Majesty - back after 2 weeks - good & bad points

[CarrpeDiem]

We did Majesty at Christmas 2012 - LOVED it !!

 

Just been on for 2 weeks - cabin 3129 - standard inside - here are my thoughts on the ship now....

 

Thomson Organisation - RUBBISH !! - don't see the point of having to book in online and print off tickets and boarding passes to then queue up for over an hour to 'book in' and hand in bags !! On arrival at Corfu total chaos - everyone queuing again for bags then queuing over an hour to be given envelopes with cabin cards and stickies for cases - no-one telling people where to go or what to do. Coaches to ship then queuing up AGAIN for over an hour to have picture taken and give debit card details..... p'up and brewery come to mind. (Ocean Village years ago you handed cases in at airport and didnt see them again until outside cabin !). On departure our tamper stickers on our cases had both been broken !! as had many others - what's the point ?? Queuing for ages with cases again to be told on coach - no-one will be meeting you at airport just go in and find your gate numbers on the screen. People asked about mobility assistance to be told - you will need to find someone at airport to help.

 

Cabin - bathroom VERY tired - room small BUT ok for changing and sleeping - didn't tip steward as room dirty - carpet not hoovered for full 2 weeks in my opinion AND grey line of dust around edge of carpet all round !

 

Staff - more Ukraine staff now - very nice, polite and work very hard - had run in with Head Waiter on Deck 10 (not Leroy) who was totally uninterested when I tried to complain about something, until I said I would speak to Leroy instead and he changed his tune !!

 

Food - we tend to eat in the self service (Deck 10) - found the choices weird in that things being offered that didn't go together. Worst thing was most of it was only warm and some cold - lots of people complaining about food being cold. We also ate in the Seven Seas twice but it was still not very warm in there. Piazza closed for some unknown reason (they said schedule ?) one rainy morning people having to sit outside on deck to have breakfast - not really acceptable !

 

Drinks - VERY EXPENSIVE and DP (Drinks Package) falls way short of the old AI (All Inclusive) - lots of drinks removed from deal (i.e. Tia Maria, Amaretto etc) - can order singles only - coke (which my hubby likes during day and has always had a large) only available in small glasses and 1 per person at a time. Most people were bringing their own drinks onboard and having those.

 

Shops - CLOSED for most of the cruise !!! with noise of drilling, grinding (with sparks !!) etc - not happy about that.

 

Entertainment - EXCELLENT - Dave & Jack in the Fireworks were brilliant - shows really good.

 

All in all - next year we are looking at alternative cruise lines before Thomson BUT if nothing fit the bill we would go on Thomson again.

 

YES I did make my complaints in writing whilst on board and received an acknowledgement saying they will get back to me...... I'll not hold my breath.

 

Carrol

Edited November 17, 2014 by CarrpeDiem

[CRUISIN LINDA]

I am surprised to read this. We were on in October this year. We ate in the buffet most nights and we thought the food was better than the MDR and certainly more choice. Food was always hot, or as hot as possible in a buffet, bearing in mind that you sometimes have to queue behind others.

 

We thought the drinks were reasonable, aways a bit dearer than at home, as is normal in hotels or on ships.

 

Our cabin was spotlessly clean and kept that way by our two cabin stewards. We had an outside plus, worth upgrading we felt and the cabin and shower were a good size.

 

Our experience at the dock was not as bad as yours, it took about 20 minutes to check in, we walked to the ship and by the time we got to our cabin, our cases were there. Coming back was worse though, We queued FOUR times and by the time we got through, it was time to board. Luckily I took a cheese roll with me (Don't tell P&O ;))from breakfast to eat on the plane.

 

I don't actually use the shops a lot, but it's not on, to be doing work whie people are on board :mad:

 

Good luck though with Thomsons, Carrol. Anything like my complaint about the Dream last year and they will blame you :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Edited November 17, 2014 by CRUISIN LINDA

[campolady]

I may well be wrong - in which case I apologise - but wasn't there something on here about people being warned that the shops wouldn't be open on Majesty?

 

Found it http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2115989&highlight=majesty+shops+closes

Edited November 17, 2014 by campolady

[P&O Lynn Knickers]

Ocean Village years ago you handed cases in at airport and didnt see them again until outside cabin ,Carrol

 

Hi carrol, it is very disapointing that Ocean Village was better organised than Thomson.

 

(One really should not compare the two)

 

Hopefully your next Thomson cruise will be a far more enjoyable experience :)

 

maybe you should continue to communicate your issues with the company, and hopefully will get a result to your satisfaction.

 

Its always better to contact the company direct, than venting your anger on a public forum.

Edited November 17, 2014 by P&O Lynn Knickers

[GM0NJl]

Hi carrol, it is very disapointing that Ocean Village was better organised than Thomson.

 

(One really should not compare the two)

 

Hopefully your next Thomson cruise will be a far more enjoyable experience :)

 

maybe you should continue to communicate your issues with the company, and hopefully will get a result to your satisfaction.

 

Its always better to contact the company direct, than venting your anger on a public forum.

 

 

I don't see why we should not compare Ocean Village with Thomson.

My wife and I spent 3wonderfull weeks on Ocean village just before she left our waters.

Staff were great, food was great, entertainment was great, in fact it was better than Thomson is at the moment.

Before any "have you cruised with Thomson", yes 10 cruises, but my last TA this year may be my last.

 

Ron

[P&O Lynn Knickers]

I don't see why we should not compare Ocean Village with Thomson.Ron

 

Hi Ron, yes you have cruised many times on Thomson and great to hear of your recent three week vacation on the Ocean Village.

But they should not be compared like with like.

 

I am enjoying a nice Hot lemon drink as am a little unwell at the moment.

A nice big log fire, a nice tipple and (hic) am starting to feel better already.

Bliss

[Sheila49]

Why shouldn't we compare them?

We only did one OV cruise before they left but we loved it.

Now we love Thomsons having done a few cruises with them. They are very similar except for OV only having buffet restaurants but lots of balconies!

Others on the forum often compare different cruise lines which is very helpful for anyone looking for a change.

[P&O Lynn Knickers]

Why shouldn't we compare them?

 

Hi Shelia, hope you are ok,

You pose a valid question I am sure, (in a completely different context)

But if You read my post's you will see it mentioned "Like with like".

 

Golly Gosh, I thought it was easy to understand then, and understand fully, if you misread my post.

 

 

When replying to posts on this forum and others, I read the previous conversations and then comment.

.

.

Edited November 18, 2014 by P&O Lynn Knickers
fanny craddock

[geomagot]

 

Thomson Organisation - RUBBISH !! - don't see the point of having to book in online and print off tickets and boarding passes to then queue up for over an hour to 'book in' and hand in bags !! On arrival at Corfu total chaos - everyone queuing again for bags then queuing over an hour to be given envelopes with cabin cards and stickies for cases - no-one telling people where to go or what to do. Coaches to ship then queuing up AGAIN for over an hour to have picture taken and give debit card details..... p'up and brewery come to mind. (Ocean Village years ago you handed cases in at airport and didnt see them again until outside cabin !). On departure our tamper stickers on our cases had both been broken !! as had many others - what's the point ?? Queuing for ages with cases again to be told on coach - no-one will be meeting you at airport just go in and find your gate numbers on the screen. People asked about mobility assistance to be told - you will need to find someone at airport to help.

 

Carrol

 

tbh the queuing at bag drop depends on the airport, how busy other flights are and time of day, this can affect any traveller on any flight anywhere at any airport

 

the point of the luggage stickers being broken is because all bags are screened at the airport, officials will search your bags if something appears on the scanner that they dont recognise? (to prevent potentially dangerous or illegal items entering the aircraft or destination country and keep us all safe)

 

due to labour laws (and security restrictions) in some countries, often thomsons staff are not allowed into the airports to greet/organise/see off departing/arriving passengers, mobilty assistance is usually well signposted even in the most chaotic airports

 

the queuing on embarkation to the ship happens on all fly cruises of any line (all the aircraft from different points of departure tend to arrive at the destination airport at the same time)

 

i agree its a difficult situation for cruise lines to deal with that? everyone wants to be at the same place at the same time.... its not really the cruise lines fault ...they are not responsible for airline scheduling

 

on long haul thomsons do try to make the transfer as seamless as possible by bussing arriving passengers straight to the ship from the tarmac and your luggage will arrive outside your cabin an hour or so later, this can only be done in certain countries due to the obvious immigration and security implications (ie it will never happen in europe or north america) yes there is bound to be some queuing at the port (the ships hold a lot of passengers) you have to expect that, imo thomsons do a reasonably efficient job of getting people to the ship/off the ship with a minimum fuss most of the time

Edited November 18, 2014 by geomagot

[kruzseeka]

I must agree with you geo...... I would say that despite my criticisms of some aspects of Thomson's admin/communications/computer systems that in our experience of travelling with Thomson that their organisation from the airport onwards is generally very slick and well organised. Their ability to coordinate flights, transfers (in some destinations with their own fleet of TUI coaches), potential to make use of Thomson resort reps and involvement of additional personnel like the entertainment team dockside have been impressive imo. I say this as having been very critical of this aspect on P&O, Celebrity and Cunard - all of which had very poor arrangements for fly cruises in comparison to Thomson.

 

Yes some airports are a real pain - sometimes down to their size/inability to cope efficiently with the huge numbers they have to deal with, other times to do with the flight times/schedules and too many people arriving at about the same time. Corfu is particularly poor especially for check in after which you have to take your cases for screening and hoist them onto the machine. Terribly organised - but that's the airport. Worst experience we had was with BA at Heathrow on a Cunard cruise. But that was BA/Heathrow issue.

 

Cruise lines are not responsible for that - other than using those airports to fly cruise passengers in and out. Most of us would say that although it's a tiresome state of affairs being able to get to departure points for cruises to superb itineraries are worth it in order to spend the maximum amount of our holidays at destinations and not at sea.

 

I think we would all agree that there are issues we'd like Thomson to do better but in our experience transfer arrangements isn't one of them. Generally I'd say they are much better than other cruise lines we've used. However the OP sounds to have had a poor experience which isn't a good start to anyone's holiday. We must take care though to determine what was Thomson's responsibility and what they could potentially have done better or whether the blame, or at least reason for the problems, wasn't theirs.

[GM0NJl]

Hi Shelia, hope you are ok,

You pose a valid question I am sure, (in a completely different context)

But if You read my post's you will see it mentioned "Like with like".

 

Golly Gosh, I thought it was easy to understand then, and understand fully, if you misread my post.

 

 

When replying to posts on this forum and others, I read the previous conversations and then comment.

.

.

 

You may read previous posts before posting, but do you understand them.

I was not comparing like for like, I was comparing two cruise lines.

You also read my post wrong. What I said was that I had a cruise on Ocean Village before she left our waters for good, not that it was a recent cruise.

 

Ron

[Sheila49]

Hi Shelia, hope you are ok,

You pose a valid question I am sure, (in a completely different context)

But if You read my post's you will see it mentioned "Like with like".

 

Golly Gosh, I thought it was easy to understand then, and understand fully, if you misread my post.

 

 

When replying to posts on this forum and others, I read the previous conversations and then comment.

.

.

 

If you had read my post properly you would have spelt my name correctly!

[kruzseeka]

I think you can only compare cruiselines or ships - 'like with like' in my experience is an impossibility. Cruise lines vary, ships within a cruiseline's fleet vary - even your experience of two cruises on the same ship will vary. There will be general similarities eg all ships in one fleet may well have the same gratuities policies but much else can differ.

 

Spirit and Celebration might be pretty close inasmuch as the ships are very siimilar (or at least they were prior to refurbs etc) but even then, different crew, different itineraries, different mix of passengers, different weather, different CD and ents team, different menus - I could go on - will all colour your opinions of a cruise. And nothing stays the same.

 

So all we can ever give is a snap shot in time and say what we liked or disliked about a particular ship/trip. I think it's really important though to give details and explanations for the statements made with clear reasons given. Then if compared with other experiences of the ship or other ships or cruiselines I will be able to decide whether the points raised matter to me and if they are a cause for concern or would prompt me to give that ship a try. Or, I can seek further help from fellow CCers! ;)

Edited November 18, 2014 by kruzseeka

[okavango]

Quote: Most people were bringing their own drinks onboard and having those.

 

so that would make about 800 people in the bars swigging their own cans and bottles !!!!!!! i dont think so, call me cynical if you like but once people start stating stupid things like that i would also regard anything else they said as being glossed up and a distortion of the truth.

[P&O Lynn Knickers]

If you had read my post properly you would have spelt my name correctly!

 

Sorry for getting your name wrong.

 

 

I think you can only compare cruiselines or ships - 'like with like' in my experience is an impossibility.

 

agreed.

.

.

.

Edited November 18, 2014 by P&O Lynn Knickers

[P&O Lynn Knickers]

You also read my post wrong. What I said was that I had a cruise on Ocean Village before she left our waters for good, not that it was a recent cruise.Ron

 

Ron, yet again you are correct.

I am very sorry for saying your cruise on the OV was a recent cruise and not an "Older" cruise.

 

Is that term ok to use ?

Edited November 18, 2014 by P&O Lynn Knickers

[GM0NJl]

Ron, yet again you are correct.

I am very sorry for saying your cruise on the OV was a recent cruise and not an "Older" cruise.

 

Is that term ok to use ?

 

OK And yes using that term is fine, I don't worry about the PC of a conversation.

 

 

Ron

[Sheila49]

Sorry for getting your name wrong.

.

 

That's o.k. Lynn, you're not the first person to do that!:)