Majesty of the Seas 01/11/13 First review with photos!

[luv2zdworld]

This will be my first attempt at preparing a review. We are a group of 4 women, high school classmates who reunited after 30 years a few years ago. 3 of these women have travelled together several times during the past 3 years, with me joining them a couple of times, this being the third. We had planned since October last year to fly to Florida and spend this weekend in Key West. At the last minute, the evening of January 3rd, I suggested we go on the Majesty of the Seas as it would be more cost effective for each of us. We booked that night 2 superior ocean view cabins on deck nine, starboard side. My friends travelled on Wednesday, January 9th and I was to join them after a day at work on Thursday, January 9. As it happened, my flight was delayed for 3 hours, making my arrival to the hotel at 2am Friday.

 

Friday, January 11, 2013

We stayed at the Hilton Downtown Miami. As I woke that morning I went to the window to see the Majesty of the Sea at port, waiting for us. We left the hotel at around 11:45 a.m., and went to the Publix supermarket down the street to get a couple bottles of wine for the cabin. I packed those in my carryon and had no problem at all geting them in.

 

We parked our rental car on port for the 3 days ($20 per night) and walked with our suitcases to the terminal. Porters at the terminal tagged and received our luggage, and we proceeded inside with our carry-ons at around 12:30 p.m. The checking procedure could not be easier. There were no lines and we had our sea pass cards and were walking into the ship before 1:00 pm.

 

This is our group, I am the one with the yellow top on the left.

 

As we arrived we were offered the water package, which we declined. I believe the lady offering the package said that if we purchased the 8 bottle package we would save something like $5.00. The next person offered us the wine package. We choose a 3 bottle package for $91 including gratuities. That allowed us to have a bottle of wine at dinner each night.

 

We then went to our cabins to drop our carry-ons. We had side by side superior ocean view cabins number 9526 and 9528. As we entered we realized our beds were set together, not apart as requested. As we were talking about it we heard a knock on the door, it was our stateroom attendant, I Gusti, who said he would set them separately promptly. I asked him to get us four wine glasses, a corkscrew and an ice bucket with ice to chill our bottles of wine. All were promptly provided. My other concern with the room had been the view out the window, as the cabins on deck 9 are listed as obstructed view. Our two rooms fell on the middle of a rescue boat, so that our view straight out was not obstructed much.

 

This is the look out the window. I always decorate the window so I can find it when we are out of the ship.

 

We went to lunch at the Windjammer. Food in the Windjammer was generally ok. As it was, we only ate at the Windjammer that afternoon and the following morning for breakfast, choosing to eat breakfast at the dining room and lunch at the Compass Deli. More on that later.

 

After lunch 2 of the ladies went to investigate the possibility of switching us from the first seating for dinner to my time dining, but my time dining was booked solid, and there were people trying to switch to the first seating. So we kept our original assignment. (That evening, after having dinner, we walked by the entrance to My Time Dining and observed a long line of people waiting to be seated.)

 

We then had the muster drill. After reading so many times about spending 45 minutes waiting in line during muster, I was worried the same thing would happen to us. But muster was fairly quick and painless. They take your room number and line you up and you wait till everyone in your section is accounted for. Then they did their life jacket routine and we were off to explore.

 

Next we walked around to see the ship, starting with the Spa. One of the ladies in our group had no other plans but to spend Saturday at the Spa. Other than taking a walk thru it that afternoon I did not try the Spa so I cannot comment other than to say that every time we asked my friend about her Spa experience she broke into a beautiful smile.

 

We then went to see the Crown Lounge. The view from up there is amazing.

 

Photo of the pool from the Crown Lounge.

 

We took a couple more pictures and moved to the 12th deck to watch sail away. To me there’s something about a big ship rolling next to your ship, so I was mesmerized watching the Carnival Imagination move in front of us, turn around and sail away. After Carnival we started to move. The port of Miami is beautiful and we had a wonderful afternoon to sail from it. The only thing I would have done different would have been to wear a light sweater, as it was very windy and a bit chilly out there.

 

We then went to get ready for dinner as by this time we had already received our luggage. We had requested a table for 4, first seating. Our waiter, Aries, and assistant waiter, Romeo, were excellent and made the experience at dinner very memorable. One of the ladies in our group has an issue with vegetables/salads and will not eat many things so she would look at the menus and order “a la carte” requesting the protein from one dish with the side of another. Aries was very helpful in his recommendations to her. She was very pleased with her meals.

 

Photo of Menu Night 1-Entrees and appetizers

 

Photo of Menu Night 1-Desserts

[luv2zdworld]

Being allergic to seafood, I avoided those appetizers and entrees during our cruise, but my friends tried them and found them excellent. As we ordered Aries explained that there would not be escargot available the whole cruise. My friends were very disappointed but found other delicious things to try. I will mention what they had, if I can remember it, but unfortunately I did not take pictures of all the entrees, only mine. That night I had the Eggplant and Kalamata Olive Tartare appetizer, the Rosemary Lamb Shank entrée and the Key Lime Pie for dessert.

 

Eggplant and Kalamata Olive Tartare

 

Rosemary Lamb Shank

 

Key Lime Pie (delicious)

 

My friends had the Pan-Seared Sea Scallops and Chorizo, one had the Tandoori Chicken Salad as listed and another had the chicken tandoori with some sort of potato on the side. They both were very happy with their meals. I do have pictures of their desserts which were: Williams Pear Chocolate Crisp, Low-fat Warm Apple Dome and I believe the Chocolate Sensation. Surprisingly desserts were very good this night. We had a red wine this evening but I do not remember which one was it.

 

Williams Pear Chocolate Crisp

 

Low Fat Warm Apple Dome

 

After dinner we went to the evening show, which was a comedian. I do not remember his name and do not have a copy of that day’s compass to look it ups. My friends said he was amazing. (As I had arrived in Florida at 2 am that morning and had been up before 8 am, I fell asleep during the show and they let me sleep thru it.) My friends were talking about his jokes all weekend.

That evening was the 70’s music show. That was a hoot. Great music and dancing, the crew does a great job at setting the mood and we were all on the floor hooting and dancing.

 

 

After the show we headed to bed, to get ready for Cococay.

[amyphil]

great review, so far....looking forward to the rest....;)

[amyphil]

posted some questions on your first post.....

[amyphil]

Rosa.....would love to hear more about your cruise....

[nbsjcruiser]

Thanks for the pics. MOS is our favourite ship. Sailed on it twice and headed for a third this fall!

[pxy cda]

Great review so far - we are sailing her Mar 25 (a pseudo b2b after our 10 day equinox tour) the food pics look FAB!

 

:)

 

Looking forward to your next installment.

[amyphil]

me, too........

[kingsgirl]

love your review so far!

[luv2zdworld]

Sorry it has taken me sooo long to get to the 2nd day. Been very busy at work.

 

Today is day 2, Coco Cay, January 12, 2013.

 

We were up by 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. One of the ladies and I had signed up for the Yoga class at Coco Cay which was scheduled for 9:00 a.m. We were to meet at the Spa at 8:45 a.m. to go to the tenders with a group.

 

We walked into the Windjammer for breakfast about 8:00 a.m., got our utensils and placed them on a table, hoping that people would think the table was taken. It did not work, when we returned there were 2 people on our table. Oh well, we ended up seating by a window, on a table that had been just cleared, thank you very much. Food in the Windjammer was ok. We finished our breakfast and went to get our bags in our rooms. When we arrived at the Spa we were told the group had just left. We rushed to the tenders and found the group. The ride on the tender was beautiful.

 

 

Once on Coco Cay we walked to the far end of the island, near the volleyball courts and settled for the class. I was wearing a summer dress. By the time we arrived the group was all settled down on the ground on their towels so I decided to do the class in my dress. And this was my first yoga class ever. Boy! Was I glad it was early and there were not that many people on the island. The class was wonderful. All you could hear was the soft voice of the instructor, the waves, the birds…I am ready to go again. :rolleyes: The instructor took his time explaining all the positions and giving suggestions on the positions for us beginners. By the end of the class I was well stretched and relaxed.

 

 

 

When the class was over we started walking towards the tenders’ dock, as one of our friends was going to meet us in the island. We met our friend and spent the morning walking by the water’s edge, talking, taking pictures. It was a beautiful day, not too warm. And the sun did not feel that strong (even though it actually was).It is a nice, easy walk. We took the time to check out the cabanas, even though we had not rented one. Most of them seemed empty. There was a couple in one of them and they took out a bottle of champagne out of the cooler.

 

 

We went to lunch sometime around 1:00 p.m. The food was good and plenty. The lines were no worse than the lines in the Windjammer. They had plenty lemonade and water for us to pick. The only problem we had was with dessert, as we did not pick anything thinking when we got our lunch, figuring we could come back for it. When we returned, closer to 2:00 p.m. most of the stations had been cleaned out.

 

[luv2zdworld]

More photos of Coco Cay

 

 

 

After lunch we went to check the shopping vendors’ stalls. Their selection of souvenirs and summer dresses was pretty good. Little did we know they would have items not available in Nassau.

 

 

Somewhere after 2:30 we decided to head back to the ship. Our plan all day had been to be back on board by 3:30 p.m. We arrived around 3:15 p.m.

 

 

[amyphil]

great read, so far...thanks

[sanditoes4]

First let me just say.....YAY!!!! I love that highschool friends still get together and hang out!!! :D I will have to ask a few of my friends sometime.

 

Next what a cool quick itin. it's just right for everyone to get away without taking a whole week of vaca!!

 

How many of your party were first time cruisers??

 

Finally keep it coming, it's so fun living through others until I can finally get back on a ship!!!:rolleyes:

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your review, and looking forward to the rest of it. Your pictures are wonderful. What fun, to do a cruise with your 3 girlfriends.

[luv2zdworld]

First let me just say.....YAY!!!! I love that highschool friends still get together and hang out!!! :D I will have to ask a few of my friends sometime.

 

I should add, we did not meet for 30 years. We got together again to celebrate a 30 year High School Reunion. During all the planification we clicked and have been hanging together every chance we have.

 

How many of your party were first time cruisers??

 

We had all cruised before. We started talking about taking a cruise together about a year ago. We reserved this cruise a week before it sailed, after canceling plans we had to visit Key West the same weekend. It was the best decision, definitely.

[luv2zdworld]

Back on board the ship after the tender from Coco Cay. We dropped our bags in our room, filled our wine glasses and proceeded to go check out the Compass Deli on the 12th floor.

 

The Compass Deli was not crowded. As mentioned by others this area seems little visited. They have a menu on the wall and small crepe menus on the tables. We took a look at the menu, ordered our crepes and sat at a table by the window to enjoy the view. Crepes are made to order. They are fresh and tasty. We ordered 2 crepes to share between the 3 of us, trying the Forest Mushroom Crepe, a mix of forest mushrooms, spinach, mornay and gruyere cheese, delicious. For dessert we tried the Chocolate Mousse crepe, which had chocolate mousse, almond Florentine cracking and whipped cream. It was so good, not too sweet, yum! Well worth the visit. The next day, on returning from Nassau we repeated our visit to the Compass Deli to have one of each and the Grilled Vegetable crepe, which had grilled vegetables, mozzarella cheese and semi-dried tomatoes. Also well worth the trip. Sorry, I was so much into eating those crepes I forgot to take a picture both times we were there. Here are pictures of the menus.

 

 

 

After snacking on crepes we went back to our cabins to rest a bit and start preparing for dinner. I tried to nap a bit as my friend watched the football game on tv. I laughed so hard when she tuned to it, as I knew that was what my husband was doing that afternoon. Felt just like home :p

[amyphil]

great review and pics...keep it coming...would love to hear about formal night (which night was it), regarding "formal" clothing....when my husband and I went on our seven day cruise (Freedom) they had two formal nights and the dress was very formal...tux for men, very dressy dresses for the women, etc.

 

With a three night cruise I'm not sure if the "formal" was that formal, so would love to hear about your cruise...also, do you have a picture of your cabin....we are also going to be on deck 9...

 

Thanks,

Amy

[will773]

Great review so far! Can't wait for the rest!

[Eriksgarden]

Loved reading this. Majesty of the Seas was the first cruise I was ever on. And after, I was hooked!

[kingsgirl]

Loved reading this. Majesty of the Seas was the first cruise I was ever on. And after, I was hooked!

 

Me too!

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[poodog]

Loved reading this. Majesty of the Seas was the first cruise I was ever on. And after, I was hooked!

 

The Majesty is responsible for stating many cruise addictions, us included :):)

[pxy cda]

Sorry it has taken me sooo long to get to the 2nd day. Been very busy at work.

 

Today is day 2, Coco Cay, January 12, 2013.

 

Once on Coco Cay we walked to the far end of the island, near the volleyball courts and settled for the class. I was wearing a summer dress. By the time we arrived the group was all settled down on the ground on their towels so I decided to do the class in my dress. And this was my first yoga class ever. Boy! Was I glad it was early and there were not that many people on the island. The class was wonderful. All you could hear was the soft voice of the instructor, the waves, the birds…I am ready to go again. :rolleyes: The instructor took his time explaining all the positions and giving suggestions on the positions for us beginners. By the end of the class I was well stretched and relaxed.

 

Rosa - great review so far - great pics! Was there a charge for the Yoga session? sounds like a great way to start your day.:)

[luv2zdworld]

pxy cda

 

Rosa - great review so far - great pics! Was there a charge for the Yoga session? sounds like a great way to start your day

 

Yes, the class was $12.95 plus tax. It was well worth it. I am headed for the Majesty next month and will probably do it again.

[luv2zdworld]

amyphil great review and pics...keep it coming...would love to hear about formal night (which night was it), regarding "formal" clothing....when my husband and I went on our seven day cruise (Freedom) they had two formal nights and the dress was very formal...tux for men, very dressy dresses for the women, etc.

 

With a three night cruise I'm not sure if the "formal" was that formal, so would love to hear about your cruise...also, do you have a picture of your cabin....we are also going to be on deck 9...

 

Thanks,

Amy

 

Amy:

Formal night was the second night, for us Coco Cay day. I had a long dress, nothing fancy though, more like a summer maxi. My friends had Sunday dresses. I do not remember seeing tuxes and gowns on this cruise, have seen those in Serenade and Freedom.

 

I do not have a picture of my room. If one of my friends has one I will post it. The SOV rooms on deck nine are very comfortable. There was a small sofa and the twin beds were placed towards the window. We had a boat outside our window, but we had pretty much no obstruction out of our window. To me it felt the same size as a standard oceanview on Serenade or Adventure, except for the bathroom, which was a bit smaller. The TV was small flat screen.

 

Deck nine is very convenient. We walked a lot of the time instead of taking the elevators.