Fate of Empress and Majesty of the Seas?

[tx121]

Now with the news of cruise ships no longer being able to visit Cuba, what do you think will happen to Empress and Majesty of the Seas?The Voyager class ships are now doing the shorter routes that these ships used to do. Do you think they will be sold? A lot of money has gone in to Empress to bring her back...wonder what RCL will decide

 

[Ourusualbeach]

Perhaps they could move Empress to Europe.  With her smaller size she could do a lot of unique itineraries.

 

MJ...transfer to Pulmanteur

[coaster]

Tampa could use a year round ship from Royal. Empress was way over budget with her prolonged upgrades in 2016. Moving her to a smaller port to recoup some of those costs makes sense. 

 

Carnival has done year round cruises from Tampa for years. The smaller size of Empress or Majesty to fit under the Sunshine Skyway bridge are a perfect reason also.

Edited June 5, 2019 by coaster

[Milwaukee Eight]

I asked the same question yesterday and it was moved to the ongoing Cuba cruise thread.

 

MJ is a high maintenance ship. 

[Crazy planning mom]

I agree with what others wrote.

Empress could do summers in Southampton since the Independence was taken away and Winters in Tampa.

[kruzerci]

Either get rid of them or put them doing 2 night runs to the Bahamas I would imagine. 

 

They’re completely obsolete at this point... They can’t even compete with other Royal Caribbean ships on the short cruises. They’re going to have to book them at rock bottom prices. 

 

I say get rid of one of them and have the other do exotic sailings. 

[ONECRUISER]

51 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

I asked the same question yesterday and it was moved to the ongoing Cuba cruise thread.

 

MJ is a high maintenance ship. 

Agree, High Maintenance and if high cost going further Ports, wont be around too long. Even newer Royal ships are long gone.

[Merion_Mom]

I guarantee you that the West Coast would welcome them with open arms.

[Milwaukee Eight]

16 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

I guarantee you that the West Coast would welcome them with open arms.

West Coast of Florida?  😂

[CruisingJoe09]

They are toast. High operating costs, need to be frequently maintained and not really an itinerary that they could do.

 

That's before factoring in that they are the opposite of the direction that Royal is taking.

[CruisingJoe09]

1 hour ago, Crazy planning mom said:

I agree with what others wrote.

Empress could do summers in Southampton since the Independence was taken away and Winters in Tampa.

Empress in Southampton? No chance. I don't think she would fit well in the market. Southampton is an exclusively 'large ship' market and has been for 12 years (we've only had a small ship here in 2005/06 when we had Legend). I highly doubt that the Brits would see her as a good replacement for Indy anyway.

 

Another factor is the Bay of Biscay. Not a good location for a small ship like Empress to sail.

Edited June 5, 2019 by CruisingJoe09

[twangster]

The real question is what do they do with them in the interim until they can get rid of them?

 

[kruzerci]

Makes you wonder if they knew something was in the political pipeline. 

 

Bringing Indy back to the short cruise market, sell one or both of the older ships, give the passengers price protection on Independence, and then selling the remainder and premium prices with the ship primarily going to private islands. 

[cruisinfromtampa]

4 hours ago, coaster said:

Tampa could use a year round ship from Royal. Empress was way over budget with her prolonged upgrades in 2016. Moving her to a smaller port to recoup some of those costs makes sense. 

 

Carnival has done year round cruises from Tampa for years. The smaller size of Empress or Majesty to fit under the Sunshine Skyway bridge are a perfect reason also.

 

I'd love to have either one here, especially during the summer.  Both of my Majesty saillings last summer were filled to the gills, and several in my group of friends were bummed to not have an RC ship here this summer.

[Saab4444]

12 hours ago, CruisingJoe09 said:

Empress in Southampton? No chance. I don't think she would fit well in the market. Southampton is an exclusively 'large ship' market and has been for 12 years (we've only had a small ship here in 2005/06 when we had Legend). I highly doubt that the Brits would see her as a good replacement for Indy anyway.

 

Another factor is the Bay of Biscay. Not a good location for a small ship like Empress to sail.

Pacific Princess, Adonia, Azamara and Saga just to name a few even smaller ships that have sailed or are sailing sucessful out of Southampton and the ports around. And of course her focus should be on Northern Europe and small ports where the big ships are not able to got to. The Bay of Biscay does not matter for this itineraries even if she is absolutely not a small ship from a general maritime view. I would book such a cruise on her immediately. Indy always struggled with going even into the mayor ports like Bergen, Geiranger or Stockholm, Anthem seems to be to big to even send her there.        

[CruisingJoe09]

37 minutes ago, Saab4444 said:

Pacific Princess, Adonia, Azamara and Saga just to name a few even smaller ships that have sailed or are sailing sucessful out of Southampton and the ports around. And of course her focus should be on Northern Europe and small ports where the big ships are not able to got to. The Bay of Biscay does not matter for this itineraries even if she is absolutely not a small ship from a general maritime view. I would book such a cruise on her immediately. Indy always struggled with going even into the mayor ports like Bergen, Geiranger or Stockholm, Anthem seems to be to big to even send her there.        

Royal isn't competing with Azamara or Saga. Completely different clienteles. I just don't see it being a good fit. Southampton for Royal is similar to China in that it is big or nothing.

 

If they were to bring a small ship back to the UK, they should bring back the Radiance Class to Harwich. That worked well for years although they seem to have shifted the 12NT Northern Europe operation to Amsterdam.

[Keasel]

Empress can do Bermuda runs and dock at St George and Hamilton.  Maybe out of Charleston, SC or Manhattan.  

 

If Venice limits the size of ships that can sail through the Giudecca (after the MSC Opera crash) and Empress is under the limit, Empress could be popular out of Venice.

 

Majesty will probably be sold or transferred soon.

[FLACRUISER99]

I hope both of these great ships star right where they are.

[shipgeeks]

Add one to Baltimore!  Grandeur always sails full; I imagine there is a market for an additional smaller ship there.

[Tapi]

Royal could explore smaller US based ports of embarkation like Carnival has successfully done with some of its older ships. Jacksonville, Mobile, and Charleston have all brought new life to Carnival’s older ships while generating revenue and making cruising accessible and affordable to a sliver of the population that lives within a short driving distance of these ports. Many cruisers who sail from these smaller ports are first time cruisers who are more interested in affordability and convenience than in the bells and whistles of the larger, newer ships.

 

We live in the Atlanta area and our closest port of embarkation is Mobile, AL,  solely served by the Carnival Fantasy. We sailed from there back in February with friends and had an absolutely wonderful time. We loved the convenience of leaving the house at 8am and being at the terminal by noon. According to the CD, 80% of passengers onboard drove in from Georgia.

 

But as convenient and fun as that cruise was, both my wife and I agreed that we would only sail from there if a different ship or cruise line ever comes to Mobile. Maybe for first timers the Fantasy is fine (I know that many of our first timer friends and others were “wowed” by how big and amazing the Fantasy was 😂), but for us, she was in rough shape and in need of a serious refurbishment. I know that many, including us, would be beyond thrilled if a second cruise line started sailing from Mobile, and I wouldn’t hesitate to sail on either Majesty or Empress if they ever came here. Here, many would welcome either one of these two ships with as much amazement as if they were the Symphony or Harmony!

 

I think that this is a great opportunity for Royal to tap into a market that for a decade has been solely owned by Carnival. With two older, surplus ships, maybe this would be the perfect time for Royal to try it. 

Edited June 6, 2019 by Tapi

[not-enough-cruising]

15 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

I guarantee you that the West Coast would welcome them with open arms.

I don’t think the capital investment to retrofit these older ships to comply with the California shore to ship power requirements would ever pay off. 

[Tapi]

4 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

I don’t think the capital investment to retrofit these older ships to comply with the California shore to ship power requirements would ever pay off. 

Yet, Carnival operates two smaller, older ships about the same age as Majesty and Empress year round from Long Beach. What has made it viable for Carnival that wouldn’t apply to Royal?

[Clarea]

10 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

I don’t think the capital investment to retrofit these older ships to comply with the California shore to ship power requirements would ever pay off. 

 

Agreed.

[Hoopster95]

Both these ships are 100% against everything that Royal is all about at the moment.

Almost no balcony or suites, almost zero revenue producing venues (ie. specialty, etc)., almost zero amenities (ie. IFly, Florider), and totally opposite to the economy of scale that Oasis/Quantum Classes provide... RCL is all about BBBBIIIIGGGG. Heck, even Vision class is absolete and likely gone from RCL in the next 5 years I would think.

MJ and EM are like driving a 2001 Honda with 250,000miles on it compared to a new Mercedes with 1,000 miles (Symphony)

 

I feel they'll be sold/transferred as soon as possible, which I also assume would take some time. It took a couple of years to find suitors for Legend and Splendour for example. Both Majesty and Empress' days are numbered, and I'll bet competing with all the mega ships in Florida this summer/fall with weak itineraries, cabins will be offered last minute at a basement bargain price just to keep the ship going to break even until RCL can move them off their books to whomever.

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, Hoopster95 said:

MJ and EM are like driving a 2001 Honda with 250,000miles on it compared to a new Mercedes with 1,000 miles (Symphony)

But that Honda is paid for and the monthly payments on the Benz are really big.