twangster

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.

I went back to the ship to drop off my camera stuff and grab my snorkel gear.  It's so nice having a pier now at CocoCay.

They were handing out cards to remind people of our 2:30pm all aboard time.

While going up the stairs to my cabin I found the wireless link that ties the ship network to CocoCay.


It wasn't hard to find a 2nd row lounger for my stuff while I snorkelled.







The Sergeant Majors were pretty friendly today.



This part of CocoCay still resembles the CocoCay of old for folks who just want a chill beach day.

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.

All the regular activities are going on around the ship.

Since I covered some of them in my last thread I'm going to skip them this time but don't think that means they aren't happening.  There is a lot going around this little ship.

I went back to the ship to drop off my camera stuff and grab my snorkel gear.  It's so nice having a pier now at CocoCay.

They were handing out cards to remind people of our 2:30pm all aboard time.

While going up the stairs to my cabin I found the wireless link that ties the ship network to CocoCay.


It wasn't hard to find a 2nd row lounger for my stuff while I snorkelled.







The Sergeant Majors were pretty friendly today.



This part of CocoCay still resembles the CocoCay of old for folks who just want a chill beach day.

One way is to place a mask on your face and breath in through your nose slightly so the mask is drawn onto your face.  Then hold your breath.  If the mask is leaking it will fill with air and fall off your face.  If it stays in place on it's own you have a good seal.

One way is to place a mask on your face and breath in through your nose slightly so the mask is drawn onto your face.  Then hold your breath.  If the mask is leaking it will fill with air and fall off your face.  If it stays in place on it's own you have a good seal.

Not knowing the exact platform they use I can't safely state how they are extending the ship wifi onto CocoCay.
I know how I would do it using wireless controllers and passing just authentication to the ship's RADIUS server but there are different ways to implement this.  Either way I suspect it's more than just repeating the signal.

Not knowing the exact platform they use I can't safely state how they are extending the ship wifi onto CocoCay.
I know how I would do it using wireless controllers and passing just authentication to the ship's RADIUS server but there are different ways to implement this.  Either way I suspect it's more than just repeating the signal.

Because I am a certified scuba diver I have more expensive gear I use to snorkel.  
The biggest thing with any snorkel equipment is finding a mask that fits the face.  Nothing is more aggravating than having water trickling in constantly while snorkelling.  Each face is different so there is no one answer to what is best.

One way is to place a mask on your face and breath in through your nose slightly so the mask is drawn onto your face.  Then hold your breath.  If the mask is leaking it will fill with air and fall off your face.  If it stays in place on it's own you have a good seal.

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.

I went back to the ship to drop off my camera stuff and grab my snorkel gear.  It's so nice having a pier now at CocoCay.

They were handing out cards to remind people of our 2:30pm all aboard time.

While going up the stairs to my cabin I found the wireless link that ties the ship network to CocoCay.


It wasn't hard to find a 2nd row lounger for my stuff while I snorkelled.







The Sergeant Majors were pretty friendly today.



This part of CocoCay still resembles the CocoCay of old for folks who just want a chill beach day.

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.

All the regular activities are going on around the ship.

Since I covered some of them in my last thread I'm going to skip them this time but don't think that means they aren't happening.  There is a lot going around this little ship.

Quick update.  
Uber to port had me there just before 10am.  I took the opportunity to take some pictures of terminal G, I’ll post those soon.  
Boarding started at 10:45am.  First on board.  I ran into the Pinnacle doing a B4B who was with me on my B2B.  Julie our Hotel Director saw me and came over to chat greeting me by name.  There will be 12 pinnacles on this sailing.  It’s also the last cruise of her current contract.  Jorge the Guest Services Manager saw me and welcomed me back.  
Right now I’m sitting at the Schooner Bar where Wayan and Roland recognized me and welcomed me back.   
Just like that I feel like I’m home.   

My flight was supposed to be early but with storms in the South Florida area they had us slow down and we landed on time.  Woohoo, my suitcase was the very first bag on the carousel.  
With ample time to spare I took the Tri-Rail from FLL airport down to MIA airport.  I was just going to sit in my hotel room anyways so I figured I'd take the slower but cheaper way to my hotel.  From MIA I picked up the free hotel shuttle to my hotel.
My Tri-Rail timing was pretty good.  A short wait for the bus to the train station.  The train pulled up as I bought my ticket at the station.  
Total cost $3.75.  Uber/Lyft were both just under $50.  
Safely in my hotel near MIA airport I used my savings to pay for a hotel dinner and drinks which make on board ship prices seem like a bargain.