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Empress Returning to RCCL?

Piepkorn

By Piepkorn,
in Royal Caribbean International

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garnetpalmetto

garnetpalmetto

Posted
Posted
http://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/en_US/pdf/fastfact_ne.pdf

 

The fast fact sheet is up on the Royal Caribbean website

 

That's faster than sheets for Oasis, Allure, Quantum, Anthem, Harmony, or Ovation have been put up! :eek:

 

Interesting, didn't know Gloria Estefan was her godmother. That'll be two ships she's now a/the godmother of.

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cot427

cot427

Posted
Posted
That's faster than sheets for Oasis, Allure, Quantum, Anthem, Harmony, or Ovation have been put up! :eek:

 

Interesting, didn't know Gloria Estefan was her godmother. That'll be two ships she's now a/the godmother of.

 

I believe when they announced Gloria as one of the 7 of Oasis, they mentioned she WAS the godmother of Empress when they had no idea that they would be bringing the Empress back.

 

Now that she's godmother of 2 ships, she'll have a lot of responsibility...LOL!

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garnetpalmetto

garnetpalmetto

Posted
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I believe when they announced Gloria as one of the 7 of Oasis, they mentioned she WAS the godmother of Empress when they had no idea that they would be bringing the Empress back.

 

Now that she's godmother of 2 ships, she'll have a lot of responsibility...LOL!

 

Seriously! Imagine if they brought back Viking Serenade as well. Whoopi Goldberg would have to do some double duty too! :p

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MADflyer

MADflyer

Posted
Posted
I believe when they announced Gloria as one of the 7 of Oasis, they mentioned she WAS the godmother of Empress when they had no idea that they would be bringing the Empress back.

 

Now that she's godmother of 2 ships, she'll have a lot of responsibility...LOL!

 

I think the whole thing is just a plot to get her new show on Oasis 4 or Quantum 4 out of Miami in 2019. ;)

 

'On Your Feet' the Gloria and Emilio Estefan story premiers on Broadway at the moment.

 

The show should just be finishing the US tour by then and will hopefully have opened in a few key markets around the globe by then.

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F27TW

F27TW

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The port is 100 miles up the Delaware River. That means 100 miles with the casino and shops closed.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

 

Isn't New Orleans in a similar situation too tho? I know they do a long wind-y trip on the river before they reach the Gulf, no ?

 

How many miles is that trip ?

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Charles4515

Charles4515

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Isn't New Orleans in a similar situation too tho? I know they do a long wind-y trip on the river before they reach the Gulf, no ?

 

 

 

How many miles is that trip ?

 

 

I believe 90 miles. Philadelphia's problem is not only the 100 miles. New York and Bayonne which are not far away don't have the 100 miles to the Atlantic. So the cruise lines prefer those ports over Philadelphia.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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tntornadox

tntornadox

Posted
Posted (edited)
Are these passenger numbers current?

 

Looks to me like they pulled the most recent fact sheet they had on her out of the archives... it even has the "Get out there" slogan under the logo. I highly doubt these numbers reflect what they intend to do with her during refit.

 

Personally, I would love for RCI to use her at some of the Carnival dominated eastern seaboard ports (Charleston, anyone?) until Cuba opens up. With this new refit, i'm sure she will be a viable alternative to the Fantasy class.

Edited by tntornadox
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JMG

JMG

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The port is 100 miles up the Delaware River. That means 100 miles with the casino and shops closed.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Not necessarily...It takes the Grandeur about 7 hours to reach the Atlantic but the Casino opened at 5pm while on the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland probably allows this so that the ships come to Baltimore.

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John&LaLa "Live from...." Rare

John&LaLa

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Not necessarily...It takes the Grandeur about 7 hours to reach the Atlantic but the Casino opened at 5pm while on the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland probably allows this so that the ships come to Baltimore.

 

Are there any casino boats in Baltimore?

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Charles4515

Charles4515

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Not necessarily...It takes the Grandeur about 7 hours to reach the Atlantic but the Casino opened at 5pm while on the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland probably allows this so that the ships come to Baltimore.

 

Maybe that is why there are cruises out of Baltimore and not out of Philadelphia....

 

I am not saying that Philadelphia could not have cruises. Att this time the cruise lines prefer New York, Bayonne and Baltimore in the Mid Atlantic region. If Philadelphia gave them a good deal they could return.

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mjsshipboy

mjsshipboy

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All this ideas about US ports do not make sense. RCI would not make such a special move just to go back to one of the old US ports for former or slightly modified itenaries.

 

The purpose of Empress must be Cuba cruises and if homeporting in the US is not possible due to legal requirements she will start e.g. in the Domenican Republik or Jamaica similar to European cruise lines do it. In this case no cultural purpose like with Fathom needs to be added.

 

The Cuba situation is nothing to do with where the ship homeports. As Royal Caribbean is a US based company, it cannot sail to Cuba under current laws, regardless of the itinerary, homeport or nationality of staff or guests onboard.

 

Pullmantur used to sail into Cuba but had to cancel those itineraries at the last minute when purchased by Royal, even though it was a Spanish Cruise Line, as it was owned by a company registered in the USA. So - unless the laws are about to change further or Royal are going to do something along the lines of Fathom, Empress will NOT go to Cuba. Yet.

 

Currently the only ships that visit Cuba are European owned.

 

I personally see Los Angeles and a return to the 3/4 itinerary a more likely option, or an exotic Caribbean run.

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Charles4515

Charles4515

Posted
Posted
The Cuba situation is nothing to do with where the ship homeports. As Royal Caribbean is a US based company, it cannot sail to Cuba under current laws, regardless of the itinerary, homeport or nationality of staff or guests onboard.

 

 

Under the new regulations Royal Caribbean can sail to Cuba if it does People to People cruises.

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Saab4444

Saab4444

Posted
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It would have been easier for RCI to take Monarch back so there must be a specific reason to go with the smaller ship. Both have the same age and similar tiny cabin and few balcony issues.

 

Empress has a published and so far well booked schedule for North Europe in 2016 but RCI decided to take her and to transfer Monarch to the Empress itenaries which creates a lot more workload and costs. So why? Only reason is they need a smaller ship for specific ports and this is not anything on the US West or East coast...

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Scotty G

Scotty G

Posted
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Empress has a published and so far well booked schedule for North Europe in 2016 but RCI decided to take her and to transfer Monarch to the Empress itineraries which creates a lot more workload and costs.

 

So why? Only reason is they need a smaller ship for specific ports and this is not anything on the US West or East coast...

 

Would have loved to be a fly on the board room wall but alas ;) There are probably multiple reasons as to why they did what they did. Speculation here changes nothing and only time will tell!

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John&LaLa "Live from...." Rare

John&LaLa

Posted
Posted
It would have been easier for RCI to take Monarch back so there must be a specific reason to go with the smaller ship. Both have the same age and similar tiny cabin and few balcony issues.

 

Empress has a published and so far well booked schedule for North Europe in 2016 but RCI decided to take her and to transfer Monarch to the Empress itenaries which creates a lot more workload and costs. So why? Only reason is they need a smaller ship for specific ports and this is not anything on the US West or East coast...

 

It may have been more financially driven to get a bigger write off.

 

So where would these small ports be?

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tahqa

tahqa

Posted
Posted
Didn't Waldorf have very lax gambling enforcement

 

Slot machines were legal in Charles County until 1968. During the 50's Waldorf (and the whole 301 corridor pretty much) was known as "Little Vegas" and some reports say that Charles County had more slot machines than Vegas did. Some of the weirder buildings in Waldorf (most of which are now gone) had their starts as casinos.

 

For more information you can see: http://maryland-politics.blogspot.com/2008/11/marylands-sordid-slots-history-about-to.html

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