Empress of the Seas is Back

[frank808]

I start to think a JS is an OK price at $175pp/night.

So at $100 it was a deal. The empress intial price was $1045 for 2 passengers so about $525 pp for 5 nights. Allure for sailings in june of 2016 is coming in at about $275 a night. I don't think a bigger ship justifies that kind of price difference. I could sail 25 nights on empress or 7 nights on allure for the same price excluding port fees and taxes. Give me the b2b2b2b2b on a smaller older ship.

How does the size of the js on empress compare to the size of a js on allure?

[Tapi]

Yep, no more C&A discount. I knew I should've booked it yesterday....kicking myself right now!!!

 

Woah! Our sailing jumped in price 50% overnight! We booked an OV for $202 per person, now it's showing at $313 per person. Still a great price for a summer 5 night cruise though.

 

VERY glad that I booked yesterday! :D

[Garavar]

So at $100 it was a deal. The empress intial price was $1045 for 2 passengers so about $525 pp for 5 nights. Allure for sailings in june of 2016 is coming in at about $275 a night. I don't think a bigger ship justifies that kind of price difference. I could sail 25 nights on empress or 7 nights on allure for the same price excluding port fees and taxes. Give me the b2b2b2b2b on a smaller older ship.

How does the size of the js on empress compare to the size of a js on allure?

 

Yes the Empress was a great deal, cheapest I've seen a JS ever....

 

As for comparison size, its night and day JS are small on Empress. Passing gas will cause a concussion.

[Clarea]

... Allure for sailings in june of 2016 is coming in at about $275 a night. I don't think a bigger ship justifies that kind of price difference ...

I share that opinion, though summer prices are typically higher. One reason we rarely cruise in the summer.

[FLASHINGLIGHTS83]

Woah! Our sailing jumped in price 50% overnight! We booked an OV for $202 per person, now it's showing at $313 per person. Still a great price for a summer 5 night cruise though.

 

VERY glad that I booked yesterday! :D

Thanks for rubbing it in!! [emoji13] Still hoping to get atleast a small price drop, and try and convince the wife again!!

 

Sent from my Droid Turbo

[coaster]

Starting to think the C&A prices many of us got were a mistake. Price has jumped $400 for 2 in OV for 5 nighter in April and May. Glad I booked soon after this thread was posted.

[Retired LEO]

I also booked a 4 night Empress 3 days ago to tack on to my 5 night for $885.00 in a JS. The price is now $1836.00

[frank808]

I share that opinion, though summer prices are typically higher. One reason we rarely cruise in the summer.

Unfortunately we are tied to the school schedule.

[Retired LEO]

Starting to think the C&A prices many of us got were a mistake. Price has jumped $400 for 2 in OV for 5 nighter in April and May. Glad I booked soon after this thread was posted.

 

I would think so. The C&A discounts were over $700.00

Today the normal discount of $125.00 is showing

[Tapi]

...Still hoping to get atleast a small price drop, and try and convince the wife again!!

 

 

I didn't ask the wife 🤐. I put the deposit down first and asked questions later. I figured that those prices wouldn't last and I could always cancel later. Thankfully she loved it when I told her! [emoji106]🏻

 

Otherwise, the conversation would've gone something like this:

 

- Hey, I found these awesome fares on a cruise departing in....

 

- Honey, can we talk about this later?

 

- But the prices probably won't last.

 

- Too busy with all the Christmas stuff to talk about cruise stuff. Hold that thought for a few days.

 

- But, but...

 

- But, NOTHING.

 

- But we're going to miss out on...

 

- End of conversation!

 

- [emoji16][emoji24]

Edited December 25, 2015 by Tapi

[Garavar]

I didn't ask the wife 🤐. I put the deposit down first and asked questions later. I figured that those prices wouldn't last and I could always cancel later. Thankfully she loved it when I told her! [emoji106]🏻

 

Otherwise, the conversation would've gone something like this:

 

- Hey, I found these awesome fares on a cruise departing in....

 

- Honey, can we talk about this later?

 

- But the prices probably won't last.

 

- Too busy with all the Christmas stuff to talk about cruise stuff. Hold that thought for a few days.

 

- But, but...

 

- But, NOTHING.

 

- But we're going to miss out on...

 

- End of conversation!

 

- [emoji16][emoji24]

 

I booked 4 dates. Trying to talk my girlfriend about it for the last week, still have been unable to because of holidays. Luckily I have until I believe February 4 to cancel first one. Hopefully we get the conversation in by then.

[Tapi]

Starting to think the C&A prices many of us got were a mistake. Price has jumped $400 for 2 in OV for 5 nighter in April and May.

 

 

I think that they are correct. Royal may have started with overly aggressive pricing since these sailings are only a few months away. With the reduced time frame to sell these departures, it seems like they may have received a bigger response than expected and now they are adjusting prices accordingly.

 

Even with the overnight 50% increase in fare for our sailing, it's still priced competitively with similar ships, itineraries, and cruise lines departing on those dates.

 

Just for kicks, I just priced out the closest itinerary to mine that I could find, a 5 night itinerary on the Carnival Sensation departing from Miami on the same exact date as my cruise.

 

For an oceanview stateroom, the price on the Sensation is MORE than double what I paid for the Empress cruise!

Edited December 25, 2015 by Tapi

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

I think that they are correct. Royal may have started with overly aggressive pricing since these sailings are only a few months away. With the reduced time frame to sell these departures. It seems like they may have received a bigger response than expected and now they are adjusting prices accordingly.

 

Even with the overnight 50% increase in fare for our sailing, it's still priced competitively with similar ships, itineraries, and cruise lines departing on those dates.

 

I agree with you. I think they wanted to get a decent amount of rooms booked, since it's such short notice. Even though the rooms were sold at a lower price, it was probably better than a half-empty ship.

Edited December 25, 2015 by OfTheSeasCruiser

[wblynch]

Their strategy worked. They didn't advertise a thing but the buzz here encouraged a lot of loyal RCI cruisers to book early and those people will be most enthusiastic with their reviews.

 

Now if asked, RCI can claim a computer glitch gave away those prices and wasn't meant to happen.

 

Merry Christmas, Empress sailers!!

 

I wish I had booked too but wasn't ready to commit.

[stevesing121]

I also took advantage of the sale and C&A discount the day the bookings opened. Upon doing some research about timing between last sailing with Pullmantur and the March 30th sailing, I discovered the ship is being charted by Brazilian company, Viagens CVC until Feb 13th. There are no future sail dates posted on Pullmantur's website. Does this mean we are going to see a 6 week dry dock? Hard to say.

[undercat]

I think that they are correct. Royal may have started with overly aggressive pricing since these sailings are only a few months away. With the reduced time frame to sell these departures, it seems like they may have received a bigger response than expected and now they are adjusting prices accordingly.

 

Even with the overnight 50% increase in fare for our sailing, it's still priced competitively with similar ships, itineraries, and cruise lines departing on those dates.

 

Just for kicks, I just priced out the closest itinerary to mine that I could find, a 5 night itinerary on the Carnival Sensation departing from Miami on the same exact date as my cruise.

 

For an oceanview stateroom, the price on the Sensation is MORE than double what I paid for the Empress cruise!

 

The 50% price increase: I assume this refers to a C&A rate increase/discount decrease? I don't have any C&A status (I'm a Royal Rookie) so I pay the BOGOHO rates listed on Royal's website. The BOGOHO rate for the May 28 OVs hasn't jumped by 50% this week. However - the BOGOHO rate for some of the suites and even Insides on other Empress sailings did increase by $100 or more throughout the week, according to the fish site. I agree that the the rate of interest and bookings may have spurred Royal or their revenue algorithm to ratchet up the rates (either directly through fare increases or indirectly by reducing loyalty discounts). I'm with you on "book now, discuss later" tactic. It's only a deposit, and a refundable one at that until final payment is due three months from now. I'm a price-watcher and figure that a good deal isn't likely to last for long, so I pounce when I see it (if I can). I'd also priced out that May 28 Carnival Sensation cruise because the itinerary was pretty good for a short cruise, and even at my Royal Rookie rate with $200 OBC and VOOM (not sure if it will be free or fee) the Empress was a better buy.

Edited December 26, 2015 by undercat

[Tapi]

The 50% price increase: I assume this refers to a C&A rate increase/discount decrease? I don't have any C&A status (I'm a Royal Rookie) so I pay the BOGOHO rates listed on Royal's website.

 

 

You're correct. The actual base rates haven't increased much, although there's a small price difference from when I first checked. The 50% difference is due to the C&A discount paired with the BOGO discount. For our family of 4, the total price (pre tax) was $808 for a cat I. Checking right now, that price is $1254 (no C&A discount available anymore although BOGO is still offered). Without BOGO, the rate is more in tune with what Carnival is currently charging for the Sensation that same departure date, which is pricing at $1,666 for the same type of cabin.

 

I had zero intention to sail on Royal this year, but at those prices when the kids are out of school for their summer vacation, I just couldn't pass it up!

Edited December 26, 2015 by Tapi

[ShawninFL]

Our TA friend posted the reintroduction of Empress on Facebook and suggested a group cruise because the rates were so good. I priced out some dates and saw they were even lower than expected with the C&A discount. We got an outside cabin for two for $555.90 total. I emailed our friend about the additional C&A discount and immediately set up group space. Luckily a few of us booked immediately for June 2nd, because the next day the C&A discount was gone and replaced with an OBC. When factoring in the OBC it makes it close to what we are paying but still a little more. I was hesitant in booking a second sailing since we're going on a Greece and Turkey cruise in August and will be gone for 3 plus weeks, but now I'm sort of sorry I didn't just go for it and cancel if it didn't work out. I had a feeling the extra C&A pricing was too good to be true. As for Empress, I'm excited to sail on her again. We love small ship and really enjoyed sailing Nordic Empress.

[SheehanDJ]

Any thoughts on when they are going to fix the website for drink packages, shore excursions and the like? Also what about a cruise director, Ken Rush usually brings out the new ships, what are the odds he brings the Empress back? Slim I hope.

 

Support sites seem to be lagging behind too, nothing here roll call wise for the Empress.

[Suzcruz57]

Was on her back in the day. First RCCL ship we sailed. We're D+ now. Just booked an April 2016 sailing. Can't wait🛳

[coaster]

I booked 4 dates. Trying to talk my girlfriend about it for the last week, still have been unable to because of holidays. Luckily I have until I believe February 4 to cancel first one. Hopefully we get the conversation in by then.

I booked a 5 day in April and another in May. I grabbed them quickly like others here thinking the price could only go up. Plan was to decide between the two cruises and cancel one. Now I want to sail on both of them as the ports are different on each and the price was so good.

[Garavar]

I booked a 5 day in April and another in May. I grabbed them quickly like others here thinking the price could only go up. Plan was to decide between the two cruises and cancel one. Now I want to sail on both of them as the ports are different on each and the price was so good.

 

If my GF let's me we will sail on all 4. I am paying in the bill but she is still the boss ;)

[Powersboyee2]

Pretty excited that I booked b2b when those C&A discounts were up. Yes indeed 1100 for 2 people in a JS for each of the two. 4 and then 5 nights starting April 7th. That price HAD to be a mistake I agree! It was a 900$ C&A discount. But I'm glad I jumped on it. 18 C&A points for each of us for 2 grand total. Yep, sounds great to me. Hope to see everyone there! Any info on the actual Junior suites would be amazing as it seems that there are about 25 different opinions and RCCL is no help at all on actual info. Are there tubs in the bathroom??

Also, dining and beverage booking is STILL not working. Anyone get any solid info about that?

[wblynch]

Those junior suites are probably not as big as a typical balcony on the newer ships. Back then you had to get a suite to have a balcony. It was a big deal.

[Tapi]

Any info on the actual Junior suites would be amazing as it seems that there are about 25 different opinions and RCCL is no help at all on actual info?

 

 

We sailed on a JS on the Empress. Literally, it's like a standard balcony stateroom on a newer ship. Bed, sofa, small vanity area, and a standard sized balcony. There is nothing about these staterooms that would make them a suite by today's standards, but 25 years ago they were groundbreaking!