Grand Princess embarkation delay

[Womble99]

14 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

The Royal Caribbean ships are larger so it takes  more cases to reach Tier 2. 

 

I wish all cruise lines would announce the number of cases like they did on Westerdam. It might make a difference in some people's attitudes if they did. 

 

Anyway numbers should be easing off now as the current wave seems to be tailing off. The big numbers on Princess ships were when the current wave was just ramping up.

I guess you can also only reach stage 2 if you actually do testing.....

Cease testing onboard and the number of voluntary admissions will never get you anywhere near that level.

 

Seems to be a sound business model

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Yes, that day 3 test makes a big difference, I think. It catches those who had caught Covid just before their cruise but hadn't tested positive, plus those who faked their test results.

 

Majestic Princess has some serious design flaws compared with older ships in the Princess fleet, and ships in other cruise lines. They seriously cut back on the bars on Majestic and most Royal Class ships - the spacious Wheelhouse Bar became the much smaller Crown Grill Bar, there is no Explorers lounge - it was replaced by the weird Princess Live, and there is no Crooners on Majestic. They tend to have popular dance music entertainers in the Piazza which gets very overcrowded. The Piazza is also where in International Cafe is and (I think) the bar in that area is also a Good Spirits Bar. That area alone is probably a major infection point for Covid. When we did a short cruise on Majestic in 2018 it was jam-packed all day and night.

The Pacific Motorway on Majestic that runs from the atrium, down past Princess Live, & Crown Grill to the Vista Lounge. Lots of traffic, and it all felt a bit stale. Yes, not a total fan either, but we started walking the inadequate promenade whenever it was open.

 

Yes, International Cafe & Vines on 5

Good Spirits on 6

Ocean bar on 7. 

Being around the piazza/atrium opened those spaces up on 6 and 7, so we had no issue. I prefer the Good Spirits location on Majestic more than on Coral, if only they had more seats. When busy, Coral felt a bit hemmed in, where on Majestic if it was busy, you just couldn't get a seat.

 

It would be nice to look at passenger/space ratios, but even then, there are spaces that just don't work.

[OzKiwiJJ]

8 minutes ago, arxcards said:

The Pacific Motorway on Majestic that runs from the atrium, down past Princess Live, & Crown Grill to the Vista Lounge. Lots of traffic, and it all felt a bit stale. Yes, not a total fan either, but we started walking the inadequate promenade whenever it was open.

 

Yes, International Cafe & Vines on 5

Good Spirits on 6

Ocean bar on 7. 

Being around the piazza/atrium opened those spaces up on 6 and 7, so we had no issue. I prefer the Good Spirits location on Majestic more than on Coral, if only they had more seats. When busy, Coral felt a bit hemmed in, where on Majestic if it was busy, you just couldn't get a seat.

 

It would be nice to look at passenger/space ratios, but even then, there are spaces that just don't work.

The cruise lines usually add in shop space to the public spaces tally which, on some ships, can be very misleading as they are often not very busy compared with bars and lounges. From memory Majestic is like that - a whole section on deck 7 that has shops that were mostly empty most of the time. Designed for wealthy Chinese who want to shop luxury brands.

[NSWP]

Only been on one Royal Class ship like Majestic. That was on Royal Princess in Europe. Not a fan at all, no real promenade deck, too many people, too much space wasted on retail. Problems at tender ports with so many pax, around 3500.  Give me the Grand class or Coral any time.

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by NSWP

[arxcards]

6 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

The cruise lines usually add in shop space to the public spaces tally which, on some ships, can be very misleading as they are often not very busy compared with bars and lounges. From memory Majestic is like that - a whole section on deck 7 that has shops that were mostly empty most of the time. Designed for wealthy Chinese who want to shop luxury brands.

Deck 6 worked out better with Good Spirits. Alfredo's to one side, and that is well spaced. Internet kiosks and photo package terminals on the other, also very quiet till the last afternoon. A bit of through traffic at dinner time for Concerto, but heaps less foot traffic than deck 7. Lots of spaces I wasn't such a fan of, but we had a few happy spaces too.

 

As the ships get larger, it is hard to be a fan of everything. As with Royal's "neighbourhoods", there is plenty to fulfil a cruise from the areas you like.