Empress of the Seas began life as the Nordic Empress in June 1990, christened prior to her maiden voyage by her "godmother," Gloria Estafan. At 48,563 tons Empress was smaller than the other ships in the RCCL Royal Caribbean Cruises fleet, being designed for 3-4 day cruises in the Baltic Sea. She became Empress of the Seas in 2004 in line with the rest of the RCI fleet naming scheme, and then the MS Empress when she moved into service with RCCL subsidiary Pullmantur Cruises in 2008.