Not Impressed with Empress

[starri]

I'm honestly curious as to why they branded the Empress as RCI instead of either launching a new brand, like Carnival Corp did with fathom or making it part of Celebrity or Azamara. It seems like the Cuba market is going to be positioned more for the typical X or Azamara customer than for RCI, just going off the prices fathom is charging.

 

If they wanted to transfer it prior to getting approval for Cuba, they could have used it for port intensive cruises to the less traveled Caribbean ports like Azamara does.

[stormynow]

I'm honestly curious as to why they branded the Empress as RCI instead of either launching a new brand, like Carnival Corp did with fathom or making it part of Celebrity or Azamara. It seems like the Cuba market is going to be positioned more for the typical X or Azamara customer than for RCI, just going off the prices fathom is charging.

 

If they wanted to transfer it prior to getting approval for Cuba, they could have used it for port intensive cruises to the less traveled Caribbean ports like Azamara does.

 

If aware of the problems going t happen, am sure RCL would have. Post makes a lot of sense. IMO

[ryano]

Seeee yaaaaaaaa! Most of their ships aren't any better. Why not go on a real royal ship lol?

 

Have you ever even been on a Carnival ship? If so, which one?

 

Ill take the crappiest Carnival ship sailing the ocean over this hunk of junk called Empress. What an embarrassment to Royal Caribbean. This ship wasnt even close to being ready to sail.

Edited June 7, 2016 by ryano

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Have you ever even been on a Carnival ship? If so, which one?

 

Ill take the crappiest Carnival ship sailing the ocean over this hunk of junk called Empress. What an embarrassment to Royal Caribbean. This ship wasnt even close to being ready to sail.

 

And for a counterpoint, I'd take Empress over any of the old Carnival ships. ;)

[ryano]

And for a counterpoint, I'd take Empress over any of the old Carnival ships. ;)

 

Id rather have working AC, a comfortable casino, more food options and better service. I can deal with "loud" decor. Your mileage may certainly vary :)

[FLSteve11]

Sailing on the Empress will be our first cruise with RC. I was looking at length of cruise, a stop at Key West and a decent price. I booked in March and didn't learn of the Empress' history until April when cruises started getting canceled. Live and learn. We'll be sailing the Harmony in April 2017 so I'm giving RC a second chance....regardless of how our first RC trip turns out.

 

I think they will be quite different cruises between the Empress & Harmony. *grin* For what it's worth, Oasis/Allure and the Disney Dream are probably our favorite cruise ships. So we've sailed sisters of the Harmony and Disney Fantasy.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Id rather have working AC, a comfortable casino, more food options and better service. I can deal with "loud" decor. Your mileage may certainly vary :)

 

It wasn't just the decor. :cool:

 

I will admit...the AC might make me more apprehensive. I haven't been following every Empress thread, is that issue getting resolved?

[Big_G]

If you think carnival ships aren't better than drilling going on and no A/C you must be kidding yourself.

 

I'm sure you are aware that Carnival did the same thing to it's first Sunshine victims. This isn't exclusive to Royal. It doesn't excuse it and I agree, if that was my only cruise on Royal, I too would probably lose confidence.

[FLSteve11]

I'm honestly curious as to why they branded the Empress as RCI instead of either launching a new brand, like Carnival Corp did with fathom or making it part of Celebrity or Azamara. It seems like the Cuba market is going to be positioned more for the typical X or Azamara customer than for RCI, just going off the prices fathom is charging.

 

If they wanted to transfer it prior to getting approval for Cuba, they could have used it for port intensive cruises to the less traveled Caribbean ports like Azamara does.

 

I think it would have been a good idea as well, at least having a new brand for doing what will be specific sailings. Carnival clearly got the jump on RCL with the Fathom line and ship. That ship is an old ship converted as well, but since it's a new line people don't have expectations for it. (On a cynical side, my guess is they didn't want to spend the extra money on the administrative side of making a new cruise line and needing more executives).

 

I don't think this ship is anywhere near ready to join Azamara, imagine someone paying those prices and sailing this? Maybe once it gets a set, specialized Cuba itinerary, and gets all the issues fixed, it may get moved there. Or become a specialized ship in Celebrity to go with the Expedition (which no one ever really thinks of as being a Celebrity ship).

[starri]

I think it would have been a good idea as well, at least having a new brand for doing what will be specific sailings. Carnival clearly got the jump on RCL with the Fathom line and ship. That ship is an old ship converted as well, but since it's a new line people don't have expectations for it. (On a cynical side, my guess is they didn't want to spend the extra money on the administrative side of making a new cruise line and needing more executives).

 

I don't think this ship is anywhere near ready to join Azamara, imagine someone paying those prices and sailing this? Maybe once it gets a set, specialized Cuba itinerary, and gets all the issues fixed, it may get moved there. Or become a specialized ship in Celebrity to go with the Expedition (which no one ever really thinks of as being a Celebrity ship).

 

The Xpedition is exactly what I was thinking of. Just set it up as doing a very specialized itinerary. I think there's probably a reasonable market for people who'd like to do smaller ports in the western hemisphere year round, when most of the premium ships are off in Alaska and Europe. I mean, maybe you don't want a long flight, or whatever, but might want to see St. Barths.

 

I'm no engineer or designer, but I can't imagine it wouldn't have been easier and possibly more cost effective to try and retrofit the ship to X or Azamara's standards (which would have probably dropped the total passengers too) instead of trying to turn it into some kind of chimera of the current onboard experience of all the other ships. I mean, Empress is only 2/3rds the size of Majesty. And even Majesty can't quite compete with the even bigger megaships.

[poncho1973]

My favorite post in this whole thread went POOOF!

 

How unfortunate.

[Had2cruz]

I think they will be quite different cruises between the Empress & Harmony. *grin* For what it's worth, Oasis/Allure and the Disney Dream are probably our favorite cruise ships. So we've sailed sisters of the Harmony and Disney Fantasy.

 

Yes, they will be very different cruises! Of course, the Harmony will have lots of their kinks worked out long before we sail....I'm hoping the same will be true with the Empress.

 

We love the Disney ships. The only one we haven't sailed on is the Dream. I suppose if we're kicked off Empress, we can rebook on the Dream! *grin*

[OSUZorba]

Thank you so much for these words of wisdom. Seeing cruisers coming off the Empress each time with better experiences makes me feel so much better. I do hope the food offerings in the buffet at least get a little better. I don't know how good my teens will do having to wait 2 hours for meals. But again, thank you so much! We are starting to look forward to it again.

 

To add a little more to what Firemedic was saying. The best cruise I've done was Oasis of the Seas in 2011. The worst cruise I've ever done was Oasis of the Seas in 2013. The difference? Our mental state at the time, going into cruise and our inability to let it go on the cruise. Then every small thing on the ship bothered us.

 

The point is, go into expecting to have fun, don't expect everything to be perfect, roll with the punches and decide to enjoy yourself. Also remember a lot of people on here have done scores of cruises and have a lot of stories of the "Good Ol' Days." Their expectations are just going to be much different than a first timer with no experience.

 

Cruising is great when you don't want to plan, which is why we do it once a year, while our other vacations are planning heavy.

[Pratique]

Looks like they dropped prices today for Empress. Anyone tempted?

[Biker19]

Still not a great bargain. It's weird to not see any schedule past the end of July.