Empress OTS to be home-ported at Miami

[MADflyer]

Bookings with the port agent at Key West indicate that the Empress of the Seas will be home-ported at the Port of Miami.

 

While Empress starts with a premier season with the first cruise scheduled most likely for the 2nd of April, 2016, she enters her long term pattern from June.

 

This pattern includes Empress sailing every other Saturday from Miami, calling on every other Sunday at Key West.

 

The pattern then will include sailings from Miami every other Monday, calling on Tuesdays at Key West.

 

This may indicate a 9 day / 5 day pattern.

 

Calls at Grand Cayman were found on 3 Tuesdays in April, May and June previously that did not indicate a home port.

[Garavar]

So Empress will be leaving on different days as Enchantment out of Miami? Or same times?

[MADflyer]

The agent bookings at Key West would seem to indicate that Empress of the Seas will offer several calls at Coco Cay during the months of April, May and June.

 

Empress will offer some short cruises in the beginning from Miami that will include calls at Key West, Nassau and Coco Cay among other ports.

[MADflyer]

So Empress will be leaving on different days as Enchantment out of Miami? Or same times?

 

The sail dates in the beginning will be variable with some Friday/Saturday and Monday departures.

 

When Empress enters her normal schedule from the end of June it looks like she will sail every other Saturday and every other Monday, currently indicating a 5 day/ 9 day pattern.

 

They could have short cruises in between though that do not call on Key West, but that is unlikely.

[ADS94]

Interesting...

 

The 9/5 Day pattern seems odd for such a small ship. Even the (relatively) large Enchantment is stuck hauling 4/3 night Bahamas with the Majesty.

 

Maybe Royal is planning a constant Western Caribbean that Havana can be slotted into.

 

Sa - Miami

Su - Key West

Mo - Sea (Havana?)

Tu - Grand Cayman

We - Jamaica

Th - Cruising

Fr - Labadee

Sa - Cruising

Su - Nassau/Coco Cay

Mo - Miami

Tu - Key West

We - Sea (Havana?)

Th - Sea

Fr - Nassau/Coco Cay

Sa - Miami

[MADflyer]

Empress sailings that call at Key west will leave Miami on :

 

Sat. April 2nd

Thu. April 7th

Sat. April 16th

Sat. April 23rd

Mon. April 25th

Sat. April 30th

Sat. May 7th

Sat. May 14th

Sat. May 21st

Mon. May 23rd

Sat. May 28th

Sat. June 4th

Mon. June 6th

Sat. June 11th

Sat. June 18th

Sat. June 25th 2 weeks

 

Saturday July 9th start of normal 9/5 pattern for the rest of the year.

 

Empress then goes to an every other Sunday pattern only at Key west. This could be a 7/7 , 8/6 or other pattern only calling at Key west every other week.

[AdGuyMG]

Interesting...

The 9/5 Day pattern seems odd for such a small ship.

 

A 5/5/4 pattern is more likely.

[MADflyer]

Interesting...

 

The 9/5 Day pattern seems odd for such a small ship. Even the (relatively) large Enchantment is stuck hauling 4/3 night Bahamas with the Majesty.

 

i

 

They could have a short sailing every other week that does not call on Key West.

 

They have only booked 3 calls in April/May and June at Grand Cayman.

[ADS94]

A 5/5/4 pattern is more likely.

 

Yeah. I would agree.

 

They could have a short sailing every other week that does not call on Key West.

 

They have only booked 3 calls in April/May and June at Grand Cayman.

 

My bad, misread it previously. 5/5/4 seems a lot more likely for such a small ship. Having that small of a tonnage right around Cuba screams its destined for Cuba, or Royal is trying to fill demand for Western itineraries. Seems odd to bring back Empress just for that, finding a way to keep Splendour or bring back Monarch/Sovereign would be better for those non-Cuba cruises.

[Big_G]

It may have nothing to do with Empress at all but I just completed a Royal survey of five night itineraries out of Miami. The stops varied between Key West, Cocoa Cay, Nassau, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel.

[MADflyer]

It may have nothing to do with Empress at all but I just completed a Royal survey of five night itineraries out of Miami. The stops varied between Key West, Cocoa Cay, Nassau, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel.

 

Sure sounds like their could be a relation. Thanks for posting about this survey.

[ADS94]

Raises an interesting question as well, Navigator OTS currently has alternating Western/Southern out of Miami well into 2017. I think it is reasonable to say that Navigator is staying put when Empress comes back. I can't imagine there's need to put more tonnage in Nassau or Cozumel, very well traveled ports.

[MisterFidgetpants]

Thanks for the information on this.

 

Am at a complete loss to understand why anyone would pay equivalent for this ship compared to much larger ships that call on identical ports. Hope to see Royal capitalize on small ship uniqueness and service and head to less visited islands. Royal is hardly under-served in the ports listed here.

 

Do expect as soon as Havana is a go that itineraries will change. Only about 100 days give or take until first scheduled sailing from Miami...when does it go on sale?!?

[MADflyer]

The ports of Nassau, Coco Cay and Grand Cayman are only showing on sailings in the early period of April, May and June.

 

While calls at Key West are 4 times a month until November of 2016, they go down to just 2 calls a month after that.

 

While Key West usually shows where the ship is coming from and where the ship is visiting next, the Empress bookings only show 'from Miami' after June.

 

Whether this still could indicate Cuba or other more unique itineraries is yet unknown.

[ADS94]

Here's the best I could gleam from the limited information. April 10 to 15 is a complete mystery to me.

[MADflyer]

Here's the best I could gleam from the limited information. April 10 to 15 is a complete mystery to me.

 

They could also be sourcing Falmouth or Labadee (among many others) with some of these sailings. These ports do not report bookings publically.

 

Thanks for posting the info in calendar format.

Edited December 15, 2015 by MADflyer

[Firefighterhoop]

A 5/5/4 pattern is more likely.

 

Unless, they are going to run a 9/5 day schedule until Navigator takes over the 9/5 Day sailings from Miami in November 2016...

[Clarea]

I thought I had found something interesting here, but it's just a mis-titled page for Majesty:

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ships/class/ship/home.do?br=R&shipClassCode=NE&shipCode=NE

[MADflyer]

I thought I had found something interesting here, but it's just a mis-titled page for Majesty:

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ships/class/ship/home.do?br=R&shipClassCode=NE&shipCode=NE

 

That does provide some interesting information though, as some have stated the current Majesty page had taken away information on Sabor, Izumi and the Chef's Table.

 

I would guess someone is just using it as a template for Empress.

 

I am imagining that they could offer the free Voom wifi on Empress as well at least to add value to the offering.

[MADflyer]

Unless, they are going to run a 9/5 day schedule until Navigator takes over the 9/5 Day sailings from Miami in November 2016...

 

That is a thought as they seem to have 3 deployment periods, an initial offering many variable length sailing from April to June, a summer season from July through November with 4 calls a month at Key West and then a winter season with just 2 calls a month while Navigator is home-ported at Miami as well.

 

They then have Empress returning to what could be a 5/9 deployment from August of 2017 through April of 2019.

[SheehanDJ]

I thought I had found something interesting here, but it's just a mis-titled page for Majesty:

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ships/class/ship/home.do?br=R&shipClassCode=NE&shipCode=NE

 

Hopefully it is just mis-titled and they aren't planning on stretching her and turning her into a Sovereign class.

[MADflyer]

Hopefully it is just mis-titled and they aren't planning on stretching her and turning her into a Sovereign class.

 

They are booking her with 2005 max passengers, just 165 passengers above her double occupancy of just 1840 passengers. There do not seem to be any plans for any major addition of cabins during dry dock.

[ADS94]

Not sure where they are getting such large passenger numbers. They can't exactly cram any more in from what I've seen of the deckplans, unless they cut into the dining room.

 

I don't see any type of situation where Royal stretches her. It was so prohibitively expensive with Enchantment OTS that it made them scrap all stretching plans for the Voyager class and just made the Freedom class.

[Clarea]

... I am imagining that they could offer the free Voom wifi on Empress as well at least to add value to the offering.

That would not surprise me at all.

[ADS94]

That would not surprise me at all.

 

From what I've been seeing and hearing, Voom is supposed to be on all ships sailing in the Caribbean by mid-2016. I know Majesty and Enchantment are going to be getting it. If they make it free, I could imagine they'd do it just for April, May, June to get people on the mixed itineraries before they start her normal schedule.