Majestic Princess & Sapphire Princess

[martin jenkins]

pretty sure royal princess is heading this way 2021\2022, it gets into singapore oct 3rd 2021, and the new terminal at luggage point has it booked in for a couple of stops.

[NSWP]

22 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I was wrong, it's Coral that could be coming to Melbourne according to Ondine. I get mixed up between those two.

 

I'm waiting to move a Sept 21 cruise to early 22.

 

Been on Coral and Island, Coral is much better, she was not butchered, not like the Island losing aft decks and universe lounge forward, just to put in extra cabins and make $$$$.

[NSWP]

What I hated most about the Royal when were on it it in 2018 - British Isles Cruise, was no walk around promenade deck and tiny wheelhouse bar, plus 3500 pax, nightmare at tender ports of which we had a few like Queensferry- Edinburgh and Guernsey - Channel Islands.

[GUT2407]

Not a big fan of Majestic and Emerald, loved Diamond, but in all honesty give me smaller ship every time, first cruises were on Pacific Princess and truly loved her.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, NSWP said:

What I hated most about the Royal when were on it it in 2018 - British Isles Cruise, was no walk around promenade deck and tiny wheelhouse bar, plus 3500 pax, nightmare at tender ports of which we had a few like Queensferry- Edinburgh and Guernsey - Channel Islands.

We were on her in 2017 for a Med cruise. Luckily it was a very port intensive cruise so we didn't miss the promenade deck, but did find the Wheelhouse Bar wasn't great. Actually during the later part of that cruise we got into the habit of having pre-dinner drinks at the tiny Princess Live bar. We didn't have many tender ports luckily so I didn't notice any issues with tendering.

 

I really disliked Majestic but that was partly because the food in the MDR and also in La Mer was awful, as was the service. Harmony was great though, as was Alfredos once we'd got in - there were big queues all the time. Our cabin steward was hopeless too. But the bar service was excellent, even though most of them were always crowded. Luckily that was only a six night cruise. So it's not going to bother me if Majestic goes to the US.

 

Unfortunately Princess seems to be basing the big ships out of Sydney so I'm not sure what we'll do when cruising resumes. We do prefer to cruise out of peak season though so as long as Sea and Sun are round we should be OK.  

[OzKiwiJJ]

4 minutes ago, GUT2407 said:

Not a big fan of Majestic and Emerald, loved Diamond, but in all honesty give me smaller ship every time, first cruises were on Pacific Princess and truly loved her.

I loved Diamond too, for some reason she seemed better than Golden. I was really looking forward to doing the Round Australia on Sapphire in September but it would be a miracle if that went ahead.

 

We're booked on a Sydney to Yokohama cruise on Pacific in late April next year. Fingers crossed...

[MicCanberra]

I wouldn't count on any of the cruise schedules at the moment, with everything still in the air as to when cruising will start, which ships will be sold off, there is still going to be much potential movement.

[possum52]

12 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

I wouldn't count on any of the cruise schedules at the moment, with everything still in the air as to when cruising will start, which ships will be sold off, there is still going to be much potential movement.

I tend to agree Mic and the cruise lines tend to just name a ship to ensure they have a booking in a particular port. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

I'm hoping Princess will change what ships they send down here for a couple of years. The Royal Class ships may be too big for our local market without the overseas tourists that come here for the NZ and South Pacific runs. They'd be better sending the smaller ships here for a while.

[By The Bay]

14 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I'm hoping Princess will change what ships they send down here for a couple of years. The Royal Class ships may be too big for our local market without the overseas tourists that come here for the NZ and South Pacific runs. They'd be better sending the smaller ships here for a while.

The bigger ships can sail half full so it would be easier to maintain social distancing.

[OzKiwiJJ]

32 minutes ago, By The Bay said:

The bigger ships can sail half full so it would be easier to maintain social distancing.

All the ships might have to sail half full for a while. Some areas of the Royal Class ships would make social distancing easier - the one good thing the did on those ships was to move the photo gallery down to deck 6 so it's not impeding the flow of traffic on deck seven when people need to get to the aft dining room and Vista Lounge. 

[NeilonBoard]

On 6/28/2020 at 9:54 AM, Kiwi_cruiser said:

 

Yep, its not fake news its true 😞.

 

Sapphire Princess and Majestic Princess are not coming back down under in the 2021/22 cruise season:

 

https://cruisepassenger.com.au/princess-cruises-pulls-majestic-princess-from-the-australian-2021-22-season/?fbclid=IwAR2_FyprC6R2Ek0Ibb-olKOqd37HOfp86_is1eLJ6epRoh6Gj3ZYnC3oR_U

 

I'm not surprised that Majestic is not coming back. It was always designed for the Asian market and despite a few minor makeovers it was not really popular with Australians. Haven't been on Sapphire but absolutely loved Diamond.

[NSWP]

Royal Class are very ordinary in my opinion, others may differ.

Edited June 29, 2020 by NSWP

[Thorpe]

I’ve only been on Sun, Sea, Dawn, Golden, Diamond, Ruby and Majestic for Princess and Majestic is my favourite of those. Though would happily sail on any of them again , all have good and not as good points. 
But who knows when we will get the pleasure of getting onboard any of them again 😒
 

[OzKiwiJJ]

5 minutes ago, Thorpe said:

I’ve only been on Sun, Sea, Dawn, Golden, Diamond, Ruby and Majestic for Princess and Majestic is my favourite of those. Though would happily sail on any of them again , all have good and not as good points. 
But who knows when we will get the pleasure of getting onboard any of them again 😒
 

I've been on all those. plus Royal, and Majestic is my least favourite partly because it didn't have any quiet spaces - no Sanctuary, and no promenade deck with seating like on the Sun class ships. We also had issues with food and service in some areas. It is one ship I would never sail on again.

 

Sea and Diamond are my two favourites so far.

Edited June 29, 2020 by OzKiwiJJ

[SinbadThePorter]

3 hours ago, NeilonBoard said:

Haven't been on Sapphire but absolutely loved Diamond.

 

Same here. I booked one of the Sapphire cruises that never were in a great cabin, but it was not to be. If one or both came back after the emergency I'd be on board like a shot.

 

For me the Majestic was missing something. It lacked a cruise ship feel and seemed both too slick and badly laid out, with no feel for the sea.

 

Anyway I can't see how Princess or anybody else can be making plans for a future that nobody has any clue about. I'd take anything said about ships at the moment with a huge grain of salt.

Edited June 29, 2020 by SinbadThePorter

[OzKiwiJJ]

The only things I liked about Majestic were the stunning blue glass hanging sculptures in the atrium, and the amazing duck salad at Harmony restaurant.

[NeilonBoard]

10 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

Same here. I booked one of the Sapphire cruises that never were in a great cabin, but it was not to be. If one or both came back after the emergency I'd be on board like a shot.

 

For me the Majestic was missing something. It lacked a cruise ship feel and seemed both too slick and badly laid out, with no feel for the sea.

 

Anyway I can't see how Princess or anybody else can be making plans for a future that nobody has any clue about. I'd take anything said about ships at the moment with a huge grain of salt.

For me Majestic was missing a lot mainly quiet sit down areas with or without entertainment to spread out 3500 passengers.

The smaller older Princess ships have a more open feel to them but Majestic was designed for the Asian market and felt more like a floating apartment building.

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, NeilonBoard said:

For me Majestic was missing a lot mainly quiet sit down areas with or without entertainment to spread out 3500 passengers.

The smaller older Princess ships have a more open feel to them but Majestic was designed for the Asian market and felt more like a floating apartment building.

You nailed it!

Even the pop-up Crooners had partitions in it, it was weird. And the TV screens on some of the walls gave it more of a sports bar feel than the Crooners vibe that most of us love.

 

But all the Royal Class have that floating apartment building feel to them.

Edited June 29, 2020 by OzKiwiJJ

[getting older slowly]

Interestingly    looking at the Princess Site     nothing much for us listed after may 2021... for Australia and only a couple for late 2021. only out of sydney and brisbane..

 

also no  cruises listed for Majestic after may 2021 when goes to Hong Kong   

 

also with the Sapphire  listed doing south america during our 2021-22 season........

 

With the cruises listed on their site  out to early 2022...   is princess going to dump australia ???

 

What are one thoughts ????

 

And check Carnival    cruises from Sydney and Brisbane listed out as far asl june 2022    ... also P&O  have stiff listed out to 2022 as well

 

Cheers Don

Edited July 3, 2020 by getting older slowly

[OzKiwiJJ]

Don, I've heard the next lot of Princess itineraries for our region are being released around 15th of this month. Usually they come out in April but I guess they've been delayed by all the virus stuff.