ADS94

That would not surprise me at all.

From what I've been seeing and hearing, Voom is supposed to be on all ships sailing in the Caribbean by mid-2016. I know Majesty and Enchantment are going to be getting it. If they make it free, I could imagine they'd do it just for April, May, June to get people on the mixed itineraries before they start her normal schedule.

Taking a look at it, if they were to add balconies, they'd only be able to attach them at maximum to 58 cabins on deck 8. That doesn't explain the increase in passengers, however.

Also assuming the crew number remains the same (668) and the passengers go up to 2,005, that's 2,673. Judging by this from 2001 her occupancy was already upped by 200 between then and now. A check of pictures shows she only received 4 new lifeboats, the tenders. How much do they hold? Unless I am mistaken, there's supposed to be enough rigid lifeboats to hold everyone on board, the inflatables ect. are just auxiliary safety. Seems like max capacity at build was ~2300 passengers, but that accounts for all staterooms that had room for three & four in them.

Not sure where they are getting such large passenger numbers. They can't exactly cram any more in from what I've seen of the deckplans, unless they cut into the dining room.

I don't see any type of situation where Royal stretches her. It was so prohibitively expensive with Enchantment OTS that it made them scrap all stretching plans for the Voyager class and just made the Freedom class.

Can't say from personal experience on the Empress, but my grandfather cruised her a few times as Nordic Empress. He always liked it over the Sovereign class ships. Like the Sovereign class, there's just suites that have balconies (so far as we know, Royal could be adding more...) Royal used to have a cutaway graphic of the Empress, I think I have one in my cruise book. Might be able to find it online.

I, for one, am going to book her as soon as she get's available, sometime after she sets into her regular schedule post May. (stupid graduation!)

Here's the best I could gleam from the limited information. April 10 to 15 is a complete mystery to me.

Raises an interesting question as well, Navigator OTS currently has alternating Western/Southern out of Miami well into 2017. I think it is reasonable to say that Navigator is staying put when Empress comes back. I can't imagine there's need to put more tonnage in Nassau or Cozumel, very well traveled ports.

A 5/5/4 pattern is more likely.

Yeah. I would agree.

They could have a short sailing every other week that does not call on Key West.

 

They have only booked 3 calls in April/May and June at Grand Cayman.

My bad, misread it previously. 5/5/4 seems a lot more likely for such a small ship. Having that small of a tonnage right around Cuba screams its destined for Cuba, or Royal is trying to fill demand for Western itineraries. Seems odd to bring back Empress just for that, finding a way to keep Splendour or bring back Monarch/Sovereign would be better for those non-Cuba cruises.

Interesting...

The 9/5 Day pattern seems odd for such a small ship. Even the (relatively) large Enchantment is stuck hauling 4/3 night Bahamas with the Majesty.

Maybe Royal is planning a constant Western Caribbean that Havana can be slotted into.

Sa - Miami

Su - Key West

Mo - Sea (Havana?)

Tu - Grand Cayman

We - Jamaica

Th - Cruising

Fr - Labadee

Sa - Cruising

Su - Nassau/Coco Cay

Mo - Miami

Tu - Key West

We - Sea (Havana?)

Th - Sea

Fr - Nassau/Coco Cay

Sa - Miami

Yes. I was on the Grandeur out of Baltimore, they showed all the games on the big screen and it was available on the stateroom televisions. Monday you're good to go. Same on the Enchantment last fall.

Oh, and let's go Cowboys ;)

Thanks for the quick replies! Captain just came over finally saying we would be diverted to Nassau. I was only concerned because both our ship and the Majesty were real close to each other seemingly not moving. Plus, I had just come off the Adventure of the Seas a few weeks back when the entire itinerary was changed due to a hurricane, he kept us updated by the minute, so I was expecting that and had gotten concerned.

About two hours ago both the Majesty and the Grandeur (Ship I'm currently on) both canceled our stops at Coco Cay due to the tenders being unable to operate. Captain came on at 9:30 to say we might go to Nassau but has been silent sense. Both us and the Majesty have had periods of slow movement and being almost completely stopped. Is this normal for rough sea days at Coco Cay? I'd have figured he would have said something else about Nassau but we've been kept in the dark. Tried looking up info on how full Nassau is but no luck.

That's a ridiculous re-routing of Adventure, given that Barbados and St Lucia are not anywhere near the path of Danny. And Antigua is pretty unlikely to be affected much at all either. All of the Southern islands are well out of Danny's path..why not continue with the original route there?

I've been wondering the same thing. I had really been looking forward to all of the stops on this trip, except St. Maarten. Now the itinerary we will be doing only really has me looking forward to St. Thomas and Bonaire.

I would honestly say Magens Bay is better than Sapphire. I'm foggy on the availability of chairs, I never used them. I holiday in St. Thomas frequently, and Magens is always the beach I go to without a doubt. You wouldn't be disappointed, I can promise!

I am leaving Saturday for Southern Caribbean out of Puerto Rico on the Adventure. I'm not even that concerned about the hurricane, maybe just some port changes. Give me a piña and I'll be fine with anything a hurricane throws at me :cool:

Going on a Southern out of Puerto Rico on the 22nd of August. It will be interesting to see if the itinerary is changed.