Although I initially choose this cruise because it fit into my time frame, I was pleasantly surprised at what a great time my family and I had! The trip involved myself, my husband, our 3yo daughter and my 70 yo mother (celebrated her birthday in Key West!). I needed a trip that spanned her birthday, April 1st and was less than 7 days. Empress fit the bill, so we took the leap! I was initially nervous after finding out that the Empress was one of the older ships in the RC fleet, but my nerves were definitely calmed once we got to our room. And prior to getting to our room, the embarkation process was a breeze!! I highly recommend getting all documents together beforehand in order to expedite things, but the lines moved quickly and there was always staff around to keep things moving!! Getting the sea cards was super easy too. We had a junior suite and an owner's suite with balcony. Both rooms were immaculate upon arrival along with fruit and water!! Our state attendant almost immediately introduced himself after we got to our room and he was integral in making our stay great. Our cabin was very spacious and the balcony space was fantastic- room to both eat and relax!! Overall, the staff was excited and very eager to help and very entertaining. We saw almost everything from the musicals, to the comedy show, to the performance by Mr. Hopper to the farewell. The ship did a great job of having many options for entertainment. There were also a lot of options for the kids, although we didn't utilize them as much as I would have wanted (the trials of a picky child!!) The ports of call had great variety too, but I did feel like it was too short!!! I would have loved more time in both Key West and Costa Maya, but I did get a great overview of the areas. I expected a lengthy disembarkation process, but we had an 8:45am check out and we were getting in our car by 9:00am! I will admit that since we did have an owner's suite we enjoyed some luxuries that other cabins didn't, but still the service was exceptional and I would definitely book on Royal Caribbean again!