Re: Need More RCCL Posters: Empress
Hi, I wanted to share the recent experience I had on Empress which no longer belongs to RCCL, but now to Pullmantur. Inside the ship, there's still old Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines logos on the walls though, which was pretty confusing.
But my trip was overall good. The rooms were fine but the theater was relatively small. Luckily the ship was not overcrowded, probably because it was the season’s first trip to these destinations.
Inside shops were not as great as I expected. One of the great things inside the ship was our handsome cabin steward!
After Rhodes, our port of call was Bodrum. God, it was the PERFECT location! The castle was just in front of me when I woke up in my room, embracing the dazzling harbour. Amazing!
When we left the ship, we passed through the port terminal first in order to head downtown. A clean, well maintained port. As we passed the checkpoints, the duty free shop welcomed us. Of course I couldn’t resist and stopped by the shop! Especially, since my perfume had fallen on the room floor and broken into pieces. I found my favourite fragrance in the shop, with a GOOD price tag, in fact!
I didn’t have to carry my shopping bag with me all the time, as the duty free people offered me to keep it for me and give it back to me when I’m back in port. It was a VERY thoughtful offer.
Just next to the exit door of the Port, smiling girls -smiling like any other port staff- welcomed us with complimentary Turkish coffee. It was DELICIOUS and a very nice gesture, I must say.
After having done some shopping in the duty free shop and had a cup of delicious coffee I started walking towards the castle that had welcomed me with the first rays of sunlight in the morning.
Bodrum is a super cute small town sorrounded by a sea with beautiful turquoise color. I took numerous pictures as I walk to the Castle, when I’m in the Castle and some very nice pictures in the marina next to the Castle.
It was a very nice and unexpected experience I had in Bodrum, I must say. After having seen Greek town of Rhodes, I kept my expectations a little low on the way to Bodrum, to be honest, considering it’s located in Turkey.
But it surprised me to see that it is not that different than Greek towns and I still felt safe and secure and didn’t feel like I was out of EU.
Our next port of call was another Turkish port: Kusadasi. This town is well known for Ephesus Ancient City and House of Mary. Both PERFECT places to visit. This port was also nice. There was a CHIC shopping mall in the port, with great shops and cafés. We had the opportunity to stop by this mall on the way back to the port. I bought some nice shirts and dresses and had a cup of coffee in Starbucks contemplating the beautiful sunset in the evening. The port security was pretty strict and we were checked over and over again as we passed through different doors. This is something positive I think, I wouldn’t feel uncomfortable otherwise. Whatever.
To sum up, it was a nice trip I had in that ship and the most fascinating places were Ephesus, the Hose of Mary and Bodrum-which was enchanting. I hope I’ll have another opportunity to book in such a cruise. It was a great experience. Even FANTASTIC!
God, I miss it already!
arty