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.

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.

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.

Another hidden discovery is that Wow! bands can be used to access your cabin.

Unfortunately when used in this fashion anyone on the ship can use your Wow! band to access your cabin.

Okay, that's a lame joke but I was enjoying drinks at the Schooner Bar up to this point...

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.

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.

Dinner at Chops
I was offered a window table but they were pretty busy so I chose one row back so someone else can enjoy the windows this time.  Still a great view.

Bread of course.

Wedge Salad.

Beef Carpaccio. 

The 16 oz. bone in.  Yum.

The sundae again.

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.

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.  

August 10, 2019
You know what that means?
IT'S CRUISE DAY!
Like a kid on Christmas morning it's 6am, I'm awake and ready to go.  It looks like the C&A team has been busy putting presents in my account.  Overnight my points from last week have posted, including the solo-in-a-suite gift.

When cruising in hurricane season I always keep an eye on the tropics.  While only early August this is a great thing to see.  Tropical cyclone activity is not expected during the next 5 days.

Looking at the MarineTraffic.com app I've caught Empress gliding past Symphony as she arrives into the Port of Miami this morning.

I'm here.  The ship is here.  There are no tropical storms on the radar screen.  Phew!
Can you tell I'm bored with nothing to do?  Tick tock.  Tick tock.  Is it time yet?

Awwww, that is VERY kind of you!!

Dinner at Chops
I was offered a window table but they were pretty busy so I chose one row back so someone else can enjoy the windows this time.  Still a great view.

Bread of course.

Wedge Salad.

Beef Carpaccio. 

The 16 oz. bone in.  Yum.

The sundae again.

Crown and Anchor sail away party deck 6 aft, Diamond and higher.

I ran into the IT Manager and asked him if his O3b upgrade came through.  Nope.  The contractors I saw working are doing some routine maintenance replacing some components with a goal to improve reception when one set of antennas is blocked.  That's an issue at CocoCay with other larger ships beside us - they block one set of satellite antennas.  
We talked about Voom and I learned a few new things.  Empress shares transponders with a few other ships.  Navigator and Mariner use the same transponder.  Other groups of ships share different transponders.  For this legacy satellite system a different satellite covers the Western Caribbean compared to the Eastern Caribbean.  We'll use the same satellite for the entirety of this cruise.  On the last cruise in the Western Caribbean we switched satellites during the cruise.  
In terms of rain fade he pointed out something I should have thought of.  What goes up must come down.  Speedcast and O3b have their primary earth station in Miami.  Our data traffic comes down in Miami as a gateway to reach the internet.  If Miami is encountering bad weather like a line of strong thunderstorms that can impact every ships Voom even if the ships are in sunny skies a thousand miles away.  It was obvious when he said it but I had never thought about it.
The bridge has some data feeds that use a different satellite platform but if the Captain wants to stream Netflix in his cabin that uses the same Voom the rest of us use.
With the darkening skies over Miami as we pulled out I wonder if some ship somewhere is experiencing a Voom slow down.



Rain moving in.  Time to move to the Schooner Bar.

Dinner at Chops
I was offered a window table but they were pretty busy so I chose one row back so someone else can enjoy the windows this time.  Still a great view.

Bread of course.

Wedge Salad.

Beef Carpaccio. 

The 16 oz. bone in.  Yum.

The sundae again.

Crown and Anchor sail away party deck 6 aft, Diamond and higher.

I ran into the IT Manager and asked him if his O3b upgrade came through.  Nope.  The contractors I saw working are doing some routine maintenance replacing some components with a goal to improve reception when one set of antennas is blocked.  That's an issue at CocoCay with other larger ships beside us - they block one set of satellite antennas.  
We talked about Voom and I learned a few new things.  Empress shares transponders with a few other ships.  Navigator and Mariner use the same transponder.  Other groups of ships share different transponders.  For this legacy satellite system a different satellite covers the Western Caribbean compared to the Eastern Caribbean.  We'll use the same satellite for the entirety of this cruise.  On the last cruise in the Western Caribbean we switched satellites during the cruise.  
In terms of rain fade he pointed out something I should have thought of.  What goes up must come down.  Speedcast and O3b have their primary earth station in Miami.  Our data traffic comes down in Miami as a gateway to reach the internet.  If Miami is encountering bad weather like a line of strong thunderstorms that can impact every ships Voom even if the ships are in sunny skies a thousand miles away.  It was obvious when he said it but I had never thought about it.
The bridge has some data feeds that use a different satellite platform but if the Captain wants to stream Netflix in his cabin that uses the same Voom the rest of us use.
With the darkening skies over Miami as we pulled out I wonder if some ship somewhere is experiencing a Voom slow down.



Rain moving in.  Time to move to the Schooner Bar.

Another hidden discovery is that Wow! bands can be used to access your cabin.

Unfortunately when used in this fashion anyone on the ship can use your Wow! band to access your cabin.

Okay, that's a lame joke but I was enjoying drinks at the Schooner Bar up to this point...

Another hidden discovery is that Wow! bands can be used to access your cabin.

Unfortunately when used in this fashion anyone on the ship can use your Wow! band to access your cabin.

Okay, that's a lame joke but I was enjoying drinks at the Schooner Bar up to this point...

Cabin Tour!
As we waited for cabins to become available at 1:30pm I was waiting in the elevator lobby near my cabin.  As the hall door was opened by crew moving luggage, James my new cabin attendant spotted me.  He was servicing the block of cabins right beside my last cabin so he recognized me.  He waved me through telling me my cabin was ready.  Nice touch.
Junior Suite 9600 Starboard.

This JS is the reverse layout from my last JS.

Pretty much identical with the same "efficient" bathroom and shower.


Walk in closet.

I waited until we had left the port to take balcony pictures.  This cabin is the most forward JS on deck 9 so the balcony doesn't have a divider on the forward side.  You do lose a small corner and the elevator lobby can see this balcony but the forward view is better.
The better sea views can also be enjoyed when sitting on the sofa inside the cabin.



The pool deck above narrows so the overhang is slightly smaller.  The view aft.

The view down.

Something I forgot to mention in my last Empress thread are the USB outlets.  They are found on the bottom of the lights on each side of the bed.  It's a great hidden feature.


It's really nice having USB outlets on both sides of the bed.

Guilford the Inventory Manager came through for me.  On my last cruise he promised there would be Guinness and it was there waiting for me.

Some of the other beers available.

Some of the wines available.

Empress has a Coffee Shop near the entrance within Boleros.