Empress of the Seas Bermuda Trip Report
June 3—June 10, 2006

We were going to spend the week in Atlantic City in our timeshare. That decision was made in January. By the end of February without discussing it, we both came to the conclusion there really isn't enough to do for a full week. So, we agreed to try exchanging our timeshare through Interval International for a cruise. There were fees involved but not a bad deal. Fees are determined by the cruise line, not the exchange company.

Pre-cruise got interesting, and we still don't really know why the following things happened: First, we received a phone call out of the blue from Royal Caribbean saying that they just wanted to know if we had any questions.

Second, when I went on line to check something relating to our cruise I noticed that our cabin number had changed and did not match our documents. Seems we received a pretty nice upgrade according to our TA, but she didn't know why. I had to call Crown and Anchor with a question about something else and asked about the upgrade. I was told that it looked like it had come from their revenue department, but she didn't know why either. Still have no idea why. The only thing we can figure out is that the letter I sent about our accommodations on our last cruise somehow got us flagged for an upgrade. Since we were upgraded onboard on that cruise, that really doesn't make any sense either. So, we still don't really know why we were upgraded.

On Saturday, We were picked up at 9:00 AM by the limo service and taken to the departure port in Philadelphia. Hurray! No early morning flight! The port is so spread out and confusing we were glad we had decided not to drive. You are taken to a tent like facility to drop off your bags, from there you are taken to the terminal which is several blocks away. People driving are transported by bus to the various areas at the port. We were in the terminal and received our key cards by 10:30 AM.

I'd checked us in on-line so the formalities at the port was breeze; although, the changed cabin number caused a momentary boggle. Although documents said boarding would not begin until 12:00 PM, we were actually on board by 11:00 AM. We had an early lunch and then headed for the Crown and Anchor lounge that was on our deck. Cabins were not available until 1:00, so we just sat there and read until time to go to the cabin.

The muster drill ran about 30 minutes late because they were missing a pretty large group of passengers. That also meant we were about ½ hour late leaving port. After the muster drill, time to settle in, unpack, and relax.

Even though we were upgraded to a "larger" cabin it was pretty small. We were surprised at how much closet space (with plenty of hangers) and other storage we had for the size of the cabin. The biggest problem we had was that there were Pullman beds on both walls making it impossible to stand up straight when getting out of bed. The bathroom was the kind the comedians love to joke about especially the shower. We had a running joke at our dinner table about getting attacked by the shower curtain.

As we were waiting to go in to dinner the first night and looking out the windows, we noticed a small boat keeping pace with the ship. I made some comment about it being a really small ferry. Paul pointed out that ferries usually do not have machine guns.<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" /> It was, of course, a Coast Guard cutter probably with the pilot for the local waters.

We had requested a table for six, but were seated at a table for eight. As it turned out, not a problem. All of the tables in the main dining room on the main level are round except those for 2 people. I'm not sure about the upper level. Even though 2 of the men wear hearing aids, conversation was usually not a problem. Once again we were fortunate enough to be seated with a very compatible group. We all just had so much in common! The question was raised, "How do they determine who sits at any given table? Does anyone know?" Each night during dinner there was live piano music which was enjoyable most of the time; although, that is the one thing that sometimes caused the hearing aid wearers to miss some parts of conversations.

The Empress of the Seas is Royal Caribbean's smallest ship and in a class by herself. There were certain things that we really liked on this small ship. The maximum passenger capacity is 1600. It was not full. It is very easy to find your way around on this little ship; although, everyone we knew sometimes had a directional problem finding certain things.

Because we were in the Atlantic and because of the ship's size, you could feel the motion of the ship on most days. It was just about impossible to walk down the hallway straight. It was actually pretty funny to watch. There were times you went to put your foot down, but the floor wasn't there anymore. Not a problem for either of us, in fact, we enjoyed the feel of being on a ship. Because of the demographics of this cruise there were a number of people with canes or walkers. Those rough days must have been difficult for them. At the Captain's Reception the orchestra leader invited people to come up and dance. Then he followed by saying, "You can just stand there and the ship will do the rest."

The first night of the cruise as we were leaving the Delaware Bay, we were sitting at the dinner table and the entire ship started to vibrate and make a really loud grinding noise. Everyone in the dining room was looking pretty alarmed. When we asked the Maitre D' what was happening he joked that it was the captain giving everyone a free massage. He then went on to explain that this happened whenever this ship went to full speed or slowed down considerably.

The demographic of this cruise was different from others that we've taken. We think that both the size of the ship and the destination played a role in this. For the most part passengers tended to be older. There were a few young people and a few children, but not many. As one of the comedians said, "This for the young people in the audience, you know, those of you around 60."

The theater was more like a club than a theater with small round tables and four chairs around the table or banquettes with a small round table every so often. That meant that no matter where you sat you could put a drink down. The entertainment was anywhere from good to excellent. The sound level was excellent. (We'd had a problem with the sound level on our last cruise which was way too loud for us even for Paul after he removed his hearing aids!)

There were loveseats and sofas scattered around on most decks in front of large expanses of glass so that there was always a nice place to sit even if you could not go outside. And there were many times when we could not.

As always, the crew was wonderful and bent over backwards to make sure that everything was to our satisfaction. They always make us feel so pampered!

The ship did have a rock climbing wall, fitness center, spa, and the Windjammer Buffet (which was never crowded), but it does not have many of the things that the larger ships have: miniature golf, ice rink, roller blade track, etc. There is only one small pool and no solarium. The pool didn't get much use because the weather was often chilly and rainy. There are only 3 bars on board, the Schooner Bar, Boleros and the Viking Crown Lounge. Both the Schooner Bar and Boleros are quite large. We never got to the Viking Crown. There is a very nice library with comfortable seating but for some reason very cold. Sitting there for long was not comfortable. (The bars tended to be cold as well.)

There were a lot of activities scheduled for the at sea days. I attended two cooking demonstrations that were a lot of fun and came away with some delicious recipes from the Executive Chef. We found the food on this cruise to be very good to excellent.
We both went to the wine tasting which was very well presented and not overwhelming in the information given. I did a backstage tour which was very interesting and gave a pretty honest view of life on board. We were standing on the stage during the first part of the tour, and everyone taking the tour was having trouble keeping their balance. Our guide, the dance captain, told us that that was mild. Makes you wonder how they can dance at all. She went on to say that they have only canceled their production show one time. That was the first time they sailed out of Philadelphia this year. They encountered 23 foot waves. There was also a "ships tour" with the captain that was apparently an informal question and answer session. Didn't get to that one because it overlapped with the backstage tour. There was a lot of positive feedback from it.

It took two full days to sail to Bermuda. We arrived at our first port, St. George, at 2 PM and were docked right on Water Street. We had arranged for a carriage tour before we left. This particular excursion was less expensive booked through the cruise line rather than doing it on our own. Much to our delight the first large carriage was filled when we got to it. We went in a smaller 6 passenger carriage and had a perfectly delightful tour of St. George and the surrounding area. One of our stops was for us to see the channel that was used to get the ship into St. George. It is really narrow! We heard a lot of people saying they wished that they had taken the carriage tour instead of …. After the tour we had a bite of lunch then went to the perfumery where I took care of some graduation and Christmas gifts. After that we walked to Somers Garden and then up to the Unfinished Church. We then walked around in St. George a little more and headed back to the ship. It was cool and cloudy with intermittent showers. Our carriage driver said it was the worst weather they' d had in 2 weeks.

We left St. George at 7 AM the next morning and arrived in Hamilton at 9 AM the same morning. We took a "trolley" ( like the trains that run in Key West) tour of Hamilton and the Underwater Exploration Institute. Again, it was less expensive to book through the cruise line than booking on our own . This was another very well done and interesting tour. Our guide spent a great deal of time explaining their water system, their health system, etc. Both are very unique. After this tour we had lunch at the Pickled Onion on Front Street. It is up a very steep flight of steps, and hard on old knees. The food was very good, but also very expensive. We both had sandwiches, I had iced tea, and Paul had a beer. The tab was about $60.

The ship was docked right on Front Street so going back and forth was no problem at all. We headed back to the ship to get some film from our cabin then back to explore Hamilton on foot.

We stopped at the Visitor's Information Bureau to inquire about tokens for the ferry and the buses. They only sell day passes, but sent us to the ferry terminal next door to buy tokens which are good on both the buses and the ferries. Bermuda's public transportation system is wonderful.

It was sunny in the morning, but by the time we got back to the ship after walking around it was raining. The Crown and Anchor reception was that night. We missed it because we thought we were taking an evening carriage ride which was canceled at the last minute because of the rain. We wondered why in the world they would hold the Crown and Anchor reception on an in-port day where there was a total of 4 at sea days.

The next day we took the ferry to the Dockyards. The couple that was sitting with us told us that the Norwegian Crown had gone aground that morning. They told us that a storm had come up and the pilots refused to guide the ship so the captain decided to go on his own—not true. We did pass it on our way to the Dockyards, and it was really stuck. The prow was sticking way up. Everyone on the ferry was taking pictures.

Again it was sunny when we started out. We went to the craft market at the Dockyards, and I had a impromptu beading lesson from one of the merchants just because I told her that I was a beader and really appreciate her craftsmanship. I mentioned that I had trouble with a certain technique, and she offered to show me how. I thought that was really nice of her. From there we went to an art gallery, and by the time we left it was pouring. I remembered seeing rain ponchos for sale at the craft market so we returned and bought them. From there we went to the museum part of the Dockyards. You could really see the grounded ship from the Maritime Museum. I spoke with a young man that works at the Maritime Museum, and he said that happens all the time, it just doesn't make the news very often.

By the time we left and headed for the shops in the Clock Tower Mall, we were absolutely soaked from the rain running down the ponchos onto our pant legs. My hood wouldn't stay up so my hair was soaked and dripping all over the place. I can't remember when I've been so wet and uncomfortable.

We had lunch in Beethoven's (named after the dog, not the composer) in the Clock Tower Mall. I must have really look like road kill since Paul suggested that maybe I should go comb my hair, and he never says anything like that. There was another couple in the restaurant that looked just as wet and miserable as we were. This was a terrific restaurant. We thought we'd like to try it for dinner if we were staying in Bermuda. We both had crispy fish with tamarind sauce on lemon rice. Heavenly! Again that with beverages ran about $60. After lunch we went to the glassworks and watched them work. The pieces are absolutely gorgeous and pricey. The other end of the building is the rum cake bakery. As you are watching the glass blowers, you can smell the rum cakes. We purchased several for gifts and one for ourselves.

We thought about taking the bus rather than the ferry back to Hamilton, but we decided we were too tired to walk from the bus station back to the ship. So we took the ferry back. As we were watching Paul said something to the effect that we were getting awfully close to one of the tugboats by the grounded ship. Indeed we were. Our ferry was dropping off a pilot. He went from our ferry to one of the tugs beside the grounded ship. Some of the life boats had been removed from the ship, and it looked like ferries were being sent out to the ship to bring people to shore. According to the young man at the Maritime Museum, pilots do not go on board because of the size of today's ships, even the small ones, they guide from the tugboats. The morning before we could see a tugboat out our window but it never connected to our ship. We realized that that must have been the pilot boat.

When we got back to Hamilton we went in search of a couple of toy stores. One no longer exists and the other was very disappointing. We were looking for something unique for our grand daughter. They had loads of Dora, Sesame Street, and other stuff that you can buy anywhere. We also stopped at E. R. Aubrey because I was going to buy some earrings made of Bermuda Ocean Mist Quartz and the Bermuda Good Luck Stone. They were completely sold out!

On Wednesday evenings Front Street is closed off for a street fair. Because of the weather there was very little foot traffic. One of the couples at our table did go and said that it was really nice and there was some very good entertainment. We thought about going, but decided we'd had it for the day.

That night the comedians in the bars and the theater were having a ball with the ship gone aground. The big joke was the name of the ship: "Not Ours."

There were a lot of rumors floating around as to what happened. In addition to the one I mentioned before, there was a rumor that it was pilot error—not true.

Our captain announced that we'd probably heard about the ship going aground and that the biggest complaint he's heard about was that they were not giving away free drinks. He would keep us informed if he heard anything else. That was all that he had to say the first day.

The next morning when we left Hamilton, the Norwegian Crown was still stuck on the sandbar. Apparently a storm was the cause of the grounding, not human error. This according to the captain of our ship. We'd heard that if the local tugs could not get it off, they would have to send for a "super" tug from the US and that it would take 2 days for it to get there. Later we heard that it had been refloated using high tide and local tugs.

Weather for the at sea days on the way home was really lousy. The first day started out sunny, and by early afternoon it was windy, chilly and raining. The top deck was closed off due to high winds. We were sitting in a covered area of the pool deck playing cards and the rain was coming across the pool in horizontal sheets. The next day we didn't even venture outside.

Once back in Philly US citizens went only through customs. Immigration for non-US citizens was taken care of on-board. We were then transported by bus to the luggage area which is pretty primitive. The disembarkation took us less than an hour and was one of the most organized and painless disembarkations we've ever had. We ended up waiting for our limo because we were off the ship almost 45 minutes ahead of the time we'd arranged to be picked up.

Despite the rain and cool weather, it was a really nice trip. Bermuda is very pretty, the people are as nice as can be, and you feel very safe walking around. The only down side is that it is very expensive. They are paying $6.95 a gallon for gas. A simple hamburger costs $14.95. Would we go back—yes. Would we sail on Empress of the Seas again—yes, but this ship is not for everyone. We'd discussed taking our family on a cruise on this ship with a TA and were advised against it. It was good advice. Quite frankly, the younger set would not have enjoyed it nearly as much as they would one of the larger ships.

Sue