Something Odd is Going on with Empress 03/08

[Coralc]

It's a long ways away, so I'm not really too concerned about it. We have a deposit on Empress OTS, Southern Caribbean 11 night for 04/07/08. The prices were available when we booked in October. It is now showing N/A in all categories. And indeed, the 5 cruises on Empress beginning on 03/21/08 and continuing through 04/21/08 (end of schedule) are now showing N/A in all categories, and on all sailings, both 3 night and 11 night.

 

My reservation still shows up online. But the thing of it is...that there is no price checking option, and of course they are no longer selling reservations on these cruises....so it's just odd. Does anyone have good gossip or insight??:D

[SarafinaSarafina]

I think it means they are sold out.

[Coralc]

Thanks, Amanda, but I think that might be a little unlikely that 5 cruises in a row, 16 months away are sold out. Thanks though:D That's as good of an idea as any since we are just brainstorming about it at this point.

[Host Kewlguy]

It may be a change of itinerary or a possible refurbishment. The odds are they will cancel your reservation. A similar situation happened to us last summer.

[Michelle!]

Or a potential ship charter or group holding space? My company does this a great deal.

[Coralc]

I am almost thinking redeployment or refurb. A month seems like a long time for a charter or group space. I think we will probably book a backup cruise when we are on Serenade in May. I am not going to make long distance travel plans for this one, because it seems like something is going on. And what with flying all the way to San Juan, work schedules and flying, we probably won't be able to benefit from any compensation.:D :D

 

Michelle, we will be on the May 12th to Alaska sailing on Serenade...when are you going?

:)

[Michelle!]

We are on the week after you. Works with my groups, and time off - a first in about 20 years, so I decided to book it while there is still a chance of me seeing Alaska! Take good care of the ship for me! Could even treat you to lunch on the return from the looks of things!

 

With our groups, our clients often will look tentatively at about 3 - 5 destinations for an incentive. We along with the ships, hotels, and various DMC's will hold space for an indefinite period of time until the decision makers for this, that, or the other incentive make a clear decision on dates and destinations. So I could see it being held by the Maritz or Carlson's of the world for whatever automotive, insurance, or pharma sort of incentive. We make life so difficult for everyone else! :D

[nlcentralchmps03]

It may be a change of itinerary or a possible refurbishment. The odds are they will cancel your reservation. A similar situation happened to us last summer.

I think so too.

[hunnypot1]

My 1/22/07 cruise on the Monarch has been showing N/A for weeks now...

 

I thought that when it was within 30 days some cabins might open up. But it's N/A status remains.

 

No one has notified us of any problems.

 

Should I be concerned?

[hunnypot1]

I just called my TA and everything is still a go. Whew!

[hunnypot1]

But I was unable to log into my RCCL account:( , they even denied having record of my email addy:confused: - and when I set up a new one, got this message:

 

"The requested reservation is currently being modified. Please try again at a later time."

WTH does that mean?

Of course, the office is closed for the holiday....:(

[Alexis]

I have just looked for mine for the Empress on 11/05/07 and there are no cruises showing at all. My reservation summary is still showing all my information on the RCCL site.

I also tried searching other ships and they are showing no cruises either.

It appears to me that they are making some changes at RCCL. I hope it is prices going down and not up.:)

The office is open today. I believe you may have called too early and gotten the Holiday message from the weekend. ;)

[Alexis]

I just tried to access my Reservation again and it shows nothing but zero's. ??

[elleluv]

They're probably just working on their computer system...

[BillOh]

Just to make sure it wasn't an '08 thing, I checked my Freedom reservation, all looks ok there. For what little help that is :o

[hunnypot1]

I was eventually able to complete my sign and sail pass, under a new login address.

So I guess everything is okay!

[Coralc]

The N/A 2008 Empress cruises have been showing up that way for about a month. They were all available in October when we booked. And then all 5 cruises were removed from the schedule. So we will see what happens. :)

[critterchick]

One rumor floating (:rolleyes: ) out there is that the Empress will be redeployed to Europe, Monarch will take over Empress' route, Vision will shift to the 3/4 LA-Ensenada cruises and Adventure will be moved to the Left Coast. But it's only a rumor, and we all know that only about 1 in 5 of those seem to pan out.

 

Personally I'm rooting for Serenade or another Radiance class ship to move to the LA market, but there are no rumors about that happening.:(

[estreetbandfan523]

One rumor floating (:rolleyes: ) out there is that the Empress will be redeployed to Europe, Monarch will take over Empress' route, Vision will shift to the 3/4 LA-Ensenada cruises and Adventure will be moved to the Left Coast. But it's only a rumor, and we all know that only about 1 in 5 of those seem to pan out.

 

Personally I'm rooting for Serenade or another Radiance class ship to move to the LA market, but there are no rumors about that happening.:(

 

that rumor sounds legitimate, especially about the adventure, as i was told by some crew memebers in august that they also heard the AOS would be heading to the west coast

[Coralc]

Thanks! That does sound interesting. I thought I had read a rumor briefly, somewhere, that Empress might be going to Pulmar. I guess cabin size and amenities, there isn't much of a difference between Monarch and Empress. If such a thing came to pass...it might be more fun to sail on a Monarch repo, instead of the 11 day Southern. We would prefer a Radiance class sailing. But flying all the way to San Juan, for a 7 day is too short, and 14 days is just a little too long. Thanks for the speculation. Maybe will we hear something by May, unlikely, but you never know. :)

[critterchick]

We would prefer a Radiance class sailing. But flying all the way to San Juan, for a 7 day is too short, and 14 days is just a little too long. :)

 

Having just spent 14 days on the Jewel, I disagree - I was worried that it would be too long, but they're probably still trying to get the fingernail marks from when they dragged me out to the curb out of the carpet!;)

[Host Kewlguy]

Thanks! That does sound interesting. I thought I had read a rumor briefly, somewhere, that Empress might be going to Pulmar. I guess cabin size and amenities, there isn't much of a difference between Monarch and Empress. If such a thing came to pass...it might be more fun to sail on a Monarch repo, instead of the 11 day Southern. We would prefer a Radiance class sailing. But flying all the way to San Juan, for a 7 day is too short, and 14 days is just a little too long. Thanks for the speculation. Maybe will we hear something by May, unlikely, but you never know. :)

 

Monarch is a much bigger ship. Empress's staterooms are smaller than a bread box. I think the "rumor" about Empress going to Europe to join Pullmantur's fleet is legit.

[Cruising89143]

Monarch is a much bigger ship. Empress's staterooms are smaller than a bread box. I think the "rumor" about Empress going to Europe to join Pullmantur's fleet is legit.

 

That was my thought. RCI has pulled two of the former "R' ships from Pullmantur. They have already annouced that the Zenith is moving over to this line and my bet is the Empress is next.

[Coralc]

If the Empress JS' are that much smaller than Monarch JS'...then maybe having our cruise go N/A is not such a bad thing. LOL:D I wonder how much revenue is generated by having our deposits for such a long time?:)

 

We have the deposit on Empress for 04/07/08, as I said previously, I can't check the pricing anymore, and they are no longer selling berths. I wouldn't mind doing a B2B on Serenade, Southern, but I also receive more vacation time than DH, or else he is just stingier about using his. :D

[Host Kewlguy]

That was my thought. RCI has pulled two of the former "R' ships from Pullmantur. They have already annouced that the Zenith is moving over to this line and my bet is the Empress is next.

 

Then the problem will be that it will cost a fortune for an extended stay cruising to Bermuda. Personally the over nighters out at the dock yard just aren't long enough for our taste. On our Celebrity Horizon cruise in the fall of 2004 we were docked in Hamilton for 5 straight days. Talk about being spoiled.