Yard number G29 Launched 25 August 1989 Draft 7.1 m Builder Chantiers de l'Atlantique | Christened Gloria Estefan Length 210 m Beam 31 m | |
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Name Originally ordered as Future Seas
1990-2004 Nordic Empress
2004-2008 Empress of the Seas
2008-2016 Empress
2016-onwards Empress of the Seas Owner Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Operator list error list (help) 1990-2008 Royal Caribbean International 2008-2016 Pullmantur Cruises 2016-onwards Royal Caribbean International Port of registry list error list (help) 1990—2002 Monrovia, Liberia 2002—2008 Nassau, Bahamas 2008-2016 Valletta, Malta 2016 onwards Nassau, Bahamas | ||
MS Empress of the Seas is a cruise ship operated by Royal Caribbean International. She was formerly operated by Pullmantur Cruises as Empress. The ship was ordered by Admiral Cruise Lines and was intended to be called the Future Seas and join the other Admiral ships, the Azure Seas and the Emerald Seas. However, when Royal Caribbean merged with Admiral in 1987, the Admiral brand was dissolved and the newbuild (still under construction) was incorporated into the Royal Caribbean fleet. A few signature Royal Caribbean brand elements were added, including the Viking Crown and Windjammer Cafe.
Contents
History
The ship was originally named Nordic Empress and was the final Royal Caribbean ship whose name did not end with "of the Seas" until the name was changed to match the rest of the fleet following an extensive rebuilding that ended on 8 May 2004.
Nordic Empress was the first mainstream cruise ship especially designed for the 3 and 4 day cruise market. Her initial itinerary was a short cruise to the Bahamas, which was then combined with 3 and 4 day cruises from San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 1999, following the sale of the Song of America, the Nordic Empress took over the New York City to Bermuda route.
In 2000, Royal Caribbean announced that the Nordic Empress would be undertaking a series of cruises in South America. Shortly after these cruises were put on sale, Royal Caribbean decided to replace the Nordic Empress with the Splendour of the Seas on the South American itineraries, leaving the Nordic Empress in the Caribbean.
2001 engine room fire
In June 2001 the Nordic Empress suffered extensive engine room fire damage while sailing 140 miles north of Bermuda. Subsequent investigation revealed the cause of the fire was failure of a loose bolt in a fuel line flange assembly that had been improperly repaired. The broken bolt caused the flange assembly to separate, allowing fuel to leak around the engine. Moments after a low fuel pressure alarm sounded in the engine room, the leaking fuel ignited against the hot engine surfaces, causing a large explosion that was visible on the engine room CCTV. The engines were stopped immediately and all fuel pumps switched off. Crew members attempting to enter the engine area to fight to fire with fire hoses were forced to turn back from the intense heat. 6 minutes into the fire, the engine room overhead fire sprinkler system was activated along with the ship's general emergency alarm. The sprinklers appeared to have extinguished the fire after 4 minutes, and crew once again attempted to re-enter the engine area, only to have the residual fuel in the engine area ignite a flash fire that was quickly extinguished with fire hoses. During the subsequent inspection of the engine room and surrounding areas, burning wires were discovered in an adjacent compartment. The space was evacuated before lowering watertight doors and releasing 885 kg of halon and restarting the overhead sprinkler system. 3 hours after the first fire broke out, the incident was logged as resolved. The ship was able to return to Bermuda under reduced power, and was subsequently taken out of service for 2 weeks for repairs. Total expenses and lost revenue related to the fire totaled over $8.8 million.
Actress Tina Fey and then recently married husband Jeff Richmond were reportedly on board at the time. The incident was recounted in Fey's autobiography, Bossypants.
On 26 March 2007, it was reported that in March 2008, the Empress of the Seas would be transferred to the fleet of Royal Caribbean's subsidiary Pullmantur Cruises. Her final voyage for Royal Caribbean took place on 7 March 2008. The maiden voyage as Empress for Pullmantur Cruises took place on 15 March 2008.
In November 2012, the Empress was the first of the fleet to receive a brand new logo as well as new hull color scheme, it is not known at the moment when the rest of the fleet will receive the new rebranding.
In October 2015, it was announced that Pullmantur would be transferring Empress of the Seas back to Royal Caribbean.
Future
Pullmantur is refocusing on Europe after concentrating passenger sourcing efforts on Latin and South America after the Spanish market went soft. As a result, MS Empress will return to Royal Caribbean after a dry dock in Spring 2016 and will be renamed Empress of the Seas.
On December 21, 2015, Royal Caribbean started offering 4- and 5-night Empress of the Seas cruises from Miami, originally scheduled to begin March 30, 2016, with the Bahamas, Key West, and Grand Cayman among ports to be visited. On March 18, 2016, Royal Caribbean announced that the reintroduction of Empress of the Seas into its fleet would be delayed until April 25, 2016, and on April 20, 2016, Royal Caribbean announced a further delay to May 28, 2016 to give them time to completely rebuild the ships galleys.
Back with Royal Caribbean, the Empress of the Seas is scheduled for the cruise line's first sailings to Cuba, beginning in April 2017.
In popular culture
In the novel World War Z, by Max Brooks, the Nordic Empress is found to be heavily infested by zombies and drifting near Dakar, Senegal by the Chinese Type 094 submarine Admiral Zheng He.