Empress Returning to RCCL?

[Saab4444]

Splendour remains in the RCL fleet in one way as TUI Cruises is the owner and they will in turn lease the ship to Thomson Cruises. Splendour certainly leaves the RCI fleet, though.

 

 

 

All of the ships now are actually held by separate companies held by RCL.

 

 

 

Splendor is currently owned by Splendor of the Seas, Inc. and Managed by RCL and operated by RCI.

 

 

 

It will be interesting to check how this register changes after May of 2016.

 

 

 

https://exchange.dnv.com/Exchange/Main.aspx?EXTool=Vessel&VesselID=18426

 

 

TUI Group, the new owner of Splendor, Is not owned by RCI. RCI holds just a share of TUI Cruises that is a German jointventure with TUI Group. Thomson Cruises belongs to TUI Group but not to TUI Cruises (until now).

[Paulxyz2004]

TUI Group, the new owner of Splendor, Is not owned by RCI. RCI holds just a share of TUI Cruises that is a German jointventure with TUI Group. Thomson Cruises belongs to TUI Group but not to TUI Cruises (until now).

 

Actually TUI Cruises is a Joint venture between RCCL and TUI. RCI has nothing to do with it at all.

[LuvBNatC]

AWESOME! Empress was a great little ship! I'd do her again in a heartbeat....went to Bermuda out of Norfolk - speaking of that, I wonder why RCL dumped Norfolk as a cruise port?

 

Fingers crossed on an Empress comeback. :)

 

I would love to see Empress homeport in Norfolk to sail to Bermuda and the Bahamas. Norfolk built a lovely new terminal a few years ago and sorely needs a ship.

[MADflyer]

TUI Group, the new owner of Splendor, Is not owned by RCI. RCI holds just a share of TUI Cruises that is a German jointventure with TUI Group. Thomson Cruises belongs to TUI Group but not to TUI Cruises (until now).

 

Yes. TUI Group is quite complicated due to previous mergers, but I think they have now merged the UK and German companies and that while TUI group does own Thomson Cruises in it's entirety, RCL owns exactly 50% of the joint venture TUI Cruises and they also operate and manage the ships and RCL even is responsible for the TUI Cruses new builds.

 

Splendour was sold to TUI Cruises and not TUI Group as I have understood. TUI Cruises is leasing the ship to Thomson Cruises. Thus, the 50% remaining ownership of Discovery by RCL.

[MADflyer]

Fingers crossed on an Empress comeback. :)

 

I would love to see Empress homeport in Norfolk to sail to Bermuda and the Bahamas. Norfolk built a lovely new terminal a few years ago and sorely needs a ship.

 

I am thinking along the same lines.

 

Carnival just went back into the empty terminal that Mobile built last week and I would think RCI could consider that option as well. They could maybe even get Empress in there prior to the Carnival ship.

 

RCI could also return to NOLA, but I would not think that would be likely with Empress.

 

Mobile has had a recent campaign where they were trying to point out to the cruise operators that they offer the best option for short sailings to Cuba from the US. I have no idea what the reception by the cruise industry has been.

[F27TW]

A small old ship with no balconies whatsoever ... sure ... hey I have a great idea

 

Why bother to re-position the old Majesty into Port Canaveral after all?! Send Empress instead .. who cares about a nice ship for the 3/4 day cruises ... its only "Port Canaveral", after all ..

 

 

(this is my prediction of what will happen).

[Saab4444]

Yes. TUI Group is quite complicated due to previous mergers, but I think they have now merged the UK and German companies and that while TUI group does own Thomson Cruises in it's entirety, RCL owns exactly 50% of the joint venture TUI Cruises and they also operate and manage the ships and RCL even is responsible for the TUI Cruses new builds.

 

 

 

Splendour was sold to TUI Cruises and not TUI Group as I have understood. TUI Cruises is leasing the ship to Thomson Cruises. Thus, the 50% remaining ownership of Discovery by RCL.

 

 

You are absolutely right but until now RCL's shares and management responsibilty have been limited to the German TUI Cruises ships. I believe this will not change. Thompson ships have always been operated by Columbia Shipmanagement and are still owned by former Louis Cruises and HAL.

[ryano]

 

Carnival just went back into the empty terminal that Mobile built last week and I would think RCI could consider that option as well. They could maybe even get Empress in there prior to the Carnival ship.

 

 

Ok, now you are talking :) 5 hour drive for me! By far the closest port. If that happened, I would definitely rethink Empress for a cruise and just deal with the very small amount of accessible cabin availability. Ive been wishing for a RC ship in Mobile for about 6 years now. Im not holding my breath though :o

[Saab4444]

Empress return makes sense only for Cuba as bigger ships will not be able to go to most ports on the island and RCL has to participate in this business opportunity asap.

[fishbonz]

Don't be so sure...

 

 

Did the grandeur and not crazy about smaller ships,,,,,,,,,,but would try this one and have my own fishing line or will it be confiscated at the pier. :eek: :cool:.

[MADflyer]

You are absolutely right but until now RCL's shares and management responsibilty have been limited to the German TUI Cruises ships. I believe this will not change. Thompson ships have always been operated by Columbia Shipmanagement and are still owned by former Louis Cruises and HAL.

 

Yes. I do not believe there is any management agreement for ship operations for the Thomson Discovery.

 

As Thomson was a part of TUI PLC and TUI Cruises was a part of the German company it would be interesting to know if anything could change now that the UK and German TUI companies have merged into one TUI Group.

[cruiserhal]

We just dug out the Nordic Empress catalog from 1990.

 

Some prices for 3-nights:

Cat A Owners Suite Value Season $1075 Peak $1105

Cat C Deluxe Outside with Balcony Value Season $975 Peak $1005

Cat I Standard Outside B Deck Value Season $735 Peek $765

Cat Q Deck B Inside Value Season $495 Peak $530

 

We did a 3 day out of San Juan in 1998 and it was lots of fun.

 

I don't know how they can improve it to fit today's market but I will be watching.

[garnetpalmetto]

A small old ship with no balconies whatsoever ... sure ... hey I have a great idea

 

Why bother to re-position the old Majesty into Port Canaveral after all?! Send Empress instead .. who cares about a nice ship for the 3/4 day cruises ... its only "Port Canaveral", after all ..

 

 

(this is my prediction of what will happen).

 

I don't know what ship you're talking about, but Empress most assuredly has balconies.

[F27TW]

I don't know what ship you're talking about, but Empress most assuredly has balconies.

 

How many? 6 ?

[garnetpalmetto]

How many? 6 ?

 

Looking on Pullmantur's deckplans:

 

63 Junior Suites (5 on Deck 7, 1 on Deck 8, 57 on Deck 9)

5 Deluxe Suites (2 on Deck 7, 2 on Deck 8, 1 on Deck 9)

1 Royal Suite (Deck 8)

 

So 69 total balcony cabins.

Edited October 23, 2015 by garnetpalmetto

[John&LaLa]

How many? 6 ?

 

We had 2 when we sailed out of PR in 2002. 5 night southern

[John&LaLa]

We just dug out the Nordic Empress catalog from 1990.

 

Some prices for 3-nights:

Cat A Owners Suite Value Season $1075 Peak $1105

Cat C Deluxe Outside with Balcony Value Season $975 Peak $1005

Cat I Standard Outside B Deck Value Season $735 Peek $765

Cat Q Deck B Inside Value Season $495 Peak $530

 

We did a 3 day out of San Juan in 1998 and it was lots of fun.

 

I don't know how they can improve it to fit today's market but I will be watching.

 

I miss that they don't have prices listed in the brochures anymore. :(

[paulh84]

After sailing FOS and an upcoming cruise on NCL Escape, the small "old'" ships definitely have my attention. I would really like to try one. We probably won't spend the money for a Crystal/SilverSea type experience so this would be perfect. It's amazing to see what has evolved in the past 20-25 years with these ships.

[DarthGrady]

Excellent news that's she's definitely coming back to RCI! I'm looking forward to cruising on her.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Looking on Pullmantur's deckplans:

 

63 Junior Suites (5 on Deck 7, 1 on Deck 8, 57 on Deck 9)

5 Deluxe Suites (2 on Deck 7, 2 on Deck 8, 1 on Deck 9)

1 Royal Suite (Deck 8)

 

So 69 total balcony cabins.

 

Regarding balconies... So I was looking at some deck plans and pictures of Empress and started wondering if they could possibly add balconies to the ocean view rooms located on deck 8. They did this sort of thing with Legend and Splendour during their refurbishments... Not sure if it would be technically possible because of the position of the life boats, but if could work, I think it would be great!

Edited October 23, 2015 by OfTheSeasCruiser

[Pumbaamd]

She is one of a kind. A class all her own with no sister ships.

 

Yes, she was always listed and advertised as such. We sailed on her twice from Miami and once from Philly. Would be great fun to sail her again!

Rick and Deirdra

[pspercy]

http://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/13195-pullmantur-another-change-of-strategy-empress-back-to-royal-.html

 

I think this is great news, she would make a good ship for short Caribbean/Bahamas cruises. This means more options for cruisers!

 

How do you guys feel about this?

 

I was thinking the opposite, make her the "yacht" again and do longer itineraries (like HAL does with Prinsendam) but I guess that conflicts with their family marketing focus and would also require too much imagination.

Edited October 24, 2015 by pspercy

[John&LaLa]

I was thinking the opposite, make her the "yacht" again and do longer itineraries (like HAL does with Prinsendam) but I guess that conflicts with their family marketing focus and would also require too much imagination.

 

It's one thing to take back those previous public area to reduce passengers, but that doesn't address the fact that the std cabins are small to begin with.

 

Besides, shouldn't Azamara be better suited for itineraries like Prisendam

Edited October 24, 2015 by John&LaLa

[Yorkvillain]

It's one thing to take back those previous public area to reduce passengers, but that doesn't address the fact that the std cabins are small to begin with.

 

Besides, shouldn't Azamara be better suited for itineraries like Prisendam

 

John, your new avatar is killing me. :D

[F27TW]

All my earlier snarky kidding around aside, since Pullmantur seems to be shrinking a bit and RC bringing back Empress, I wonder if there are similar plans for Monarch and Sovereign?

 

Both are larger and are the same age ... doesn't seem like they;d bring just Empress back without the other two, no ?

 

Loved my 2 cruises on Monarch.