Empress confirmed to Cuba from January 2017

[MADflyer]

Port schedules now confirm that the Empress of the Seas will offer sailings to Havana, Cuba from the 7th of January of 2017.

 

RCI have booked Empress at Key West all the way through April of 2019 at this time indicating a long term deployment.

 

The ship will sail every other Saturday from Miami, with a Sunday stop at Key West and continue on to Havana from Key West.

 

The ship also sails with some frequency on Mondays from Miami, with Tuesday calls at Key West and then on to Havana from there.

 

It is unclear if there is a third alternating itinerary that does not call on Key West.

 

Empress should continue with shorter sailings from Miami up until that week in January 2017. The ship calls every 14 days on Grand Cayman through the end of November 2016.

Edited March 11, 2016 by MADflyer

[Powersboyee2]

Wow!! Amazing info.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mcatmcat]

Any formal announcement from Royal?

[Biker19]

The return of Empress to the fleet didn't make sense till this ^^^^. RCI either already has or will have things in place by then to make this a "regular" sailing vs. what Fathom is doing.

[Biker19]

Any formal announcement from Royal?

It will be discussed for a long time here before that happens.

[hapster85]

Very cool. Would love to visit there.

[Keith1010]

Very nice.

 

Keith

[Liulu]

Well this has piqued my interest! Cuba is on my bucket list :p

[KirkNC]

It will be interesting to see how access to Cuba unfolds

[Biker19]

It will be interesting to see how access to Cuba unfolds

 

Some of that will likely be announced later this month during/after the President's visit there.

[signora]

So would it stay in Havana with the ship as hotel, kind of like Bermuda cruises? That would be awesome! Plus one of my favorite Royal cruises was on the Empress...

[Philly Steve]

If confirmed, Empress will be a wonderful "ambassador." :cool:

[BILL-WI]

That would be wonderful news....Sign me up!:):)

 

BILL

[molly361]

Is the embargo totally lifted?? I thought that whatever ships were going there had to go under the guise of being some kind of educational trip?

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Is the embargo totally lifted?? I thought that whatever ships were going there had to go under the guise of being some kind of educational trip?

 

I'm going to guess that Royal knows something we don't. You can bet they're not going to be offering "people to people" cruises.

[fragilek]

There are several cruise lines that do this already - In fact the the old RCI splendor of the seas sold to thomson last year is doing this starting in Nov as Thomson discovery, P&O cruises do it sometimes as do Fred Olson and MSC have done it in the past. One of the best looking cruises goes all round Cuba stopping in several different regions -Celestyal Crystal. So you may be able to read reviews on this in the appropriate parts of cruise critic.

 

However, the chances of this happening for RCI may be dependent on the US election lol-

 

-Does it look like you can build a top class golf course on Cuba or not? (A Scots view!!)

[Biker19]

I'm going to guess that Royal knows something we don't. You can bet they're not going to be offering "people to people" cruises.

 

They could be "reserving" the port stops assuming something will take place to allow it to happen. But, I doubt they will sell any cruises before that happens. As I mentioned, I doubt they'll follow Carnival a la Fathom.

[ksg]

 

 

 

-Does it look like you can build a top class golf course on Cuba or not? (A Scots view!!)

 

We'll be happy to sell the land Castro stole from us to a golf course developer.

[LovesCruising]

Is the embargo totally lifted?? I thought that whatever ships were going there had to go under the guise of being some kind of educational trip?

 

Currently travel to Cuba is educational and they are very strict about it and its pretty much an all day "excursion".

 

We will wait to see if this is lifted before booking.

[garnetpalmetto]

Awesome. This is just the itinerary I had hoped for. It'd be kind of awesome to see the Hemingway hat trick in one trip - the Hemingway House in Key West, Hotel Ambos Mundos, and Finca Vigía.

[CRUISEBOY305]

Thanks for the info again. :D

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Currently travel to Cuba is educational and they are very strict about it and its pretty much an all day "excursion".

 

We will wait to see if this is lifted before booking.

 

Well I doubt Royal will release the Cuba itineraries if that restriction is still in place.

[Toddcan]

A great many countries have been enjoying Cuba for a great many years, including Canada. So, when it does open up for the Americans, you can do a lot of research online since reviews of the attractions/restaurants/etc have been available for years.

[poz222]

My sailing club had a recent sailing regatta from Miami to Havana race last month... They said there was a lot construction going on building a pier "area".

[diesel1973]

Can't wait to hit the cigar bars and check out the classic cars!!!!