Empress Of The Seas Leaving The Fleet??

[Tapi]

I just received my Crown and Anchor newsletter and on the page with the itinerary for the Empress of the Seas out of San Juan, it states "Don't miss your chance to sail Empress of the Seas for her final season with us"

Any idea where she is headed???

[Alexis]

I just received my Crown and Anchor newsletter and on the page with the itinerary for the Empress of the Seas out of San Juan, it states "Don't miss your chance to sail Empress of the Seas for her final season with us"

Any idea where she is headed???

 

March of 08. Then it is being moved to the Pullmantur Lines. I believe that is also part of RCCL.

[iheartbda]

The Empress will be keeping Celebrity's Zenith company at Pulmantur which has offices in both Spain and Portugal.:(

[Pumbaamd]

She is moving to Europe where her smaller size with Pullmantor will work out quite nicely. We are on her from Philly in October, after our first cruise on her in 1994. An extremely very nice, but smaller and older, cruise ship.

Rick and Deirdra

[Host Kewlguy]

I wouldn't be surprised to also see the Majesty, Sovereign and Monarch eventually end up with Pullmantur Cruises in the future. If not, then sold to other foreign interests. Not trying to start a rumor. Just making an observation.

[Downdie]

kewlguy:

It would not surprise me if your observation was correct. Pullmantur appears to be one of the fastest growing lines, 0-6 ships in 5 years, and needs the capacity for what it's advertising as "remember the golden age of cruising", ie. older well known ships. Why are they so popular? It couldn,t be that all-inclusive tag at regular mainstream cruise pricing, could it.

[Sheik]

My TA told me a couple of months ago that the Sovereign, Majesty and Monarch will be transfered to Pullmantor or Island Cruises, but after a refurbishment. We all know that the Majesty has been refurbished, I think it won't take long before those ships will leave the RCCL fleet. Don't get me wrong, I love those ships, but they are not giving the same quality anymore. I think it's a wise decision. We'll see.

[Mines]

My TA told me a couple of months ago that the Sovereign, Majesty and Monarch will be transfered to Pullmantor or Island Cruises, but after a refurbishment. We all know that the Majesty has been refurbished, I think it won't take long before those ships will leave the RCCL fleet. Don't get me wrong, I love those ships, but they are not giving the same quality anymore. I think it's a wise decision. We'll see.

 

This does seem to be the strategic plan. They will probably wait until the Genesis class ships arrive. These will replace the Freedom class on the popular Caribbean routes, the Freedom Class will replace the Voyager class, the Voyager Class will replace the Radiance Class, the Radiance Class will replace the Vision Class and the Vision class will replace the Sovereign class, as well as diversify to other parts of the world.

 

So it makes sense for the Sovereign class to replace the 30+ year old ships in Pullmantur and Island. Pullmantur have been given two ships (Empress and Zenith) to replace the two ships that have gone to Azamara.

 

Incidentally, Pullmantur is a Spanish oriented line (the only major line with Spanish as the principal language) operating out of Barcelona. This is the unique reason for its success, certainly not for the quality of the ships or the prices.

[Mines]

The Empress will be keeping Celebrity's Zenith company at Pulmantur which has offices in both Spain and Portugal.:(

 

Pullmantur do not have offices in Portugal. They operate exclusively out of Barcelona. Their ex-owners, Marsans are travel agents who do have offices in Portugal, which is why Pulmantur cruises are heavily marketed there.

 

In the winter, the Pullmantur ships are leased out to Brazilian travel agents CVC.