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Will Empress Stay Or Go

SheehanDJ
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Will Empress Stay or Go  

105 members have voted

  1. 1. Will Empress Stay or Go

    • If Cuba goes so does Empress
      55
    • They will keep her for 3/4 night cruises
      50

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Ocean Dancer

Ocean Dancer

Posted
Posted

Yes, cruises will go on, BUT we don't yet know how Trump's announcement will effect all passengers. Those on ship's excursions may also be effected. It is possible that once you return back from your tour you MAY not be able to go back off the ship and wander around.

 

Those who made independent arrangements MAY not be able to keep them and MAY not be allowed off the ship at all. This should all be sorted out in several months, but by then I'll be past final payment. We are seriously thinking of switching to another itinerary for our Thanksgiving cruise.

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LMaxwell Great Review Rare

LMaxwell

Posted
Posted
Looks like cruise travel won't be significantly affected, so Empress and her cruises to Cuba should be fine.

 

We don't know that yet. The cruises may go, no problem; but can you get off and tour on your own or only with a group tour?

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2017/06/16/cuba-cruises-could-become-less-flexible/102915746/

 

https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/cuba_faqs_20170616.pdf

 

These are the things that are not clear yet.

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Biker19

Biker19

Posted
Posted
We don't know that yet. The cruises may go, no problem; but can you get off and tour on your own or only with a ship sponsored group tour?

Fixed.

Some articles seem to suggest this will be boon for the bottom line for cruise lines since their inflated priced tours will be the only way to get off the ship.

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LMaxwell Great Review Rare

LMaxwell

Posted
Posted
Fixed.

Some articles seem to suggest this will be boon for the bottom line for cruise lines since their inflated priced tours will be the only way to get off the ship.

Yes, thank you for adding that and highlighting it, as it really does make all the difference and is not a point to skip over. And I do agree, it could be a major boon for the cruise lines. I've seen NCL advertising some excursions for $300 per person that I can book for $60 per person. Dinner Cabaret was priced $200 per person through the line. Yikes

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Ocean Dancer

Ocean Dancer

Posted
Posted

On the Thanksgiving cruise there are only 3 tours through the ship, all overpriced. I have an email from a tour group in Cuba where the 3 of us could be on similar private tours for about 1/4 of the price. The thing is we are in Cuba until 8 pm and no one MAY be allowed off the ship once they return to the ship. There are no advertised late afternoon/early evening ships tours. What's the point of being there?

Now this will most likely change, not the high prices, but I'm probably not going to wait around.

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hapster85

hapster85

Posted
Posted
Yes, thank you for adding that and highlighting it, as it really does make all the difference and is not a point to skip over. And I do agree, it could be a major boon for the cruise lines. I've seen NCL advertising some excursions for $300 per person that I can book for $60 per person. Dinner Cabaret was priced $200 per person through the line. Yikes

I suspect they'll soon discover their supply far outstrips demand at those prices, once the novelty of travel to Cuba wears off. I would like to go myself, but not at those prices.

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CJFE

CJFE

Posted
Posted
Yes, thank you for adding that and highlighting it, as it really does make all the difference and is not a point to skip over. And I do agree, it could be a major boon for the cruise lines. I've seen NCL advertising some excursions for $300 per person that I can book for $60 per person. Dinner Cabaret was priced $200 per person through the line. Yikes

 

 

 

And that's a bunch of crap that Tropicana club is less than $50 to go to.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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sharonax3

sharonax3

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Posted

I am booked for Sept, within 90 days of Trumps announcement. I also booked a few private tours and am hoping I will be able to keep them, as there has not been any official announcement. hoping to be grandfathered in. I just don't want to be on a ship excursion. I never take the ships excursion and certainly dont plan on doing it for this cruise.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Biker19

Biker19

Posted
Posted
I am still not happy with RCI selling off the sweet little Vision class ships, then buying back Empress and cancelling the

sale of MJ. :(

I thought for sure at least one Vision class ship would be gone in 2019 but with this move, it might be only Empress leaving, again. Well, at least till 2020, when MJ will replaced on the Cuba runs by a Vision class ship.

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poncho1973

poncho1973

Posted
Posted
I thought for sure at least one Vision class ship would be gone in 2019 but with this move, it might be only Empress leaving, again. Well, at least till 2020, when MJ will replaced on the Cuba runs by a Vision class ship.

 

I haven't seen anything saying that Empress is even likely to go again. The posts and blog I read specifically said things like "adding a 2nd ship" and "another ship is joining Empress" or things like that. They were referring to Majesty.

 

I also missed seeing where a Vision-class ship was replacing Majesty?

 

Are you just guessing or have you seen something saying those things?

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Biker19

Biker19

Posted
Posted
I haven't seen anything saying that Empress is even likely to go again. The posts and blog I read specifically said things like "adding a 2nd ship" and "another ship is joining Empress" or things like that. They were referring to Majesty.

 

I also missed seeing where a Vision-class ship was replacing Majesty?

 

Are you just guessing or have you seen something saying those things?

Speculation - the mainstay of many CC posts.

 

Majesty and Empress leaving is just a matter of time and economics. The cost of upkeep of older ships goes up with age and the fares on those ships generally decrease.

 

I'm not aware of another line which has or announced using two ships on the Cuba itineraries - not sure it wouldn't make sense for RCI to do it either. Besides, the increased capacity of Majesty alone might be enough to tamp down the prices already. The three big lines tested the waters with smaller ships (and Carnival invented Fathom just for it), but they are all moving on to using more mainstream ships. RCI's announcement with Majesty is just following the competition.

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AdGuyMG

AdGuyMG

Posted
Posted
I'm not aware of another line which has or announced using two ships on the Cuba itineraries - not sure it wouldn't make sense for RCI to do it either.

 

Norwegian will be continuing Cuba trips from Miami on the Sky and the Sun will begin 4 night Cuba trips from Port Canaveral in the Spring 2018.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=7939

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Globehoppers

Globehoppers

Posted
Posted
I am booked for Sept, within 90 days of Trumps announcement. I also booked a few private tours and am hoping I will be able to keep them, as there has not been any official announcement. hoping to be grandfathered in. I just don't want to be on a ship excursion. I never take the ships excursion and certainly dont plan on doing it for this cruise.

 

Just back from Cuba run on Empress. We took the 8-hour ship's tour and it was great. About 30 on the nice A/C bus, great guide very knowledgeable in history going back to the tun of the 20th Century, environmental issue impacting Cuba, and the dual currency "challenges," excellent driver. We were essentially by ourselves as the other buses went in different directions and to different restaurants for lunch. Many cruise lines include excursions in the fare.

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