Majestic Princess questions

[ellie1145]

We are considering a cruise on Majestic and wonder if, when she is sailing out of Australia, the smoking policy will be more restrictive. We are anxious not to book a ship where smoking is more freely allowed as we know the ship is designed for the Chinese market where smoking is more common.

 

Also, when she sails out of Sydney are the menus still geared to the Chinese?

 

Reviews are not very positive so would appreciate some input from those who have sailed on her from Australia.

 

Many thanks.

[reedprincess]

We are considering a cruise on Majestic and wonder if, when she is sailing out of Australia, the smoking policy will be more restrictive. We are anxious not to book a ship where smoking is more freely allowed as we know the ship is designed for the Chinese market where smoking is more common.

 

Also, when she sails out of Sydney are the menus still geared to the Chinese?

 

Reviews are not very positive so would appreciate some input from those who have sailed on her from Australia.

 

Many thanks.

No one has sailed her out of Australia yet - she doesn't arrive till spring (fall to those in the northern Hemisphere).

 

I imagine the smoking policy will be the same as other Princess ships sailing out of Australia, ie no indoor smoking, as that's a law from Australia, not Princess..

 

As for menus, again - it's anyone's guess, but based on the info from her first cruises - Europe, and transit over to China, the menus wete mixed and catered more to Western tastes - I imagine it will be the same when she hits Australian waters...

 

However, it's a wait and see - her first sailings out of Oz aren't until end of Sept or October...

[martin jenkins]

nobody has sailed on her yet from australia, i would say the smoking policy will be more strictly enforced when sailing from australia, from what i have read harmony and the dim sum bar are staying but nobody will really know until september 15th.

[LDEE]

A good question. We will be on Majestic Princess October 10. My guess is the Chinese cruise market aspects of the vessel, which were touted greatly when she launched, will be diminished as the ship will be based in Australia for several months.

[ellie1145]

Thank you for all your helpful replies.

 

I hadn't realised that she had not cruised out of Australia yet. So will have to wait and see.

[bobby3334]

I was on the maiden 49 voyage last year from Med through Suez to many stops throughout Asia. I loved being on a brand new ship. It ended in Shanghai The biggest differences were a larger than normal casino with a special room for high rollers. The bar was manned but we didn’t have high rollers...apparently $10,000 and above and a much larger high end section of name brand stores. In my opinion the rest was similar to the Regal or Royal. The big concern among all the room stewards was the smoking and how they would control it. A few were being brought on who spoke Chinese but those I talked with didn’t and we’re staying aboard. One told me it was charted by a company or perhaps the government for 4 day cruises

In a casual conversation with a crew member he said on cruises outside China usually 30 vanished leaving their passports with the ship. Thus I will be very interested to see how it is in Australia. Please keep posting...hopefully their worst fears were unfounded. They also said all the shelves would be stripped bear from the very high end to the sundry store. Apparently they were getting their info from friends on other lines. They also had concerns about an apparent Chinese habit which I best not mention since hearsay. I would guess deep cleaning etc would take care of smoke and any other problems. Mike

 

 

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Edited June 1, 2018 by bobby3334

[land lover]

I was on the maiden 49 voyage last year from Med through Suez to many stops throughout Asia. I loved being on a brand new ship. It ended in Shanghai The biggest differences were a larger than normal casino with a special room for high rollers. The bar was manned but we didn’t have high rollers...apparently $10,000 and above and a much larger high end section of name brand stores. In my opinion the rest was similar to the Regal or Royal. The big concern among all the room stewards was the smoking and how they would control it. A few were being brought on who spoke Chinese but those I talked with didn’t and we’re staying aboard. One told me it was charted by a company or perhaps the government for 4 day cruises

In a casual conversation with a crew member he said on cruises outside China usually 30 vanished leaving their passports with the ship. Thus I will be very interested to see how it is in Australia. Please keep posting...hopefully their worst fears were unfounded. They also said all the shelves would be stripped bear from the very high end to the sundry store. Apparently they were getting their info from friends on other lines. They also had concerns about an apparent Chinese habit which I best not mention since hearsay. I would guess deep cleaning etc would take care of smoke and any other problems. Mike

 

 

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Interesting what u said about the Casino..I got on in Singapore..21 days to Shanghai and I played Baccarat, betting with my Chinese table mates the nights we were at sea and had a very enjoyable time. I found the Casino to be very,very small in comparison to other Princess class ships, because of the added high rollers room which replaced Club 6 on Regal & Royal, which have small casinos too IMHO.

 

 

I loved the juice & boba tea bar...and Club Hollywood was wonderful, Crooner's is missing...but pretty good martinis at Bellini's. The Vista gaming room was probably the area of the ship I liked the least. 2 public computers and a very small

library share the same tiny piece of real-estate which took getting used too.

 

 

The bets are on if Princess will make some changes when Majestic sails out of OZ. Many say there are not enough bars. But, we had plenty of OZ & NZ's on our cruise, and there were plenty of places to pick up a drink without waiting. Except at BOGO which they held at the crown grill bar.

 

Interesting about the room stewards being concerned about the smoking, when the ship would sail from China. As there certainly was plenty of it on our sailings, in the designated smoking areas.

 

 

Princess is staffing the ship so I think they would make sure to make their rules known about smoking, it is a safety issue. We had a Chinese Room Stewardess, our favorite bartender at the IC bar was Chinese both had worked for Princess for a few years....We met several of the new staff that spoke Chinese and some English and they seemed to have it together as far as wanting to be of service. The American CD who spoke mandarin as a second language came on with my sailing and was going to China.

 

I know I have heard some horror stories about what occurs on some ships...but Majestic had some problems on the leg before I got on. People were "cooking" in their inside cabins....It happened to be on our deck and they replaced carpeting in 2 cabins and scrubbed the walls due to the Curry smell. And you must know about the 2 couples that got escorted off the ship due to a dispute in a laundry room.

 

It will be interesting to see what's up when she arrives in Australia.......

Edited June 1, 2018 by land lover

[mtn_couple]

I’m interested to follow this thread as I’ve just booked 2020 repositioning from Australia back to Singapore

[bobby3334]

In reference to size of casino and and land lovers comments above I agree but I was adding the unused on maiden voyage high rollers section and to some extent a look or two. The smoking and other concerns voiced by several stewards seemed to be based on what they had heard about smoking everywhere no matter the rules. The rules will not change. I think it was also based on their inability to communicate with their new customers and a certain fear of the unknown. Mike

 

 

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[YWW]

Since this is a "maiden" voyage for Majestic out of Australia early next year, can I assume bulk of the passengers cruising that time of the year be Australians and New Zealanders instead of mainland Chinese? Just curious.

[GUT2407]

Since this is a "maiden" voyage for Majestic out of Australia early next year, can I assume bulk of the passengers cruising that time of the year be Australians and New Zealanders instead of mainland Chinese? Just curious.

I would expect so, but only time will tell.

[bobby3334]

Regarding passenger makeup it is impossible to tell. On the original maiden voyage there were over 400 passengers from Perth and Western Australia on the Mediterranean to Singapore and I think a similar number from Western Australia on the Singapore to Shanghai section for the second half. These are the Captain’s figures. I don’t take a count but I found an unusual number from Perth while making casual conversation. I am from the Midwest US and usually run across only 6-8 among those I encounter. The rest say Sidney or Melbourne. I asked why the large number from the West and the answer was that Princess had strong marketing and great deals for them. Then I looked at a map and understood even more why Singapore would be a great getting off or on spot for the West coast. Learn something new everyday. Mike

 

 

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[Kenswing]

Since this is a "maiden" voyage for Majestic out of Australia early next year, can I assume bulk of the passengers cruising that time of the year be Australians and New Zealanders instead of mainland Chinese? Just curious.

I'm not sure, but we're sailing on a New Zealand cruise on her in March and the roll call is non existent. So there's probably not a whole lot of Americans going..

[AZJerry]

I'm not sure, but we're sailing on a New Zealand cruise on her in March and the roll call is non existent. So there's probably not a whole lot of Americans going..

Don't be so sure. We also signed up for a cruise in March and rarely do I even think of signing up for the roll call.

[cflutist]

Don't be so sure. We also signed up for a cruise in March and rarely do I even think of signing up for the roll call.

 

 

We are going to NZ in March 2019, from the San Francisco Bay Area. Should go check the rollcall.

[mtn_couple]

I'm not sure, but we're sailing on a New Zealand cruise on her in March and the roll call is non existent. So there's probably not a whole lot of Americans going..

 

I’m Australian, some Aussie’s use CC, but most prefer roll calls and groups on an alternate social media platform that I’m not allowed to mention here. CC roll calls with a lot of Australians on board tend to be very quiet.

[Kenswing]

We are going to NZ in March 2019, from the San Francisco Bay Area. Should go check the rollcall.

Especially since you started it.. :')

[cflutist]

Especially since you started it.. :')

 

We have 3 other cruises to worry about first

 

Now I am a bit worried that we are on the first Majestic cruise out of Sydney in September. But I am looking forwards to dinner in Harmony, the Cantonese restaurant on board.

[bobby3334]

In reference to post #7 apparently I was on the “good” deck. No problems. Mike

 

 

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[YWW]

The sailing from Sydney Feb 18, 2019 to Auckland March 2, 2019 on Majestic is totally sold out. Must be a very popular voyage.

[cflutist]

In reference to post #7 apparently I was on the “good” deck. No problems. Mike

 

 

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Dang, we are on the wrong deck, C102 and R614, lol.

 

Now I wouldn't mind eating some chicken curry, have bought the frozen meals with basmati rice from Trader Joe's.

[Kenswing]

Dang, we are on the wrong deck, C102 and R614, lol.

 

Now I wouldn't mind eating some chicken curry, have bought the frozen meals with basmati rice from Trader Joe's.

Which cruise are you in C102? I can't wait to hear how you like it..

[Sailaway John]

YES! both wife and I are booked into that restaurant on the Majestic's Maiden Voyage.

 

We have 3 other cruises to worry about first

 

Now I am a bit worried that we are on the first Majestic cruise out of Sydney in September. But I am looking forwards to dinner in Harmony, the Cantonese restaurant on board.

[cflutist]

Which cruise are you in C102? I can't wait to hear how you like it..

 

Looked at the Fiji, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu itinerary and couldn't decide starboard or port, so booked C102 for September 2018. Going counterclockwise around New Zealand so booked R614 for March 2019 so we could see land.

 

Have sailed in PH and Owners Suites before, but never in a Premium Suite, so thought we would try it. Probably more motion than midship, but if I can survive a cruise in the Caribbean on the Royal Clipper (tall ship with sails, 170 pax) then I am up for trying something new on Princess.

 

Did read that the balconies on the Majestic are quite narrow as compared to Cairibe deck PH suites on Grand class ships, or Owners suited on the Pacific Princess.

[zowie57]

I’m interested to follow this thread as I’ve just booked 2020 repositioning from Australia back to Singapore

 

We have also booked the repositioning cruise back to Singapore in February 2020. That will be the last cruise of Majestic's second Australian season. I am hoping by then that Princess will have recognized the need to make changes to accommodate the Australian market. I have tried to ignore the negative comments flooding in from Western passengers during the Asian season.