Picture Heavy Majesty of the Seas Review

Hi guys,

We just came back from our third Majesty of the seas review. We did the 4 day cruise that goes to Nassau, Coco Cay and Key West. We love this itinerary (especially Key West) which is why we have done this cruise 3 years running now.

The Good

Lots of good stuff to share here. The ship is in great shape as always. Clean and well maintained. The crew is exceptional in my books and whatever it is they are doing they really ought to teach on the other ships. Our waiter in the MDR was great and our room steward was efficient and was always seen around. Great job by the crew.

The food in the MDR was pretty good - 4 out of 5 in my books. We did breakfast there on 3 of the 4 mornings which is the only way to do breakfast as far as I'm concerned. There wasn't any food or desert that really knocked my socks off but it was all good and well presented.

The weather was unbelievable. Warm and sunny every day and the winds were as calm as I have ever seen on any cruise. The sea was like a pond it was so calm.

The "could be better"

Food in the buffet was perhaps a bit less appealing than last year and year before although it was still acceptable. Selections were not as great and it was a nut house on the one morning we did breakfast up there. Really difficult finding a seat and I prefer the prepared to order food in the MDR.

Key West stop seemed more hectic and rushed this year than any other year. They are doing immigration a new way where you go down and line up by group numbers. We were the 5th group. Some groups weren't getting called down until 11:30. If I can't get off the ship until about noon and leave at 5:30, I think I'd be an unhappy camper. There has to be a better way here. I think they need to look at arriving early and getting people off the ship in time to really enjoy a nice long day.

Great cruise overall and we had a great time. Now for some pics

We stayed the Holiday Inn, Port of Miami. Its been renovated and we had a good stay there.

Photos from Day 1

More Day 1 Pics

love the pictures! Who was your captain? I think it was a temporary one as Nov 18 RCI had their annual captains meeting.

The pics are stunning. What camera/lens are you using? Did you use a tripod for the night shots?

love the pictures! Who was your captain? I think it was a temporary one as Nov 18 RCI had their annual captains meeting.

Thanks.

I can't recall the Captain's name, I didn't pay a lot of attention to that. I do know he sounded like a very detailed individual when he talked to the passengers.

Your nighttime photos of the port area are stunning. Please continue to post more pics!

The pics are stunning. What camera/lens are you using? Did you use a tripod for the night shots?

Thanks. Nikon D3100 with the stock 18-55mm lens. I do have a tripod but didn't use it on trip (too cumbersome to travel with). I use hand railings, garbage cans or whatever I can find to put my camera on.

Day 2 - Sailaway

Hi guys,

 

We just came back from our third Majesty of the seas review. We did the 4 day cruise that goes to Nassau, Coco Cay and Key West. We love this itinerary (especially Key West) which is why we have done this cruise 3 years running now.

 

The Good

Lots of good stuff to share here. The ship is in great shape as always. Clean and well maintained. The crew is exceptional in my books and whatever it is they are doing they really ought to teach on the other ships. Our waiter in the MDR was great and our room steward was efficient and was always seen around. Great job by the crew.

 

The food in the MDR was pretty good - 4 out of 5 in my books. We did breakfast there on 3 of the 4 mornings which is the only way to do breakfast as far as I'm concerned. There wasn't any food or desert that really knocked my socks off but it was all good and well presented.

 

The weather was unbelievable. Warm and sunny every day and the winds were as calm as I have ever seen on any cruise. The sea was like a pond it was so calm.

 

The "could be better"

Food in the buffet was perhaps a bit less appealing than last year and year before although it was still acceptable. Selections were not as great and it was a nut house on the one morning we did breakfast up there. Really difficult finding a seat and I prefer the prepared to order food in the MDR.

 

Key West stop seemed more hectic and rushed this year than any other year. They are doing immigration a new way where you go down and line up by group numbers. We were the 5th group. Some groups weren't getting called down until 11:30. If I can't get off the ship until about noon and leave at 5:30, I think I'd be an unhappy camper. There has to be a better way here. I think they need to look at arriving early and getting people off the ship in time to really enjoy a nice long day.

 

Great cruise overall and we had a great time. Now for some pics

We will be boarding Majesty on the Friday after Thanksgiving for her weekend cruise circuit...this will be our 9th time on MOS and glad to hear she is doing well. The crew is always wonderful. Sorry to hear that you felt the food in the WJ was not up to its past standards, even though it was 'acceptable'. We usually do breakfast in WJ, but perhaps this year will go to the MDR.

Absolutely gorgeous photos! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks. Nikon D3100 with the stock 18-55mm lens. I do have a tripod but didn't use it on trip (too cumbersome to travel with). I use hand railings, garbage cans or whatever I can find to put my camera on.

I "cheated" and looked at the info on Flickr to see what camera you used. I really think I missed my calling as a professional stalker :p

I do the same thing w garbage cans :D

The photos are so clear. Did you keep the camera on the "P" setting or something else?

I "cheated" and looked at the info on Flickr to see what camera you used. I really think I missed my calling as a professional stalker :p

 

I do the same thing w garbage cans :D

 

The photos are so clear. Did you keep the camera on the "P" setting or something else?

I used manual setting where I can adjust the shutter speed and Aperture. Sounds difficult but once you get the hang of it, it really is not that difficult. If not 100% manual then I go with shutter priority mode where I adjust the shutter speed for the picture I want and the camera adjusts the aperture.

A few more pics from Day 2 - Sailaway

WOW those pictures of Miami at night turned out GREAT!

I need to start editing my before I start my reviews, but I just get so excited and want to start posting as soon as I get home.

Thanks for the review. This is perfect timing. We leave in 3 weeks for this same itinerary. My first cruise. Can't wait to see the rest of the pics.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Forums mobile app

Awesome pictures! I don't believe I've ever seen such high quality pictures of the Majesty so I am really looking forward to the rest of this review! :D

A few more Day 2 Pics - Sailaway. Tomorrow I'll put up my Nassau pics. Got some nice ones of Nassau

What great pictures, thanks.

OK, I am still checking out the picture info on Flickr. Apparently shutter speed of 0.4 and f/9.0, w ISO 800 = AWESOME night shots ;)

I am taking notes for my cruise next week. I am going to try out the manual setting a little bit. I'm probably a bit too dependent on the P and Tv(speed) settings. I only rarely use aperture priority and NEVER use manual. This will be the perfect cruise to experiment because it's a ship I've been on before, so I already have halfway decent pics of the ship. This could be fun :D

More Day 1 Pics

 

 

 

This is my favorite so far. So crystal clear. The camera must have been on a very stable trash can :D

The lighting on those sailaway pictures is stunning! I can't wait to see more!

OK, I am still checking out the picture info on Flickr. Apparently shutter speed of 0.4 and f/9.0, w ISO 800 = AWESOME night shots ;)

 

I am taking notes for my cruise next week. I am going to try out the manual setting a little bit. I'm probably a bit too dependent on the P and Tv(speed) settings. I only rarely use aperture priority and NEVER use manual. This will be the perfect cruise to experiment because it's a ship I've been on before, so I already have halfway decent pics of the ship. This could be fun :D

You can also try a lower ISO setting (400 or 200 or even 100) if you can leave your shutter open longer. So maybe a 400 with a one second shutter may do it. Experiment and look at your results on your LCD screen then tweak and try again. Some will turn out, some won't but nowadays our memory sticks hold 100's of shots so who cares if there are a few bad ones. I took 700+ pics on this cruise and if I get 200 really nice ones I'd be thrilled.

So day 3 is Nassau. Been there so many times but its always nice to get a few shots. As you can see from the pics, the seas were very calm and they were like that for the entire cruise.

A few more Nassau pics but this time taken on our snorkelling tour. I left my polarising filter on my camera to protect then lens from sea spray. In truth, I shouldn't have. It made the pictures unnecessarily dark and I had to do some photo-shopping and fix the levels and brightness in the photos. Next time, I leave the filter on the ship if the seas are this calm.