twangster

Stepping out from the Centrum onto deck 6 outside I discovered a sunset.  I've been pretty fortunate with sunsets and sunrises on these two cruises.

The Celebrity Equinox sailing away into the sunset.



A Celebrity silhouette of Equinox.

Cheers!

Did I mention Empress offers great views of the sea?




The bartenders rotate bars every two weeks.  Nicholae took great care of me at the Schooner Bar last week, now he's posted to the pool bar.  

Chill mode enabled.

Another great show in the theater tonight.  The Royal Caribbean production Bailamos featuring the Empress singers and dancers plus live music from the Empress Orchestra.







Rock the Room game show in the Centrum.

Key West Departure
Guests were better at getting back on board on time this time.  Ten minutes after all aboard time we pushed away from the pier with no names being paged. 
The Equinox was the first to leave followed by Empress.  The rock climbing wall was open.

A lot of parasailing on the other side of Sunset Key.

Another view of Majesty.

The distinctive Viking Crown Lounge.

With Equinox clear of the channel it was our turn to follow the narrow path to the sea.

Latin night in the Windjammer.

Not a bad place to enjoy a happy hour drink.

The guests on this cruise have been pretty quick to find the late night Windjammer spread.  At 10:30pm when it opened there was a line not unlike a lunch time crowd.  With the doors open the line stretches from the food past the hand washing stations and into the elevator lobby.


It's pretty busy in here.  Hopefully Royal can see the demand here on Empress and expand beyond the basic Burgers and Hot Dogs offered on some ships.  The more complete Windjammer selections here on Empress have been pretty popular.

The late night pool parties continue on this cruise. 

Stepping out from the Centrum onto deck 6 outside I discovered a sunset.  I've been pretty fortunate with sunsets and sunrises on these two cruises.

The Celebrity Equinox sailing away into the sunset.



A Celebrity silhouette of Equinox.

Cheers!

Did I mention Empress offers great views of the sea?




The bartenders rotate bars every two weeks.  Nicholae took great care of me at the Schooner Bar last week, now he's posted to the pool bar.  

Chill mode enabled.

Another great show in the theater tonight.  The Royal Caribbean production Bailamos featuring the Empress singers and dancers plus live music from the Empress Orchestra.







Rock the Room game show in the Centrum.

Key West Departure
Guests were better at getting back on board on time this time.  Ten minutes after all aboard time we pushed away from the pier with no names being paged. 
The Equinox was the first to leave followed by Empress.  The rock climbing wall was open.

A lot of parasailing on the other side of Sunset Key.

Another view of Majesty.

The distinctive Viking Crown Lounge.

With Equinox clear of the channel it was our turn to follow the narrow path to the sea.

Latin night in the Windjammer.

Not a bad place to enjoy a happy hour drink.

On this cruise I'm using two Sony cameras.  My Rx100VI and A7III.

Ummm, please do not include pictures in your replies.  
LOL!  

My view of the not so little biggest ship from the biggest little ship:


Cheers and Happy Anniversary!

I checked the tidal chart.  High tide at the government cut was 5:34 pm.  I’m betting your departure was held to put you closer to high tide while other ships weren’t bound by that constraint.  

The government website includes very specific details about each and every finding plus the remediation plan.  It’s very telling to review the findings. 
Some cruise lines have a sign missing or not within X feet of where it needs to be.  Other cruise lines are busted for failing to report a health related issue that requires reporting.  
The devil is in the details.  
It’s also easy to pass these inspections.  It’s requires work and training but that is in the public’s best interest.  When companies habitually fail it’s very telling - they aren’t trying, it’s not important to them. Profit on the hand, is.  

Miami Sail Away
The Crown and Anchor Loyalty Ambassador hosts a Diamond and up sail away behind Boleros on deck 6 outside.  Since Empress doesn't have a Diamond Lounge this event is offered.
Louis our LA is there to greet us

It's a great covered location to take in the sail away from.

Several officers drop by to greet guests.  This included the Hotel Director, Revenue Manager, Marketing Manager and a few others I forget to note their positions.

Oh that Miami traffic.  You know it's bad when a cruise ship is going faster than the traffic.

We passed Symphony of the Seas as we departed.
The not so little, biggest ship as seen from the biggest, little ship.   



Cheers and Happy Anniversary to @Lovetocruise2002 and hubster who embarked Symphony today. 

You can read her live blog from Symphony here:
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/14288-“symphony-no-17-celebration-relaxation-exploration-reflection”-–-072719-–-080319/
Miami beach was pretty popular today.

Day 8, Cruise 2 Day 2 - Approaching Key West
I went to bed early and woke early, in time to catch the sunrise.  A sliver of a moon was high above us.




I know people like to sleep in but this is often a great time to see the awe of sunrise.



In the distance the tall towering clouds would sparkle with a bolt of lightning occasionally.  

As it became brighter some fellow sunrise enthusiasts ventured out.

The rising sun started to highlight the clouds even before it peaked up above the horizon.

Jetline Simulations Nassau
I booked it direct before Royal offered it as an excursion.
https://jetlinesimulationbahamas.com/
Mention you are on a cruise ship for a discount.
It's a short walk from the pier area.
 

De nada!
I'm not sure if this is still the case but the booking engine on their website didn't work well.  Best to call and speak to them or email.  Super nice guy runs it.  

I usually establish a relationship with key bartenders early in the cruise by offering a single with my SeaPass card when ordering drinks with DX.  Pool bars for example.  
They get to know you and remember your drink orders.   At busy times this can work in your advantage.  
I was on Navigator in December.  Shortly after the ship went into dry dock and months later I was back on in March.   Bartenders not only remembered my name but also my drink preferences.   The very moment I walked up on boarding they they welcomed me by name with a smile on their face months later.  
A extra tip, a smile and patience when they are slammed goes a long way.
You don't have to tip above the 18% you have already paid.
PS - I still remember his name too - Edgardo, a great bartender.    Then there was Zoltan in the Bamboo Room, then...

So where did my wandering bring me this morning?  
To the Boardwalk where Johnny Rockets seemed like it would be a good idea. I tried to play Home Genie and get it “to go” so I could surprised Hubby with it. They would not accommodate that request. So it’s waiting for JR on my own this morning as I sit here to write this.  
Interesting observation here is that on Harmony, I know that they allowed meals and snacks to go (not referring to room service).  I have read a few blogs where people were able to take breakfast to go and D12 was able to get fries and onion rings in March.  Not sure if that was because both cases were star class?  But here on Symphony, they would not allow it.  They said the food must be consumed at the venue. Oh well, Hubby’s lost, and my gain, literally, in the waistline ?

French Toast with “The Works”.  Delicious ? 

Another great show in the theater tonight.  The Royal Caribbean production Bailamos featuring the Empress singers and dancers plus live music from the Empress Orchestra.







Rock the Room game show in the Centrum.

Key West Departure
Guests were better at getting back on board on time this time.  Ten minutes after all aboard time we pushed away from the pier with no names being paged. 
The Equinox was the first to leave followed by Empress.  The rock climbing wall was open.

A lot of parasailing on the other side of Sunset Key.

Another view of Majesty.

The distinctive Viking Crown Lounge.

With Equinox clear of the channel it was our turn to follow the narrow path to the sea.

Latin night in the Windjammer.

Not a bad place to enjoy a happy hour drink.

Dinner in CK tonight is the same menu as the rest of the fleet. For the menu, see my Anthem (March 2018) blog as I forgot to take a pic of it tonight. I also skipped the food pics as it was the same as I had Night 2 on the most recent Anthem cruise. You can see that one too for food pics. 
Anyway, our night was more eventful than the day. 
After dinner we went to watch Hiro. Wow!  Fantastic show!!  If we took the spinning guy from Harmony out of the equation, then Hiro is most definitely our favourite!  The dancing on this show was on a whole other level!  High energy all 50 mins. Great choreography and loved the theme. For those who mentioned that they did not care for Hiro as much compared to Oasis and Allure due to less diving and more theatrics, we prefer that and Hiro did not disappoint. We might go back to see it again later this week. 


After the show we wandered aimlessly and started missing our GC friends.  Craving a lavender tonic, we ended up at the Trellis Bar for one.  

After that we sat in Central Park to enjoy some guitar melodies. Love this part of the ship at night. 

A while later, the guitarist took a break and we wandered into Dazzles.  We usually never visit this venue. It didn’t last long as we soon realized why we never visit this venue.
Moving on we wandered to the Promenade and ended up in the Schooner Bar. The pianist this sailing, Andy C is quite good. Not Billy Pando, but I still really enjoyed him, more than the guy on Anthem recently.  We ended off the night here and decided to call it a night when young kids started jumping on the couches. 

Wow, those Key West sunrise photos. Looks awesome

My view of the not so little biggest ship from the biggest little ship:


Cheers and Happy Anniversary!

Kenneth my cabin attendant dropped of some mail this morning.  Apparently I'm invited to the Hotel Director's Table for formal night on day 3.  When I packed for this cruise I brought my scuba gear which took a lot of space (and weight).  As a compromise I packed mostly casual type clothes planning on using the WindJammer a lot.  This wasn't a great cruise to leave anything dressy at home so off I went into Key West to find something that will allow me to "Dress to Impress". 
Hint - Key West is a laid back, not so dressy town.  It's wasn't easy finding something.  Lots of t-shirt shops, not so many dress shirts and dinner jackets to be had.
Had a slice of Key Lime Pie while I was off.  Yum.
Some pictures of Majesty while I was off.


Also I thought more about the new now old beverage cup.  Looking from the inside out I couldn't see an RFID chip.

However looking from the outside into the bottom when backlit I can see a rectangular antenna near the center and a dark mass to the right of it that I believe to be the chip.

Not sure why the cup thing became such a focus but now I can move on and get on with my cruise.