ORLANDO, Fla. — The coronavirus pandemic has claimed two more ships from major cruise lines. Royal Caribbean announced that both Empress of the Seas and Majesty of the Seas were set to leave its fleet before the end of the year.
Both ships are among the smallest and oldest that sailed for the cruise line. Empress of the Seas was notably the line’s ship to make voyages to Cuba until the Trump administration shut that venture down.
Majesty of the Seas had once already been on its way out from the fleet. In 2014, the cruise line announced it would follow in the footsteps of Monarch of the Seas and Sovereign of the Seas, all built in the late 1980s and early 1990s, to go to Pullmantur cruise line, but then Royal Caribbean shifted, keeping the 2,350-passenger vessel in service for short Bahamas sailings.
Both ships were based in Florida, with either sailing at times from Port Canaveral and PortMiami.
“Empress and Majesty of the Seas made indelible marks on the cruise industry with their revolutionary design and size,” said Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley. “Touted as the cruise industry’s most groundbreaking ships when they were introduced, they continued to make history throughout their more than three decades of service,” he said.
Majesty of the Seas was the last of the three sovereign-class vessels, built at Chantiers de L’Atlantique, which is now STX France in St. Nazaire, France, and made its maiden voyage April 26, 1992.
Empress of the Seas, which had a 2,270-passenger capacity based on double occupancy, first sailed in 1990. It had previously left the fleet from 2008-2016 sailing for Pullmantur.
They were the two oldest ships remaining in Royal Caribbean’s fleet, and with their departure, that leaves Grandeur of the Seas, which first sailed in 1996, the oldest vessel.
Both ships are headed to an unidentified cruise line based in the Asia-Pacific area, according to Bayley.
The Royal Caribbean fleet still has 24 vessels with the new Quantum Ultra class ship Odyssey of the Seas coming online in 2021 and making its way to Florida as well as a new Oasis-class ship Wonder of the Seas now slated for 2022.
Several cruise lines have either scrapped or sold their older vessels as coronavirus halted sailings since March. Some of those decisions center around the need to run larger, more efficient ships with more passenger capacity in general amid COVID-19 safety precautions, since sailings have to be done at reduced capacity.
Turning a profit on ships such as Empress of the Seas and Majesty of the Seas is harder if not impossible to accomplish in a world that may only see 50% capacity.
“Saying goodbye to these two beloved ships is a major moment in Royal Caribbean’s history — one that is difficult but necessary,” Bayley said. “With plans for new, innovative ships to join our fleet in the upcoming years, we look forward to our guests and crew continuing to make new memories with us.”
