Carlos A.

I agree, I believe is better if you take the ferry and explore without an excursion. 
Here is one of the beaches you could visit. I took this pic on my last trip to St John's. I was going to book the tour you took but it was sold out so I only book the ferry round trip. 
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Beautiful at St John's! I just did the St John all inclusive excursion through Royal and felt it was a bit of a waste. A lot of traveling for about an hour and a half on the beach. In no way would I discourage anyone from going to St John's  - just if you do an excursion make sure you read the fine print. We did not and found later we somehow missed the part where they told us only a 1.5 hours on the beach  - and weren't thrilled.

We did SO64 the Akrotiri ruins and Oia Village.  It was a 4 1/2 hour excursion but you only got an hour in Oia.  The ruins were an interesting site but no where near Pompeii.  When I go back, I am heading right to Oia. You want to go to Oia!  It is the village were all the famous pictures you see on Santorini are taken.  Fira is where you want to be at the end of the day to take the tram down and get the tender back to the ship.  

 

People cruise to other countries that are a much greater threat politically.  Cuba isn't scary at all.  Their politics aren't a threat to anyone.  The way they took property from residents and foreigners living in Cuba in the 60's is an issue but they aren't the only country that have done so.    

With a 6pm dinner I still had time to venture outside before we departed Havana. 
By this time the surface of the sun was no longer 250' from us and it had 'cooled' down.  I use that terminology loosely.  The humidity had dropped from 3,000% to 2,999%.  The Captain no longer used Kelvin to measure the outside temperature.  With my core temperature down and with an acceptable margin from boiling point I went up top to catch sail away.

Four names were announced over the PA system.  Yep... pier runners!  This is not the port I'd pick to be late back to the ship.  Looking down from deck 11 I watched as they walked back onto the ship at least 15 minutes late.  Ok, they haven't benefited from a shower and time in A/C to cool down so I'll cut them some slack for walking.
Soon enough the sun was beginning to set.


In better light compared to this morning here once again is the Christ of Havana.

Fully backed out we started making our way forward out of the harbor. Some locals fishing on the pier to right waved and wished us bon voyage.

One last look at Del Morro basking in golden hour this time.



The upper decks were quite busy.  Everyone wanted to capture one last look at Cuba as we sailed away from her.




It was a beautiful evening and everyone was enjoying it.





With the sun getting lower the Pool Bar caught my eye.

It's time.  I had the perfect drink in mind.
A Kraken Lava Flow.  No drink package but it was worth every penny. 

What a day.
After this it was time to head down to my balcony to do some blogging...

After dinner I wandered around and took some pictures.  First I checked out the Schooner Bar and found a singer / piano player at work.  I still have a song in my head from this. 





From here I ventured into the main theater.



The welcome aboard was about to start so I sat down for a while.  The comedian was good but family friendly tonight.  He has an adult show later in the week.
He pointed out this is the smallest ship in the fleet.  You can tell it's the smallest he explained, when it will fit inside the Royal Promenade of a newer ship.
The Viking Crown Lounge is very different compared to the rest of the fleet.  Note the folks on treadmills one level up.  That's the gym.  I guess you can go for a run while watching the late night dancing.

"A Wrinkle in Time" was playing on the outdoor TV by the pool.




Some of the drink specials.



My glass block for reaching another milestone in the Crown and Anchor Society.  I plan these things and it seemed fitting getting one on this ship, one of the oldies but goodies.

I was getting ready for bed when I caught some flashes in the sky outside.  In the distance was another ship.  I am sure they were far from the storm but from this angle it made it look very dramatic with a ship on the horizon.

Cabin Tour!
Junior Suite 9144
Empress is an older ship displacing just 48,563 GT (to put that in perspective, Mariner who was in port with us in Miami is 138,279 GT, nearly 3 times).  Being from an earlier generation of cruising, balcony cabins were a engineering challenge in those days and there aren't very many balcony cabins on Empress.  The best way to snag one is to book a Junior Suite.  
At the time the price difference was reasonable so I opted to pay the upgrade and score double C&A points.  
Opening the door to the cabin and you are presented with a small hallway.  closet on the left (mirror doors) , bathroom on the right.

Nicely appointed and refreshed in 2016 she has the carpet similar to other ships that have been recently refreshed.

Looking back towards the cabin door there is a small makeup area that doubles as a desk.

Bathroom features a shower with plastic shower curtain (behind the door).  

The closet is a walk in closet in the sense that you can walk in and there is enough room to close the doors behind you.  More than enough space for a couple.

Lots of storage space but the only drawers are under the TV by the balcony.



With the pool deck above me, there is cover from the elements.  I looked out while in Miami and it raining very hard at one point yet my balcony was dry.  I waited until we were at sea to take some balcony pictures.




I've yet to be disturbed by noise on the pool deck above me.

We're working on changing that!

With Cuba on my mind and with a goal of sailing some of the older and smaller ships in the fleet I booked Empress.  With the current fleet it's hard to get any smaller.  I'm supposed to get a glass block based on my current Crown and Anchor points accumulation so as I thought which ship to 'block' on, getting a glass block from Empress seemed like a really cool idea so I booked this cruise with that other goal in mind.
It's a 5 night cruise:
Day 1 - Embark Miami
Day 2 - Key West
Day 3 - Havana
Day 4 - Sea Day
Day 5 - CocoCay
Day 6 - Debark Miami
It's been a few years since I've visited Key West but I need to get some work done so I'm not sure how far I'll venture off the ship. 
For Havana I've a booked a full day excursion through Royal.  I have an overnight cruise to Havana booked in September so I'm using this trip and excursion to discover and plan my next visit there for maximum cultural enrichment.
I have many Canadian friends who have visited Cuba.  They've been able to fly direct since, well forever.   They've given me some ideas so this full day excursion should check all the boxes for an initial Cuba experience and allow me to better plan my next visit.
I've missed a few calls on CocoCay this year so fingers crossed.
Flights were booked through Air2Sea and I'm taking a dreaded red eye flight with airport transfers to the ship by Royal.  I usually just take a ride-share but as a solo traveler the transfer isn't that bad from a cost perspective and it's for research so I know how well it works getting from Fort Lauderdale (FLL) airport to the Port of Miami and back.  I had to work this weekend so the all night flight is an "efficient" use of my time, or so I keep telling myself to justify it. 
Not sure when I might sail Empress again especially since she does mostly Cuba runs at the moment so I've splurged and booked a junior suite.  My first solo JS experience.  At the time I booked it was a reasonable price difference.
My red-eye departs at 1am local time and I haven't started packing yet.  It's only 5 nights so not a hard cruise to pack for. However I better step away from the keyboard and get started.

It's a self-guided tour, so you would have to explore and discover by yourself. It only includes entrance to the casino, shops, restaurants, aquarium and lagoon. Nothing else.
Doesn't include pools, waterpark, transport, etc.

I certainly do not know the full history of Costa Maya but I DO know that CM is one of those "manufactured" ports that the cruise lines created over the past several years.  The cruise lines have basically run out of new places to go so "they" (no idea who "they" really is) worked with Mexico to find a suitable place to create a new destination and CM is one of those.  There is a small town not too far from the port (Mahahual) that is fun to visit if you're in for a beach day (not much else there, though.  A little shopping) but the port itself was completely created out of the Yucatan jungle.
The port compound is very very nice and consequently many people do not even bother to go anywhere outside.  There is a really nice pool/restaurant with a swim-up bar and many other restaurants and bars throughout.  If you don't want to go to the beach or to a water park (there is a nearly brand new water park just steps outside of the compound) then it might be best to just stay in the compound.  If you want a really inexpensive beach day, take the tram to Mahahual (I think it only runs 1 way.  You would have to get a cab back to the port).  You can get $1 Coronas, a $20 beach massage and lots of great food but you must contend with the roving vendors.  CM is one of my favorite ports and I love going there.

Voom on-board versus cruise planner at $13.99 for various C&A levels:
Voom Comparison 1399.pdf
For D/D+ the day 2 strategy remains cheapest for 7 nights or less.  
Day 2 strategy involves buying it on board but waiting until day 2 to do so since prices drop for the full voyage plans on board as each day passes.
For Emerald and Platinum on 7 night or longer you are better to buy it ahead of time @ $13.99
For Gold on 5 night or longer you are better to buy it ahead of time @ $13.99

Also, tell your dad not to feel bad about his Spanish- they don't speak Spanish in Barcelona. They speak Catalan which is a local language of the region-which sounds like a cross between Spanish and French. In Texas we would call it Cajun.
 
 

Two ships at CocoCay
While looking at satellite images of CocoCay in Apple Maps I found two ships anchored off CocoCay.  Enchantment and Grandeur.  Date unknown.
Apparently there is some history with having two Vision class ships sharing CocoCay.

You're going to find that ALOT has changed since you cruised last!!! A lot les pampering, a lot less included in the cruise experience and ALOT of extras to pay for if you want to enjoy them......
 
Not saying you wont enjoy it...but a lot has changed with the cruise industry in 15 years for sure. My first cruise was less than 10 years ago and a lot has changed even in that short time.

Someone post this great link in another thread. 
http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/LTYA_News/18061688_2018_Fleet_Guide-1.pdf
Oasis will be "Amped" on 2019

Agreed.  Adjusted for inflation over the years cruising rates still make them a great way to vacation.
There are trends across many cruise lines and for the most part we see the same or similar changes being made across the industry. 
Also be aware there is a service fee for most room service orders now.  The menu is much better but there is a per-order service charge.  I can't fault them for this as I used to see gobs of wasted food lining the halls because, why not?, it's 'free'.  The small fee charged now makes people think twice about ordering room service and you don't see the waste you used to.   

Welcome to the message boards!
The ability to use iMessage for free is an unpublished feature that guests have discovered.  It's not an official offer from Royal.  I've seen it work myself but since its a side effect the loophole could be closed by Royal at anytime.  No one knows if that is coming or not, or when it might end.  If it still works for your cruise that's great but don't be upset if you board and discover they've fixed it.  
My understanding is that the $7.95 charge for the chat feature in RoyalIQ is per person, not per cabin.  I believe your device is assigned a unique phone number on board and two devices can't share a phone number at the same time.  Having said that I've only cruised solo on Anthem and have no direct experience trying to use multiple devices per cabin to prove my supposition.  
On this cruise I was in cabin 11300.  Note how my extension became 88113001.   The last digit is 1 for the first device.  I believe additional users in the cabin would have a last digit of 2 and so on.  

The section in the app where you purchase the chat options doesn't really address it:

They will probably try to make the other 3 "sisters" more similar to Symphony Of The Seas. They will probably replace Sabor with Playmakers sports bar, add Wonderland and thins like that, not sure if they will be able to add the "Ultimate Abyss".

I hope you realize what you’ve gotten yourself into ? 
Once you experience a cruise vacation, you’ll be hooked like the rest of us. You will start planning and anticipating (obsessing ?) over your NEXT cruise the second you arrive home and start unpacking. Welcome to the world of cruising. What took you so long ??
My 2 cents on this subject is to enjoy a day at Mr Sancho’s in Cozumel. It’s my fav beach day. For $55 it cannot be beat. Google Mr Sancho’s. Check out some YouTube videos. And don’t be hesitant to do an excursion outside of RC, as Mr Sancho’s is. Again, welcome to cruising !!!

I'd love to see options in Colorado but sadly will have to wait for a major rise of ocean levels before a cruise ship will be home porting anywhere near me.  

Just an update to this string....
If you look you will see there was a new string created with an update
We were able to jump in and work with Royal to get a satisfying resolution for alamode123.
Sometimes these situations take a little longer  - but we always strive to help take some of the stress out of planning a vacation - even if it was caused by the cruise line!
 

Don't take it personally.  They hate everyone.

While not a slam dunk decision, yes you will have to pay more than before, but it's still a cruise and I'm guessing still better off than letting your non-refundable airfare go.
At the end of the day, it's still a cruise and still vacation.  

The beach area is large, there are some areas that might get crowded but there are also a lot of places where you can rent a lounger an relax.
I really liked the beach!