Sails to the Southern Caribbean
By FRED W. WRIGHT
Travel News Correspondent
Not too big, not too small, Royal Caribbean International's seven year old Nordic Empress provides a cruise that's just the right size; three and four-night cruises out of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Port Canaveral, Fla.
For nine months of the year, from September through May, the Nordic Empress sails out of San Juan. Current Caribbean ports of call include St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. Maarten ... a cruise itinerary never before offered in North America by a major cruise line.
Starting this year, during the peak summer months of June through August, the Nordic Empress will again change its home port, moving to Port Canaveral to offer three and four-night cruises to the Bahamas. These summer cruises will stop at Nassau and CocoCay; familiar stops for this ship, which for six years sailed to these ports from Miami.
The Nordic Empress was the first cruise ship built for three and four-night cruises. Following a christening by pop music star Gloria Estefan, the 48,563 ton Nordic Empress made its debut cruise from Miami to the Bahamas in June 1990. The 1,600 passenger ship thus ranks at the upper end of the midsize class of cruise ships and the smaller side of the megaships.
One of its unusual design features is a six-deck atrium. Called The Centrum is trimmed in brass and features two glass elevators, Nordic art and a three-deck landscaped fountain. The Centrum is crowned by a skylight and cradled on two sides with large five-deck walls of glass which allow a flood of Caribbean sunlight to pour in.
The Las Vegas-style revues are staged in a two-deck, 740-seat Strike Up the Band Showroom, while smaller acts perform in an art deco-style High Society Lounge. The Casino Royale was the first two-deck, three-level gaming facility. The casino can handle up to 450 people at a time, and offers slots, black jack, roulette, craps and Caribbean stud poker.
Meals are served in either the 580-person indoor/outdoor Windjammer Cafe, the preferred venue for casual buffet breakfasts, lunches and snacks; or in the Carmen Dining Room, surrounded on three sides by glass.
The Nordic Empress also offers a spacious fitness center with whirlpool, plus an outdoor pool, an indoor pool, wading pools, four whirlpools, pool bar, beauty salon and barbershop, shuffleboard, wraparound promenade deck, jogging track and video game-room.
For younger passengers, there is a year-round youth program for children 5 to 17, including a colorful children's playroom with a bubbleball pool and a youth center, called Kids Konnection, with a space station theme.
The cabins are well equipped with color TV, a three-channel radio, and individually controlled air conditioning. All of the ship's 800 staterooms can convert to a double bed configuration.
As with all Caribbean cruises, there is a full agenda of options for passengers each day that includes everything from bingo to basking in the sun.
The two summer ports of call out of Cape Canaveral: Nassau and CocoCay, give passengers a choice of contrasts. Nassau is a busy, noisy port, full of vendors who live for the cruise ship stops and taxi drivers who pile and pack passengers into their minibuses. There are the usual sightseeing choices in Nassau, as well as snorkeling, sailing and boat tours. Nassau also offers tours of Coral Island Marine Park and Underwater Observatory, the port's most popular destination.
For the unusual, there is the Atlantis submarine tour at Goulding Cay. The Atlantis is the world's first sub designed specifically for underwater excursions and it takes passengers on a cruise through shipwrecks and around tropical reefs.
Day tours are inexpensive. A visit to the British Colonial Beach Resort in downtown Nassau costs $15 per person. The most expensive tour is the Atlantis sub tour at $72 per person. There is also a selection from three evening tours in Nassau: the Atlantis Resort Casino Show, the Crystal Palace Casino Show and the King Eric's Native Show. Night tour prices range from $30 to $38 per person.
The second day's stop is at Royal Caribbean's privately owned CocoCay where the major attraction is isolation. While other cruise ships also stop here, the island is small, sandy, uncrowded and surrounded by deep blue-green water. A steel band plays in the background while a buffet lunch is served, and a series of small shops sell the usual Caribbean t-shirts and knickknacks.
Snorkeling is the activity of choice, and there is ample instruction and gear for rent. A few sunken objects, mostly manmade, are set in relatively shallow water for snorkelers to discover.
A cruise aboard the Nordic Empress is a well packaged respite with lots of activities to choose from.
For passengers who just want to spend some quiet time alone, that too, is possible. With 24-hour room service, you don't even have to ever leave your cabin.