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Would you sail on Empress after Odyssey?

Extra Kim

By Extra Kim,
in Royal Caribbean International

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Extra Kim

Extra Kim

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We have sailed on all ship classes that Royal have, except for Quantum and Empress. In 2021 we might do a "B2B2B" on Vison, Odyssey and Empress. Vision are a 11 nts cruise and the other two are both 8 nts. 

We have done a similar thing back in 2016, then we sailed on Majesty and then Celebrity Equinox. Going from Majesty to Equinox made Equinox look fantastic (sailed on her again last year and she didn't impress like she did back in 2016).

With this in mind, I "fear" that going from Odyssey to Empress will make Empress feel very old and outdated. 

 

Have anyone been on both the Quantum class and Empress? What was your experience? 

 

We are mostly looking on the Empress cruise because of the ports of call. We will be two adults and, at the time of the cruise, a 3 year old girl.

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twangster "Live from...." Rare

twangster

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Have you ever cruised that long before?  
 

The only concern is cruise fatigue.  After 19 nights you might be done then boarding Empress may cast a dark cloud over that cruise simply because you are getting tired of the routine combined with very small cabins.  
 

If Empress was first and you went bigger with every step ending on a new ship I suspect it would end up better. 
 

Don’t get me wrong I love Empress and will board her after 16 nights on Vision but I know exactly what I’m in for and I’m good with it given I love Empress. 

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sjb317

sjb317

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We cruised on Empress  2 weeks after doing a B2B on Allure.  While my husband prefers the big ships, I really like the smaller ones.  It feels like being out on the ocean versus being in a floating resort.  
 

The joke was, if you want to go someplace on Allure, you have to allow 10 min to get there, on Empress, you just turn around.😂

 

Sherri🙂
 

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starrcards

starrcards

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Why do so many people consider the Empress akin to a leper colony and you'd never want to sail her?  True she doesn't have a million choices for food and multiple entertainment venues.  But she does have great food and a wonderful staff.  We sailed he to Cuba in 2017 and are sailing again on Empress to New England/Canada next July.  We enjoyed our cruise to her to Cuba and are looking forward to the July 2020 cruise.  This will be our 6th RCCL cruise. Besides Empress, we have sailed on Grandeur, Freedom, Jewel and Oasis. Each has it's own qualities and expectations.  A cruise on Empress is much more restful. There are fewer venues that cruisers feel they "must" visit. 

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LXA350

LXA350

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Very bad idea right after cruising on such a great ship. Empress is at the end of the life cycle anyhow and is really only still to be used for absolutely low cost cruiselines. Hence oyu will be disapointed, maybe less so if there would be a few months between cruising on Odyssey and then going on Empress

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garnetpalmetto

garnetpalmetto

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We're sailing on her next year after doing Symphony this year and had no qualms about it. It seems like a wonderful itinerary we have (the 10-night Canadian adventure cruise that goes to ports that aren't on the usual Canada/New England itineraries) and we like the contrast between the "old school" cruising offered on ships like Majesty and Empress versus all the bells and whisltes of newer ships like Symphony. In our case we went from Grandeur to Freedom to Serenade to Majesty to Oasis to Enchantment to Symphony and the only one we didn't care for was Enchantment.

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voyager70

voyager70

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We sailed Empress shortly after she rejoined the fleet in 2016.  Great little ship, but we really missed the amenities of the bigger ships.  Said we wouldn't sail Empress again unless it were to Cuba.  Now that's out so I doubt we'll be sailing her again unless things change re. Cuba.

 

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Oakman

Oakman

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Love the Empress!!! Excellent food and staff and it really feels like you are sailing on a ship and not floating from port to port in a mall. Seriously, we enjoy all classes of RCCL ships, having sailed them all since the Nordic Prince. While the smaller ships lack the new amenities and "bells and whistles" of the mega ships, the connection to the sea and fellow passengers makes for a memorable vacation. Enjoy each ship for it's own individuality and forget about the comparisons. Life is too short to spend it finding fault.

 

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Extra Kim

Extra Kim

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11 hours ago, twangster said:

Have you ever cruised that long before?  
 

The only concern is cruise fatigue.  After 19 nights you might be done then boarding Empress may cast a dark cloud over that cruise simply because you are getting tired of the routine combined with very small cabins.  
 

If Empress was first and you went bigger with every step ending on a new ship I suspect it would end up better. 
 

Don’t get me wrong I love Empress and will board her after 16 nights on Vision but I know exactly what I’m in for and I’m good with it given I love Empress. 

Well, no. The longest cruise we have done was a 21nts B2B on Legend Of The Seas.

By then I didn't mind getting off the ship, but if someone had asked me if I would like to do another cruise on a different ship, I would in a heartbeat. 

We spent a total of 25nts away from home during that trip.

 

We sailed on Allure back in 2013 and wanted to try the Oasis class again, so we did in January this year. We sailed on Harmony. Not sure that I feel the need to sail on the Oasis class again, they are fantastic but too big for our taste.

 

So far the Freedom class are my favourite. Didn't like the Navigator or the Majesty. 

 

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Extra Kim

Extra Kim

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10 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I wouldn't sail on Empress before or after Odyssey unless it was a very unique itinerary that I really wanted to do and could not do it on a more preferable ship.

She have two ports of call that I haven't seen on any other RC ship, Virgin Gorda and Puerto Plata. The other two are San Juan and St Thomas, we like St Thomas but San Juan feels like "been there, done that".

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Tapi Great Review Rare

Tapi

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I’d sail on Empress simply because once she leaves the fleet, it’s going to be the end of an era at Royal Caribbean. 
 

We’ve been on Empress twice, most recently in 2018 to go to Cuba. I found her to be in much better condition than I expected. We had a truly enjoyable time onboard. It was a throwback to the more traditional and simpler years of cruising. 

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kcamp317

kcamp317

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We were on Empress earlier this month for the first time.   Wrote a review of it on here you can check out.   Yea, its smaller and doesn't have all the bells and whistles but my biggest pleasant surprise was the nearly complete lack of lines and waiting in crowds anywhere on the ship, all day every day.   Windjammer even at the busiest times was a breeze to get in and easily find a table.   Never had to wait at a bar, shows, etc.   I found it very relaxing and not hectic shoulder to shoulder like some of the larger ships.   There were a few times I would look around and ask my wife "where is everybody?"  Lol!!!   Its a great relaxing cruise.  Another thing I noticed was the smooth ride.   I was expecting that since it was a small ship the waves and swells would be noticed much more but it was very stable.

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