Empress vs Majesty

[mygrace777]

Ive been on the Majesty many times, but for those who have been on both, Majesty and the Empress, can someone offer me a comparison between the two? Isn't the Empress older? I know it's...smaller. Any info will be helpful.

[troykahack]

Isn't the Empress older? .

 

Empress built 1990 as Future Seas, renamed Nordic Empress, then Empress, and then Empress of the Seas.

 

Enchantment built 1997

[Clarea]

Empress built 1990 as Future Seas, renamed Nordic Empress, then Empress, and then Empress of the Seas.

 

Enchantment built 1997

Who was talking about Enchantment?

 

Majesty came out in 1992.

[mygrace777]

What about the majesty? I wasn't thinking of going on the Enchantment. lol

[BillOh]

Ive been on the Majesty many times, but for those who have been on both, Majesty and the Empress, can someone offer me a comparison between the two? Isn't the Empress older? I know it's...smaller. Any info will be helpful.

 

I'm glad you asked, I'm kind of in the same boat, pun fully intended. Besides the ship take a look at the itineraries of each ship. I've sailed Majesty 3 times out of Miami and once from PC. When Empress came back and was being refitted one of the things RC said was it being more of a stay in port longer type of ship, which I could see having a good time staying late in Key West, Grand Caymen, or even Cozumel. Plus we have the Cuban sailings to look forward to someday, maybe.

[troykahack]

Who was talking about Enchantment?

 

Majesty came out in 1992.

 

Opps... I was thinking old days PC... read it right but mind went elsewhere... CRS

[troykahack]

What about the majesty? I wasn't thinking of going on the Enchantment. lol

 

See, I knew you were going to ask about Enchantment

[seabeew]

I'm going to take a stab at your question based on one cruise in September on Majesty and one cruise in October on Empress. I liked Empress far more than the Majesty. I'd rather have Empress in Port Canaveral. (I'd also rather have the Enchantment back.)

 

Here's my comparison:

 

Overall Appearance: Empress far exceeds Majesty.

Empress has a much more modern decor, which includes the cabins and public spaces. The color palette in the cabin we were in and will be in soon was in the grey-blue spectrum will pops of white. The decor in the public areas includes white leather or leather substitute and deep reds. It was very stunning. Majesty's was just dull old Royal Caribbean. Nothing offensive but dull.

 

Food: Empress wins this by a slight margin because we liked their menus, which are probably a variation on the new fleet-wide menus. Empress has a Chops and a complimentary sea day brunch with a Bloody Mary or Mimosa included. The windjammer was too small. We only ate there on embarkation day. Majesty charges for its brunch (which may be better.

 

Service: Cabin, Bar, and Dining Room Service: Great on both ships.

 

Night life: Seemed livelier on Empress, but that may be dependent on the passenger make up. Boleros on Empress just seemed more like a real Latin nightclub to me, not that this old lady has ever been in real Latin nightclub. The Centrum on the Empress was too small to be used as an entertainment venue.

 

Crown and Anchor Benefits: No Diamond or Concierge lounge on either ship, but Majesty does a better job with the de facto lounge set up in the Viking Crown lounge. Just having the vouchers worked fine for us, but it might not for everyone.

 

Casino: Very small on Empress, but my husband said the staff was very nice. As non smokers, the smoke free casino was nice. I was by myself on the Majesty so I just walked through it.

 

Ship Layout: To me Majesty was very poorly laid out with no one elevator going from the bottom to the top deck and the half floor was just weird. Empress was pretty straight forward to me.

 

Itineraries: Empress offers much more varied ports and even can take you to the Yucatán peninsula.

 

Price: Empress is heavily discounted through the end of the year.

 

Sorry I wrote so much! I liked the Empress much better, but I would still go on Majesty as Port Canaveral is 30 minutes from my husband's office versus 3.5 - 4 hours to Miami.

 

 

 

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Edited November 12, 2016 by seabeew