Maggie Logan

Age: 41 to 50
Occupation: Office Manager
Number of Cruises: 2nd Cruise
Ship: Nordic Empress
Sailing Date: November 6th, 2000
Itinerary:  Southern Caribbean

This was our second cruise aboard the Nordic Empress and we were very disappointed.  This ship has changed dramatically since 1994.  Although the rooms are small they are very efficiently put together - the bathroom/shower although small really has a lot of room for toiletries, etc.  The desk/dressing table is very nice.  If you don't put the twin beds together you have much more room and can actually see out the window.  The room was uncomfortably warm, however.  There is no fan in the bathroom and it gets quite steamy.  We had to leave the bathroom door open while showering which then made the room even more uncomfortable. We had to sneak extra towels from the towel cart left in the hall as our requests for same were ignored.  Although breakfasts were wonderful, the dinner selections and quality of food were very disappointing.  The menu was not as extensive as on our last cruise.  Our waiter was very attentive, but constantly told us how attentive he was being and that the slow service was not his fault, etc. etc.  This became very boring after awhile.  We were at table 20 in the main dining room by the way.

I thought the desserts were wonderful.  The best dinner we had was in the Windjammer - we ate there the first night.  All they had was pasta but it was delicious - probably the best we've ever eaten.  However, the Windjammer staff grilled us re why we were even eating there!  They wanted to know why we hadn't eaten in the main dining room.  (We had had a very very long day getting there and just didn't feel like eating until later in the evening.)  Also, on our '94 cruise soft drinks were included in the cruise price but this time they were extra.  We don't even drink soda pop so this doesn't affect us - just thought it was interesting.  The real disappointment were the flight arrangements made by Royal Caribbean.  It took us about 12 hours (yes 12) to get from Pittsburgh Pa to San Juan.  This was due to not having direct flights.  We had one three hour layover.  We were told that this was the best they could do.  I thought cruising from San Juan was a great idea, but I would not recommend it unless you can get direct flights.

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