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The Biggest Little Ship Around: An Empress of the Seas Pictorial!

DarthGrady
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porthole21

porthole21

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That's it folks! If you have any questions please feel free to ask!

 

 

Amazing review! We sailed her this past January and had a wonderful time! Having a rough day and your review brought back some amazing memories and it was greatly appreciated! Fair Winds and Following Seas.....

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DarthGrady

DarthGrady

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Nice review.

 

We sailed Nordic Empress in 2002. Our first Royal ship. Unfortunately, we weren't impressed and it was almost our last. Luckily Mariner changed our mind 6 years later.

 

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Thanks John. It's funny, I still haven't gotten to cruise on a Voyager Class ship yet. Hopefully soon.

Another great review Grady, nice pics also. I enjoyed being on her last October. The Schooner bar was the place to go, even during the World Series. The Indian fans would set & watch the game on one side of the ship & us Cubs fans sat on the other side. During commercials, I listened to the piano player.

Thanks Paul! The Schooner on Empress is definitely a good set up for sporting events, I was surprised at how big a space it is.

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DarthGrady

DarthGrady

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Loved this review Grady. Thank you.

 

Very nice review. Loved the pics. Thanks for taking the time.

 

Great review and photos! My smallest ship so far has been Adventure, definitely looking to explore more smaller ships in the future

 

 

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Thanks for the kind words folks, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

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DarthGrady

DarthGrady

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As built, the gym (originally called the Shipshape Fitness Center) was located on Deck 10 in the space now fully occupied by the Spa area. Originally the gym and spa facilities shared that space on Deck 10, but the 2004 refit that saw the Nordic Empress turn into the Empress of the Seas also saw the revenue-producing spa facilities enlarged on Deck 10, and the gym oddly relocated to the upper level of the Viking Crown Lounge.

Good information, thanks! That definitely sounds like one of their standard corporate decisions. Eliminate useful public space to increase revenue. 🤔

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DarthGrady

DarthGrady

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Amazing review! We sailed her this past January and had a wonderful time! Having a rough day and your review brought back some amazing memories and it was greatly appreciated! Fair Winds and Following Seas.....

Thanks very much!

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PH8

PH8

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As always a great reviews and super pics. Thanks Grady!!

 

We really enjoyed our Nordic Empress:) cruise back in 2003........left from Tampa for a 7 night Mardi Gras cruise to New Orleans and Progresso.......we were docked in NO for 3 days to enjoy Mardi Gras.....walking distance to all the parades and parties.........Best way ever to enjoy Mardi Gras...sure wish RCCL would do this one again..

 

ANYWAY,my point is she was a great little ship back then and glad to see others enjoying her now....

 

To those who were on before,do you remember the Carousel Pub?? Is that where the Schooner Bar is now??

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John&LaLa "Live from...." Rare

John&LaLa

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As always a great reviews and super pics. Thanks Grady

 

To those who were on before,do you remember the Carousel Pub?? Is that where the Schooner Bar is now??

 

Sorry, don't recall much from our trip. Our toilet didn't work, ship was crowded. Many were on via $99 last minute pricing. 5 day out of SJ. Eventually got moved up to balcony deck. So much nicer.

 

It was also our first Quincanerra cruise. [emoji33]

 

 

 

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DonnaK

DonnaK

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It was Billy Pando, and I think I'm going to plan my Royal cruises around his schedule from now on. Very high energy, played all of the right songs. The lively crowd helped too. Its all too often on Royal that the Schooner seems more like a recital than a party.
thanks! This is important to us too.
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CCC3

CCC3

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I want to thank you for your review AND all the photos. The Empress is absolutely beautiful. I had kind of been on the fence about a smaller ship, but quite honestly, I am convinced that we would love her. We have sailed the Liberty and Navigator, but I'm fairly sure I do not want to go up to the mega ships. This looks like a wonderful size to try!!

 

 

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RNRcruisers

RNRcruisers

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Our second cruise was Nordic Empress back in 1995. It was only a four or five day and I don't remember a lot of the ship details but agree with above that the gym was not located in the Viking Crown Lounge. Love your pics, I will have to pull out my album tonight and see what is still the same. We love traditional cruising on smaller ships. An exterior promenade deck is a must for me. And all the tables by windows! Love it!

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DarthGrady

DarthGrady

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Very nice review as usual Grady thanks!!!

Thanks Ellen!

Great review and thanks for the pics! I'm on the Empress next week-same itinerary! Getting really excited!

Thanks, I hope you enjoy your cruise! Westley at the Schooner Bar and Paul at the Pool Bar are good guys to get friendly with.

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DarthGrady

DarthGrady

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I want to thank you for your review AND all the photos. The Empress is absolutely beautiful. I had kind of been on the fence about a smaller ship, but quite honestly, I am convinced that we would love her. We have sailed the Liberty and Navigator, but I'm fairly sure I do not want to go up to the mega ships. This looks like a wonderful size to try!!

 

 

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IMO, the Oasis Class ships are worth seeing just for the sake of seeing them. They are truly amazing feats of engineering. So I'd never tell anyone to avoid them totally. But there's just something so nice about the simplicity of a small ship.

 

Our second cruise was Nordic Empress back in 1995. It was only a four or five day and I don't remember a lot of the ship details but agree with above that the gym was not located in the Viking Crown Lounge. Love your pics, I will have to pull out my album tonight and see what is still the same. We love traditional cruising on smaller ships. An exterior promenade deck is a must for me. And all the tables by windows! Love it!

 

Thanks! I agree about the promenade, it's great for an ocean-side stroll.

 

If you can scan in those old pics I'm sure they'd be cool to see.

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Philly Steve

Philly Steve

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Thanks for the fun review and all the pics. We have a special place in our hearts for EOS as we took a number of Bermuda cruises when she sailed from Philly. She could make the cut to St. George and that made her extra special. We've been fans since her Nordic Empress days.

 

I'm just now starting to forgive RCI for tacking on that awful wall aft of the Viking Crown. ;p

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bradpole

bradpole

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This feature cannot be overstated enough - the Empress of the Seas was designed with ocean views available from literally every single public space on the ship. Nearly all of those views remain today, with only the windows in the main shop onboard being covered over by merchandise displays, leaving no exterior views from the shop. Otherwise, the sea is visible from everywhere: the dining rooms, lounges, bars, arcade, casino, gym, spa, all aft elevator lobbies on Deck 4 and up, and the entire Centrum area from Deck 5 and up. It is quite a departure from the increasingly inward-looking ships being designed today, a fact not lost on the ship's Captain Carl Graucob who makes note of it consistently in his Crown & Anchor Society reception remarks.

 

Throw in the ship's beautifully wide, teak wood wrap-around promenade deck, and it's truly a fantastic ship for those who love to actually be connected to the sea while cruising.

 

I agree, we really miss the all the windows and prom. decks that Empress, Vision class, and especially the Radiance class offer cmompared to the behemoths that are now standard.

 

Bigger is not always better, hopefully we will get an opportunity to cruise on Empress again now that she is back in the fleet.

 

We remember the crew used to have a saying, "the small ship with a big heart!"

 

 

 

Thank you OP for the great review!

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