Empress of The Seas

[twangster]

1 hour ago, WeMissSeaView said:

Empress is sailing again.

 

I think the bridge crew is having fun with us.

[notmyrealnameoremail]

3 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

I think the bridge crew is having fun with us.

Maybe take the AIS for a ride on a speedboat?

[twangster]

16 minutes ago, notmyrealnameoremail said:

Maybe take the AIS for a ride on a speedboat?

 

Who knew Empress could go 35 knots?  

[NancyIL]

8 hours ago, Giantfan13 said:

Without having to read 44 pages of this thread, we have a cruise booked on the Empress, Aug 23 2021, 11 day sailing Cape Liberty to Montreal. I booked it thru an online TA but today I went to see how the price was doing and I don't see the cruise. I also went to RCCL site and again, so not see the cruise. I haven't received anything from my TA or RCCL that the cruise has been cancelled. They are listing cruises from Montreal in September.

Anyone have any idea what is going on?

I do apologize if something was mentioned pages back.

 

Cheers

Len

At first, all of Empress’s cruises over 7 days were removed from RCI’s web site. The 10 and 11-night cruises round trip from Montreal are back because they go to no US ports. Your cruise isn’t available for new bookings because it is longer than 7 days, and it goes to  US ports.

[NancyIL]

6 hours ago, TMLAalum said:

 

Hope this portends good news.

Whether or not Empress sails for RCI in 2021, there won’t be any Alaska or Canada cruises until Canada opens its ports to cruise ships. 

[roeco9084]

2 hours ago, NancyIL said:

Whether or not Empress sails for RCI in 2021, there won’t be any Alaska or Canada cruises until Canada opens its ports to cruise ships. 

their was mention a bit ago about the Jones Act being temporarily suspended but i think it was based on what Canadas going to do.

[twangster]

58 minutes ago, roeco9084 said:

their was mention a bit ago about the Jones Act being temporarily suspended but i think it was based on what Canadas going to do.

 

Jones Act is to cargo what the PVSA is to passenger vessels.  It's a touching sentiment but unlikely to come to fruition for cargo or passenger ships.

 

There are small ship lines that are American companies using American crew with US flagged ships offering cargo and passenger services on these routes.  Better yet many have ships that aren't subject to the CDC CSO or Canada's port closures.  They can sail when the CLIA they belong to doesn't ban them from them doing so.

 

Perhaps Congress would better serve American interests if they provided these American companies with stimulus money like they did the US airlines rather than pandering to foreign companies using foreign flagged vessels. 

 

Just a thought.  

Edited December 8, 2020 by twangster

[Giantfan13]

.Thanks for the replies.

 

So the cruise isn't officially cancelled, they just cannot book it at the moment?

 

Cheers

Len

[keyboardjunkie]

15 minutes ago, Giantfan13 said:

.Thanks for the replies.

 

So the cruise isn't officially cancelled, they just cannot book it at the moment?

 

Cheers

Len

 

That is correct.  Due to CDC requirement, cruises that touch the USA must be 7 days or less.  This is a temporary consideration and MAY be changed once the future outcome of determined. 

 

It means that Royal can not sell these cruises at this time but they are not cancelled because they may be available in the future.

[WeMissSeaView]

Interesting.  Two days after going back to anchor the Empress is sailing again.

[travelwide]

On 12/7/2020 at 3:06 PM, Milwaukee Eight said:

I was just curious as many other groups feel like with new administration, Cuba sailings would resume shortly. Not sure which ships can sail into Cuba. 

My husband and I along with a group of our friends are hoping Cuba gets back on the itinerary list. We have been there several times and loved it. And it would work very well with the shorter sailings. We also love the Empress!

[Milwaukee Eight]

1 hour ago, travelwide said:

My husband and I along with a group of our friends are hoping Cuba gets back on the itinerary list. We have been there several times and loved it. And it would work very well with the shorter sailings. We also love the Empress!

But....  if Empress and/or Majesty are sold/scrapped, I don’t believe Royal has any other ships that can dock there. 

[Biker19]

30 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

But....  if Empress and/or Majesty are sold/scrapped, I don’t believe Royal has any other ships that can dock there. 

All of the Vision and Radiance class would fit. Virgin's ships fit there (110KGT vs 90KGT for Radiance and ~75KGT for Vision).

[Milwaukee Eight]

59 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

All of the Vision and Radiance class would fit. Virgin's ships fit there (110KGT vs 90KGT for Radiance and ~75KGT for Vision).

Pretty sure @twangster posted some pictures where Empress really hung off the pier. The other ships are longer. Don’t know how long is safe. Do you?

[twangster]

It may also be that azipod ships can maneuver the port better.  

 

At lunch with the Captain for Empress he stated it was a very challenging port to dock.  He talked about missed calls due to wind and the challenge of steering rudder based ships in Havana. 

 

Maybe he was full of it and just pontificating but watching our approach and hard turn into the slip made it clear the bridge crew were earning their pay that day.  

 

It may not be one thing that dictates what ships can go there.  It might not be just water depth.  It might not be just the length of the ship.  

[twangster]

The profile of the Havana seafloor at the piers may also be a factor.  Some ships may fit better than others if the contours of the seafloor is what this crude representation that's far from being an actual nautical chart displays.

 

[Milwaukee Eight]

35 minutes ago, twangster said:

It may also be that azipod ships can maneuver the port better.  

 

At lunch with the Captain for Empress he stated it was a very challenging port to dock.  He talked about missed calls due to wind and the challenge of steering rudder based ships in Havana. 

 

Maybe he was full of it and just pontificating but watching our approach and hard turn into the slip made it clear the bridge crew were earning their pay that day.  

 

It may not be one thing that dictates what ships can go there.  It might not be just water depth.  It might not be just the length of the ship.  

I don’t know the answer. 

[twangster]

It's not exactly a generous harbor or slip they need to put the ship into.  The ship has to come around the corner and make a hard right 90° turn into the slip.  I can see how azipods would make the job a lot easier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Milwaukee Eight]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

It's not exactly a generous harbor or slip they need to put the ship into.  The ship has to come around the corner and make a hard right 90° turn into the slip.  I can see how azipods would make the job a lot easier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Awesome photos 

[atgood]

Nice pics (as usual) Twangster.   Is that Capt William Wright at the controls in your photos (pic#s 5,6, & 8?

Edited December 12, 2020 by atgood

[Biker19]

11 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Do you?

No, the only thing I know is that Scarlet Lady was the largest I believe that had planned to go there.

[ipeeinthepool]

On 12/8/2020 at 2:08 PM, keyboardjunkie said:

 

That is correct.  Due to CDC requirement, cruises that touch the USA must be 7 days or less.  This is a temporary consideration and MAY be changed once the future outcome of determined. 

 

It means that Royal can not sell these cruises at this time but they are not cancelled because they may be available in the future.

 

Maybe Royal should tell their friends at Celebrity they can't sell cruises longer than 7 days.  There are still plenty available for booking from Celebrity 

[AL3XCruise]

22 hours ago, twangster said:

It may also be that azipod ships can maneuver the port better.  

 

At lunch with the Captain for Empress he stated it was a very challenging port to dock.  He talked about missed calls due to wind and the challenge of steering rudder based ships in Havana. 

 

Maybe he was full of it and just pontificating but watching our approach and hard turn into the slip made it clear the bridge crew were earning their pay that day.  

 

Its been a while, but I had a conversation with the Master of Empress back in 2005/2006 discussing docking her versus the then new Voyager class.  He (quite humbly) explained that someone with his experience can easily dock a properly designed ship regardless of propulsion, but most of the azipod ships had much more installed power.  This allowed him to oppose stronger winds and currents with a Voyager lass than with Empress.

 

At that time no one was thinking about docking in Cuba, but I've heard the point reiterated by other officers since.  I'm guess that differences in design and the demands of different ports make it difficult to draw a clear and consistent "truth" on when azipods vs conventional propulsion is the deciding factor on making it into port.

 

23 hours ago, Biker19 said:

All of the Vision and Radiance class would fit. Virgin's ships fit there (110KGT vs 90KGT for Radiance and ~75KGT for Vision).

Virgin's vessel is wide and short for its tonnage (shorter but wider than old Panamax).  She is slightly longer than Majesty somewhat shorter than Radiance class ships.  I believe some of the smaller Vision class are shorter, but I think most of them have been divested.

[twangster]

1 hour ago, AL3XCruise said:

Its been a while, but I had a conversation with the Master of Empress back in 2005/2006 discussing docking her versus the then new Voyager class.  He (quite humbly) explained that someone with his experience can easily dock a properly designed ship regardless of propulsion, but most of the azipod ships had much more installed power.  This allowed him to oppose stronger winds and currents with a Voyager lass than with Empress.

 

At that time no one was thinking about docking in Cuba, but I've heard the point reiterated by other officers since.  I'm guess that differences in design and the demands of different ports make it difficult to draw a clear and consistent "truth" on when azipods vs conventional propulsion is the deciding factor on making it into port.

 

Some lines may accept higher rates of missed calls due to weather conditions such as wind.  Some lines may avoid purposely creating itineraries for a ship that will result in higher rates of missed calls.

 

Virgin has one ship (so far) and Cuba was supposed to be a jewel in their route offerings so they may have been willing to accept more potential missed calls due to wind compared to what Royal may like to accept for a given ship while they had smaller ships in the fleet. 

 

If Royal loses Empress and Majesty AND Cuba reopens perhaps Royal would be more willing to accept higher rates of potential missed calls there too for a different class of ship. 

 

To your point about azipod and power, I recall being on Voyager class ship on a windy day.  We made it into Costa Maya like a champ and then watched two older Carnival ships approach and give up, aborting their calls.  They were not azipod ships.  On another cruise we were held off waiting 30 minutes for an older MSC ship to get docked on a windy day.  Once they finally were secured we popped in on Indy in minutes making it look easy.  We were late to arrive but only because we had to wait for that non-azipod ship to dock.  If I recall from a bridge tour Freedom class can dock with up to 35 knots of cross wind on the ship.  Pretty impressive.    

[WeMissSeaView]

Empress is sailing again and this time she is sailing west.  That will be the third sailing in the last week.