Empress February 2019

Does anyone know what Empress is doing early February 2019? Two weeks are missing in the schedule, is it a dry dock (again) or some charters? Thanks for any information!

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when they canceled our Feb 12 cruise they said due to scheduling they needed to refurbish her earlier then expected :o thats the 2nd time they have canceled our cuban cruise :( guess it is not meant to be

I'm booked on the 2/25/2019 trip. haven't heard anything about my week, yet?? I did read, she is dry docking for an update. cant wait to see what she looks like. my first time on a RCCL ship, I chose the smallest of her fleet, for the feel of the cruise line.

I'm booked on the 2/25/2019 trip. haven't heard anything about my week, yet?? I did read, she is dry docking for an update. cant wait to see what she looks like. my first time on a RCCL ship, I chose the smallest of her fleet, for the feel of the cruise line.

I can't speak based on experience, but if you read reviews, it appears to be the most disappointing RCL ship in operation.

Seems too early for dry dock. My cruise in April of 2016 on Empress was cancelled due to a prolonged dry dock. Galleys had to be gutted after Pullmantur neglected them.

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Seems too early for dry dock.

At her age, she needs a dry dock every 30 months instead of the usual 60.

We were on the April 28-May 4 sailing to Cuba and Mexico and loved the ship. The extensive renovations transformed the ship into a beautiful, upgraded version of her past self. The public rooms and cabins has all new carpets, drapes and furnishings and several areas (Boleros in particular) had a complete makeover to reflect the new Cuban itineraries. The food was the best we have had in years on Royal Caribbean and the staff was outstanding. It was like cruising was 20 years ago. The size of the ship lends itself perfectly to the itinerary, as the lines to embark and disembark were never overwhelming. Public areas, for the most part, were never jammed as on larger ships.

This was our 3rd trip on the Empress, the first being her second sailing 28 years ago. She may not be the largest, with all the upgraded bells and whistles , but she sure has a heart.

After 65 cruises, the ranked as one of the most enjoyable.

We were on the April 28-May 4 sailing to Cuba and Mexico and loved the ship. The extensive renovations transformed the ship into a beautiful, upgraded version of her past self. The public rooms and cabins has all new carpets, drapes and furnishings and several areas (Boleros in particular) had a complete makeover to reflect the new Cuban itineraries. The food was the best we have had in years on Royal Caribbean and the staff was outstanding. It was like cruising was 20 years ago. The size of the ship lends itself perfectly to the itinerary, as the lines to embark and disembark were never overwhelming. Public areas, for the most part, were never jammed as on larger ships.

This was our 3rd trip on the Empress, the first being her second sailing 28 years ago. She may not be the largest, with all the upgraded bells and whistles , but she sure has a heart.

After 65 cruises, the ranked as one of the most enjoyable.

I am so glad to hear some positive feedback on the Empress Of The Seas... lately most reviews have been negative. We'll be sailing on the Empress in a couple a weeks. Thanks for sharing!

Wife and I were on the Empress in February, and while it’s true, she doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of other classes, we LOVED our time.

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Selfishly, I hope 2019 is a drydock, since we hope to take her in 2020 :)

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Any update on this??

yep, got an email today that the 2-25-19 cruise was canceled due to scheduled prolonged dry dock. My question is why plan these cruises and sail them, if they know they are scheduling for an upgrade.?????

yep, got an email today that the 2-25-19 cruise was canceled due to scheduled prolonged dry dock. My question is why plan these cruises and sail them, if they know they are scheduling for an upgrade.?????

I would think that the plans the cruise line made unexpectedly changed.

I can't speak based on experience, but if you read reviews, it appears to be the most disappointing RCL ship in operation.

I have been on this ship twice, and was scheduled to go again Feb 25th but was cancelled for dry dock. The reviews are mixed because if you are used to all the modern big mega ships its almost guaranteed you will be disappointed. However I happen to love this ship and its one of my favorite ships in the fleet. I am kind of an old school cruiser all I need is an oceanview, a drink and a place to relax to be happy. I don't need water slides, ice skating rinks, bumper cars and etc... to be happy. I love Empress because of its intimacy the crew is awesome, the ship is loaded with oceanviews because she was built back before every ship had a balcony so they made sure that guests had plenty of place to view the ocean. The ship has glass all over the place and there isn't a deck you can't see the ocean, unlike Anthem of the seas which was enclosed and pretended to be more of a shopping mall than a cruise ship.

If you hate crowds and don't need much to be entertained I would recommend this ship to you. It takes a certain type of cruiser to enjoy Empress. She is old, but she had a refurb in 2016 and the only thing I thought looked dated was the theater. Everything else especially club Boleros looked great. I sailed to Cuba on Empress last November and it was one of the best cruises I have ever been on.

I just say when booking Empress set your expectations right if you love the big ships you will probably hate Empress.

Past Cruises

-Carnival Ecstacy

-Sovereign of the Seas

-Enchantment of the Seas

-Majesty of the Seas

-Carnival Victory

-Explorer of the Seas

-Mariner of the Seas

-Empress of the Seas

-Empress of the Seas

-Anthem of the Seas

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Meant to post on another thread.

On 4/17/2018 at 3:37 AM, fox02554 said:

when they canceled our Feb 12 cruise they said due to scheduling they needed to refurbish her earlier then expected 😮 thats the 2nd time they have canceled our cuban cruise 😞 guess it is not meant to be

 

Definitely gotta try again, Havana is lovely. Try majesty!!

 

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Now you've got me worried!  

We're scheduled on the 8-night Cuba cruise on March 3rd   Hope all these upgrades/refurbishments get done on time! 

On 6/17/2018 at 11:47 PM, CruisingNole said:

 

I can't speak based on experience, but if you read reviews, it appears to be the most disappointing RCL ship in operation.

We were on Empress this past December, 2018. We liked the ship . It was a relaxing cruise. Definitely not the OAsis which were on last March. Yes, the Empress is small, but the staff was great, service was great, and we met some nice people. Cabin was very small as expected. Just know it is small and enjoy the coziness.

4 hours ago, smc99 said:

Now you've got me worried!  

We're scheduled on the 8-night Cuba cruise on March 3rd   Hope all these upgrades/refurbishments get done on time! 

We are scheduled for March 3rd as well.  Hope to see you there!

We are due to board on the Empress on the 27 Jan 19 and are really looking forward to it, we will be travelling from the UK for the trip staying in Orlando for a few day before we sail then driving down to Miami. 

We sailed on Empress early in its return to the Royal fleet and perhaps will go on her again if her schedule for Cuba and ours work out together.  One thing is for sure, because she lacks what her big sisters have the Entertainment Staff plays a bigger role in the overall enjoyment of the sailing for cruisers.    We sailed with Carlos Torres as our CD and he was great.  We had sailed with him on Majesty and his energy and vibe is wonderful.  I know that Elvis Pinto is scheduled for assignment to Empress when he returns from vacation (late Feb or Early March) and cruisers that have him as CD will have a great time with him and his team.  He was an outstanding Activity Manager and cruisers have said he has been wonderful as a CD.     The ship is the ship...if they are redoing things, it is to enhance the experience of cruisers.   I know on my sailing on Empress, the gym was a disappointment (but it was there) yet I enjoyed tremendously these wonderful hammocks that were on the upper pool deck.  Small as she was, it gave me a view into what cruising was like in the earlier days....enjoy it!