that would mean pulling crew from elsewhere causing another area to be understaffed every night.  
It's not a decision the Hotel Director can make exclusively since C&A pays for it.  They are always considering ideas and I let her know it is one of the more popular discussion points amongst Diamond and higher cruisers who consider Empress when booking a cruise.  She was curious if I thought cruisers just wanted a meeting place to see other Diamond members or if the happy hour drinks were the issue.  I suggested that the drinks beyond the 3 happy hour 'coupons' were more of a point of contention.  
I'm not sure anything will come of it but it's nice to know they are aware of how us cruisers feel and they aren't just standing on policy but are thinking about our concerns. 
Next cruise will have 18 Pinnacles.  With 12 Pinnacles on this cruise that is high for Empress (last July to Cuba there were no Pinnacles on board).  Next cruise should be interesting.

I chatted with Julie about the lack of a Diamond event.  Internally the Crown and Anchor department carries the financial burden of Diamond Happy Hour in their budget center.  They've looked at different ideas but some of it comes down to staffing.  Empress isn't staffed to host a Diamond event.  At a minimum it takes 3 crew to host and serve a dedicated happy hour event and with fewer crew on Empress that would mean pulling crew from elsewhere causing another area to be understaffed every night.  
It's not a decision the Hotel Director can make exclusively since C&A pays for it.  They are always considering ideas and I let her know it is one of the more popular discussion points amongst Diamond and higher cruisers who consider Empress when booking a cruise.  She was curious if I thought cruisers just wanted a meeting place to see other Diamond members or if the happy hour drinks were the issue.  I suggested that the drinks beyond the 3 happy hour 'coupons' were more of a point of contention.  
I'm not sure anything will come of it but it's nice to know they are aware of how us cruisers feel and they aren't just standing on policy but are thinking about our concerns. 
Next cruise will have 18 Pinnacles.  With 12 Pinnacles on this cruise that is high for Empress (last July to Cuba there were no Pinnacles on board).  Next cruise should be interesting.

@JLMoran asked me if they ever have a piano player in the MDR during dinner.  

I was fortunate enough to be picked for the Hotel Director's Table once again.  I learned that it's not always just the top elite that get invited based on numbers.  The Captain or Hotel Director has the ability to choose. 
Once again Jorge our Guest Services Manager joined us.  This is the last cruise for Julie our Hotel Director and Jorge as well.  While Julie goes home for 2 months Jorge is heading to Majesty for a few months.   


Some of my tablemates tonight were the pier runners at CocoCay.  Long story.  The ship called one of their emergency contacts when they were late.  Another step in the protocol I didn't know about.
I asked Julie about the previous Eastern cruise when guests were left at CocoCay.  She confirmed there were 3 guests involved and they all made their way to San Juan at their expense.  They contacted Mariner first and confirmed they had space before leaving the guests.  When the decision to skip San Juan due to civil unrest was made it was Jorge who contacted the port agent to make arrangements to get the guests over to the BVI at Royal's expense. 
I asked about the process when a guest misses the ship.  Multiple security wearing body cameras enter their cabin.  They document everything on camera.  They will open the safe and look for passports, wallet, credit cards and money.  Money is counted very visibly on camera.  They collect it all and put it in a bag.  If they see diapers in a cabin of missing guests they'll grab some of those too.  Everything is put in a bag and readied to be handed off to the local port agent.  
She said when a guest does make it at the last second (pier runner) it's very sobering for them to see their stuff in a sealed bag when they realize how close they came to missing the ship.  If a guest does miss the ship they hand the sealed package to the port agent who later gives it to the guest.  In the case of the last cruise and missing CocoCay guests the sealed packages were left with Mariner's security team.
Julie is very personable and it was interesting to hear more stories from her lengthy time at sea starting as a revenue manager.  She shared a picture a friend (crew) on Mariner took using a drone showing Empress and Mariner at the pier in CocoCay.  She airdropped the photo to me so I airdropped the Milky Way photo from my Empress Western cruise the week before back to her.  Since the drone photo isn't my picture I'm not going to share it here but it's a pretty cool picture. 
Some of my table mates will be on a Navigator B2B I have coming up.  Another will be on a Vision Panama cruise coming up with me.   Last cruise a table mate at the HD Table will be on an Oasis B3B with me later this year.  You meet so many nice people at these events and I greatly appreciate the invitation. 
Once again we were presented with a memento of our dinner experience.


Loyalty does pay.

Day 3 continued...
Forgot to post the rainbow at sea this morning.

Lots of sargassum at sea.  They don't call this the Sargasso Sea for no reason.  That's the Atlantic for you.  This is the source of that stuff that lands on beaches like Florida and Costa Maya.

Top Tier at 5pm in Boleros.

730 total Crown and Anchor members.  That's up quite a bit from the last sailing.
412 Gold 130 Platinum, 49 Emerald, 91 Diamond, 36 Diamond Plus, 12 Pinnacle
944 new to Royal this cruise.
Main theater show tonight is a new act that wasn't on my previous B2B.  Replacing the hypnotist we have The Dangerous Comedy of Wilde and James.  Juggling three knives on a unicycle. Yep, that just happened.

Captain's address.  Guest cout 1,674.  Top speed for Empress is 19 knots and we are running at that speed today.  The Captain announced we should have an extra hour in San Juan.  With a scheduled arrival at 3pm we should be at the pier and ready to go closer to 2pm.

Saw this as I walked through the smoke free casino.

Day 3 continued...
Forgot to post the rainbow at sea this morning.

Lots of sargassum at sea.  They don't call this the Sargasso Sea for no reason.  That's the Atlantic for you.  This is the source of that stuff that lands on beaches like Florida and Costa Maya.

Top Tier at 5pm in Boleros.

730 total Crown and Anchor members.  That's up quite a bit from the last sailing.
412 Gold 130 Platinum, 49 Emerald, 91 Diamond, 36 Diamond Plus, 12 Pinnacle
944 new to Royal this cruise.
Main theater show tonight is a new act that wasn't on my previous B2B.  Replacing the hypnotist we have The Dangerous Comedy of Wilde and James.  Juggling three knives on a unicycle. Yep, that just happened.

Captain's address.  Guest cout 1,674.  Top speed for Empress is 19 knots and we are running at that speed today.  The Captain announced we should have an extra hour in San Juan.  With a scheduled arrival at 3pm we should be at the pier and ready to go closer to 2pm.

Saw this as I walked through the smoke free casino.

You can!  Applications are being accepted at RoyalCaribbean.com right now.  All it takes is a credit card...

Day 3 - Midday
Pool deck is popular.

Carving demonstration in the Centrum.


Trivia in the Schooner Bar.  That's Brittney our Sports Deck Manager.  Her parents were on for the 2nd leg of my B2B last cruise. 

Beer sale!  

It's views like this I really appreciate on Empress.  The deck 6 Centrum doors to the outdoor deck that wraps around the ship.  The sea feels like it's right there.

Voom is doing okay today.

Speaking of Voom, "royal-wifi" is no more, at least on ships that are Perfect Day enabled.  Ships now are using a guest wireless network unique to each ship.  This is how two ships can share CocoCay and guests from both ships can use their own ship's wifi account while on CocoCay.  
This is from my last visit to CocoCay when Empress and Navigator were there together.  Since I was on Empress I chose "WiFi-Guest-Empress" just like it is on the ship. 

Day 3 - Sea Da
Not to be outdone by the sunset last, the sunrise this morning tried to do better.  Good effort.









And so begins our day at sea.  A Chops Grille breakfast is calling my name.

The end of day 2 finds us at sea on our way towards San Juan.
I was sitting in Boleros enjoying some latin music with a glass of wine when I noticed a sunset happening behind us.


Our progress so far...

Here you go...


I was going to call these Cloud Porn but that didn't sound very good so we'll just call them cloud pictures
I didn't ride anything this time.  I talked to the Thrill Water Park Manager and obtained special permission to take some pictures.  I've got a Water Park pass for my next visit on Navigator already purchased so now I can just go on that and enjoy the rides without the need to take pictures.

All aboard for Empress was 2:30pm so we could make San Juan by 3pm after a sea day. 
Around 2:45pm as I wandered up to deck 11 to take in sail away I heard the announcement -   "Would the following guest make their way to guest services...".  Not one, or two or five or eight but ten guests were about to become Mariner passengers.  Then came the ship's whistle several times.
Looking down from deck 11 I could see Julie our Hotel Director and Jorge our Guest Services Manager on the pier.


Pier runners!  At 2:47pm five guests came running up the pier.  

At 2:53pm a golf cart delivered the remaining guests.  Finally we could leave.  With a brief horn exchange with Mariner we were off.

A last look back at Mariner and Perfect Day at CocoCay.


I needed to ensure they still had ample Guinness on board so I headed to the Schooner Bar. 

They have the Heineken draught beer machine out for this sailing.  It's a self contained countertop beer cooler and dispenser since Empress doesn't have permanent taps.

Snorkelling was fun but it was for some Snack Shack.

Juice choices today.

A Shack Crispy Chicken Sandwich, Mozzarella Sticks with Marinara sauce and a Funnel Cake for dessert.  Yum.

Over to Oasis Lagoon for a Margarita.



It's so nice having a pool to jump into.

From my last stop I posted a bunch of CocoCay pictures in that thread so I'm not going to repeat those here, but I did pop into the Thrill Water Park to check it out.  If you want to see my other CocoCay pictures check out the thread URL I posted in the first post.



Royal has done a really nice job with this area as well as the rest of CocoCay.  Plenty of loungers, picnic tables and space to spread out.

Lots of complimentary lockers are available.


Even the restrooms are done up nice.


The wave pool has lots of loungers available




Thrill Water Park Cabanas are found in a couple of areas.  Here are some on the sides of the wave pool.

Thrill Water Park has its own Snack Shack.



Some of these slides require you carry a mat or tube up with you.  The Sling Shot uses a conveyor system to lift the raft to the top for you.


More Cabanas near the slide pool.



The Adventure pool has these floating rope courses.  Based on what I saw they are harder than they look, but fun.




Daredevil's Tower is amazing.








Just Wow!
I can't wait to check these out on my next visit on Navigator in a few weeks.  I've already bought a zip line and Thrill Water Park combo pass.

Day 2 - CocoCay
I woke and discovered we were already here and tied up to the pier early.

Mariner is with us today.  The NCL Sky was sailing past on her way to anchor at GSC next door.


Live music to greet us this morning.


I think it's going to be a Perfect Day.