Just off Empress- never again!

[Paul65]

Thanks for the fair and balanced review OP. Despite what the self anointed opinion police say, usually fair and balanced is received well. I wouldn't want to be in your shoes. Happy future sailings.

 

Absolutely. We've got a few noisy posters here who keep trying to convince people otherwise, for some reason.

[PhoenixCruiser]

Empress seems like one to avoid. One of the most valuable assets of Cruise Critic is its ship reviews and there are absolutely no reviews for Empress by either CC or passengers (in the reviews section). Personally I wouldn't book any ship that didn't have at least fairly good reviews on CC.

 

Probably because there has only been one sailing and they just got back.

 

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[eroller]

It's a shame the ship is having so many issues. I truly hope RCI does right by you and everyone else that experienced these unacceptable issues.

 

The ship was originally designed by Admiral Cruises as the FUTURE SEAS. She was specifically designed for the short cruise market, which is one reason there is only one pool and the cabins are very small. The thinking was that the ship would rarely be at sea, spending most of her time in Nassau where most people would be ashore.

 

Admiral was a purchased by Royal Caribbean and with it came FUTURE SEAS which was renamed NORDIC EMPRESS before the ship was completed. The rest is history.

 

I think she might be fine when put on the Cuba run and the issues taken care of. Those cruises will be far more expensive and I expect carry far fewer children which will mean a lower passenger count. That may help with crowding along with having the proper number of staff onboard. I have read that the ship is currently short staffed due to the projected start date being changed so many times. Once a date was finally decided upon it was rather late to source and transit the crew to the ship.

 

I'm not making excuses but just providing some insight. Sounds like all passengers on this cruise deserve a large refund and future cruise credit. I hope you get it!

Edited June 3, 2016 by eroller

[loubetti]

Not exactly Lou. Titanic was 200 feet longer than Empress. Empress just has a slightly larger enclosed volume (more "hotel" decks).

 

Yes exactly. Size is size (volume), not just length, Empress IS larger than Titanic.

 

Also, for a comparison; the world's largest passenger plane is the Airbus A380, but the world's longest, but not largest passenger plane is the Boeing 747-8.

 

Length isn't everything, my good man and, besides, the Olympic class were built as ocean liners, not cruise ships. I'm sure you know that there were 3 "Titanics". Sadly, only Olympic (the first of the class) survived for 25 years.

[loubetti]

Someone suggested that they might start reserving some cabins for additional workers who need to keep fixing things. I wonder if that's it?

 

And thanks for all the positive feedback. I will keep monitoring for another cruise to see what it looks like. I really like the tip of a three way phone call.

 

Gina, dahling, CC at best represents 1% of the cruise market. Look at some of the comments here about the new Harmony, and it being a "construction site". Oy!

 

Let it go and don't panic, and certainly do not lose money to book another cruise. Nordic Empress... oops, Empress of the Seas will be fine by the time you sail.

 

Go and enjoy! :)

[LMaxwell]

Gina, dahling, CC at best represents 1% of the cruise market. Look at some of the comments here about the new Harmony, and it being a "construction site". Oy!

 

Let it go and don't panic, and certainly do not lose money to book another cruise. Nordic Empress... oops, Empress of the Seas will be fine by the time you sail.

 

Go and enjoy! :)

 

You should book Empress and make it your first RCI cruise :cool:

 

I'll see you onboard heading to Havana! Cigars on me.

Edited June 3, 2016 by LMaxwell

[LMaxwell]

Yes exactly. Size is size (volume), not just length, Empress IS larger than Titanic.

 

Also, for a comparison; the world's largest passenger plane is the Airbus A380, but the world's longest, but not largest passenger plane is the Boeing 747-8.

 

Length isn't everything, my good man and, besides, the Olympic class were built as ocean liners, not cruise ships. I'm sure you know that there were 3 "Titanics". Sadly, only Olympic (the first of the class) survived for 25 years.

 

Yes, Britannic was only in service about a year and a half before being sunk. I do not think she ever got to serve as a passenger ship; military requisition the entire time.

[riclop]

Don't blame you at all.

[MOcruiserman]

Probably because there has only been one sailing and they just got back.

 

###

 

I understand that. But personally I would not book with a ship that hasn't been well-vetted by Cruise Critic and its members.

 

When I booked my upcoming cruise I was considering the new HAL Koningsdam but I decided not to go with it because I didn't feel comfortable with a ship with no track record. Instead I booked a ship with over 900 reviews and an overall score of 80. That satisfied my comfort level.

[Merion_Mom]

THANK YOU for posting your review.

 

We were scheduled to cruise in May but ours was cancelled and after reading the many negative reviews I am glad that it was.

 

Because we have not personally experienced the problems on the Empress we will most likely book her in the future (not near future) after the kinks have been worked out.

 

Royal Caribbean certainly has stretched its self thin and the result is not pretty.

 

Hopefully, they will get their house (ships) in order and will rise to their normal level of service.

 

Thanks again for posting the review.

 

But we had a great time on the Enchantment, didn't we? We really dodged a bullet there! :eek:

[JamesEM]

Thanks for the reviews, I'm surprised the RCL did not provide some sort of compensation.

[Thelongos]

Thank you for your post. This post, combined with other similar posts convinced us to switch sailings. We found an Allure sailing (costing more) that worked in the same time frame.

 

It won't be a smaller ship, like we wanted to try, but perhaps we can try a smaller ship in the future, like the Empress, when the mechanical gets fixed and reviews improve!

 

I sure wish I was looking at cruise critic before I booked the Empress sailing--we had no clue it was newly refurbished when booking it, we just noticed it was small, intimate and branded with "Royal" which typically means the standards and expectations we all know from Royal.

 

The reviews here are priceless, thanks again!

 

Sent from my Galaxy Note 4

[Merion_Mom]

I am booked to sail on the 6th, actually leaving tomorrow for a few extra days and a quick trip to key west.

 

I am hoping for the best. I have the drink package, good friends sailing with us and I am packing a card game to play. The weather actually looks like it will be raining both shore days but what the hell. I will sit, drink and catch up with friends I haven't seen in a while.

 

And it really comes down to I don't have to work, so a bad day on vacation is still better then a good day at work. LOL

 

May I suggest: Cards Against Humanity :D :D :D

[quiltingandcruising]

May I suggest: Cards Against Humanity :D :D :D

 

Great minds think alike. That is the game I packed!!

[Citymom92]

I sure wish I was looking at cruise critic before I booked the Empress sailing--we had no clue it was newly refurbished when booking it, we just noticed it was small, intimate and branded with "Royal" which typically means the standards and expectations we all know from Royal.

 

This is exactly my situation. Never cruised, didn't even know about Cruise Critic, picked Empress for exactly the same reasons.

 

Can I ask how you were able to get a spot on the Allure? You must be past final payment, as we are, and I would have expected the cancellation fees to be high. Did you go through a TA or book directly? Thanks for any info!

[spooker girl]

We are scheduled for b2b cruises 6/16 & 6/20. Reading the reviews certainly isn't giving us the warm fuzzies, but we're just going to make the best of it and hope at least some of the kinks will be worked out. As someone above already said, we won't be at work !!

 

I guess from here on out, if you go in expecting problems, there will be problems. Now, having said that, RCI needs to get their act together if they want to remain an elite cruise line. Food & AC are necessities not exactly luxuries.

[Philly Steve]

Sorry to hear about the negative experience. RCI, I'm sure, will do some fine tuning. ;)

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

Holy wall of text, Batman!!! (just kidding you).

 

Sorry your cruise was such a disappointment.

[Mattnvick]

I agree shame on Royal for letting the Empress set sail before she was ready to live up to the Royal standard.

 

But shame on you for having unrealistic expectations of this ship. The deck plans were out there, the amenities offered were listed. ]woulwouldexpect the ship to have things that it didn't? I simply don't understand. I also looked into booking the Empress when the announcements were first made about her return, and she was being marketed as a "party ship". After about 15 minutes of research, I quickly came to the conclusion that I would NOT be happy on her. I simply am used to, and prefer, larger ships, which offer amenities that only larger ships can support. I therefore, correctly it seems, decided that the Empress was not for me. If I had children, it would have been even easier to not book this ship.

 

I get that you had a frustrating experience, and I would be upset at the many mechanical issues you outlined as well... But don't blame Royal for your lack of research. That ship, even operating at 100% efficiency, would have let you down.

 

 

I'm sorry I don't understand. Yes deck plans were out there and it appears that ping pong, shuffleboard and movie screen were shown and listed. None of that really high-tech stuff.

 

Also according to O.P ping pong tournament was listed in the cruise compass so you would expect for a tournament to go ahead they would need a table.....:confused:

 

So to say that they didnt do their homework so its their fault is totally unfair IMO. Also had the O.P and City Mom who says she doesnt even want all the bells and whistles had asked c.c. when doing research "is there a ping pong table?" As none had yet sailed on her due to the cancellation the answer given would be yes it lists it and so her expectation would be she would find it.

 

But apparently they were not there and so they will be disappointed as Royal have chosen not to include one.

 

OP couldn't do shuffleboard as the court was covered in boxes. There was obviously a need to store them there so her expectation was she could play when she could'nt and for some reason the movies had no sound so not a huge amount of fun there after about 5 minutes I would think.

 

So to say shame on them. No. I do not agree.

Edited June 3, 2016 by Mattnvick

[Colorado Babe]

I don't understand why some folks have to be so mean. I wonder if they would act the same way face-to-face. I think not.

 

I feel so sorry for all of you who spent your hard earned money on a cruise that didn't even come close to your expectations. What makes it worst is that RC didn't even provide compensation for most. Shaking my head and very disappointed in RC.

[detlionsfan]

This is exactly my situation. Never cruised, didn't even know about Cruise Critic, picked Empress for exactly the same reasons.

 

Can I ask how you were able to get a spot on the Allure? You must be past final payment, as we are, and I would have expected the cancellation fees to be high. Did you go through a TA or book directly? Thanks for any info!

I just rebooked myself on to Enchantment. It wasn't the comments here that got to me. it was the comments on Facebook. Overwhelmingly negative to the point where Royal Caribbean posted a phone number to call them if they had problems. I called that number and asked them to rebook to another cruise.

[magicsoccer]

Can you please post that phone number. I have tried to change mine with no success. Thanks

[Citymom92]

So to say that they didnt do their homework so its their fault is totally unfair IMO. Also had the O.P and City Mom who says she doesnt even want all the bells and whistles had asked c.c. when doing research "is there a ping pong table?" As none had yet sailed on her due to the cancellation the answer given would be yes it lists it and so her expectation would be she would find it.

 

. . . So to say shame on them. No. I do not agree.

 

Thanks so much for this post. I have been kicking myself trying to figure out what more I could have done, and have decided to let myself off the hook here. Now I know better what I should do if I ever get the chance to book a cruise again.

[Mattnvick]

Thanks so much for this post. I have been kicking myself trying to figure out what more I could have done, and have decided to let myself off the hook here. Now I know better what I should do if I ever get the chance to book a cruise again.

 

Anytime. Im a very new cruiser (just booked our second) C.C. which I found by accident does has some really helpful people. Unfortunately it also has some who will say everything is your fault rather than hear any negative stuff about Royal.

 

We sailed Royal first time on Enchantment and really had a great time. Our second cruise is with a different line and because I am open minded enough and really enjoy a lot of European ways of doing things :D I will not have a problem on there at all!!

 

Also I figure with only 1cruise under my belt I'm way too new to be "loyal" to anybody except my husband and my wallet ;)

[Clarkk W Griswald]

After being booked on the 3/30 and 4/30 Empress that were both cancelled, I sure am glad we didn't re book a third time. This ship has been a disaster.