Live update from Majestic Princess

[korky1]

We had received an email on 7th December advising us that boarding next day would be delayed by 3 hours so told everybody to arrive at OPT 3 hours later than designated boarding time.  Our original time was noon so decided to get there at 2pm incase boarding started early.  Wise decision as I think boarding had just opened as we rocked up.  Went straight through and was on board by 2.30.  No dramas whatsoever. 

 

First night went to our dining room at 7.20 as booked.  I had prebooked all our evening meals for this time but had alternated 

the bookings between the 3 MDRs just for fun.  Walked straight in, had a lovely meal, once again no drama.  Spent the rest of the evening listening to the group in the Atrium, who are excellent. 

 

First full sea day, went to MDR for breakfast.   Joined queue about 8.15 and were seated by 8.25 which was pretty quick.  However we did not receive our food until 9.20, a full 55 minutes after being seated.  Very very poor service.

 

Went to lunch in the bistro, the Market Place.   Variety of food and quality was excellent.   

 

At 7.15 ,we turned up for our second prebooked dinner.   There was a queue a mile long and we were eventually seated at 8.50 so stood in a queue for 35 minutes.  Again, service was unbelievably slow.  So slow we decided not to bother with dessert.  God knows what it will be like tonight as it is formal night.

 

Today, lesson learnt, we had breakfast and lunch in Market Place which we will do for the remainder of this cruise.  More than happy to do this as food, variety and service are great up there.

 

This morning, our second full day on board we all had to do a RAT test, and  contact Medical Services if it was positive.  Luckily hubby and I tested negative.   We had to place our negative tests in the clear zip lock bags provided with each and give them to our cabin steward so he could view the negative result and record it as such.  PHEW!!!!!  This was quite nerve wrecking.  Even though we were both feeling perfectly fine still our hearts were going "boom bang a bang bang" (an old song by Lulu) whilst waiting for the negative result to show.

 

Finally did a full explore of the ship today as we have never been on Majestic before.  It is a beautiful ship and we are really looking forward to this nice long 13 night cruise.   First stop Noumea tomorrow.   We have been there numerous times before and always enjoy it.

 

 

[Tripmode33]

Thanks for your initial report on Majestic.

Interesting that you had to show your negative rat results. Currently on Grand and they didn't want to view or urs, just bin.

Hope you enjoy Noumea. What do you usually do? We have two Noumea port days booked for 2023. Usually we catch the local bus near the park to  Anse Vata and stroll back to Lemon Bay (Citron), but thought we might catch the water taxi next time to (Duck Island?) just offshore for snorkeling.

[adelaidefc]

10 minutes ago, korky1 said:

We had to place our negative tests in the clear zip lock bags provided with each and give them to our cabin steward so he could view the negative result and record it as such.  

That's interesting. RAT instructions generally say results are unreliable from 30 mins after the test, so does the steward just hang around waiting?

[Aus Traveller]

17 minutes ago, adelaidefc said:

That's interesting. RAT instructions generally say results are unreliable from 30 mins after the test, so does the steward just hang around waiting?

The RAT tests we have done have showed the same result even hours after they were taken.

[korky1]

I think it means the results of the RAT test can take 15 minutes to show accurately.  My husband and I both caught covid from our grandson in early March and we have kept the positive tests in a drawer. No idea why really, I guess as a macabre souvenir?  The positive result still shows as clearly as the day we took the tests.

 

Just guessing,  but maybe they have caught on to the fact that perhaps people could be binning positive results to avoid mandatory 7 day isolation?    Definitely had to return the test results to our steward and they would bre chasing up anyone who did not do so.

 

[korky1]

52 minutes ago, Tripmode33 said:

Thanks for your initial report on Majestic.

Interesting that you had to show your negative rat results. Currently on Grand and they didn't want to view or urs, just bin.

Hope you enjoy Noumea. What do you usually do? We have two Noumea port days booked for 2023. Usually we catch the local bus near the park to  Anse Vata and stroll back to Lemon Bay (Citron), but thought we might catch the water taxi next time to (Duck Island?) just offshore for snorkeling.

We usually do the hop on, hop off bus.  The aquarium is also good to visit.  Usually have lunch at any restaurant near the water.  Never been to Duck Island.  We emigrated to Australia from Northern ireland as adults.  As Ireland is so cold, we never learnt to swim so can't snorkel.  Have spoken to lots of people who have gone over and enjoyed it,

[Tripmode33]

3 hours ago, adelaidefc said:

That's interesting. RAT instructions generally say results are unreliable from 30 mins after the test, so does the steward just hang around waiting?

Agree. We have three different brands of RAT tests currently and all say invalid if read before 15 minutes or after 20 minutes.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, Tripmode33 said:

Agree. We have three different brands of RAT tests currently and all say invalid if read before 15 minutes or after 20 minutes.

The ones we use say 10 to 15 minutes for valid.

[korky1]

Doesn't matter what any of them say.  Once the result comes up it will remain there unchanged for eternity.  Well,  at least as I stated in earlier posts are positive tests are unchanged since taking them in early March.

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, korky1 said:

Doesn't matter what any of them say.  Once the result comes up it will remain there unchanged for eternity.  Well,  at least as I stated in earlier posts are positive tests are unchanged since taking them in early March.

Out of curiosity, I keep our test strips for quite a while so I could check to see if they changed over time. They didn't. Positive stayed positive and negative stayed negative.

[Pushka]

We tested positive in June and test still shows positive. Our negative tests done since RATs were available still show as negative. 

[LittleFish1976]

I used two different brands of tests when I had covid a few months ago. I don't still have the tests I used but I did keep them for a couple of weeks afterwards as I was tracking my infectiousness.

 

One of the brands, the test line didn't change at all over time.

 

The other brand, the test line colour 'bled' into the surrounding screen making the test result not very clear over the course of a day or so.

 

I think the minutes it would take for the steward to come and look at your result wouldn't really matter as far as reading an accurate result, with most tests. If they give you the tests you use on board then they would be aware what changes take place in them over the hour or so after they've been used.

 

I think it's a great idea to test passengers during a cruise and have the steward check the result. Keep the spread of covid down.

 

 

[Newbie67]

I'm not on this cruise, but will be onboard later this month. I read that Majestic Princess had closed the self-serve laundromat during a cruise in November. Does anyone know if it is still closed? It will make a big difference in our packing. Thanks.

[voluntr57]

15 hours ago, Newbie67 said:

I'm not on this cruise, but will be onboard later this month. I read that Majestic Princess had closed the self-serve laundromat during a cruise in November. Does anyone know if it is still closed? It will make a big difference in our packing. Thanks.

I was on the Majestic cruise that ended today. The laundries re-opened during the cruise. Whether or not they are open for your cruise will depend on the number of cases on board.

Edited January 3, 2023 by voluntr57
Addition to answer.

[MMDown Under]

10 hours ago, voluntr57 said:

I was on the Majestic cruise that ended today. The laundries re-opened during the cruise. Whether or not they are open for your cruise will depend on the number of cases on board.

When the laundries closed, did they give passengers discount washing.  

[voluntr57]

1 hour ago, MMDown Under said:

When the laundries closed, did they give passengers discount washing.  

Some people on social media said they were given discount, others said it was free. I never sent clothes to be washed myself so can't say.

[ETdreamer]

We’re currently on the Majestic, and were also on the previous cruise. The laundries were closed for the first half of the last cruise and our laundry was processed free of charge (our shipboard account was charged, but the charge removed once we presented the laundry ticket to Guest Services on which the steward had written ‘Free due to closed laundry’). As mentioned above, the laundries reopened halfway through that cruise and remain open until now, the first day at sea on the next cruise. Tomorrow everyone onboard will do a supervised RAT, so I guess we’ll see what happens once the results of that are known.

 

[paradiselivin1]

@ETdreamer Wondering what you learned after the RAT tests? We board on the 29th and I'm trying to keep up with what's happening on board. TIA.

[lhayler]

I’m on the Majestic now. No Covid related changes so it seems like very few cases on board. Laundries are open. Passengers are being very diligent about mask wearing, which appears to be working.