My last two cruises have been on Freedom & Oasis....so booking Empress was going to be a huge change from the larger ships. I booked this cruise based on the affordability for only week we had free. It was a test....do I risk booking a cruise on a lackluster ship for a miserable experience or is it really not that bad and you are still seeing the exact same ports as any other larger/newer ship sails? For my 5th overall cruise (all with RCCL), I was actually pleasantly surprised by Empress. We boarded around 11:30 and it took around 15 minutes. If most others checked-in online and had everything filled out ahead of time, it would have went quicker....but 15 minutes, still no big deal!

Yes she is small, and it shows, but what do you expect with the smallest ship? A large pool? Large staterooms? Two or three pools? The pool is small, but on port days or on sea days, I never had an issue finding 3 chairs together or a corner of the pool to sit. There are three jacuzzis that really only hold 4-5 adults each....all with annoyingly powerful jets (downside). The staterooms are small, but we brought magnetic hooks to hang smaller items on the wall and shoved all of our suitcases under the beds. We brought our own hangers for the closet which helped clear up drawer space. It certainly helps. Our stateroom attendant was awesome and had our stateroom looking clean and sharp everyday. We brought two bottles of wine and plenty of snacks....the rooms do not have a mini fridge so we of course could not keep our wine chilled in our room. Not a big deal, though.

The Windjammer seemed to have plenty of food options and they were good. For what we eat for breakfast, the food was just fine. Outside the first day at lunch, we never had an issue finding a table...breakfast or lunch. The line of course takes forever, but what else do you expect for a buffet? The customer service was top notch. Washy-washy!! Read more