Empress of The Seas

[LXA350]

10 hours ago, K922 said:

So if they sell the ship what happens to existing cruise on that ship? Will they move the cruise to another ship?  We have a New England & Canada next July.  Sorry if this is a stupid question 

 

I didn't check if they would offer it next year, but Empress was the only ship for instance that could sail up to Montreal. Since demand will anyway not receover by then, all Empress itinararies would be cancelled in that scenario and not replaced.

 

Given that colder water is better for cold layup, it is strange in case Emrpess is heading direction Malta. Maybe she really is finally on her last journey.

[NancyIL]

17 minutes ago, LXA350 said:

 

I didn't check if they would offer it next year, but Empress was the only ship for instance that could sail up to Montreal. Since demand will anyway not receover by then, all Empress itinararies would be cancelled in that scenario and not replaced.

 

Given that colder water is better for cold layup, it is strange in case Emrpess is heading direction Malta. Maybe she really is finally on her last journey.

 

Empress's Canada cruises from Montreal are offered in 2021, and we Lifted & Shifted our Sept. 2020 cruise to next year. 

[K922]

2 hours ago, LXA350 said:

 

I didn't check if they would offer it next year, but Empress was the only ship for instance that could sail up to Montreal. Since demand will anyway not receover by then, all Empress itinararies would be cancelled in that scenario and not replaced.

 

Given that colder water is better for cold layup, it is strange in case Emrpess is heading direction Malta. Maybe she really is finally on her last journey.

Ours wasn’t going to Montreal cape liberty round trip. Saint Jon’s and Halifax are the only Canada ports and they have 3 other ships sailing that route other times in the year.  So I guess we will wait and see. At this point I am not even sure there will ever be cruise again. 

Edited August 1, 2020 by K922

[BeachDiva101]

That’s why I picked Empress for my Bermuda cruise, it’s a small ship and it can go into St George island harbor, other ships can’t.  

[Sunshine3601]

5 minutes ago, BeachDiva101 said:

That’s why I picked Empress for my Bermuda cruise, it’s a small ship and it can go into St George island harbor, other ships can’t.  

Same here.  We love docking at st George and Hamilton.  Sooo much nicer than royal dockyard.   Our first cruise to bermuda was with my parents on Hals veendam.  We docked in hamilton for 3.5 days.  That's when we fell in love with cruising and Bermuda.

[BeachDiva101]

@Sunshine3601  I’ve never been to Bermuda before, it’s a bucket list place for me.  I was really looking forward to it.  I am getting the feeling as the days pass that this cruise will not happen.  I’ve cruised on the empress before, I like her because she is not what you would call a “kid friendly” ship as there is no big pool slide and kid splash zone like on the mega ships.  She is old but elegant in her own way.

[Sunshine3601]

9 minutes ago, BeachDiva101 said:

@Sunshine3601  I’ve never been to Bermuda before, it’s a bucket list place for me.  I was really looking forward to it.  I am getting the feeling as the days pass that this cruise will not happen.  I’ve cruised on the empress before, I like her because she is not what you would call a “kid friendly” ship as there is no big pool slide and kid splash zone like on the mega ships.  She is old but elegant in her own way.

I'm sure you will get to Bermuda and love it as much as we do.  Yes we also like the empress just not the small cabins.   Wish she had some balconies other than suites.  As you said she is an elegant ship.

[K922]

6 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

I'm sure you will get to Bermuda and love it as much as we do.  Yes we also like the empress just not the small cabins.   Wish she had some balconies other than suites.  As you said she is an elegant ship.

Bermuda is one of my favorite ports. We are actually book on a NCL to Bermuda the week before our New England and Canada cruise nexT July Sort of back to back.  We had Bermuda this summer since that didn’t happen we moved it to the week before the one we had booked for 2021 since they both go out of the nyc. Area. If you do get their you should look up by way tours. Heidi does an amazing all day tour. 

[twangster]

This report posted on July 31st says Empress isn't going anywhere.

 

A Royal Caribbean spokesperson responded simply, "Empress is not headed to the scrap yard, she’s still a part of the Royal Caribbean fleet."

 

 

 

 

[Merion_Mom]

We had absolutely awesome Roll Calls  going for Empress' initial calls into Hamilton and St George in May 2020.  The cancellations have been very disappointing.  😞 

[Biker19]

It is interesting to note that while she's still a several days away from being beached in Aliaga (she's sailing through the Greek isles today), cruisemapper has changed the status of Carnival Inspiration:

 

 

Empress still shows Malta as the destination.

[Hoopster95]

19 minutes ago, twangster said:

This report posted on July 31st says Empress isn't going anywhere.

 

A Royal Caribbean spokesperson responded simply, "Empress is not headed to the scrap yard, she’s still a part of the Royal Caribbean fleet."

 

Hi twangster. Hope you are well these days. I feel that this is 100% lip service. 

Only 75 balcony cabins, even at quad occupancy = 300 people out of 2000 cruisers in cabins for social distancing, fresh air, etc.

She's on her way to be scrapped. Makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to keep her in the RCG fleet... none at all. Cruises were being given away on her once Cuba sailings stopped, but even those Cuba sailings started to lose their luster and began to get heavy discounts.

 

4 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

We had absolutely awesome Roll Calls  going for Empress' initial calls into Hamilton and St George in May 2020.  The cancellations have been very disappointing.  😞 

 

Ah Carol, I would've been on there with you. I feel the RCG fleet will be drastically different post Covid

Edited August 2, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

1 minute ago, Biker19 said:

It is interesting to note that while she's (CCL Inspiration) still a several days away from being beached in Aliaga

 

We should take gentlemen bets as to when Vision Class disappears from the RCG fleet.

If no revenue by Q1, that's my guess as maximum time frame that Vision Class lasts... so March 2021?

[Biker19]

2 minutes ago, Hoopster95 said:

If no revenue by Q1, that's my guess as maximum time frame that Vision Class lasts... so March 2021?

It's fairly easy to bet on Grandeur leaving around then, the rest not so sure. And, they would leave the RCI fleet, but less likely the RCG fleet - if it ill be resurrected, Pullmantur needs ships.

[Hoopster95]

2 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Pullmantur needs ships.

 

They'll get the 4 Radiance Class ships.

 

[snaefell]

Interesting problem for the cruise lines,the likes of Venice & Amsterdam have already taken measures to restrict visiting cruise vessels,could smaller cruise ships be considered a better way to go before it becomes difficult to find places that still welcome the bigger vessels?

[ipeeinthepool]

6 hours ago, Biker19 said:

 - if it ill be resurrected, Pullmantur needs ships.

 

Why would they resurrect Pullmantur.  The joint venture has been losing money, why would it be different after Covid?  

[Biker19]

10 minutes ago, ipeeinthepool said:

Why would they resurrect Pullmantur. 

It may not be that by name, but RCG may want to lease their ships to someone - the marketing folks probably have no shortage of ideas. As I said, it's a big if, whether any joint venture goes forward.

[Ourusualbeach]

Did anyone really expect Royal to say anything other than the Empress is still in our fleet and we have no intentions of selling her when responding to inquiries about rumours.

 

Like Hoopster95 stated “it’s lip service”
 

Royal will continue to sell cruises on her up until the day that they announce that she is either being sold or scrapped which IMO will be before the fleet sails again. 

[cruiselvr04]

We were booked on her again for April 2020 with a very nice itinerary.  However due to rumors and not wanting our first cruise back to be in an ocean view we lifted and shifted to Allure in April 2021.  I tried to upgrade to a jr suite balcony on Empress but it wasn’t available.  We may have jumped the gun but I really don't want an ocean view anymore.  Of course Allure is an ocean view but a year later, a forward cabin on a higher deck. If prices come down I can try to upgrade later.  The lift and shift saved us over $1000 for this new cabin. 

 

We have fond memories of Empress and we were looking forward to sailing her again.  

 

 

[wendyp247]

I too Lifted and Shifted to Empress of the Seas Oct 21. What happens to our booking if she is scraped. There isn't a similar itinerary for the one I'm booked on , Montreal to San Juan. I see they are still taking booking. 

[marci22]

31 minutes ago, wendyp247 said:

I too Lifted and Shifted to Empress of the Seas Oct 21. What happens to our booking if she is scraped. There isn't a similar itinerary for the one I'm booked on , Montreal to San Juan. I see they are still taking booking. 

I think they would find you another option as they want to keep your money. Worst case scenario they refund you.

[Hoopster95]

13 minutes ago, wendyp247 said:

What happens to our booking if she is scraped. There isn't a similar itinerary for the one I'm booked on , Montreal to San Juan

 

You don't go on that itinerary. Pretty simple.

 

There is ZERO guarantee that ANY itinerary you currently see on the RCL webstie will even exist post C19.

There are so many posters who seem to think they'll simply get on a specific ship in a specific port and do a specific itinerary as currently advertised, or as they've known it to be for years (ie. Grandeur). Just will not happen. 

 

Here's another example: Voyager Class has a bit more than 600 inside cabins & over 900 OV... these will not be used for social distancing, fresh air circulation, etc.... and about 875 balcony cabins, so only 36% are fresh air balcony cabins on Voyager Class. RCL already came out and said the "smaller" ships need about 50% occupancy to break even.... note: zero profit, just breaking even. Voyager cannot sail at 36% capacity. Don't expect any Voyager Class sailings to sail as advertised today.

 

Oasis Class only needs about 30% to break even. She has a whopping 2700 cabins, 2000 are "fresh air" balconies. 

World wide, looks like cruising will be limited to regional customers and on short 3 day/4 day  regional itineraries for quite a while (that is even IF these cruise lines can prevent C19 on board.... see Hrutigruten and Aida issues this past week). So Americans will likely be forced to sail on itineraries very close to home, just as Greeks will sail around Greece, Norwegians will sail around Norway, etc. 

 

As John &LaLA and others have said several times on several threads, the likelyhood is that Oasis Class (not Mariner or Navigator) could try to start to sail many 3/4 day itineraries to drive-in customers, and only on oasis Class ships

[wendyp247]

Thanks for your thoughts on RCCl economics. My question was what happens with my lift and Shift, will Royal work with me on another cruise? 

[Hoopster95]

1 minute ago, wendyp247 said:

Thanks for your thoughts on RCCl economics. My question was what happens with my lift and Shift, will Royal work with me on another cruise? 

 

100% they will work with you. They will keep as much of your money as possible for as long as possible.