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Empress of The Seas

BigAl94

By BigAl94,
in Royal Caribbean International

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notmyrealnameoremail

notmyrealnameoremail

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, livingonthebeach said:

 

As far as I know those are the only 2 RCI ships that ever docked there -- (Empress out of Miami and Majesty out of Tampa and P.E.) for the short time the sailings were allowed (2016-2019).  Maybe some Vision class ships could have docked there but they never went.  Empress was going to the port of Cienfuegos, Cuba as well -- don't know if Majesty was going there as well. 

 

Thanks.  I suspect that the Cuba cruise market can be profitable for Royal and that makes it worthwhile for them to have ships that can go there.  Since allowing cruises to Cuba from the USA would not require a change in the law, just Presidential action,  a new President could make it happen quicker than you might think.  Remember how fast it got shut down.

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livingonthebeach "Live from...." Rare

livingonthebeach

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, notmyrealnameoremail said:

Thanks.  I suspect that the Cuba cruise market can be profitable for Royal and that makes it worthwhile for them to have ships that can go there.  Since allowing cruises to Cuba from the USA would not require a change in the law, just Presidential action,  a new President could make it happen quicker than you might think.  Remember how fast it got shut down.

 

Yes I do remember how fast it was shut down.  I was on Harmony in May of 2019 out of P.C. when I booked onboard for Empress to Havana and Cienfuegos.  Just one month later the cruise was cancelled and re-routed to the Western Caribbean.  I went ahead with the cruise to Cozumel and Costa Maya. Some people on that cruise had made custom T-shirts with "The Cruise that was supposed to go to Cuba" emblazoned on them.

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keyboardjunkie

keyboardjunkie

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, livingonthebeach said:

 

Yes I do remember how fast it was shut down.  I was on Harmony in May of 2019 out of P.C. when I booked onboard for Empress to Havana and Cienfuegos.  Just one month later the cruise was cancelled and re-routed to the Western Caribbean.  I went ahead with the cruise to Cozumel and Costa Maya. Some people on that cruise had made custom T-shirts with "The Cruise that was supposed to go to Cuba" emblazoned on them.

 

We were on the ship that was sailing to there when it closed......surprised everyone...us, the crew, and the Captain!

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LXA350

LXA350

Posted
Posted
On 9/22/2020 at 10:52 PM, coaster said:

Healthy sail recommendation #66 below is going to be tough on Empress. It currently have quad cabins for crew. You are talking about a huge increase in converting passenger cabins to accommodate crew if the single occupancy crew cabin recommendation is enacted.

 

66  - Crew should be placed in single-occupancy crew cabins whenever possible to minimize extended periods of close contact with other crew members.

 

 

 

 

 

Here we will see on the larger ships that they will dedicate inside cabins for this purpose. On the samller and older ships this will be to inefficent.

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keyboardjunkie

keyboardjunkie

Posted
Posted
13 hours ago, livingonthebeach said:

 

Did you have to change itinerary mid-voyage or were you able to cruise to Cuba?  How was it? 

 

We had to change itinerary.....lots of people complained.  They gave us a future cruise credit for part of the voyage. 

 

We were disappointed because we had waited to go but there was nothing anyone could do.

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keyboardjunkie

keyboardjunkie

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, LXA350 said:

 

Here we will see on the larger ships that they will dedicate inside cabins for this purpose. On the samller and older ships this will be to inefficent.

 

With less guests on each sailing, the extra cabins will be available.  This was a point raised in the full report.  They also need to set aside cabins for potential isolation in case of COVID cases.

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CruisingFA

CruisingFA

Posted
Posted

I wonder if they left the 2 in Europe to bring crew back to the states instead of just sailing them back over empty. It would be easier to get all the crew to a meeting point in Europe and then the 2 week quarantine could be taken care of on the sailing. 

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ipeeinthepool

ipeeinthepool

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, CruisingFA said:

I wonder if they left the 2 in Europe to bring crew back to the states instead of just sailing them back over empty. It would be easier to get all the crew to a meeting point in Europe and then the 2 week quarantine could be taken care of on the sailing. 

 

They may likely use some of their ships to quarantine and transport crew to various parts of the world but it won’t be these two ships.  They have other ships in Europe they could use.  In addition they would also fly crew into the Caribbean using friendly ports such as Barbados or St Maarten.

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CruisingFA

CruisingFA

Posted
Posted
On 9/29/2020 at 6:21 AM, ipeeinthepool said:

 

They may likely use some of their ships to quarantine and transport crew to various parts of the world but it won’t be these two ships.  They have other ships in Europe they could use.  In addition they would also fly crew into the Caribbean using friendly ports such as Barbados or St Maarten.

Sure that’s a possibility for the ships that are hanging out in the Caribbean. But for the 6 ships in Europe(all still sailing in November according to royal) it’s easier to get the crew in Europe and sail them home.  Until anything is officially announced regarding majesty and empress it’s all speculation of what may or may not happen 

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ipeeinthepool

ipeeinthepool

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, CruisingFA said:

Sure that’s a possibility for the ships that are hanging out in the Caribbean. But for the 6 ships in Europe(all still sailing in November according to royal) it’s easier to get the crew in Europe and sail them home.  Until anything is officially announced regarding majesty and empress it’s all speculation of what may or may not happen 

 

Did you ever wonder why Royal used these two old ships to transport some crew back to Europe? Are these the most comfortable or efficient ships?  Nope.  Royal decided months ago that these ships weren't coming back to the US.  They will either be purchased by some other cruise line or sent to the beach.

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rcclmiami

rcclmiami

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

Did you ever wonder why Royal used these two old ships to transport some crew back to Europe? Are these the most comfortable or efficient ships?  Nope.  Royal decided months ago that these ships weren't coming back to the US.  They will either be purchased by some other cruise line or sent to the beach.

They can unload them on the new Pullmantor when it starts back up

 

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TheMastodon

TheMastodon

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

Did you ever wonder why Royal used these two old ships to transport some crew back to Europe? Are these the most comfortable or efficient ships?  Nope.  Royal decided months ago that these ships weren't coming back to the US.  They will either be purchased by some other cruise line or sent to the beach.


Good point

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twangster "Live from...." Rare

twangster

Posted
Posted (edited)

I could see positioning these ships for a re-launched Pullmantur.  Empress was already one foot through that door before.

 

If they were destined to be scrapped why pay the not insignificant layup costs to keep them floating in Souda Bay?

 

We don't know how a restructured Pullmantur might look or if that is even realistic right now.  

 

It's entirely possible even Royal doesn't know what will happen to these ships right now.  If cruising ramps back up quickly it could be back to the routine, if a restart takes a year to get close to normal cruising maybe then Royal's choices are more clear to them.  

Edited by twangster
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