Empress porting in Bimini?

Does anyone know about this itinerary? There is a 3 day Thurs-Sun cruise on Empress and it will port in Bimini. I went there a few years ago right after the pier was finished for an overnight to the Resorts World Casino. The Casino was just built but the rest of the resort was not done (2014). Now they have a resort/marina and actively advertise in South Florida.

Does anyone know if Empress will utilize that pier and if part of the plan is access to the beaches or casino of the resort for the day?

Wow, that is interesting. I am here at the Hilton Resort World Bimini, and we can see the RFS Ferry and pier from our room. I am not sure if that pier is big enough for the Empress. We took the seaplane to get here and the seaplane pier where we landed is tiny!

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Cool pic! How is the resort??? Are their flyover packages competitive with a weekend cruise on cost/amenities?

I went in 2014 on Bimini Superfast, no longer serving this route; it was much bigger than the current ferry. That ship was 669 ft x 82 ft beam, and drew 22 feet of water.

Empress of the seas is 691 ft x 100 ft beam and draws 23 feet of water, so not significantly larger than Bimini Superfast was.

The Hilton is a beautiful resort, but there is no music, shows or comedy club to go to after dinner. Casino is fun but not huge, and does not have some of the newer slot machines I like to play. The breakfast buffet was $30 a person. This little weekend jaunt has re-affirmed that 3- and 4-night cruises are the best value for my money!

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I too, see that cruise listed for November 1-4, 2018. I am curious to see if this ship will actually port there. Maybe it will have to be tendered there? Very interesting to see what happens for this cruise.

This is great if the ships are going to stopping in Bimini they need the money so bad on that island.

If anyone does go I highly recommend stopping at Big Game, nice view awesome drinks and food.

I'm booked on Empress Nov 1 and I'm eagerly looking forward to what RCI offers as excursions there.

If you look at what excursions you can do at Resorts World you should be able to get an idea what they have going on. There should be a good amount of snorkeling/scuba options for one.

I'm almost tempted to go on this one just for the "one-off" value. Bimini? Not something you see every day on a cruise itinerary.... :o

I'm almost tempted to go on this one just for the "one-off" value. Bimini? Not something you see every day on a cruise itinerary.... :o

Ditto.

I would not be surprised whatsoever if RCI wants to take on Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line and offer a 2 night sailing; BPCL is affiliated with a resort in Freeport; you can make arrangements to stay at the resort and catch a ride back to Palm Beach on another cruise stop (since the ship arrives every other day; they are adding a second ship and so will have daily arrival).

I'd guess Resorts World is struggling since discarding their high speed cruise ferry that did one night cruises to Bimini and the pier is basically unutilized. They do have a small high speed boat for crossing but their previous cruise ferry was roughly the same size as Empress. Maybe they are thinking of making an alliance and you can have a 2 night cruise on Empress, or use it as transport to Resorts World on Bimini and come back some other time.

Ditto.

 

I would not be surprised whatsoever if RCI wants to take on Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line and offer a 2 night sailing; BPCL is affiliated with a resort in Freeport; you can make arrangements to stay at the resort and catch a ride back to Palm Beach on another cruise stop (since the ship arrives every other day; they are adding a second ship and so will have daily arrival).

I knew about Bahamas Celebration (that's their current ship, right?) but didn't know who was making port at Bimini. When I checked the port listings at a certain large cruise site (reminds with veeteegee) there was absolutely no listing or search option for Bimini at all.

I'd guess Resorts World is struggling since discarding their high speed cruise ferry that did one night cruises to Bimini and the pier is basically unutilized.

They do have a small high speed boat for crossing but their previous cruise ferry was roughly the same size as Empress. Maybe they are thinking of making an alliance and you can have a 2 night cruise on Empress, or use it as transport to Resorts World on Bimini and come back some other time.

I knew about Bahamas Celebration (that's their current ship, right?) but didn't know who was making port at Bimini. When I checked the port listings at a certain large cruise site (reminds with veeteegee) there was absolutely no listing or search option for Bimini at all.

 

Bimini Superfast? I remember seeing it at Miami. Fastest "cruise ship" in the Western Hemisphere.

 

I'm thinking maybe it's a one-off pilot and RCI will see how it goes. It's really odd to see it listed.

The current ship is the Grand Celebration; former Carnival Celebration. The previous BC ship ran aground in the Bahamas and was taken out of service. It was an early 80's converted car-ferry. The current Grand Celebration is a Holiday-class ship "Superliner" from the mid 80's but from photos looks redone to a surprisingly high level.

They are acquiring a second ship, an early 90's Costa ship, this season and will alternate days for port of call visits in Freeport.

I did the one night cruise to Bimini soon after the pier was completed. Superfast was pretty nice ship. Signed up during some crazy promo they were so desperate to fill the ship. $25, all taxes included, including a stateroom (these were optional upgrades for most people). Gave us $35 in casino credit to use on Bimini. Free drinks while in casino on ship and resort. Free trolley running all night into Alice Town (think major sketchy dive bars). I upgraded and popped the $6 for the bridge tour which they did at night with bridge fully darkened but was still really cool.

Since Resorts World and Norwegian Cruise Lines are both related to Genting I figured NCL would be sending the Sky to Bimini but perhaps the ship is too large for the channel and pier?

Interested to see what develops

The Empress will tender in Bimini on the 11/1/18 sailing.

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The Empress will tender in Bimini on the 11/1/18 sailing.

With what? Her own lifeboats? Or is there a tender service already present at Bimini?

I'm really considering this cruise just for its uniqueness. :)

We booked this weekend cruise on Empress 11/1/2018 - just because it is going to Bimini. We love Bimini. I know we will tender (either ship lifeboats or shoreside ferry). Not sure where it will disembark (city pier or World Resort pier). Hope this is a success so more small ships will go to Bimini

We booked this weekend cruise on Empress 11/1/2018 - just because it is going to Bimini. We love Bimini. I know we will tender (either ship lifeboats or shoreside ferry). Not sure where it will disembark (city pier or World Resort pier). Hope this is a success so more small ships will go to Bimini

Please bookmark this and come back and let’s us know how it went

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I hope this works out for RCL. I would like to see a few different ports.

Just got an email that they are changing the second port on the November 1 cruise from Bimini to CoCoCay. I kinda doubted they'd actually port at Bimini.