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What ships do you think will leave the fleet next?I


Joe01

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I'm all for getting rid of the Empress again now that Majesty can do Cuba. I don't really see why they have kept her - she doesn't fit in with what Royal Caribbean is as a cruise line.

Personally, although I didn't care for Enchantment, I don't want to see more Vision Class ships being sold. I think that they would be great ships to work on, just not to cruise on if you like the bells and whistles. Plenty of cruisers still like them and they are needed in some regions so I would keep them. Majesty should be kept for Cuba. I also think that her refurbs in 2008 and 2016 have made her look decent.

The ship I want to see the back of is Empress. I'm not sure about that one though. I fear that it could be Rhapsody or Grandeur that we lose. What ships do you think it will be?

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not sure..I think Empress and Majesty are good for the Cuba market so......

 

But Rhapsody perhaps.....don't then need to keep Grandeur as the other ships are too big for Baltimore?....I think it comes down to more about the need/market/capability for Royal than anything...that being said..I don't really want to see any ship go till I get to experience her at least one....

 

Enchantment is/was one of my fav ships....

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3 minutes ago, monctonguy said:

not sure..I think Empress and Majesty are good for the Cuba market so......

 

But Rhapsody perhaps.....don't then need to keep Grandeur as the other ships are too big for Baltimore?....I think it comes down to more about the need/market/capability for Royal than anything...that being said..I don't really want to see any ship go till I get to experience her at least one....

 

Enchantment is/was one of my fav ships....

I didn't care for Enchantment, but that was back when she was in Baltimore so a long time ago.

Personally, I can't see why one would choose Empress for Cuba. Majesty does at least have some bells and whistles from her dry-docks but still retains the feeling of being a classic ship.

I also don't want to see a ship go before I experience it, so I hope that they keep Rhapsody. There are some subtle differences between Grandeur/Enchantment and Rhapsody/Vision, and I would like to do the latter sister ships. As for Baltimore, maybe a Radiance Class? 

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2 hours ago, Joe01 said:

I'm all for getting rid of the Empress again now that Majesty can do Cuba. I don't really see why they have kept her - she doesn't fit in with what Royal Caribbean is as a cruise line.

Both ships are in the fleet primarily to offer cruises to Cuba. Until the Cuban port infrastructure is upgraded so that they can accommodate larger ships, they will be around.

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No one knows until it happens. I have not been on Majesty yet, but I absolutely love Empress, and I have sailed every class but Sovereign and Quantum. I think there is a market for the Vision Class ships that are remaining because of the low cost of many of their itineraries, so I hope there are no plans for any to leave any time soon.

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4 hours ago, Sweety said:

I love Majesty and Empress.

I don't mean for this to sound rude so please don't take it this way I really am curious. What did you like about Empress? I went on there for FREE in a junior suite that I got from the casino. I absolutely hated it. First I find that the air conditioning in the boat is awful. I am from Ft Lauderdale so I am used to heat but I don't want to be hot inside the ship. 2nd I found the food to be the absolute WORST out of all my Royal Caribbean cruises and I have been on 52 Royal Caribbean cruises. My friend and I joked that that we literally only ate enough on that ship just to get by because we found it so bad. Not just in MDR found the Windjammer quality to just be terrible. Also I spend a lot of time in the casino and maybe you don't but the actual A/C in the Casino is so bad they have to have huge fans blowing and the poor dealers are sweating so bad because they can't cool off. Now to be fair I took this cruise right after its dry dock before it went to Cuba. it was doing 4/5 Western Caribbean sailings and thats where I went.. Maybe it has improved since then but even if the Casino gave me the biggest suite they have I wouldn't go on it again. So Again I am not trying to be rude or put you down I truly am looking for someone's perspective on what they like about this ship.. 

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I had a conversation with a long time stock holder from Norway about this a few nights ago on Radiance.  He was very well dialed into the fleet and knew a great deal.  In his opinion, Empress and Majesty are safe for now, due to the small nature of Cuba ports and lack of infrastructure to support larger ships.  Grandeur and Rhapsody are absolutely for sale, possibly Vision but not Enchantment, at least at this moment.

He was certain that the next QU+ (Ultra) ship will be "Pulse of the Seas".  Time will tell.

I was just on Empress a few weeks ago to Cuba where it is very hot in July.  No problems with A/C.  Plus Empress has Chops Grille AND Diamond Plus get to eat breakfast there.  Majesty has JR which I don't eat at on board any ship and hardly "Specialty Dining". 

I really enjoyed Empress.  Loyalty Ambassador was great.  Boleros is nicely done and very large.  Nice aft sitting area down close to the water just off Boleros.  MDR food was no worse than any other ship, better than Radiance I just got off today.  If you need Broadway shows, ice skating, flowriders, a Diamond Lounge, etc - then Empress and Majesty will be a disappointment. 

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I would go to Cuba on Majesty. But Empress is a 48,000 Gross Ton vessel with around 2000 people. Seems a little tight for me. I don’t have a problem with smaller ships but I don’t want to be a sardine. Eventually Cuba will expand their port to allow bigger ships, but until then Empress and Majesty have a place.

I think the other older ships like the Vision, Enchantment, and Rhapsody will be phased out soon by the Oasis, Quantum, and new Icon class ships eventually. But probably will take 10 years to do so.

 

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3 hours ago, Oliver said:

I would go to Cuba on Majesty. But Empress is a 48,000 Gross Ton vessel with around 2000 people. Seems a little tight for me. I don’t have a problem with smaller ships but I don’t want to be a sardine. Eventually Cuba will expand their port to allow bigger ships, but until then Empress and Majesty have a place.

I think the other older ships like the Vision, Enchantment, and Rhapsody will be phased out soon by the Oasis, Quantum, and new Icon class ships eventually. But probably will take 10 years to do so.

 

I'm the same. No intention of visiting Cuba at the moment, but if I were to go, it would definitely be Majesty and not Empress for the reasons you listed. It's just too small.

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9 hours ago, AGSLC5 said:

I don't mean for this to sound rude so please don't take it this way I really am curious. What did you like about Empress? I went on there for FREE in a junior suite that I got from the casino. I absolutely hated it. First I find that the air conditioning in the boat is awful. I am from Ft Lauderdale so I am used to heat but I don't want to be hot inside the ship. 2nd I found the food to be the absolute WORST out of all my Royal Caribbean cruises and I have been on 52 Royal Caribbean cruises. My friend and I joked that that we literally only ate enough on that ship just to get by because we found it so bad. Not just in MDR found the Windjammer quality to just be terrible. Also I spend a lot of time in the casino and maybe you don't but the actual A/C in the Casino is so bad they have to have huge fans blowing and the poor dealers are sweating so bad because they can't cool off. Now to be fair I took this cruise right after its dry dock before it went to Cuba. it was doing 4/5 Western Caribbean sailings and thats where I went.. Maybe it has improved since then but even if the Casino gave me the biggest suite they have I wouldn't go on it again. So Again I am not trying to be rude or put you down I truly am looking for someone's perspective on what they like about this ship.. 

We loved Empress because the ship is small. We wanted to go to Cuba and the ship provided that option. Now, we thought the food was excellent. We live in Chicago and we consider ourselves a foodie. Empress spends more on their food budget, because they are small. The only food we didn't like was the pizza. But when you tried the best (Chicago), the rest comes up short. We also liked our room location. We were on deck 7 aft. We had a small little lookout  which made the room seems larger. I went to the casino, it was ok. I love the fact that we had breakfast in Chops everyday. I would go back on Empress in a heartbeat. We work for the Chicago Public schools and sometimes we don't want a crowd. With that said, we are booked on Anthem (New Years) and Harmony (Spring break). We have to take our vacation during schools' holidays. Cuba was our destination. We had a wonderful time and was glad we went there. We also loved Majesty. We were on here three times this Summer. I hope I answered your question. 

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I tend to agree with the opinion that Empress and Majesty are safe for now due to the size restrictions of Cuba.  I personally believe that Royal Caribbean would sell any of the Vision Class ships for the right amount of money.  As I recall seeing a while back, $300 Million was the asking price for at least 1 or 2 of the Vision Class ships through various brokers.

I personally think that Royal Caribbean would be content selling off most of the fleet that is smaller than the Voyager Class, there are just too many factors that prevent them from selling off the entire older, smaller part of the fleet immediately.

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20 hours ago, AGSLC5 said:

Now to be fair I took this cruise right after its dry dock before it went to Cuba.

I heard the stories about terrible sailings right after the dry dock, but I also paid attention to reviews a couple months after, and it seemed like people were really enjoying the ship after the kinks started getting worked out. I sailed on her a little oer a year ago, and thought the food was every bit as good as other ships, and the crew were fantastic. I experienced no issues with hot or cold tempertures, smells or anything like that. I loved the no smoking casino too. The only thing I didn't care for was my cabin selection on deck 9 under the Viking Crown lounge. A dance floor was just above our ceiling. That can happen on any ship, though. Other than that, I can't think of anything on that ship I didn't like.

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16 hours ago, Sweety said:

We loved Empress because the ship is small. We wanted to go to Cuba and the ship provided that option. Now, we thought the food was excellent. We live in Chicago and we consider ourselves a foodie. Empress spends more on their food budget, because they are small. The only food we didn't like was the pizza. But when you tried the best (Chicago), the rest comes up short. We also liked our room location. We were on deck 7 aft. We had a small little lookout  which made the room seems larger. I went to the casino, it was ok. I love the fact that we had breakfast in Chops everyday. I would go back on Empress in a heartbeat. We work for the Chicago Public schools and sometimes we don't want a crowd. With that said, we are booked on Anthem (New Years) and Harmony (Spring break). We have to take our vacation during schools' holidays. Cuba was our destination. We had a wonderful time and was glad we went there. We also loved Majesty. We were on here three times this Summer. I hope I answered your question. 

Yup I totally get it. Hey I'm glad you had a much better experience than I did. I think I am just a big ship person. I think I have to go on Voyager class and higher to be happy. I need choices. I need different restaurants, I need ice skating shows, I need bigger casinos. So for me I guess its just Voyager class and up but I respect that some people love a small ship experience

 

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