Any recent pics around of empress?

[klc317]

Hi.  First post on here.  We have been on about 10 RC cruises, usually one a year since 2006.  Last year was our first smaller ship/shorter itinerary (as our girl had just turned 3, we brought her along) on Majesty on a 4 night bahamas/key west itinerary.  This year we have an end of May five night to Cozumel on Empress booked.  Again, we are bringing our daughter since things went quite smooth last year and she seemed to enjoy it.    Kinda taking a risk on an even smaller ship than we are used to but I'm sure it will still be enjoyable and we will have fun as always.

 

Anyway....I have been looking around online trying to find any recent pictures/sneak peeks of the construction/refurbishment on the Empress with no luck.  Ive read all about the first 6 weeks or so being cancelled due to more time needed but I'm hoping by end of next month everything will be ironed out so we can still go.  Best I can tell on a cruiseship tracker is that its been sitting at Freeport Bahamas for a week or two, obviously getting more work done.  Anybody know of any recent images of anything completed?  I imagine RC is kinda keeping things under wraps until its officially in service.

[WAAAYTOOO]

No....but if you find some, please share them with us !! 

 

:rolleyes:

 

I have seen a couple of things on CC but they're hard to make out really and not of much help.  It is a little disconcerting that RCI isn't telling us SOMEthing.  I guess this kind of confusion isn't anything new to RCI.  They seem to thrive on keeping everyone in suspense with the important stuff and throwing ticker tape parades proclaiming the insignificant.  - and even then, they often get it wrong !

 

The longer they take with giving us SOME news the more outlandish the rumors become.  I think they are doing this on purpose.  :angry: :angry:

 

I am booked on the May 23 sailing, which is a resked from the cancelled April 11 sailing.  [not so] patiently waiting to find out some news...any news. 

[klc317]

Nice.  Thats the same one we are booked on also.  Im sure it will be full due to people being moved into the mix from the cancelled dates but thats fine.   Its kind of an unusual itinerary with an overnight stay and 2 days in Cozumel but we thought why not?  we will give it a shot.   The price was good and it fit into our schedules nicely.

 

Yea, it would be interesting to see some info/videos/pics.   I always like to watch a few YouTube videos of any new to us ship we go on just to get a rough idea of what we are going to be dealing with.....lots of people seem to put up some quite detailed ship tours but this time we are going in blind.   All in all we've never been let down or had a bad experience on a RC cruise so I'm thinking positive and hope I'm right.   Its not easy to reschedule vacations with our jobs.

[WAAAYTOOO]

Welcome to the blog BTW.

 

We much preferred our original itinerary which was Cozumel and Costa Maya (one of our favorites) but this itin beats the alternative - nothing. We would have lost $1k OBC from the casino if we had cancelled so we did what we had to do.

 

Like you said, they haven't let me down yet (except for Empress-Gate) so we will soldier on.

[Thunderknite]

I've noticed her moving around a bit in Freeport

[firegal2539]

On CC board under Roll Call Empress of the Seas is one pic of her heading to Freeport, that is the only one I have seen.

[WAAAYTOOO]

I've noticed her moving around a bit in Freeport

I read the same thing on CC. They must be on some shakedowns.

[DocLC]

I'm starting to think that the Empress was in worse shape and needed more TLC than Royal anticipated.

[PRC]

Agreed.

[WAAAYTOOO]

That's almost certain.....let's just hope they can clean her up in time !

[Todd]

That's almost certain.....let's just hope they can clean her up in time !

 

I think you should make other plans for your May trip, it is not looking good..... Sorry.

[firegal2539]

Nope my May 14-19, 2016 Empress OTS trip is going to take place or else all HE&& will break lose. They have known for way too long about the refurb on this ship and all the things that have gone wrong and extras that needed to be done after the refurb was finished.

 

WAAAYTOOO, you and I together are unstoppable when it comes to someone screwing with our money. RCI had better watch out.

 

WAAAYTOOO did you see the CC post about the woman who booked a I-GTY (guaranteed interior cabin) and ended up with a Studio Cabin? 165 sq. ft. as opposed to 108 sq. ft, a queen bed as opposed to a twin bed. She has been on the phone with RCI, reps and supervisors, for 10 hours total and can't get it resolved. They claim an SI (Studio) is the same thing as an I-Interior. She has already made final pay.

 

I would be contacting every single person in the corporate office. RCI said ship is sold out but if she wants to upgrade they have a balcony for her. Way Too Crazy!

 

Candie

[WAAAYTOOO]

No, I  didn't read that one !  ...one of the perils of booking a guarantee, I guess.  Hopefully they will get it squared away.

[klc317]

I don't know if I buy all the roach infestation etc. or other rumors I've seen and read (I did go to CC and read a little) but obviously something quite major as far as equipment, systems, mechanical stuff, etc had to be replaced or majorly overhauled and perhaps ordered and built specifically for the ship late notice otherwise a delay of a month or more wouldn't have happened.  Seems like they can usually get a ton of work done within a months time on one of those huge ships and its quite well orchestrated.  In fact some of the videos I've seen its amazing how they do it....no easy task.  

 

My wife really enjoys and thrives on getting to the bottom of things if we get screwed over on something we paid for.....lol.   She will argue over $1 overcharge at the grocery store, argue with the cable/internet company for hours, etc.  God help them if we lose out on this...haha.

 

Anyway, Im looking forward to seeing some pics/videos if anyone does get on the Empress prior to our May 23rd itinerary.    Fingers crossed!!

[Todd]

Nope my May 14-19, 2016 Empress OTS trip is going to take place or else all HE&& will break lose. They have known for way too long about the refurb on this ship and all the things that have gone wrong and extras that needed to be done after the refurb was finished.

 

WAAAYTOOO, you and I together are unstoppable when it comes to someone screwing with our money. RCI had better watch out.

 

 

 

I would not want to take on either one of you. But I believe you are going to have a battle. When I had a issue last month with Royal I found the talking heads to be worthless, customer service and the support people within that area just kept reading the same stock answers.  Which I knew were 100% wrong. I just documented everything and stopped talking to them. Went directly to RCCL legal department, with the documentation I have all the games stopped and Royal did exactly what I requested. After no less then 8 different people in Customer Service told me that I would get nothing.....

 

I posted this because I truly believe your cruises in May will not happen and for some people like WAAYTOOO it will be the second cancelled cruise for the same reservation. This is no way to treat your best clients, Royal needs to make this right.

[monctonguy]

Big companies don't care. They will just write this off as a blip on the screen.

 

It's too bad...RCI has some great ships and cruises....but their product is becoming very expensive and their service is going down.

 

But as long as people book and pay......well.....

[Matt]

There is no defending what RC has done (twice). We all understand why they did it, but I'm not sure many can understand why they keep doing this at the very last minute.

 

I will give them credit in this one aspect: they did the responsible thing and cancel the cruises instead of pushing ahead with the cruises and trying to "make it work".  I doubt this will make anyone affected by the cancellations feel better, but I'd rather them cancel my cruise than go on a ship that is not 100% ready.

 

I hope all of those that were affected did not lose too much money and can find another cruise to start looking forward to soon!

[WAAAYTOOO]

Matt, I wish I could be as gracious as you're trying to be with RCI on this one.  I have really lost my confidence in their corporate-level decision-making.  It's not even just Empress-Gate...there have been so many bonehead moves in the last few months.  Is Liberty still sailing without one of its slides properly operating ?  How many times have they changed their minds about whether Majesty is staying or going ?  How many upgrades have they reneged on after telling the WORLD that they were going to do them ?  Empress-Gate is the worst, but not, by ANY stretch, the only one.

 

I'll be honest here...I'm not sure that they had ANY choice in whether or not to cancel these cruises.  I believe that they did not pass muster and that they weren't going anywhere. Period.  Would they have sailed with a sub-par situation ?  I wish I could answer "NO" with confidence, but I cannot.  Would they sail with an unsafe ship ?  To that one, I can still answer "NO".  I don't think they would do that.

 

...but would they have sailed if they could have ?  My gut tells me they would have.  I'm not going to be as generous as you by saying that they cancelled these last cruises out of some high sense of moral obligation.  I think they cancelled b/c they had no other choice. 

 

I understand that all of this is pure speculation but it's based on their handling of the entire situation.  They knew their ship wasn't ready, yet they continued to take peoples' money and reservations right up until the very last f'n minute and then just dropped everyone without providing any real explanation....and with no real remorse, or recompense, as far as I can tell.  I'm sure that their attorneys are telling them to admit nothing and don't give out any information than you have to...but their underhanded handling of this does not provide us with a "warm and fuzzy" that they have done this for US.  Rather, the opposite.

[klc317]

Matt, I wish I could be as gracious as you're trying to be with RCI on this one.  I have really lost my confidence in their corporate-level decision-making.  It's not even just Empress-Gate...there have been so many bonehead moves in the last few months.  Is Liberty still sailing without one of its slides properly operating ?  How many times have they changed their minds about whether Majesty is staying or going ?  How many upgrades have they reneged on after telling the WORLD that they were going to do them ?  Empress-Gate is the worst, but not, by ANY stretch, the only one.

 

I'll be honest here...I'm not sure that they had ANY choice in whether or not to cancel these cruises.  I believe that they did not pass muster and that they weren't going anywhere. Period.  Would they have sailed with a sub-par situation ?  I wish I could answer "NO" with confidence, but I cannot.  Would they sail with an unsafe ship ?  To that one, I can still answer "NO".  I don't think they would do that.

 

...but would they have sailed if they could have ?  My gut tells me they would have.  I'm not going to be as generous as you by saying that they cancelled these last cruises out of some high sense of moral obligation.  I think they cancelled b/c they had no other choice. 

 

I understand that all of this is pure speculation but it's based on their handling of the entire situation.  They knew their ship wasn't ready, yet they continued to take peoples' money and reservations right up until the very last f'n minute and then just dropped everyone without providing any real explanation....and with no real remorse, or recompense, as far as I can tell.  I'm sure that their attorneys are telling them to admit nothing and don't give out any information than you have to...but their underhanded handling of this does not provide us with a "warm and fuzzy" that they have done this for US.  Rather, the opposite.

Well said 

[RCVoyager]

All of this and all of the recent self-caused issues are making me question my loyalty.  Carnival has had issues over the years, but I don't recall this much this fast.  Same with Princess.  I do hold NCL in lower regard, but that's just my opinion based upon their crappy MDR menus.  

 

I hope someone from RCCL monitors this board.  You are running your most loyal customers off.  Are you listening?

[Matt]

They knew their ship wasn't ready, yet they continued to take peoples' money and reservations right up until the very last f'n minute and then just dropped everyone without providing any real explanation....and with no real remorse, or recompense, as far as I can tell.  I'm sure that their attorneys are telling them to admit nothing and don't give out any information than you have to...but their underhanded handling of this does not provide us with a "warm and fuzzy" that they have done this for US.  Rather, the opposite.

There is no denying that and I really cannot defend how they handled it, ESPECIALLY after what happened in March.

 

You should be upset about what has happened and I don't think anyone blames you for being less than infatuated with Miami HQ these days.

 

Like ex-girlfriends, time heals all pain  ;)

[WAAAYTOOO]

Never had any ex-girlfriends...but I'm with ya !

 

The incredible, awesome, unbelievable deal that Michelle got for me on Freedom is doing WAY more to heal my hurt feelings than any amount of time could.  :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

 

I will post some details about that shortly, but she and the Club Royale agent that helped her worked some miracles.  I've never gotten such a good deal.  Maybe the agents ARE feeling a little sorry for those of us that were disenfranchised.  Whatever the cause, I am very happy.  Can't say that about the airfare situation (UGH) but the cruise part couldn't have worked out any better.

[DocLC]

All of this and all of the recent self-caused issues are making me question my loyalty.  Carnival has had issues over the years, but I don't recall this much this fast.  Same with Princess.  I do hold NCL in lower regard, but that's just my opinion based upon their crappy MDR menus.  

 

I hope someone from RCCL monitors this board.  You are running your most loyal customers off.  Are you listening?

Let's be honest, though.  Carnival's issues were worse than what Royal is currently experiencing since no one was on the ship.  If memory serves, they had two ships that were stranded at sea with passengers onboard and another sailing where they had to offload the passengers at a port stop because of a mechanical issue.  However, I do agree that of late, Royal has made  a lot of mistakes.  I'm also betting the Carnival is grateful that another line is currently taking the heat.

[Matt]

Let's be honest, though.  Carnival's issues were worse than what Royal is currently experiencing since no one was on the ship.  If memory serves, they had two ships that were stranded at sea with passengers onboard and another sailing where they had to offload the passengers at a port stop because of a mechanical issue.  However, I do agree that of late, Royal has made  a lot of mistakes.  I'm also betting the Carnival is grateful that another line is currently taking the heat.

Agreed. Carnival's issues resulted in guests being stranded at sea. Here, we have customer relation blunders but it's all happening without ships sailing. That is a big difference.

[Todd]

Agreed. Carnival's issues resulted in guests being stranded at sea. Here, we have customer relation blunders but it's all happening without ships sailing. That is a big difference.

 It was the way they handle things after that made their issues which were worse to start less of a problem in the end. I know some people just cruise and enjoy vacations, which is great. But I also look at and follow the stocks,  and from a public relations and image standpoint Carnival has done much better.