Cruise Raider

As of now on the Majetsic, you can only get pizza and such at Alfredo’s and a charcuterie board with crudities from vines. In March of next year, the I’ll be converting Vines into an O’Malleys and that I’ll give you another casual dining venue.

I do as well but my DH doesn't like it. I guess toy really can’t make everybody happy. Go figure! I think he doesn’t like change while I embrace it.

We are onboard so I heard it from one of the top officers. It will be $10 pp .. and yes, people won’t tend to make a bunch of reservations and decide which ones they wish to keep. Last week was the Jeff Corwin sailing and only 63 elite passengers onboard .. something like that. But, so many people had the packages and many of those had the premier. Needless to say, it was difficult getting a dinner reservation via the app. When we called the dine line, we were accommodated, though.

the funny thing is, we’ve been on the Majestic a few times in the past and we are on day 12 of a 14 night sailing and just noticed them today. As my dad would have said, “good thing that wasn't a rattlesnake”.

I am officially a dork. These USB ports have been here right behind the nightstand this whole time and I never noticed them. We aren’t messy people so, it was not like they were hiding behind a bunch of junk. And I’ve even used these light switches. Please scratch my earlier comment that there aren’t any USB ports bedside.

We do have the premier but you also get two casual meals included in the plus, so if you haven’t used them on anything else, you can use it for pizza.

No, onboard food can’t be taken off the ship. We took it up to our cabin to watch a movie. It was great fun!

I am going to try this on our next cruise, since it will be on a Royal class ship. The Crown / Grand class ships just don’t have enough variety in their dining venues to justify the extra cost. When we were on the Crown recently, we couldn’t even get into the GastroPub on some nights. I wish they would also serve lunches at the specialty dining venues under the premier package, perhaps on sea days. Or maybe you can order the meal to go if they run out of seating, that would not bother me one bit but I know that doesn’t work for everyone. I seem to have read that Oceania includes all specialty dining and haven’t heard any news that people couldn’t get reservations. Time will tell if it will work for Princess as I think the ships hold a lot more passengers.

We absolutely love the Catch by Rudi .. best specialty restaurant onboard on the Majestic and Discovery. My DH orders the filet and lobster tail and we ask for a plate of the concerto pasta to split (with or without the seafood additions) and lobster for me. The Majestic does a better job with the pasta, though. I am not a fan of red sauce with seafood and much prefer the wine sauce they make on the Majestic. Sabatini’s would be my third choice between the 3 specialty restaurants.

Yes .. you are correct and the sushi is only on sea days and is held in the location currently used for the Catch by Rudi and only at lunch time. There is talk of them expanding it as it is on the Discovery where they serve the sushi directly from the Ocean Terrace, which is currently only a bar. Many changes will be coming to the Majestic in March 2025 when she goes into dry dock. Vines will be turned into O’Malleys, Harmony will be removed and the Catch will take over that location, Sabatini’s will be using the space currently used by The Catch. The Noodle Bar will be replaced with Slice Pizza up on the pool deck. Athena specialty dining venues will be charging $45 pp for dinner and I’m really not sure if reservations will be accepted ahead of time for those without the premier packages. I do understand there will be a $10 fee if you don’t show for a reservation that you’ve booked. Time will tell if they will need to limit the number of premier packages that are sold.

Nor have I. I can only use it if I have cell service or am connected to the internet. I know the crew does use it without an internet connection, though so I think it is possible.

I think it is called Edmedes or something similar to that spelling. The Seghesio Zin is their better one but is over the plus limit by about $3. I tend to like the drier reds so, I chose the Grgich Hills Merlot or a nice cab, like Silverado or Duckhorn.

I also forgot to mention … we ordered pizzas from Alfredo’s to go today and they are covered by the package. You have to there to order the pizza , not via the app. The ones ordered through the app still incur a charge and aren’t the same pizzas as you get from Alfredo’s. They send them in these vented reusable plastic containers .. very slick!

She is such a gorgeous ship.

We will see you onboard on that sailing!

I forgot to mention that Vines will be turned into O’Malleys. I love Vines but it will be so nice to have another casual dining venue available.

From what we’ve been told onboard, the plus package will handle the increase without increasing the price of the package, at least for now. The premier package will go up by $10 a day pp but will include unlimited specialty dining and cocktails.

I think you are making my point for me. The options are very limited in other bars when Vines is not open, even if you wish to pay extra per drink.

As it is on most itineraries but sometimes, you may want a good glass of wine while in port with your lunch.

We are probably known as wine snobs, too but we prefer California wines over imported most of the time. And Canyon Road isn’t one we would ever drink at home, either. Plus, they’ve been so good about getting us proper wine glasses. This isn’t included in the premier package but you can pay extra to get this one. One of the best cabs we’ve ever had!

If you like good wine and good whiskey, then definitely go with the premier package. There is one good Chardonnay and one good Zinfandel on the plus package, but only at Vines and that bar is only open later on sea days. In all other venues, it’s pretty much limited to Canyon Road. Ask for the champagne with your mimosa .. it is better that way.

We’ve previously cruised on the Majestic before and are back onboard for a B2B up in Alaska. The first leg was a free cruise that we won via Princess Prizes back in April. It was the Jeff Corwin cruise and so very special. I’m so glad we were able to get the same cabin for the second leg of this B2B very last minute. The ship is in tip top shape and the food and service has just wowed us beyond belief. The musician singers have also been awesome and the naturalists onboard, well .. the entire experience has been nothing short of spectacular. There were 3700+ passengers on leg #1 and are 3600+ on leg #2. The passengers, many of which are first timers, seem happy and we aren’t seeing a lot of complaining… thankfully! The crew and officers seem very happy but also so hard working. I’ve never seen a crabby crew on a Princess ship except one time. There were so few passengers with elite status on the first leg of this cruise and only a few more on this sailing. We’ve been invited to the MTP luncheon on both sailings and I think the cut off might be in the 300 days or so. The luncheon vs cocktail party is at the discretion of the caption and this one seems willing to keep the luncheon. Yay! I liked the cocktail party the one time we were invited to that but the luncheon is much more special. Anyway, I don’t think we could qualify on Alaska sailings out of San Francisco where the cutoff for days is oftentimes close to 1000 days. There are a fair number of kids onboard, especially for the Jeff Corwin sailing last week but they all seem so well behaved. They even have story time in the piazza with Stanley the bear and the CD, Allwyn. He is such a great CD. He made the marriage match game show the funniest one yet. If you come on this ship on the next couple of months, be sure to go to the culinary show on the last day. You will be thankful you did. There were only 14 in transit passengers for these two sailings and not sure if it was because of the low number or that our only foreign port was for Victoria but we didn’t not have to go through immigration on turnaround day. We understand it is up to the port officials on whether or not we have to completely vacate the ship. Whenever we keep the same cabin on turnaround day, we try to give the room steward the day off. He did sneak in and clean up a little that day anyway even though we told him he didn’t have to do so. He is awesome! Just of note, a couple of things for this ship, there are no USB ports in our cabin. We always bring a cruise approved plug with different USB ports and an extra plug. Also, the motion lights by the bathroom and night stands are operational. So far, the only ship where those have been disabled that we’ve seen is on the Discovery. The beds are comfortable for us but think they are more firm than the ones on the Crown. The pillows are the best! We are in a deluxe balcony and I love that extra seating area. It’s a perfect size for 2 or 3 people, although it seems to have less stage space than the standard balcony. Our balcony is midship so, it has a little more room out there than some of the balconies on this ship. This is the only ship in the fleet that has the Noodle Bar up by the pool and Harmony just forward of Vines. Wow, those are my absolute favorites, although just alongside of Alfredo’s and the Catch. In March, they will be replacing Harmony with the Catch and bringing Sabatini’s onboard to bring it into alignment with the rest of the fleet. I can’t be sure I heard this correctly but I think one of the officers said they will also be setting up Ocean Terrace like it is on the discovery with the sushi being available every day as it is on the Discovery. As of now, it is only available on sea days next door where the Catch is located. Also, the Noodle Bar will be replaced with Slice pizza. Hopefully, like on the Discovery, they will have a noodle soup station within the buffet. The Hollywood Conservatory is to remain free of charge as of now. That could change but as of now, there are no plans to do so. So, there are a lot of new changes coming up for this ship when she goes into dry dock in March of 2025. I’m going to take advantage of her uniqueness two more times before these changes take place. That brings me to the fabulous Future Cruise Consultant staff onboard. There are really no onboard specials like we saw last year but I still love to go in a book my new cruises onboard whenever possible. I will come back if I think of anything else to note or answer questions you may have, if I can, that is.

I believe you are right about that.

You can apply your OBC for the upgrade and you should be able to book some of the specialty restaurants as soon as you book your package. The best you can do is to upgrade to the premier on day 2 and it will be prorated. They may even work with you once onboard and you may be able to upgrade the package on day 8. Maybe? You can always ask. We are on a B2B right now but booked as two 7 night sailings. We were just going to get the plus package on the second leg but we loved the flexibility of the premier package in terms of dining, so we bought the premier again, but on the second day of the second leg and had almost enough OBC to pay for it. Choose your favorite bartender or sommelier for the upgrade as they will get credit for it. As I mentioned in another post, Princess prizes is in full swing. We won a free cruise back in April .. what a treat! We haven’t won anything on our current B2B but still have a few days to go. Not to mention, we are being treated like royalty so, I already feel like the luckiest people on earth. Of note, there is a welcome to Princess event onboard. Because we’ve cruised with Princess extensively, we have not attended it before. We thought, what the heck, let’s go! Not only did I learn a lot, but they had games and a lot of prizes they awarded. They probably just went to the new cruisers but, it was fun to see them win.

There are more noise restrictions in certain itineraries, Alaska being just one of them. I even heard that San Francisco doesn’t allow MUTS to play after a certain time in the evening. I love the horn wars but it’s definitely not suitable on these itineraries. Never fear, they are still alive and well in the Caribbean.