Cheapo Dad's Trip Report on the Majestic Princess (Maybe with few pictures added)...

[cr8tiv1]

1 hour ago, harryfat1 said:

Note to self - never make appointment to see your doctor right after a cruise for the annual physical where you have to do the blood draw.  Yeah, your numbers are gonna to spike after eating this and many other "bad" things... 

 

It took me a few cruises before I realized that I always seemed to have a doctor's appointment AFTER a cruise.  Now, I book those appointments BEFORE a cruise.  Then let the sodium and calories have a chance to settle in.  

 

The buffet serves its purpose.  I may make it up to the Lido Deck one a cruise just to check it out or get my Lemonade fix.  

[harryfat1]

9 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

It took me a few cruises before I realized that I always seemed to have a doctor's appointment AFTER a cruise.  Now, I book those appointments BEFORE a cruise.  Then let the sodium and calories have a chance to settle in.  

 

The buffet serves its purpose.  I may make it up to the Lido Deck one a cruise just to check it out or get my Lemonade fix.  

 

Yeah, for awhile I had my annual physical in the beginning of the year but that's after Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year events so that always cause my numbers to spike (or so I like to tell myself). Nowadays, I do them later in the year after I had time to "detox".

 

Buffet is always convenient to grab something fast if you avoid peak times.

[cr8tiv1]

@harryfat1Funny, normally I love buffets.  Give me a Las Vegas Buffet and I am in Heaven.  Not so much on the ship.  There are so many other places to go.  Plus, add me to the "spoil me group".  Put the food in front of me, please.  If I want a nice salad, I will go to the buffet.  Otherwise,  I do need to stay away from all that extra sodium.  

[harryfat1]

I realized I started talking about what's on deck 16 but I forgot to show the deck plan.  Whenever I watch YouTube videos about any ship, it was hard to follow because I'm bad with directions so I need a map/deck plan to guide me to see where things are located.

 

 

 

OK, so we started at the bottom of deck 16 where the buffet is.  Walked on the Seawalk past the pool area toward the top of the map.  Previously I showed pictures of the Noodle bar near the top and below I will show the menu of the burger & lobster grill area.

 

Since it was still raining outside, we couldn’t get to deck 17 to walk around and take pictures of the port area around Whittier. Which is too bad as I thought it was a pretty scenic little harbor village. I will let Annie Lennox's song explain the weather condition:

 

 

On the other side of the noodles bar is the Burger and tacos place.  All the food here is no extra charge except for the $15 lobster roll.  Yeah, needless to say I wasn’t going to pay to get that.  I wanted to try the street tacos but never made it up here for an afternoon snack.  Everyday I pigged out at the buffet at lunch and just never felt hungry for a taco rest of the day.

 

 

This was another one of those “It wasn’t this way originally” place.  Similar to the Noodles bar, Princess switched out the original Asian taste on the menu for the North American cruisers.  The original place still had lobster but at $18 USD, you get Kung Pao lobster and fried rice (instead of the $15 lobster roll).

 

As burgers and tacos wouldn’t be well received overseas with the elderly Asian cruisers so Princess had dim sums in this area where you have to pay a la carte price to order each steam tray.  Being cheap and not a foodie, if I were to eat here, it’ll just be the street tacos and maybe the bacon and cheese fries at no extra cost.

 

One last thing that’s different on deck 16 compared to original placement in Asia is the free soft cone ice cream place (called Swirls on the map on the right hand side by the buffet).  I didn’t take a picture of the place (Shocking, eh?  There was actually something on the ship I didn’t take a picture of?) but I believe it only had 2 flavors – vanilla and chocolate.  Overseas cruises in Asia added in the macha flavor as that’s a highly popular flavor in Japan and China.

 

[harryfat1]

As it was still rainy and cold, time to head indoors on deck 17 and into Hollywood Conservatory which is at the front of the ship.

 

 

 

Whoever designed this area definitely got a lot of feedback from Chinse folks overseas.  The typical Princess design of paid adults open air sanctuary on the other Royal class ships would be a total failure in Asia.

 

Besides the iffy weather in Asia (too cold or too hot), overseas Asians are not going to pay $$ to sit in the sun as they have different perception on being tanned. They would line up for the $18 lobster but not paid for the sanctuary as Princess has designed for the other ships.

 

So by having the Hollywood Conservatory to be all indoors and then having no extra charge and an indoor pool to boot, one can argue the Majestic Princess is best Princess option for sailing to Alaska. Sure, the Discovery is newer than the Majestic but the Hollywood Conservatory with its indoor venue to watch the glaciers can’t be beat.

 

Although do note that the chair hogs (Alaska version of pool hogs in the Caribbean) come out in full force during glacier days and they camp out forever so if you want these seats, come out early.

 

Indoor pool area. The few times I have been through here, there are kids swimming here as outdoor swimming isn't as popular in Alaska.

 

 

View of Whittier but imagine what it looks like looking at glaciers from here:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you have the time and the money, go ahead and sail with Princess around the world - literally.

 

 

 

Alaska voyage in Chinese on the wall - but north bound only.

 

 

 

Various interesting topiary and musical instruments in the area:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View of the port area from the front of the ship:

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

So we made our way from the front of the ship to the back on deck 17 to see the fitness center:

 

 

 

Yeah, pretty wet outside

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My palm start to sweat every time I put my cell phone over the edge as one slip in the rain, the cell phone is going for a 100 feet drop below...

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

There’s an old adage that you never discuss politics and religion with people you just met as that just leads to heated debates with no winners.  We can add “MDR dress codes” and “Mask Covering” to that list here on CC.

 

If whenever I feel lazy for few days and didn’t want to do my daily uploads, I will just make a very biased comment on masks and dress codes and walk away and 3 days later, people will still be calling each an idiot for taking the other side.

 

Having said that, I will just point out the info from the photos taken and leave out my personal opinion.

 

Mask Required - not Mask Suggested

 

 

Official policy for Princess ships sailings one way to/from Vancouver in summer of 2022 is that masks are required for these sailings.  Masks not required for sailing from Seattle so Discovery Princess shouldn’t be seeing this sign on their sailings.

 

Here was the note in our cabin upon arrival earlier and the free pack of masks they offered in the cabin. Read the note and interpret it the way you like.

 

 

Free masks provided in the cabin.  Per the note, they will give you more if asked

 

 

 

At every elevator, there were signs saying masks are required inside the elevator and suggests no more than 6 people to ride in each elevator but many times people pile in if when it’s definitely more than 6 already in elevator.

 

At each show, there’s a prerecorded announcement pre show saying masks are required to be worn inside the Princess theater.

 

That is the official policy.  As for enforcing these policies, not once did I see any Princess workers asking masks to be worn.  It’s up to each individual to adhere to the policy or not.

No need to get into the public debate on mask policy but just wanted to pass along the official policy and state of things on Majestic Princess sailings in Alaska back in August 2022.

[harryfat1]

Next on the ship tour is the fitness area on deck 17.  Needless to say this is the only time I was in there the entire cruise...🤪

 

 

 

 

 

[koreakruiser]

1 hour ago, harryfat1 said:

I realized I started talking about what's on deck 16 but I forgot to show the deck plan.  Whenever I watch YouTube videos about any ship, it was hard to follow because I'm bad with directions so I need a map/deck plan to guide me to see where things are located.

 

 

 

OK, so we started at the bottom of deck 16 where the buffet is.  Walked on the Seawalk past the pool area toward the top of the map.  Previously I showed pictures of the Noodle bar near the top and below I will show the menu of the burger & lobster grill area.

 

Since it was still raining outside, we couldn’t get to deck 17 to walk around and take pictures of the port area around Whittier. Which is too bad as I thought it was a pretty scenic little harbor village. I will let Annie Lennox's song explain the weather condition:

 

 

On the other side of the noodles bar is the Burger and tacos place.  All the food here is no extra charge except for the $15 lobster roll.  Yeah, needless to say I wasn’t going to pay to get that.  I wanted to try the street tacos but never made it up here for an afternoon snack.  Everyday I pigged out at the buffet at lunch and just never felt hungry for a taco rest of the day.

 

 

This was another one of those “It wasn’t this way originally” place.  Similar to the Noodles bar, Princess switched out the original Asian taste on the menu for the North American cruisers.  The original place still had lobster but at $18 USD, you get Kung Pao lobster and fried rice (instead of the $15 lobster roll).

 

As burgers and tacos wouldn’t be well received overseas with the elderly Asian cruisers so Princess had dim sums in this area where you have to pay a la carte price to order each steam tray.  Being cheap and not a foodie, if I were to eat here, it’ll just be the street tacos and maybe the bacon and cheese fries at no extra cost.

 

One last thing that’s different on deck 16 compared to original placement in Asia is the free soft cone ice cream place (called Swirls on the map on the right hand side by the buffet).  I didn’t take a picture of the place (Shocking, eh?  There was actually something on the ship I didn’t take a picture of?) but I believe it only had 2 flavors – vanilla and chocolate.  Overseas cruises in Asia added in the macha flavor as that’s a highly popular flavor in Japan and China.

 

 

[JF - retired RRT]

7 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

 

 

Did anyone play those instruments? Were they just for show? Were the "drum sticks" glued in place?

[JF - retired RRT]

6 hours ago, koreakruiser said:

 

Along with Chocolate or Vanilla, you can request a "swirl" which is chocolate & vanilla swirled together. You can also request sprinkles - multi-color or chocolate and chocolate sauce.

[dides]

14 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Along with Chocolate or Vanilla, you can request a "swirl" which is chocolate & vanilla swirled together. You can also request sprinkles - multi-color or chocolate and chocolate sauce.

We discovered on Enchanted Princess last month that they alternate the Swirls flavours every day - chocolate and vanilla then strawberry and vanilla. Never seen that before on a Royal class ship.  

 

 

[JF - retired RRT]

49 minutes ago, dides said:

We discovered on Enchanted Princess last month that they alternate the Swirls flavours every day - chocolate and vanilla then strawberry and vanilla. Never seen that before on a Royal class ship.  

 

 

Strawberry - sounds and looks good!

[cr8tiv1]

Interesting to see photos of the Asian themes.  I wonder if America will get to keep the Majestic after the pandemic/endemic is over.  Now I understand why the Majestic has the conservatory.  Thanks for your insightful takes on Asian verses American market 

[harryfat1]

9 hours ago, koreakruiser said:

 

 

2 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Along with Chocolate or Vanilla, you can request a "swirl" which is chocolate & vanilla swirled together. You can also request sprinkles - multi-color or chocolate and chocolate sauce.

 

2 hours ago, dides said:

We discovered on Enchanted Princess last month that they alternate the Swirls flavours every day - chocolate and vanilla then strawberry and vanilla. Never seen that before on a Royal class ship.  

 

 

 

Many thanks to all that added your photos to the discussion. Often after you come back from the cruise, you realize you had forgotten to take various pictures.

 

Nice picture of strawberry and vanilla swirl.  I don't believe I have ever had that combo on a cruise yet.  Typically only see vanilla and chocolate.

 

We typically make a point to stop by the soft cone ice cream place on most cruises but with an Alaska cruise, it was hard to think ice cream while wearing a jacket.

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

3 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Did anyone play those instruments? Were they just for show? Were the "drum sticks" glued in place?

My boys played with couple different ones for a bit.  Even my mother in law banged on it for few seconds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forgot to mention there's also a wish board where you write down your wishes behind each covering but as the format is dry erase white board and no pen, one can't add more messages.  It'd be better if it was paper format like the writing booklet in hotel room whereby the crew clears out everything at the end of every voyage to make space for nee cruisers to write their wishes.  As currently constructed, it's a dead space.

 

 

As the area is indoors and enclosed, the sound echo throughout so it's not something you'd want to play while people are trying to view the glaciers.

 

These people are going to be less than pleased if you start having your band practice on Glacier Bay day and they can't hear what the park ranger is saying over the PA system:

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

32 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Interesting to see photos of the Asian themes.  I wonder if America will get to keep the Majestic after the pandemic/endemic is over.  Now I understand why the Majestic has the conservatory.  Thanks for your insightful takes on Asian verses American market 

The Majestic is scheduled to do the same one way Alaska sailings in 2023.  Who knows what will happen in 2024 as Asian countries are much more cautious in opening up than North America/Europe. 

 

Until Princess has warm fuzzies that things will open up for sure in Asia in 2024, don't think they want to open bookings for Asia in 2024 only to cancel everything and then give 20% extra in credits to compensate for canceled bookings.

 

For 2023, Majestic will be doing Australia/CA Coastal/Alaska. 

[harryfat1]

So after the fitness center, there’s not much more we can see in the upper decks without getting wet from the rain so we took the elevator down to deck 7 where the atrium/piazza starts at the top.

 

 

 

 

 

Note how empty the piazza looks at 3 PM?  Many people are either off the ship or exploring the ship/in their cabins.

 

 

After watching many Discovery Princess Alaska sailings on YouTube (not too many Majestic as people prefer to fly into Seattle instead), I was expecting the Majestic to have the "Welcome Aboard" banners in the piazza like the Discovery.  

 

Nope.  Nada. Zip. Also no Alaska themed banners the rest of the voyage like on the Discovery.  So anyone else have seen banners on other Royal class ships in the piazza on boarding day?  Is is just a "new and improved" thing on the newest/latest ship to have hanging banners or just the Majestic Princess "not in the spirit" of things?

 

 

 

 

 

Deck 7 is mainly shops and specialty dining.  Given the ship hasn’t sailed yet, all the shops are closed. Just few photos of the piazza area as we make our way down to deck 6.

 

 

 

On deck 6, you will find the casino. Similar to the fitness center, the only time I visit the casino in day 1 prior to sailing for photo opts only.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although I was amused to see the old school slot machine with an arm pull as most have gone digital with button pushing.  Somewhere down the road, the younger generation won’t understand the term “One arm bandit” as the slot machines keeps evolving to be glitzier and more digital instead of actual arm pull that requires a work out after few hundred pulls.

 

 

 

 

[JF - retired RRT]

40 minutes ago, harryfat1 said:

 

 

On deck 6, you will find the casino. 

Anyone know if they actually play Baccarat in the "Baccarat Salon"?

[harryfat1]

As we make our way down to deck 5, there’s the spa at the front of the ship.

 

 

Being cheap, you know I’ll never go into the spa.  No pictures of the area as I don’t want to walk in and deal with the heavy-handed sales pitch ladies in the spa area. 

 

If anyone has pictures/tips on the spa, please chime in.

 

I have only been inside the spa once in all the cruises as I won the raffle contest at one of the port talks that got my wife and I a free massage at the spa. 

 

Next to the spa area is the Harmony restaurant – this is the specialty restaurant on the Majestic with the Chinese theme to appeal to the overseas crowd. 

 

Being cheap, I always skip the specialty restaurant so you won’t find any photos of the food inside.  However, as we have been discussing the difference of “not as originally intended” of other eateries on the ship, here is a major departure of food venue from what you get overseas versus what Princess is providing nowadays in North America.

 

This was the original menu when Princess started in Asia from Princess web site (also see PDF attachment if you can't see the PDF display):

 

 

Here is the current version:

 

 

The current menu has been dramatically altered to fit the North American market. The original overseas menu has things like marinated chilled jelly fish and herbal soups that will not go well in the North American market.

 

Conversely the menu as currently constructed would be "foreign" to Chinese overseas as there's no crab rangoon if you go to Asia.  Same for General Tso chicken - Google it and you will see it's not a traditional dish from China dating back hundreds of years. Many of the dishes on the list have been are for the North American taste but not authentic Chinese food.

 

Whenever the Majestic Princess goes back to Asia for future sailing, I would imagine they will reinstate many of the older menu items and swap out the American Chinese food as currently constructed. Overseas Chinese will not pay $29/pp for the current menu.

 

I'll assume the presentation and flavoring at the Harmony restaurant is pretty decent at $29/pp but if you eat there, just note the current menu has been adjusted from the original version.

 

 

harmony-dinner-menu.pdf

Edited September 5, 2022 by harryfat1

[harryfat1]

As it’s after 3 PM, it was time for an afternoon coffee.  Another opportunity to utilize the drinks package. Headed out to International Café (IC) for a latte. For those not familiar with Princess, the International Café is the complimentary snacks/sandwich shop down in deck 5.

 

Although I did notice as I was looking at the deck plans that it seems they have mis labeled where IC should be.

 

Here is deck plan for Majestic.  Note IC is "after" the Bar Piazza looking from top to bottom after which is the rest room.  If anyone has been on the Royal class ships before, you will know the IC is "before" the bar. I know that very well as I have to go to the bar daily to get my "free" bottles of water as IC does not have bottled water.  You have to go next door for it.

 

 

 

 

Don't just take my word for it, here's the deck plan for Discovery Princess and note where IC is on this deck plan.  On the other side:

 

 

 

 

For our sailing, the IC was opened 24 hours a day per the Princess schedule but I have seen other posts where other ships (Ruby Princess) where they are only open up to 12 midnight so the hours are not consistent across the Princess fleet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The food is no extra charge but if you want specialty coffee, there is a charge, unless you are on one of the packages.  Here is a sample menu from web page as the phone app doesn't list it well:

 

 

We were still full from lunch so we didn’t get any food .  Just some “pick me up” afternoon coffee.

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Now is a good time to mention that Princess has classical musicians on board and they are typically in the piazza in the afternoons. I guess people associate afternoons with classical music.  I didn’t always see classical musicians on other cruise lines.  Cover bands – yes. Live classical musicians - no. So if you like classical live musicians, Princess should be high on your list.

 

The classical musicians fit in nicely in the Princess décor and drinking latte while listening to classical music almost made me feel like I have an ounce of culture in me – Nah, I’m still into rock music.

 

 

Pick a seat.  Any seat.

 

 

Here's Brandenburg Concerto #3 to set the mood:

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

After coffee, it’s time to head back to the cabin and unpack the suitcases that’s been waiting for us the past couple of hours. While we were unpacking, our cabin steward must of saw on his iPad that we were inside our cabins via the medallion device and he came by to introduce himself.  We asked him to open the balcony partitions and I thought we had to wait like on RCI where he must “ask for permission from supervisor” but nope, he went out to balcony right away and in 15 seconds, he connected all three cabins.  Super cool.

 

This became our base for glacier viewing the next couple of days.

 

 

 

 

I saw on some of the posts that people said their cabin stewards only clean their cabins once a day instead of the pre Covid tradition of twice a day.  That’s fine by us as in many land hotels nowadays on multiple day stays, they don’t clean your room daily.  You have to go downstairs and ask for fresh towels daily.  So I was pleasantly surprised our cabin steward cleaned our cabins twice daily without us asking for it.

 

Although I must admit I miss the towel animals nightly in our cabin like in other cruises.  I wasn’t expecting any towel animals as I didn’t see any YouTuber or CC members commenting on them. That’s a small thing but wish Princess have that.

 

There’s also a thread going on about no chocolates on pillow nightly a la the “good old days”.  Chocolate candies I can find substitutes for at the international café in getting some mousse cake to satisfy the late night sugar cravings (not that it’s good for you anyway).  Towel animals I can’t find substitute unless I learn to fold my own – not happening.

 

This goes back to what you want from your cruise vacation – I want to see/experience something I can’t get from a land vacation.  If it’s “all the same” as a land vacation, then I rather do land vacation as I get sea sick easily so being on a cruise has to offer me “extras” not available on a land vacation. 

 

For some on CC, sitting on balcony looking at the waves for 72 hours straight is a wonderful thing so maybe these small things are less important but for not die-hard cruisers like yours truly, these “extra something-something” is important.

[harryfat1]

As the constant PA kept reminding people to do the muster drill prior to the 8:30 sailing, it’s time to get it done.

 

Nowadays its either watch the video inside cabin TV or on your phone app.  Then walk over to your muster station and check in with the medallion device and you are done.

 

Although the small contrarian/skeptic part in me wonders how many people actually paid attention to the video on how to put on the life vest as I doubt most people going forward will even touch their life vest now they just watch the video paying less than 100% attention when the video is being played. 

 

How many people just turn on the TV and look down on their phone texting their friends telling them they are on the ship or updating their Instagram pages from selfies on boarding the ship while the important safety video is being shown? 

 

The very old school way you had to bring the life vest with you on deck and strap it on while standing on the Promenade deck (When there was a WIDE promenade deck for everyone to stand on – looking at you, Royal Princess class designers).

 

Then they made it “easier” in not asking you to bring a life vest to the muster drill.  Just show up at your life boat number on Promenade deck few years back.  Now it’s the next step of virtual learning in not even needing to assemble as a group. Just do it whenever it's convenient for you prior to sailing

 

If nothing goes wrong, everyone appreciates the easy short cut as the old way was a pain.  However, if something catastrophic happened on a sailing and people actually must use life vest, not having at least some sort of live experience could be a problem.  Then you will see some cruise ship “expert” on CNN/Fox news talking about how the muster drill changed for the worst…

[harryfat1]

So unpacked the suitcases and stowed them underneath the bed – check. Completed muster drill so we won’t be on the naughty list – check.

 

Guess that’s all the administrative stuff.  Time to sit back and hang out at the balcony and take some photos of late arriving cruisers at 5 PM via train. Are these folks coming in as part of the excursion or from the Princess lodge up north after finishing their land portion of the journey and now doing the sea portion?

 

Well, whatever they were doing, it around 5 PM but as the ship doesn’t sail off until 8:30, they have plenty of time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View of the lifeboat controls:

 

 

 

Bunch of folks getting off the train after 5 PM.  Assuming they are from the land portion up north and boarding the ship now.