Just back from Majesty 3/30-4/2...Will answer any and all quesitons!!!

[Domb23]

Just got back from the Majesty of the Seas from a 3 night 4 day cruise to Coco Cay and Nassau, Bahamas!! This was m7 7th cruise, 6th with RCI!!! Had a great time!!! A review will be forthcoming!! In the mean time, I will answer any and all questions you may have!!

 

Craig from NJ

[newbeestl]

Did you get to enjoy Coco Cay or was it too rough? I love that place!

[Domb23]

Coco Cay was fantastic....the weather was perfect.....I bit windy, but I like that casue when I am relaxing on a lounge chair I am getting all the benefits of a great sun, but not getting all hot and full of sweat. I didn't go swimming cause the water was too cold, but I thoroughly enjoyed the relaxation that the island gave to me. The BBQ that they served was very good (great ribs)!!

[kptbylorraine]

HI Craig We are going on the Majesty April 23. We were on the ship many years ago when she was brand new. Do you know if anyone took the catamaran snorkel trip in Key West? Do they serve a full lunch on Coco Cay so you don't need to return to the ship?

Lorraine

[Domb23]

We were on the 3 nighter, so they didn't stop at Key West, so I can't answer your 1st question.....to answer your second question....yes they have an all you can eat BBQ on Coco Cay, meaning you don't have to go back to the ship to eat!! If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask!!

[wolfcathorse]

who was your captain, I'm suspecting Capt Kasselas is going on vacation the end of March. Did you hear anything about the captains rotating?

[Domb23]

The Captain's name is Ron Holmes....from Canada....was able to speak with him briefly during lunch one day....very nice!!!

[wolfcathorse]

Thank you! Apparantly my suspicion was correct!

[mitaxi]

maybe a silly question...BUT.... have never taken a short cruise, but ready to book on the Majesty...and have always had a balcony.....so is an OV say deck 5 comfortable enough for the 3nights...or should I switch to SOV deck 9 OR just go for the JS....comments please...

Thanks

[Domb23]

Flight and Embarkation/Day1:

 

I was traveling with a group of about 30 on this 3 night cruise, and I know that most people say that you should fly down the night before, but because of work, that was not possible. Our flight was at 7:15 on Friday morning, which meant getting to the airport by 5:15. You would think that being at the airport by 5 AM would mean that the airport wouldn't be as crazy as it normally appears, but that was not the case. It was very crowded, but luckily we had e-tickets, which made the check-in process fast and easy. The security line was only a bit smaller, but still wasn't so bad. We were at the gate within 15 minutes, and thinking about the great weather to come. Now, I have flown numerous times, and can remember when a flight form Newark to Miami was listed as 2hrs and 25 min.....start to finish, but nowadays when you book, it lists the flight as just over 3 hrs.....because of all the air traffic. Here is the good news.....We were scheduled to take off at 7:15 and land at 10:20......we were in the air at 7:30 and on the ground in Miami at 9:45.....AWESOME!!!! When we got off the plane, we made our way to Baggage Claim, which was about 10 miles LOL.....the longest walk from a terminal to a baggage claim in my entire life...but the great part was that when we got to the baggage claim, our bags were there waiting for us….so we all had our bags within about 5 minutes……..We then spotted the RCL representative, let him know that we were all on the Majesty of the Seas….here is where we had a bit of confusion……they moved us back and forth about 3 times to different areas to wait for the shuttle…..it seemed as if they didn’t know where people were to wait, but after waiting for about 20-30 minutes we were on our way to the Port of Miami……The driver did a nice job of showing us the sites of Downtown Miami, but of course therein comes the catch. As we pull into the port we hear him say, “Don’t forget to remember your driver” like this was a paid tour or something…..anyway, we get off the ship and go into the terminal. I am a Platinum member, but didn’t need to use the priority check-in as the terminal was empty when we arrived at 11:20…..having the Set Sail Pass done ahead of time made check-in a breeze, and we were on the ship within 15 minutes. When we entered the Centrum there was no one there to greet you with Champagne like there was when I 1st sailed in 2000…..nice touch, but not necessary to me as I don’t like champagne anyway. As this was my 6th cruise with RCL/ 7th overall (Enchantment 2000, Majesty 2001, Monarch 2003, Century 2004, Enchantment 2x 2005, and now Majesty in 2007) the centrums all look pretty much alike, but I think they are all beautiful…..We then made our way to the Windjammer for lunch as rooms are not ready until 1:00. The new Windjammer set up is much better for ease of getting food……I went upstairs to take a look at the new Sorrento’s pizza, Compass Deli, and Johnny Rocket’s……..They weren’t open yet, but when I walked by later in the afternoon, Sorrento’s was packed!!! After a relaxing lunch….we went down to our rooms right before 1:00 and they were ready. We had Oceanview rooms on the 8th floor (8052). The rooms were a bit smaller than I remembered on Enchantment, but big enough anyway. The new bedding was VERY comfortable, and a nice upgrade….there was a flat screen TV mounted caddy corner on the wall, which made it easy to see from either bed. The bathroom was similar to all of the others I have seen, and was clean!! Our room steward was Jeffrey from the Philippines, and he was SPECTACULAR!!! If you have the fortune of having him, you will be taken good care of. We then decided to hang out in the room for a while and catch up with our friends……while we were relaxing, our luggage arrived at about 3:00 which was earlier then we expected. We then unpacked…..which led up to the muster drill….now I know I may sound petty, but for some reason, they decided to do the entire drill in 3 languages, which made the muster drill much longer than I ever remember it being, but that is just me being impatient. After the muster drill it was up to the pool deck for the Sail Away party. Here is where I had my 1st annoyance of the cruise. A few of us went up to the pool bar for some drinks, and my friend asked for a pina colada. She then proceeded to mention that she didn’t want the drink in the souvenir glass that it came with. I specifically remember knowing that if you ask for your drink without the souvenir glass, that they will give it to you that way. To our surprise, when my friend made this request, the bartender said that she could only have this drink if she got the souvenir glass too. Well I was shocked by this, but since my friend wanted her drink and wasn’t in the mood to argue, she said ok……$11.00 later she had her drink……I don’t care what the glass did…..$11.00 for a drink is ridiculous…..anyway no more negatives for a while….back to the positives……we found some seats poolside with others from our group and just relaxed and watched the people around us……the sail away party was fun…….We then returned to our room to get ready for meetings and dinner (although we had 2nd seating dinner, we had to get ready early because we have our business meetings before dinner every night at 7:00). Unfortunately, because we have our meeting at 7:00 I missed the show tonight. Now it was off to dinner. I want to preface that being on 6 previous cruises, I can compare food from one cruise to another, and I want to say that the food on the Dining Room was the best since I have been on my 1st cruise. Tonight I had the risotto with scallops for my appetizer, the creamy garlic soup, and for main course I had the lamb shank….let me tell you this….the meat was so tender that it fell off the bone, and you didn’t need a knife!!!! I also tried the tiger shrimp, which was good, but hard to get out of the shells. For dessert I had the warm chocolate cake, which was delectable!!! After dinner, it was almost 10:45, so we went to the casino with some friends. Didn’t gamble much, but enjoyed hanging out, but by 11:30 I was exhausted. I guess being up since 4:00 AM will do that to you…so I crashed. That was day 1……Will have day 2-Coco Cay soon!!! Again, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!!!!!

[Domb23]

Day 2/Coco Cay

 

Well, after a good night sleep (yes, the new bedding is quite comfortable), I woke up around 7:30 and decided I was going to go to the gym to do a little running before my day started. On all of the other ships on which I have been, the ShipShape Center has been on or above the pool deck. Knowing that, I just figured I would go up to the pool deck and find it myself. After walking around for a few minutes without any luck, I asked a ship worker and they just pointed without saying a word, which I thought was weird. Anyway, after about 10 more minutes without any luck, I just decided to run on deck 12. I did finally find the ship shape center the next day, but I’ll get into that in tomorrow’s review. After my workout and a shower, I met two friends in the dining room for breakfast. Here was my food disappointment of the cruise. The service we had this meal was sub par, and so was the food. I had ordered eggs benedict, which came without hollandaise sauce, and the yolks were almost solid. I was very disappointed about this, because I had always liked the breakfast in the dining room, but again, I wasn’t going to let 1 meal ruin everything…..everyone has a bad day….and I guess this morning was the dining room’s. After breakfast, we got our stuff and headed to deck 1 for our tender to Coco Cay. When we got down to deck 1 from the elevator, about 10:00am, the line for the tender wasn’t long at all which was very nice, but I did get annoyed when we were standing on line to get on the tender, and people are walking down from the stairs and getting in line where ever they felt like……Yes I did say something to those people and told them it was rude to cut in line in front of other passengers….they went to the back of the line….I just think people need to be considerate of each other!!! The tender ride over to Coco Cay was smooth and fast. When we arrived, we were surprised to see how few people were there yet!!! We were able to get any seat we wanted which was nice. We lay out in the sun for a while, and slowly but surely the beach filled up. The weather was perfect……sunny but windy…..I personally like that combination, because you can lay out without the feeling of being too hot and sweaty. The day before, we had purchased the floatie mats for $10 to use at Coco Cay, but never ended up using them because since it was so windyso the water was quite cool……..so much for that $10. At about 12:30 we went over to the BBQ for lunch. They had burgers, dogs, Ribs, salads, corn, mac and cheese………food was good, but the ribs were spectacular!!!! Before going back to our seats, I saw a friend in my group running by, and I asked him what he was doing….he told me to come see something…..when I got there, he was taking pictures of the largest lizards I have ever seen……quite a site……they were everywhere!!! After that, we went back to our seats to lay out for a while longer….by 2:00 it started to get cloudy, and we decided that we had enough beach for 1 day, so we took the tender back to the ship…of course, 15 minutes after we get back on the ship….the sun is out, stronger than ever. figures LOL!!! Once back on the ship I decided to have an iced coffee and a pastry from Lattetudes, and check my email. I think the coffee at Lattetudes is fantastic, and the pastries that you get when you order your coffee are very tasty!!! I then checked my email and wrote home to see how everyone was doing. The cost was $0.50 a minute, and the internet was quite slow, but it served my purposes. Then I went to go up to the pool deck for a while……They were about to start the belly flop contest when I got up there…..they were really having a hard time getting people to sign up, but finally they got 5 contestants….once it got going it was fun to watch. I then went back to the cabin and decided to take a nap before our meeting and dinner. Tonight was formal night, and for the most part people were dressed appropriately. Of course there are a few stragglers here and there, but thankfully they were few and far between. Again, with this meal I thought the food was outstanding. I had the shrimp cocktail, escargot (unbelievable), Lobster Bisque, and the filet of beef. For dessert, I had the cheesecake. After dinner one of the people in my group had put together a pub crawl for all of us. I really wanted to see the production show, but felt guilty about not spending time with my group, so I went on the pub crawl. Everyone seemed to have a good time, but my stomach wasn’t feeling well (probably from eating so much all day…LOL) so I didn’t drink much. I did get to see about the last 10 minutes of the show which was called Sign Sealed Delivered. It was a Stevie Wonder musical review. From what I saw, I thought it was average. Let me preface this by saying that I am somewhat tough on these shows……but I do think I have seen much better on the other ships I have been on….again I only say about 10-15 minutes, but what I saw was quite average. While I’m thinking about it, I did see the show from Friday night in my cabin this afternoon while I was relaxing….the comedian’s name was Rick Corso, and again he was ok…had some funny parts and some not so funny parts. After leaving the end of the show and spending a little more time on the pub crawl, I decided that I had enough and went to sleep about 12:30….I heard that the rest of my group had a fun, wild time…..for instance my roommate came to sleep at 4:00 AM……anyway….that was day 2….more to come tomorrow…day 3/Nassau!!!!

[maggieq]

Craig,

 

Just the review I was looking for. Also in NJ and am looking at the 9:10 a.m. via continental.

 

Wondering what your thoughts were on the ov room and if you got to see any jr. suites? The Gym?

 

What flight did you get back on?

 

Also, what time did you get off the ship.

 

We (bfriend and I) are looking to just do carryons for this. No formal.

 

Wondering if JR's is an option for dinner?

 

Thanks.

 

M

[Domb23]

Craig,

 

Just the review I was looking for. Also in NJ and am looking at the 9:10 a.m. via continental.

 

Wondering what your thoughts were on the ov room and if you got to see any jr. suites? The Gym?

 

What flight did you get back on?

 

Also, what time did you get off the ship.

 

We (bfriend and I) are looking to just do carryons for this. No formal.

 

Wondering if JR's is an option for dinner?

 

Thanks.

 

M

 

I thought the ocean view room was more than enough for the 3 days....not sure what the price difference between the oceanview and the balcony....if the price difference is not that much, I might be inclined to do it....sorry I can't give you more info about pricing on this particular cruise....I didn't pay for it, so I don't know

 

 

I took a 2:10 flight back to Newark, if you just bring carry-ons you can get off the ship at 7:00 and get a much earlier flight.....

 

I got off the ship about 8:45 cause I went to go visit my grandmother before I went to the airport....it took about 30-45 minutes to get off and through customs

 

just carry-ons is definitely an option...I would have done that if I could do it all again

 

JR is definitely an option for dinner....it does have an option for $3.95 but is definitely an option, I think that JR is more of an option for snack not a meal....I think the food options on Formal night would be better in the Windjammer....

 

My boss had the grand suite, and it was beautiful...but again....it depends on price.......if you have any questions....let me know......day 3 is coming up soon!!

 

Where in Jersey are you from??

 

Craig

[ddolphinmom]

Very nice review, can't wait for day 3. We are going on the 4 night on Majesty April 30. I've only been on one other cruise, so still not sure what to expect.

[jtwisconsin]

maybe a silly question...BUT.... have never taken a short cruise, but ready to book on the Majesty...and have always had a balcony.....so is an OV say deck 5 comfortable enough for the 3nights...or should I switch to SOV deck 9 OR just go for the JS....comments please...

Thanks

 

 

We had an OV on deck 5 for my wife and I, and we put our two kids in an inside room across the hall. Even though the room is small, we were plenty comfortable for just a 3-night cruise. And this is coming from someone who convinced his wife that we HAD to have a balcony for our first cruise on Radiance.

[pal2pluto]

okay, sounds wierd, but I appreciate hearing what's served for dinner......... do you have any menus you could post?

[pgilly]

going on the majesty 4/16/06. couple of ???. Approx how much were drink prices. 11.00 for pina colada is ridiculous!!!! How did the refurbishments look???? looking forward to the cruise. going with my mom, sister and 18 yr old niece. any sugg??? thanks. pgilly:)

[BillOh]

We had an OV on deck 5 for my wife and I, and we put our two kids in an inside room across the hall. Even though the room is small, we were plenty comfortable for just a 3-night cruise. And this is coming from someone who convinced his wife that we HAD to have a balcony for our first cruise on Radiance.

 

We loved our first balcony and have a hump cabin for next year. But we did this cruise when it popped up with a low fare and residency rate. We are going with an interior cabin on deck 5. I'll miss the balcony, but its better than no cruising. Can't wait! Thanks to the OP for this thread.

[Domb23]

Day 3/Nassau, Bahamas + Day 4 Disembarkation

 

Before I begin with my day 3 review, there is something I forgot to mention about last night. Prior to going on the cruise I was reading various reviews about the Majesty and one common theme kept arising, and that was how badly the piano player was in the Schooner Bar. The Schooner Bar has always been one of my favorite spots on the ship, mostly because of the sing along piano playing that takes place, and I was thinking that when I heard so many negative comments about the piano player here, that people were being too harsh. Unfortunately, they were all right on their assessments. He was quite bad!! He was the worst by far of the 6 other cruises I have been on. I hope they make a change in this area soon, as this is too good of a public area to be ruined by amateur playing.

 

Back to the review. As I mentioned earlier, everyone was up quite late the night before, so I decided to sleep late until 8:30 (when you have a 4 yr. old and 1 yr. old at home, 8:30 is late). I then proceeded to the gym, and yes I did look at the compass this time to see that is was on deck 9 forward. When I got there I was quite disappointed at how small the gym was. There were no elliptical machines, and only 4 treadmills. I know that this is one of the smallest ships in the fleet, but I expected a little bit more, especially after she came out of dry dock. Anyway, had a light breakfast with some friends, and was off the ship by 10:15. We did not decide to do an excursion here because I have been here numerous times already, and enjoy just walking around. We always make a point of visiting the straw market, which should be changed to the “Purse Market”. It is all handbags and pocketbooks, a dream for girls. We spent a few hours in town to do some shopping for my family back home. One thing that made our day shorter than expected was the fact that it was Palm Sunday, which meant that many of the stores closed early. We ended up back on the ship around 1:00 where we had lunch in the Windjammer. I happened to the bump into the captain of the ship while I was getting my food. We spoke for a quick moment, which was interesting. After lunch we went to the pool deck to catch some rays, which was relaxing. Later that day, a bunch of us wanted a snack, so we went to Johnny Rockets. I know that many people think that it is not necessary to go there on the ship because they are in most local malls, but let me tell you……The service, dancing, and food were great. I would recommend it to anyone…..had a blast. After that I went back to my cabin to take a little nap, and then had to pack and get ready for my nightly meeting and dinner. Packing was quite easy, being that it was only a 3 night cruise. For the last dinner, I had the mushroom pasty which was very good. The onion soup and clam chowder, both of which were sub par. For my entrée, I had the NY Strip, which was good, but not terrific. For dessert, I had both the chocolate cake and the baked Alaska, and to my surprise, the baked Alaska was quite good. After dinner, I made my way to spectrum to watch the quest. I have participated in numerous quest games and love it every time. This time I decided to watch it, and it was just as hysterical watching everyone go crazy. I found myself laughing out loud the whole time. After the quest was over, a few of us wanted to find a quiet place that wasn’t too smokey to relax and talk. We ended up in the Viking Crown Lounge, and had a great time with our friends, just chatting and reminiscing. We didn’t leave there until almost 2:30. Well at this point I realized that I had to be up in a quick 4 ½ hours so I decided to call it a night.

 

Originally I was given beige tags to get off the ship, but since there were not that many diamond level passengers on board, I was bumped up to white tags, which give you priority disembarkation. I had plans to go visit my grandmother before I went to the airport, so I was in no rush to get off the ship. A group of us had breakfast in the dining room at about 7:45. On Saturday I also had breakfast in the dining room and complained how poor the food and service was. Well, thankfully the service we received this morning more than made up for the poor service the other day. After breakfast, at approximately 8:25, I got online with my 3 carry-ons, and proceeded to wait in the long line to get off……after about 35-40 minutes I was off the ship and customs, and was waiting for my cousin to pick me up. We had a 2:10 flight back to Newark. I got to the airport at about 12:15, and after another 10 mile walk to the gate, I was at the gate at about 12:40…….we got on the plane on time, but here is where things got interesting. We must have gotten about 30 feet from the gate when the power on the plane goes out……everyone on the plane was sort of freaked out why this had happened. The captain then comes on the PA and announces that the auxiliary power had gone out and that we need to return to the gat to fix it…GREAT!!!!! Anyway, after about 30 minutes the captain comes back on and tells us that everything has been fixed and we are ready to go. We then leave without a hitch and are on our way. We ended up having to circle around Newark airport for about 20 minutes, which stunk, and landed about 15 minutes late. I then got my luggage and was home sweet home.

 

Well I hope you enjoyed my review. Again, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to ask!!!

 

Craig from NJ

[AngieGal3]

HI Craig We are going on the Majesty April 23. We were on the ship many years ago when she was brand new. Do you know if anyone took the catamaran snorkel trip in Key West? Do they serve a full lunch on Coco Cay so you don't need to return to the ship?

Lorraine

 

Hi Lorraine. I just came off the Majesty yesterday. We also made it to CocoCay. I was so nervous we wouldn't. We had great weather all week.

 

We really enjoyed the bbq on the island. Hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs, mac & cheese, corn on the cobb, garden salad, pasta salad. After all the fancy dinner meals we were having on the ship, hubby was looking forward to some plain old comfort food :D

[AngieGal3]

The Captain's name is Ron Holmes....from Canada....was able to speak with him briefly during lunch one day....very nice!!!

 

I agree! What a nice man. We chatted with him at the Captain's reception and he spoke of our winters in Boston and how he came for St. Patrick's Day and some of his antics :D

[AngieGal3]

ITA, had the same items you did in the dining room. Scallops and risotto was fabulous and the shank was very tender. I believe hubby thought it the best meal of the entire cruise.

[AngieGal3]

The service we had this meal was sub par, and so was the food. I had ordered eggs benedict, which came without hollandaise sauce, and the yolks were almost solid.

 

 

escargot (unbelievable), !!

 

I am kicking myself I didn't get a second escargot. It was the best I'd ever had.

 

I agree on breakfast. I too had the eggs benedict. It did have the sauce but the english muffins were burned :(

[AngieGal3]

okay, sounds wierd, but I appreciate hearing what's served for dinner......... do you have any menus you could post?

 

hee hee hee I do! Not sure how they came out, but I will try and post them on my webshots. People think I am so weird to take pics like this

[Domb23]

I agree with your husband that the lamb was the best I had all weekend.....I also could have had about 5 of the escargot as they were unbelievable!!!