Empress September Sailings

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

September cruises on Empress are now available.

 

As you guessed, they aren't to Cuba.

 

The 5 night itineraries that included KW and Grand Cayman now visit KW and Cozumel. The 4 nighters that included CocoCay and KW now visit Nassau and KW.

[Biker19]

Negotiations must be bogged down.

[Paulette3028]

Negotiations must be bogged down.

 

Congress is bogged down.....nothing will change until Congress fully lifts the embargo to Cuba. Royal could do 'immersion' cruises (like FATHOM does), but clearly that is not the market they want, nor do they feel the cruiser that they attract wants.

 

So it will be a month by month deployment of Empress.

[CT Sean]

darn - I really liked the idea of that KW / Grand Cayman itinerary.

[jerseyaxn]

Congress wont lift the embargo until late 2017 at the earliest more like 2018

[LMaxwell]

RC throw a bone and go to Labadee with this ship....

[Paulette3028]

Congress wont lift the embargo until late 2017 at the earliest more like 2018

 

No one knows when Congress will lift the embargo....what we do know about this Congress is that they don't work on anything, so it would be accomplished with them.

[jerseyaxn]

Congress also probably wont left the embargo

[DeadPhish]

Not lifting the embargo doesnt mean Royal cant sail there. They need to negotiate that with the Cuban government, not the US. Of course the US could make it easier.

[jerseyaxn]

Not lifting the embargo doesnt mean Royal cant sail there. They need to negotiate that with the Cuban government, not the US. Of course the US could make it easier.

 

The embargo has to be lifted for normal cruising to occur between the us and cuba you are mistaken

[Bases5]

Looks like NCL is interested also

http://crew-center.com/ncl-plans-send-norwegian-sky-cuba

[jerseyaxn]

Everyones interested .we will see when it happens.

[Paulette3028]

Yes, lots of cruise lines keep adding themselves to those interested in cruising to Cuba....and they can get permission to do it right now, even as a US huome ported ship, if they want to go the FATHOM cruise option of an 'immersion cruise'. I am sure Cuba would grant other companies that ability. NCL has said they have a ship of less than 700 passenger capacity that they could utilize -- Royal could take a ship from Azamar (I imagine).

 

My question is: What do you as the cruiser want Royal to do? I surely don't want an immersion type cruise like FATHOM. I want a port stop or two, and the ability to go to typical tourist type places (which on FATHOM are not permitted) as excursions. I don't want to be told where I will go when in port or what I can see --- it is my vacation.

[jerseyaxn]

Yes, lots of cruise lines keep adding themselves to those interested in cruising to Cuba....and they can get permission to do it right now, even as a US huome ported ship, if they want to go the FATHOM cruise option of an 'immersion cruise'. I am sure Cuba would grant other companies that ability. NCL has said they have a ship of less than 700 passenger capacity that they could utilize -- Royal could take a ship from Azamar (I imagine).

 

My question is: What do you as the cruiser want Royal to do? I surely don't want an immersion type cruise like FATHOM. I want a port stop or two, and the ability to go to typical tourist type places (which on FATHOM are not permitted) as excursions. I don't want to be told where I will go when in port or what I can see --- it is my vacation.

 

I don't see congress lifting the embargo until at least the summer of 2017 at the earliest.

[jerseyaxn]

I would like to go on a normal cruis in cuba

[Paulette3028]

I would like to go on a normal cruis in cuba

 

We sail on Empress on August 25th. After it we will be able to decide if jumping on a short cruise to Cuba (when available) on her will be of ayny interest (from the standpoint of the ship itself). We loved Her Majesty, and once or twice booked at the last minute (about 6 weeks out from sail date) to go on her.....this cruise will give us an idea if we would be willing to do that on Empress to get exposure to Cuba (again when it happens).

 

If this ship, won't be interesting 'enough' it might take more for me to consider Cuba....because if I won't enjoy the ship enough, the port stop or two, might get me to do it once -- but never again.

 

Hopefully, Empress is enjoyable enough to replace Her Majesty for us as an easy 'getaway' -- even though Her Majesty's schedule of 3/4 was easier to work around with business scheduling. We have sailed on Enchantment once, and Enchantment does offer the 3/4 schedule.

[BuckGood]

Yes, lots of cruise lines keep adding themselves to those interested in cruising to Cuba....and they can get permission to do it right now, even as a US huome ported ship, if they want to go the FATHOM cruise option of an 'immersion cruise'. I am sure Cuba would grant other companies that ability. NCL has said they have a ship of less than 700 passenger capacity that they could utilize -- Royal could take a ship from Azamar (I imagine).

 

My question is: What do you as the cruiser want Royal to do? I surely don't want an immersion type cruise like FATHOM. I want a port stop or two, and the ability to go to typical tourist type places (which on FATHOM are not permitted) as excursions. I don't want to be told where I will go when in port or what I can see --- it is my vacation.

 

 

RC won't take a ship from Azamara as Azamara is in a league of it's own plus it belongs to Celebrity! Azamara is an upscale Boutiqe cruise line!

[Paulette3028]

RC won't take a ship from Azamara as Azamara is in a league of it's own plus it belongs to Celebrity! Azamara is an upscale Boutiqe cruise line!

 

Royal, Celebrity, Azumara, Pullmantr are all owned by the same parent company....they can transfer ownership to another entity or 'sell' it to the other entity any time they want. Empress is a fine example of that.

 

I can't see them doing it, because Azamara has its own clientele.....but who knows what may happen....they wait for their ability to have Empress go to Cuba.

[jerseyaxn]

They will use empress i believe but i dont think they want to go the fathom route

[Paulette3028]

They will use empress i believe but i dont think they want to go the fathom route

 

I have been told directly that they don't want to go the FATHOM route.

[jerseyaxn]

I didnt think they would

[FLSteve11]

RC won't take a ship from Azamara as Azamara is in a league of it's own plus it belongs to Celebrity! Azamara is an upscale Boutiqe cruise line!

 

Yes, exactly, it's more their premium/luxury line, about the same class as Oceania (their prime competition I would say). Plus there's only two ships as it is.

 

I found the Sky an interesting notice on the NCL link, I thought there were issues with port size to fit ships in, the Sky is about the same size as the Sovereign and Vision class (and Carnivals Fantasy class). There's no need for Empress if those sized ships can already fit in. Unless Empress is going more of a Cuba route with things besides Havana.

[FLSteve11]

They will use empress i believe but i dont think they want to go the fathom route

 

Well it's clear they don't want to, otherwise they would have done it already and not let Carnival be the only one doing it.