Empress of the Seas was originally being built for Admiralty Cruises with the intended name Future Seas. Before this ship could be completed, Admiralty Cruises merged with the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. That merger saw RCCL take the new ship into their fleet to be operated under the name Nordic Empress. At that time, RCCL were building the first of their large cruise ships, the three 73,500 ton Sovereign of the Seas class that entered service in 1988, 1991 and 1992. In 2004, RCCL took the decision to change the ships name from Nordic Empress to Empress of the Seas.

Empress of the Seas has10 passenger decks, 2 pools, 6 bars, casino, fitness center, 722-seat show lounge, 483 outside cabins with 69 having verandas, 318 inside cabins, can carry 1,602 passengers and a crew of 685.

Empress of the Seas was mainly operated on 7 night cruises from Philadelphia - Bermuda & East Coast. Other cruises were 3 & 11 nights out of San Juan - Caribbean.

Empress of the Seas was transferred to RCI's subsidiary the Spanish based Pullmantur Cruises in 2008 to be operated under the name MS Empress on cruises from various European ports such as Lisbon, Malaga, Helsinki and Copenhagen to the Mediterranean and northern Europe.

Websites US: www.royalcaribbean.com. UK: www.royalcaribbean.co.uk.

Pullmantur Cruises: www.pullmanturcruises.com.