The bar around the funnel was a Royal Caribbean trademark known as the Viking Crown Lounge. Unfortunately, it wasn’t very popular with cruisers because for the first few ships it was only accessible through a stairway on the outdoor decks. Only until Empress and the Sovereign class ships was there access via an indoor stairway & elevator. It still wasn’t used a lot because it was singled out from any other deck and entertainment areas so if you went to the very last floor at the rear of the ship, it was because you were purposely going to the Viking Crown Lounge. It did provide 360 degree stunning views from the very top of the ship and it was just a bar with many chairs & tables. They also got bigger and bigger with the newer ships as it was very small, tight and uncomfortable with the first 3-4 RCCL ships. Later, it would be used for private cocktail parties which guests loved but cruise staff was not happy about for many reasons. On the latter ships, it was multi purposed as a bar/lounge and the ship’s disco.
Ooo this is a good timed comment, I was talking about this in the video I released today! It was so hard to find the Funnel bar on the former Song of America! :')
Soveirgn of the seas was my wife and I’s first cruise, in 1996. It’s strange realizing now that this ship has been scrapped and incredibly it was the newest and most modern at the time…
So many good “one liners” in this video Emma (liners... get it..?) your script and delivery is on point 👍🚢 “When you put that many people together, uh they will kill each other” - Emma Cruises 2020.
I do enjoy your cruise reviews and comments, but for some reason I found this type of video also very interesting. That pace of changes the industry has been trough in recent years is quite astonishing. Keep it up with fleet details!
Hey Emma, The Empress of the Seas is now sold to an Indian Cruise Ship company called Cordelia cruises. They are planning to start operation sometime this year in india. Travelling via cruise ships is still a relatively new experience for people in India.
My wife and I sailed on the Song of Norway on our honeymoon in 1989. Needless to say we had a great time! It was our first cruise. We had no idea of accommodations and had a cabin where the two singe narrow beds were bolted to opposite walls! Also only had a small round porthole! How things have changes! Sad to see the old girl go!
Hi Emma. When I was a kid, security was not a real "Issue" in the 70's and early 80's. My first visit to Port Miami was when the Festivale and Carnivale and Mardi Gras were still sailing. I was hooked. Not long after, we used to take afternoon trips to the port on weekends, and we could get a "pass" to go on board and lunch. We did that countless times on Sun Viking, Nordic Prince and Song of Norway. I was also on the Scandinavia, (as) the Scandinavia when she did a tour stop in Miami, we got on board for a tour and lunch. She went on to become Viking Serenade and Whoopi Goldberg was her god mother. Those were the days of the Emerald Seas, the Sunward II, and the Carnivale, and the Dolphin IV. I've been to Nassau countless times on board the Dolphin IV and the Sunward II. Song of America and her floating deck (6) was always a challenge when I worked for RCI in the early 90's. We've spoken about her in the past. Great video.
Oh goodness! That sounds amazing. I didn’t know any of that, thanks for sharing. What did you do onboard?? I found it almost impossible to get to the bar around the funnel every time I would go wrong 🤣🤣🤣
My first cruise was on the Viking Serenade, 4 night Baja California cruise. . My second cruise was on Song Of America, 7 night Mexican Rivera . Song of America is still one of my favorite ships. I do remember the vibrating in the Crown lounge
I sailed to cuba on empress, I really love that classy little ship. I think they had sold her or planned to sell her but then kept her for a couple of years longer for Cuba. Cuba could only handle small ships. I have sailed on Majesty 31 times -- It used to sail monday to friday, then friday to monday. I would leave work early on friday, and then get off the ship monday morning and go straight to work. So I could do that any weekend without taking any days off work. The welcome aboard was all 70s music with big-afro cruise director and crew members doing the village people. Great fun for a child of the 70's. In the last couple of years she sailed they had changed it to 70s-80s and 90's music and I stopped going. The main show on the majesty was called boogie wonderland and it was a montage of 70s music -- it is my favorite show on any ship. The talent was really amazing for such a small ship. (In the last couple of years it went downhill.) It sailed to coco cay and nassau, but because these ports are so close together, it would leave coco kay and just drift for several hours. Mexican buffet at midnight, music and dancing, just drifting in the middle of the ocean. There has never been anything else like it. Both empress and majesty are sold now. Too bad, I love small ships.
Some extra info you may or may not know. Before Royal Caribbean bought the Viking Seranade, she was the Star Dancer with Sun Dance Cruises, she sailed out of Long Beach California cruising Mexico in the winter and from Juneau Alaska where she took passengers with motor homes exploring Alaska in the summer. Whilst in the port of Puerto Vallarta a crew member from the gift shop committed suicide in a hotel next to where we were docked, very sad. The Nordic Prince was also lengthened along with the Song of Norway and the three Royal Viking Line Ships, two of which were until recently Fred Olsen's Black Watch and Boudicca.
This was great! My wife and I met working for RCCL in 1993. We worked on the Song of Norway (we worked on her last voyage for Royal), Sun Viking, and Song of America. But our favorite was the MONARCH OF THE SEAS! My profile picture is from the MONARCH circa 1997. THANK YOU!
Been on 62 cruises. One trip in particular was on Royal Caribbean Sun Viking to Alaska. For the same price we got a 10 night instead of 7 nights on the legend. Top 3 trip ever on this ship. Only 680 passengers of which we brought 52 people from Delaware. We got to go to out of way ports like Haines Alaska. As well as normal ports. Steam room held 2 people facing each other. Climbed stairs to lounge around stack. Loved this ship with all the teak , brass and comfort. Heat lamps outside for glacier areas was wonderful. Left one tiny port we visited in school buses that turned out the towns lights when we backed away from dock. Sun Viking ended up as a luxury liner for wealthy in China equal to Regent. Another top cruise was on R3 to Tahiti before renaissance cruises went under
Hi Emma! I doubt you will see this message since your video is over a year old,but if you do...I married my best friend July 7 1984 and July 8th we sailed on Song of America. It was so amazing to hear she is still sailing. I grew up watching The Love Boat on American TV and going on a cruise was a dream come true. Just about 38 years later I am still married to my best friend. Thanks for the memories!
Hi Emma, great video. Brought back great memories. I worked on Song of Norway in 1986/7 as a young musician in a 4 piece English band. Played in my fair lady lounge, but mainly in nightclub at night. The Viking Crown bar (FUNNEL) was tiny and vibrated a lot. So did the dancefloor in the nightclub as it was at the stern. Great ship and happy times from a different era. Still have her photo on the wall along with the Carnival 'Holiday' who used to sail the seven day cruises out of Miami with us.
Royal ships felt a lot more luxurious back then even though they were smaller by today standards. The food was amazing and a lot better than cruises food today.
Great video Emma! There surely is a lot of history on these former Royal Caribbean Ships. That info on the Monarch was interesting as she Sailed out of my homeport Port Canaveral in her final years in the Royal Caribbean Fleet and I remember seeing her alot when I was younger.
Great vid Emma! Lots of memories. Song of America, my first cruise - Bermuda 1990. Monarch of the Seas - one of the first "Green Glass" ships - sailed on her 2009.
You are fast Chris! :D At least my RU-vid claims, that the video was published 15 minutes ago and you have commented it four hours ago! Back to the Future is real! ;)
This is Quite Common on the Tourism industry since the Covid Pandemic that affected Aerospace, Tourism and Maritime industries. Airlines sent their old unreliable Inefficient Large Aircraft like Boeing 747 and Giant Airbus A380 for Scrapping and olderer Aircraft too.
Correction: it was RCCL which demanded that the Viking Crown lounges on Nordic Prince and Song of Norway BE removed as a condition of the sale of those two vessels.
the oldest still running cruise ship is MV Astoria dating all the way bac to 1948! as an oceanliner and converted to a cruiseship in 1993, maybe you should book a cruise on it just so can say you've done a cruise on the oldest cruiseship in the world edit: for sale because of the pandemic
Thank you Emma, Great presentation, I am An sales employee for RCCL, i enjoyed all these Ships, and were on mpst of them , anyone that would , want to go on a cruise, RCCL is a great first cruise to sail on. Great ships, (Alittle large) but have great destinations, and great features! I had many great memories on the Ships ,and my Favorite , was the great "Empress of the Seas" , I wanna wish everyone "Happy Sailings , and "Get out there" and get back to sailing ! RandyBarnes Palm Springs , Ca
@@EmmaCruises Yes they do our sense of humour is best put in the carry on films double meanings it would go over most peoples head but us British love it.
And now we know that Celestial Olympia ex. SOA is going to be scrapped at the end of 2023. "And now, the end is near ..." Now Empress of the Seas is sailing in India as Empress and she is making a ton of money and is very popular. And very soon the ICON of the Seas (aka Let's Throw Everything at it Of the Seas" will be sailing from Miami. 6,000 Passengers.
We had the pleasure of sailing Song of America in the early 90s. Fun ship. Yes, in the restaurant aft there was quite a strong vibration. It was "huge" at about 37,000 gross tons. :)
Above the wood deck aft was a basketball hoop. Paint scheme had a blue strip on sides. Also we had a table mate that did have an aft cabin on a low deck and the vibration was so bad she had to move her cabin location. Luckily there were cabins available for her. I dug up an old photo and that cresent shaped structure aft above the wood sports court is different.
Of course the ship I was wondering about was the very last one... Have to say seemed a bit glossed over... Started as the Nordic Empress with RC, was sold to an Indian cruise liner for 8 years, then came back to RC where she was the sole ship of her class and got the Empress of the Seas name. Just a few weeks after this video went up she was sold again. I remember being on a voyage on her when she was new(er) and she was huge compared to the other ships we'd see at ports. Particularly Disney's "Big Red Boat" which was advertised a lot but look tiny when we pulled up next to it.
Great video, but the “Viking Serenade” did have private balconies added during her transformation to “Island Escape” and that is where the murder happened. He did indeed throw his wife overboard from the cabin balcony. I have cruised twice on the “Carousel” in the canaries. Great cruise, but the ship was very much showing it’s age already back in the early 2000’s. We were in a storm in the atlantic but the ship did handle that quite well.
Quite interesting Emma. Thanks indeed for sharing. It certainly was interesting listening to all the information about past and present fleets of cruise ships :-). Could you ever imagine seeing a cruise holding a capacity for 10,000 or 20,000 passengers in the future? It could mean a profitable business for cruises in the future almost certainly. Take grave care Emma :-). From Foxy :-).
They seem to think bigger is better yet . Some ships can't get into ports . Plus with things like covid 19 there float dease carriers. Maybe small is real better for some!
Interestingly if you look at different 10 year periods, 1990 compared to 2000 the difference in the fleet is pretty massive. The difference between the Sovereign ships of the early 90s and the Voyager class ships of the 2000’s is pretty immense, again 2000 compared to 2010 the difference between Voyager Ships and Oasis ships are ridiculous. *But* compare 2010 to 2020, in 2010 the oasis ships came out, but in 2020 we still have Oasis ships being built, and Quantum ships which are actually smaller than oasis ships, so the fleet variation here is much smaller. So I wonder now if we’ve actually hit the peak of what can be done with innovations on cruise ships. I don’t think there’s ever been a class of cruise ship, where there will be *15* years difference of age between the newest and oldest ships. (That is the Oasis of the seas built in 2009, and the sixth Oasis class cruise ship which is predicted to be sailing in 2024)
My mum always fancies the Marella cruises, I don’t understand why tbh. My mum is not into extreme physical things at her age but she likes to get around, but I know once on a board a Marella cruise she definitely wouldn’t fancy it. I can tell. I know exactly what she likes and how it is. And these cruises from they’re fleet would definitely wouldn’t please her standards. She thinks they are so good from looking at they’re trailers but I know she wouldn’t like it if on board one. As this is happened to her before. I even told her she can go on it herself, as when on holiday I like taking things to the extreme. And I definitely would die of boredom on those cruises. Sorry for the rant people. Its just I know exactly her reaction when she would be on a Marella cruise.
I can not stand the huge Royal Carribean Ships and even the "older" ones tend to be a bit too big for me. But, that is why Baskiin Robbins makes 31 flavors
Monarch Of The Seas was my very first cruise ship. I can remember walking into the Atrium and being blown away. There was a piano player, and an elegantly dressed woman singing "The Girl From Ipanema," while cruisers holding cocktails glided up and down in glass elevators. While already old at the time (2006-2007ish), it was my first cruise ship, and everything about her felt amazing. I'm bummed to hear she was scrapped. I found a video of them beaching her, and it was oddly emotional. I sailed on her twice, I think, and it was as if all the triumphant memories she had created for untold thousands of people were discarded in a rusty scrap yard. It's odd to think how we feel about machines, sometimes. This video sent me down memory lane, as I then googled images and video of Monarch. Thanks for the video, and for dusting off my old memories to mentally walk her promenade one more time.
My first time sailing on her was 1992 she was new and beautiful. She was the newest and largest. I fell in love so hard that I got me a job on her when I debarked. Because I worked that ship from San Juan! My favorite of all time.
As a child I sailed on the Song of Norway and the Sun Viking, both were revolutionary at the time. The food was amazing, much better than the food on RCL today. The bars around the funnel were small but yes, they were bars with an extensive list of drinks to order, there was no elevator, you had to walk up a flight of stairs to get to the funnel bar. Back then you paid for drinks in cash and you had an actual key to access your room, key card technology had not been invented. I read the Song of Norway has been scrapped, she was the very first ship in the RCL fleet and I believe she was introduced in 1972. Song of Norway did 7 night cruises, both Sun Viking and the Nordic Prince did 14 night cruises to the Southern Caribbean. I remember on the Sun Viking cruise were stopped in Plymouth on the island of Montserrat, today the island has been abandoned as the volcano has made the island uninhabitable.
Thanks Emma, I always look forward to your vlogs. Splendor of the Seas was my very first RCCL cruise ship back in 1997, and I remember how awestruck I was by the sheer size and tonnage. Last year I caught a glimpse of her at dock in Majorca, and I felt incredible nostalgia for those days of smaller ships.
Great vid, again. The only cruise I've sailed was the Sovereign of the Seas... back in the early 90's back when she was the largest cruise ship in the world. I remember enjoying the "funnel bar" very much because of the views, and there was no vibrations or problems at all.
I’m so happy Sunbird is still in service. Had my first holiday romance. Also wee all got the flu and the captain was known as Captain Rock Dodger and did a Costa Concordia type thing near Sicily 😕. The ship smashed in another ship in Malta
As a child I sailed on the Sun Viking, at the time she was a modern cruise ship. She sailed on 14 day cruises from Miami. I remember the food was amazing, much better then cruise ship food today. There was no elevator to the Viking crown lounge, only stairs and yes you could drink.
As a kid I can remember watching the Monarch of the seas arrive in St. Thomas and being in awe of how large and modern ship seemed. At the time I was aboard the Celebrity Horizon who ironically just met the same fate. Another great video. Thank you very much!
I love Emma cruises. Really informative, and and I get to experience lots of different cruise lines vicariously through her channel. Keep up the great work Emma!
Wow. A cruise video that took research to produce. Everybody else just talks and talks with lots of opinions. And opinions are like assholes - everybody's got one. Doesn't take any effort to turn on the camera and produce verbal vomit. Thanks for actually WORKING to make a video where I am better off for having watched it.
I cruised on the Island Escape twice. What I didn't know (until now) was that there had been murders on-board!! I remember watching a distant thunder storm while sitting in the "lookout Bar" (the bar around the funnel). What a great view! My last cruise on the Escape was 2013 (my honeymoon) and by then she was very much showing her age. She was renamed "Ocean Gala" and intended to be used as accommodation for asylum seekers but that never happened because the Swedish (I think) government refused to issue a permit. I had a great time on board and it was a real shame that she ended up in the scrap yard.
I loved this ship, sailed on it twice under Royal Caribbean, including my very first cruise, which was in the Caribbean. The next time was several years later off the pacific coast, during a Thanksgiving cruise. Oddly, these are also the only times I have ever had an inside cabin (hate them). But I also remember a significant difference between the two cruises. I believe the pool area was enclosed with a greenhouse type enclosure on the second one, which was obviously removed later. I learned to skeet shoot on this ship. I have especially loved Royal Caribbean for their food and customer service levels, especially on the smaller ships. I’d like to try this ship again in its current iteration. I love it’s older, smaller appeal.
isn't it crazy that one day there will be a ship that carries like 10 thousand people and we will say that 6000 people is a small number. Crazy once you think or it...
She was an ocean liner from Southampton to New York City well she was supposed to gofrom Southampton to New York City a deep keel made her an ocean liner which gave her great stability in the ocean
Hubby and I were on the Monarch of the Seas for our honeymoon in late August 1994. It was his first cruise and my second. We have been on about 20 each now. Fond memories of Monarch.