Empress of The Seas

[John&LaLa]

Just now, hencar said:

That is true.but empress is only one small enough to fit in hamilton cruise port.I donot thing RC would sell the only ship they have for that port.Not with their financial situation

 

But that's just one of three potential stops.🤔

 

Its not like restricting a popular departure point like Baltimore or Tampa 

[NuisanceLuke]

11 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Any ship can go to SJ😉😇

 

Yes, that is true. . .so? 

I'm just mourning her possible loss.  What's wrong with that?

[John&LaLa]

3 minutes ago, NuisanceLuke said:

 

Yes, that is true. . .so? 

I'm just mourning her possible loss.  What's wrong with that?

 

Nothing, it's just that the previous two posters were questioning ports that required Empress to get into. 😉

 

You probably could have made your point without including the first sentence 

Edited August 26, 2020 by John&LaLa

[hencar]

5 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

But that's just one of three potential stops.🤔

 

Its not like restricting a popular departure point like Baltimore or Tampa 

 

5 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

But that's just one of three potential stops.🤔

 

Its not like restricting a popular departure point like Baltimore or Tampa 

 

[hencar]

I have a cruise booked from bayonne,N.J in may of 2021.Its on the Empress to Bermuda.Stops in St.George and Hamilton.Those two Bermuda ports are only for small ships.

[wendyp247]

50 minutes ago, Oxo said:

Or Canada/New England?

We were originally booked on Vision for Canada and New England  October 2020. Did lift and Shift to Empress with a similar itinerary for 2021

[NancyIL]

2 minutes ago, wendyp247 said:

We were originally booked on Vision for Canada and New England  October 2020. Did lift and Shift to Empress with a similar itinerary for 2021

 

We moved from the 11-night Canada Adventure on Empress in Sept. 2020 to the same itinerary in September 2021. It's a great itinerary, but I don't know whether any other RCI ship can sail from Montreal. 

[hencar]

Yes thats my concern about my bermuda cruise also. The ports are only for small ships

[Pratique]

Maybe leave the small ports to the competition (not worth it)? Or to Silversea? I dunno.

[bigeck]

2 hours ago, NancyIL said:

 

We moved from the 11-night Canada Adventure on Empress in Sept. 2020 to the same itinerary in September 2021. It's a great itinerary, but I don't know whether any other RCI ship can sail from Montreal. 

I'm on Montreal to San Juan. Really looking forward to the ports. I think that will be it for Montreal though if it's the end

[CKBob]

Oceania has three Cruise in July 2021 to ports of St George and Hamilton , Bermuda.  Still pulling for the Empress of the Sea to make it to Bermuda in 2021.  Our 2020 cruise was canceled to Bermuda on Empress.  Took the credit and I'm hoping to use the125% credit.

[wendyp247]

NCL, Celebrity , Viking  and Princess also have similar itineraries to Canada and New England

[rcclmiami]

3 hours ago, Oxo said:

Or Canada/New England?

Grandeur. Probably why they are keeping her.

 

[Tom47]

37 minutes ago, wendyp247 said:

NCL, Celebrity , Viking  and Princess also have similar itineraries to Canada and New England

I have checked their websites and I didn't see any r/t from Montreal.  Did I miss any?  We could drive to Montreal.

[DavidJay2]

On 7/31/2020 at 9:36 AM, Beachammo said:

Empress has been for sale for awhile now.....but Royal just reduced the price.

 

Not sure how much it's worth in Scrap

The wiki on ship-breaking suggested $400 a ton.  Based on 5300 DWT (dead weight tons), that would be about $21M.  So apparently they are willing to sell her for $20M to someone who will use her vs. breaking her up.

Edited August 26, 2020 by DavidJay2

[Oxo]

22 minutes ago, rcclmiami said:

Grandeur. Probably why they are keeping her.

 

Excellent replacement. Was on her in Nov 1997.

[John&LaLa]

22 minutes ago, DavidJay2 said:

The wiki on ship-breaking suggested $400 a ton.  Based on 5300 DWT (dead weight tons), that would be about $21M.  So apparently they are willing to sell her for $20M to someone who will use her vs. breaking her up.

 

Isn't that 2.1 million

[John&LaLa]

2 hours ago, Pratique said:

Maybe leave the small ports to the competition (not worth it)? Or to Silversea? I dunno.

 

Blasphemy😉

[Pratique]

1 hour ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Blasphemy😉

I know but let's face it Royal is a mass market cruise line. Focus on what you do best. I remember a thread comparing Royal to McDonald's and that raised a bit of a stir. But how many people will miss Empress if she leaves? (It's a rhetorical question lol) Not many. She represents a niche for nostalgia and small ships. If it turns out post-pandemic that the large ships become the dinosaurs and small ships can make a resurgence then I don't really see any place for Empress given her age. Or if the large ships return to being the money-makers what's her place in the grand scheme. Like I said I dunno. Just thinking out loud.

[John&LaLa]

37 minutes ago, Pratique said:

I know but let's face it Royal is a mass market cruise line. Focus on what you do best. I remember a thread comparing Royal to McDonald's and that raised a bit of a stir. But how many people will miss Empress if she leaves? (It's a rhetorical question lol) Not many. She represents a niche for nostalgia and small ships. If it turns out post-pandemic that the large ships become the dinosaurs and small ships can make a resurgence then I don't really see any place for Empress given her age. Or if the large ships return to being the money-makers what's her place in the grand scheme. Like I said I dunno. Just thinking out loud.

 

I totally agree, but a certain niche doesn't want to hear it😉

[John&LaLa]

Lets add a FlowRider 

Edited August 27, 2020 by John&LaLa

[Extra Kim]

7 hours ago, DavidJay2 said:

The wiki on ship-breaking suggested $400 a ton.  Based on 5300 DWT (dead weight tons), that would be about $21M.  So apparently they are willing to sell her for $20M to someone who will use her vs. breaking her up.

Didn't it used to be 50 000 000 and they dropped the price down to 30 000 000? That's how I read the add.

Edited August 27, 2020 by Extra Kim

[LXA350]

6 hours ago, Pratique said:

I know but let's face it Royal is a mass market cruise line. Focus on what you do best. I remember a thread comparing Royal to McDonald's and that raised a bit of a stir. But how many people will miss Empress if she leaves? (It's a rhetorical question lol) Not many. She represents a niche for nostalgia and small ships. If it turns out post-pandemic that the large ships become the dinosaurs and small ships can make a resurgence then I don't really see any place for Empress given her age. Or if the large ships return to being the money-makers what's her place in the grand scheme. Like I said I dunno. Just thinking out loud.

 

Since RCL developed over the years into a mass market product with always more focus of having the ship being the destination, hence also a large revenue space, ships smaller than 3000 passengers (or even larger) do not fit into the business model of this brand anymore. For the ones that are looking at unique itinararies with stops in places such as Montreal, St. George etc., this is part of thre luxury segment now a days, hence Silversea in the case of RCL.

 

I can see RCL to consider to replace the Radiance Class eventually with a few ships that could to the same Alaska itinararies and some select Asia Pacific + cruises departing from ports such as Baltimore for 3000 passengers +- that would fullfill requirements to fit into those ports but here we have still time for another 5-10 years until this would happen.

 

Anyway it is still uncertain how the cruise inustry willl change after COVID and I also wouldn't be suprised if the trend will still see large ships but maybe maximum in sizeof Icon Class.

[snaefell]

Would't disagree that none of us know what cruising would be like post Covi d but signs were there pre Covi d that bigger ships were maybe not going to be the way forward

Venice & Amsterdam were already trying to limit cruise passengers,who knows how many others may have been considering similar actions,post Covi d trying for any form of social distancing on port calls may be difficult with large passenger numbers.

Does that leave a requirement for smaller ships or just reducing passenger numbers on the current large ships,if the latter I wonder how they would try to utilize the space left by fewer passengers to make money out of the lower number of passengers

[Pratique]

14 minutes ago, snaefell said:

Would't disagree that none of us know what cruising would be like post Covi d but signs were there pre Covi d that bigger ships were maybe not going to be the way forward

I had that sense too but they were still betting on the mega ships. Look at the Oasis refurb that added even more cabins and plans to do the same to Allure. I thought that Oasis 6 would be the last of that size anyway but clearly the cruise lines were all going bigger.

 

The question is whether they can consistently turn a profit by running these ships at 60% capacity for awhile. If so that might be the trend for the future. Maybe more public space and fewer cabins. I could live with that.