Majestic Princess pluses and minuses

[zinny123]

Took 7-day Mediterranean cruise on Majestic Princess April 23-30, Rome to Athens. Booked a mini-suite. This is the nicest, roomiest mini-suite we have ever had on any ship. Very large, GREAT bed, nice bathroom with tub/shower combo.

Minus on this ship was the food, especially in the buffet. In spite of large breakfast and lunch crowds most days, not all the buffet lines were open so it was a madhouse. There is an odd "center" area where part of a salad bar or a cheese selection is offered, but then the "rest" of the salad bar is elsewhere. Not a lot of variety in the food selection, repeats of the carved meats several times during the week. I kept hoping for a turkey dinner but no luck.

Lots of Chinese dishes on the buffet.

Often the food was luke-warm. One more gripe, the boxed dry cereal area, did not offer 1/2 pints of COLD milk like other cruise lines do, but pitchers of tepid milk, and no place to toss the cereal box after you open it and put it in your bowl. kinda yucky

Also almost had to beg for CREAM for coffee, the beverage service folks were great but for some reason carried a pitcher of milk vs cream.

I am now not a fan of these huge cruise ships. Yes you get in your walking traipsing from one end of the ship to the other, but that's not what I go on a cruise for. From now on I think we'll be looking for our desired itineraries on ships in the less than 2500 passenger range.

Also the Majestic's entertainment left a lot to be desired (we took the Norwegian Epic transatlantic cruise as part of this whole trip, and enjoyed a broadway play, Cirque de Soleil show and fantastic dance troupe). Nothing of this caliber on the Majestic. But good free in-room movies.....

[JF - retired RRT]

Often the food was lukewarm. My main gripe about the buffets. The food is almost never hot.

One more gripe, the boxed dry cereal area, did not offer 1/2 pints of COLD milk like other cruise lines do, but pitchers of tepid milk, It's all in the timing. The pitchers are changed at specific times each day. You have to get there right after they put out a new pitcher. Or you could add an ice cube to your mild. ;)

and no place to toss the cereal box after you open it and put it in your bowl. Just keep it on your tray and toss it on the table.

Also almost had to beg for CREAM for coffee, the beverage service folks were great but for some reason carried a pitcher of milk vs cream.

You can get a small pitcher of cream from room service and carry it with you.

[Colo Cruiser]

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

Thanks for your comments.

 

Chinese food? Well it is an Asian themed ship now. ;)

Edited May 13, 2017 by Colo Cruiser

[zinny123]

Plans have changed and the majestic is NOT going to China but rather to Australia and environs. We were told the China cruise market is weak which drives this change.

[cdngrl]

welcome to cruise critic zinny123. was this your first princess cruise?

 

thank you for your comments; i'm boarding next week and its good to go with realistic expectations. my daughter was on the cruise before yours and said the same thing about the buffet--not that it was lukewarm but that the choices were limited and not what she was used to.

 

she was disappointed that there was just one production show as this is not the norm but she said it was spectacular, one of the best she's seen. did you see it and what did you think?

 

as to cereal at the buffet, i bring the box of cereal to the table and empty it there. less chance of me dumping it accidentally! i also put my cereal bowl on the end of the platter so i don't have to juggle all the dishes.

 

i'm not a fan of the large ships either but in this case, its the itinerary that sold me. i'm going with quite low expectations so i hope to be pleasantly surprised!

[zinny123]

Last year we did a 2-week transatlantic cruise on the Emerald Princess. Had no gripes, other than the lack of super good entertainment.

I must say that Majestic did have a string quartet that played most late afternoons/evenings in the Atrium. They were great.

We didn't go to whatever the production show was on the Majestic, it was barely mentioned in the nightly news.

 

I don't need any more advice about cereal milk, thank you. I worked in the commercial food service industry for year and the Princess short cut is just not cool. Little cartons of nice cold milk don't break the bank.

nuff said

 

what is the itinerary on the Majestic cruise that you are taking.

[Bill B]

Plans have changed and the majestic is NOT going to China but rather to Australia and environs. We were told the China cruise market is weak which drives this change.

 

The Majestic is going to China until fall 2018 when she will reposition to Australia for half a year. Then, alternate half a year each between China & Aus... at least that's the plan (so far). All is subject to change depending on where the money is.

[zinny123]

Interesting. Our steward, who is a long-time Princess employee was the source of our info.

[Colo Cruiser]

Interesting. Our steward, who is a long-time Princess employee was the source of our info.

 

 

Doubt they would spend all those $$ on the Asian themed Majestic only to change their minds.

It's still going to China.

 

They don't usually brief Stewart on vessel deployments.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=7804

[Sea Hag]

Hate tepid milk.

[shastatroy]

Interesting. Our steward, who is a long-time Princess employee was the source of our info.

 

Unless he/she speaks Chinese they are all being redeployed to other ships.

[easyboy]

Thanks for the feedback. Still planning to book on Majestic.

[riclop]

Thanks for the report.

[PrincessLuver]

Plans have changed and the majestic is NOT going to China but rather to Australia and environs. We were told the China cruise market is weak which drives this change.

 

I doubt the Chinese cruise market is weak...most major tourist destinations seek Chinese tourists because they spend significantly more every day then any other tourist group from any other nation....also, the stores are high end on the Majestic which is not the case for other Princess ships......:cool:

[Lucky TGO]

Thank you for the info. I don't think I would order cream from room service and carry it around with me like JF-Retired RRT suggested.

Tony

[Bill B]

...most major tourist destinations seek Chinese tourists because they spend significantly more every day then any other tourist group from any other nation...

 

I don't believe it. Where did you get this 'information'?

[Lucky TGO]

I don't believe it. Where did you get this 'information'?

 

Bill,

My guess is from a Travel Agent being held captive in a Chinese cookie factory in Chinatown. :D :D.

Tony

[Geoffa30]

Agree about the buffet. The couple of times we ate there for lunch, I ended up making a ham and cheese roll as there was nothing else I wanted. It was very Asian inspired food which I'm happy to eat but not without knowing what is in it. Labels indicating main ingredients would have been useful as some dishes just had the Asian name of the dish. Didn't fancy chewing down on something fishy

 

The production show which was shown, Fiera is a good one. The same as on the Regal. The new show, Fantastic Journey which seems to have been developed specifically for the Majestic was still in rehearsal. Seems it's very lavish and technically advanced (apparently there are drones). Will hopefully see it in New Zealand when we sail on the Majestic again in March 2019.

[guy44134]

The Majestic is going to China until fall 2018 when she will reposition to Australia for half a year. Then, alternate half a year each between China & Aus... at least that's the plan (so far). All is subject to change depending on where the money is.

 

Here's a recent article about the change in plans: https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2017/05/11/now-you-can-sail-on-ship-built-for-china/101543694/#

[PrincessLuver]

I don't believe it. Where did you get this 'information'?

 

Geeze...... why don't you try Google and there is article after article.... knowledge is powerful.... plus it is pretty common knowledge.... hate to crush your ego but American cruisers aren't excatly big spenders in the scheme of things :rolleyes:

[cubfan63]

This video shows a lot of examples of the buffet food on the Majestic Princess.

 

[Bill B]

Geeze...... why don't you try Google and there is article after article.... knowledge is powerful.... plus it is pretty common knowledge.... hate to crush your ego but American cruisers aren't excatly big spenders in the scheme of things :rolleyes:

 

Collectively, the Chinese spend more travelling abroad than any other country. However, that's because there's so many more of them - mostly going on group tours. If the statistics showed spending per person, it's a different story. Cruises (even in China) are booked mainly by independent travellers.

 

Princess wouldn't have made plans to move the Majestic if the Chinese market had been strong enough to support it year round.

[anthonyy7]

Unless he/she speaks Chinese they are all being redeployed to other ships.

 

 

Most of crew are on 3 month contracts according to everyone I asked this past week and won't be going to China.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone

[shastatroy]

I don't believe it. Where did you get this 'information'?

 

 

You obviously have not been on board the Majestic. The shops are very high end and not affordable for the average Princess cruiser.

[Jeter02]

One would think, that the Asian inspired cuisine in the buffet would not be served till the ship was cursing the Asian itinerary. That would have been my logical thought. I think they ship would have been much smarter by offering what they normally offer on the European sailings. I have heard from crew who have worked onbaord the Sapphire for example on the Asian cruises, that the cuisine was definitely different from what most of us are normally use to being served as it is very Asian inspired.

 

On another note, sorry to hear the new ship wasn't up to expectations. I adore the Regal very much, but have no desire to sail on the Majestic due to changes they've made to accommodate the Asian market.