Royal Caribbean's Nordic Empress - Cruise Review

We had a wonderful time aboard the ship, our big dissapointment with our trip was the weather. Royal Caribbean can't be the blame for that!

It was 41 degrees in Tampa when we were boarding. It didn't warm up anytime soon either,our whole next day at sea was not "sit by the pool" weather,everyone wore jackets and sweatshirts.

Our first stop was at Grand Cayman. Because of the high winds,etc we were unable to pull into port in Georgetown,we went to another port called Spotts.All but a few of the excursions were cancelled,and it was dark and cloudy when we got there.We took a taxi to Georgetown,we had about an hour to kill until bringing my parents back to where the tender was so they could do their semi-submersible/glass boat excursion. When we were in the jewelry shops it seemed as if the ladies there were very anxious to make a sale.We had fun looking but we didn't buy much. We brought my parents back to the dock and they met up with the excursion. We decided to just go to 7 mile beach since our date with the stingrays was cancelled. We took a taxi and just told him to take us to a spot we could get on the beach without paying, this was not a problem,we walked through an alley between 2 hotels. The sun eventually came out in full force and it turned out to be a nice day.Tendering to and from Grand Cayman was fine- this was our first cruise so all this was new to us. Because of all the confusion of being in a different port,and some excursions being cancelled, people were a little edgy and anxious to get off the ship, but the cruise line did an excellent job of keeping us up to date and explaining what was happening.

Our next day at sea was sunny, so everybody and their grandma was up by the pool. We never did get a lounge chair. 1600 people on board,and about 800 deck chairs someone told me.We are 37 yrs old,we went with my 3 children,and my parents (78). We felt in the minority,I'd say 75 percent of the people were 55+. It didn't bother us, our kids were very spoiled, it seemed there were only 100 kids on board (just a guess). We didn't have our kids particapate in the Adv. Ocean kids programs. When we boarded we were given a sheet explaining each age group and a meeting that would be held the first night. None of us wanted to miss the first nights show,so we didn't go to any of the kids mtgs. Looking back I felt,especially for our 8 yr old,we felt a little out of the loop. It wasn't until about the 4th day or so they announced that you could stop at the pursers desk for a list of kids activities. I kept looking for them on our daily paper.(still didn't go to get the list) We played the big chess board by the pool, there is shuffle board,dance lessons,craft classes.We did it all.

The next day was in Belize. My husband,son and father did the Lamanai excursion through the ship (ruins). They had a wonderful time and saw monkeys,and enjoyed the river safari trip too. I had located a guide on my own through the internet to save some money.This turned out to be a wonderful choice. I was met by a man when I got off my tender holding a sign with my name.This was our driver,he introduced us to our guide, who was a Mayan man about age 58? We drove to Altun Ha (ruins also) and he stayed with us.We looked around at the other tour groups that had about 1 guide to every 30 people and I felt very fortunate to have "our own guy" and a Mayan man on top of it. He also took us on a walk through the "jungle" by the ruins and we were fascinated at the beautiful plants and trees.(we didn't have bug spray and we did get bit some)We had about an hour there which was fine, and headed off to the Zoo. Altun Ha was about 30 miles from our port,but it took an hour driving time.The road is only wide enough for 1 car at a time,so if you meet someone, someone has to pull over, and its also very rough. It took us an hour to drive to the zoo.It was very interesting though,we enjoyed that so much.There are a few nice houses,in the area we drove through,but mostly very poor houses. We spent a little over an hour at the zoo,this was a little rushed but with the road conditions I wasn't sure how long it would take us to get back.On the drive to the zoo i noticed mountains in the distance and would have loved to been able to have seen that area more.The zoo was neatly arranged and clean.We were hoping to see more birds,though. We drove back to the port and he dropped us off where he picked us up. We got this trip for $50 each (4 of us).This was a good deal considering that Royal Car.'s excursion just to Altun Ha was $45 each.

Our girls were approached by some women who wanted to do their hair/ braided. We weren't sure if we would find a place in Cozumel so we had them do it quick. They asked for $35,then$30, I said $20 each. They did the back a little different,so my girls were dissapointed,but I thought the front was just beautiful,if we wouldn't have been in such a rush we would have had them do it differently.(did it in a half hour).

This night was our 2nd formal night on the ship. People seem to respect this pretty well. You always have a few rebels I guess. I noticed a man at the table next to us with a polo shirt on formal night.The next night he had a nice long sleeved dress shirt - I wondered if he had a wife? We had long dresses, my 8 yr old,husband and dad all wore suits.I saw teens with suits,but as it got younger just nice dress shirts were acceptable too. Mostly for the women I saw lots of glitzy/glittery tops with a long black skirt. The food was very good.We had wonderful service,and enjoyed getting to know the waiters.I have alot of food allergies and wasn't sure how they would handle this. I talked to the head waiter the first day and gave him a list of what I could and couldn't have.He told me that if I couldn't find something on the menu they would make something for me.I only ran into trouble at lunch in the dining room a few times when I couldn't find anything on the menu and just asked for shrimp cocktail. When you eat in the dining room at noon you get different waiters...I explained to them that I had special arrangements,they would question me at first then I just said go back and tell them my name. They always came out with it.

The next day was in Cozumel.What a gorgeous day.We didn't have to tender so this was wonderful. My husband had set up a para sailing trip for 10am and so all 7 of us took a taxi van to the hotel where this was at. It was a gorgeous hotel (El Cozulemeno?)We waited for a while and then a very nice man came and told us that the boat had broke down. We loved it there, they had a deal that you could pay $50 each and use all their stuff, pools, eat, everything. My husband and I maybe would have done it, but my parents didn't want to. My husband and 17 yr old daughter decided to go look for another para sailing place, they went on their own to San Francisco beach.(nice beach but not too exciting they said). We went over to Chankanaab Park.It was wonderful.Cost $10 each to get in.

They have dolphin,sea lion shows. Snorkel gear ($3) Life jackets ($6) and then even a guide will take you out snorkeling.We saw iguana's. My 12 yr old daughter got the back of her hair braiding re-done.It was a beautiful place to spend the day.We took a taxi back to the down town area and had fun shopping. It was funner to go down some of the side streets and "deal" with some of the mexicans that were selling things they had made themselves. The next day at sea was our last full day. We were told by the cabin it was going to be bad.Tampa was still cold and we would be heading into it.The wind was expecting to be overwhelming. It was. That evening wasn't bad and we danced the night away. We enjoyed all the shows,and don't miss the game called the quest- even if you don't participate you have to go watch! Our last day at sea,from what others have told us was very unusual.MOST people were sick. They were handing out FREE bonine at the pursers desk. You need to hold on to something at all times. My husband,daughter and son all threw up.We all felt like we wanted to.It was just "get through the day" kind of thing. The doors to the decks had notes on them not to go out.Even if you did, you couldn't be out there for long,it was just toooooo cold.By evening we felt better,we packed most things up and went to dinner our last night then came back after dinner,changed and put our bags outside our cabin. Getting off the ship was uneventful. We went to breakfast with our carry on bags, then went to a lounge to wait for our color to be called. We got off the ship at 9:30am I think.It was freezing.Again it was around 40 degrees. Overall a wonderful trip,we just feel a little jipped because of our days at sea being so cold.

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