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Smaller ships making a comeback?


coaster
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I prefer smaller ships such as Empress. Checking prices and Empress out of Tampa is getting $1150 for an inside and $1385 for a window on a 6 night cruise November 4th. Newer ships don't seem to command prices close to this. Are we seeing a shift to where the older and smaller capacity ships are getting a higher per diem than the newer and larger ships with all the gimmicks? Is Royal on the forefront to bring older ships back into the fleet?

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I think it has more to do with the fact that Empress goes to Cuba than anything else. This particular sailing has an overnight in Cuba, which probably also contributes. If you look at the sailing 2 weeks later it's $400 cheaper but only 1 day in Cuba

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I prefer smaller ships such as Empress. Checking prices and Empress out of Tampa is getting $1150 for an inside and $1385 for a window on a 6 night cruise November 4th. Newer ships don't seem to command prices close to this. Are we seeing a shift to where the older and smaller capacity ships are getting a higher per diem than the newer and larger ships with all the gimmicks? Is Royal on the forefront to bring older ships back into the fleet?

Cuba price.

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I prefer smaller ships such as Empress. Checking prices and Empress out of Tampa is getting $1150 for an inside and $1385 for a window on a 6 night cruise November 4th. Newer ships don't seem to command prices close to this. Are we seeing a shift to where the older and smaller capacity ships are getting a higher per diem than the newer and larger ships with all the gimmicks? Is Royal on the forefront to bring older ships back into the fleet?

 

it has to be the cuba location- i do cruises on the very small Grandeur all of the time and only pay about $700 for a 9 day cruise out of Baltimore.

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The older smaller ships are not making a come back and in general command lower prices than newer bigger ships.

 

Not the case in the overall market.

 

Consider the prices for Azamara and Oceania, e.g. I for example would pay LOTS more to sail Azamara Journey than I would any of the mega-ships. Obviously the much better service/food/etc. is a big factor, but not what contributes to a multiplier of 3x, 4x or more the price (per diem).

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The higher price definitely has to do with Cuba (meaning it's attractive not wrong). I rode the Empress in 2016 in an OV for $48/person/night.

The itinerary is typically a bigger factor than the type of boat. It's when there's more than one type of boat going to a location that most consider the boat type.

I think what Royal figured out is that there's something for everyone. They are continuously building bigger ships. Recently they acquired small ships for people who want a more intimate feel. The bigger ships have exclusive activities, more variety of shows, more eateries (even free), teen lounge which attract families. Years ago B4 the big ships, I was on a cruise where the teens were a complete nuisance. Not adults but too old for the kids club. They were always sitting on the steps in the way. Nothing to do, no place to hang out. I'm glad that Royal recognized this and created a place for them on the bigger boats. Different boats for different people. I didn't have any issues with the ton of kids on Oasis. I hope that Royal corrected the AC issue they had in the Empress casino (even though I don't gamble, it brought down the feel on the boat). Empress also has 2 cafeteria lines vs. stations which crowds the buffet lines. Other than that the feel of the boat was the same as the mid-size boats for me. I enjoy them all.

Edited by Cruise4Twos
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This is an RCI site, so comments in general should be assumed to be limited to RCI.

 

Not really, this is actually a CC site and people ask about comparisons here all the time.

 

The best "small" ship cruise we ever did was on Oceania a T/A from Barbados to France. Small ship, only 65,000 ton, and it was a re-positioning headed to dry dock. We only had 160 pax on a 650 pax ship. I am guessing a lot of people got scared off because she was headed to dry dock. But, it was like being on you own personal yacht.

 

However, anything comparable currently is 3X the cost. So we will be sticking with RCCL for now.

 

But our first suite was a GS on Mariner (OK not a "small" ship) and after that we would never go back to a non-suite.

 

We also did a Windjammer Barefoot cruise, which gives true meaning to "small ship".

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Royal used it for non-Cuba cruises in 2016.

 

Royal brought Empress back with the intention of going to Cuba. Empress was ready to go before Cuba was opened up so rather than let Empress sit idle they did do some non-Cuba cruises. These cruises were MUCH cheaper than what Royal is charging to go to Cuba on Empress. Not sure where you were going with your original post, which I quoted above, or your edit.

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