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Majestic Princess Review Long


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We havejust returned from the Singapore to Shanghai on the Majestic Princess

 

I bookedthis cruise when it first opened for 2 reasons. Itinerary and brand new ship.(as I thought we would have to fly to US orEurope to sail on a new Princess ship). We are Aussies, late fifties, still working FT

 

We had agreat time, sure there were a few things that were different, but we hadalready booked the repo cruise from Shanghai to Sydney next August (beforetaking this cruise) and wont cancel.

 

Cabin

 

I booked anObstructed ocean view Emerald deck mid ship E421, which has the angled balcony, on the curve). It wasa great cabin, no obstruction at all, as it overlooked the Promenade deck. Balcony was larger than others. Bed& pillows very comfy.

Lots ofpower in cabin. USB charger next to bed. Desk had US power & Europe, Abovefridge had Europe & Aussie. Large sink in bathroom and usual shower withcurtain. Plenty of storage in wardrobes and shelves. Suitcases easily fit underbeds. Stateroom steward was excellent. Close to midship stairs and lifts.

 

Dining

Main DiningRoom

We hadanytime dining and were able to get a table straight away (except for 2occasions, when we went at busy times of 7.30pm) Lots of tables for 2, whereyou could chat to others, or just be by yourselves. Food was great, smallerMenu, but ours was always hot. Not many Chinese options. You could keep yourwine for the next night and the waiters always managed to find it!.

 

Anytimedining was in Symphony dining room Deck 5 from 5.00pm to 9.30pm

AnytimeConcerto Dining room Deck 6 8pm

TraditionalAllegro Deck 6 aft First seating 5.45pm, late 8.00pm

TraditionalConcerto Deck 6 First seating 5.30pm

 

We didn’t goto dining room for Breakfast or Lunch.

 

Marketplace (buffet) Deck 16 fwd, opened from 5.30amto 11.00pm

Lots ofoptions for food (and they even had Vegemite). Busy at peak times, but youcould usually get a seat. We liked going to the back of the ship (Wake Bar) tohave our meals.

There was aCoffee bar in the Bakery section.

 

AlfredosPizza Deck 6 Midship opened from 10am to 11pm.

Menu hadantipasto, salad, pasta and about 10 pizza. Very busy at lunch time, quieter atDinner time.(as was noisy due to Atrium) No bookings. Did take a while for pizza’s to be made 30-45 mins.

 

InternationalCafé Deck 5 midship. 24 hours

This was oneof our favorite places. Breakfast items up to 11am included fresh fruit,muesli,yogurt,donuts, pastries, muffins and egg & bacon muffins (hot).

 

After 11amthey had salads, paninis, pies, quiches, sandwiches,soup and cakes.

 

The coffeebar was next to it and very popular. Most people had the coffee card and theBaristas managed the queue really well. One took the order, 3 Baristas making thecoffee, and one doing the milk.

 

LobsterGrill & Dim Sim Bar Deck 16 fwd 11.00am to 9pm. This also had theHamburger,Cheeseburger,fries and Hot Dogs, all freshly made and free. You hadto pay for Lobsters and Dim Sum and we didn’t try them.

Noodle BarDeck 16 fwd 11.00am 9pm. Had rotating noodle dishes and soup (free) and somedishes to buy.

 

Swirls icecream bar Deck 16 Midship 11am to 9pmFree

 

RoomService- seems to be the normal Menu, we had dinner in one night and orderedthe Lasagna and Hamburger. Took 30mins, hot and tasty. Didn’t order Breakfastat all, but you do it on the Messenger app.

 

There were3 specialty restaurants. All had a $29pp cover charge.

We ate atthe Crown Grill and enjoyed it, butprobably wouldn’t bother again.

The other 2Restaurants Harmony(Chinese) and La Mer (French) were very quiet. La Mer tookprime space on Deck 7 midship and that area was very noisy as most of the Entertainment took place in the Atrium (morelater)

 

Bars

 

We had noproblem getting a drink, plenty of waiters to take your order, though I thinkthey may add a few more bars when it comes down under

Piazza barand Vines are on Deck 5 and had lots of seats.

BellinisBar Deck 6 overlooking the Atrium (which is closest bar to the Casino)

Crown GrillBar Deck 7 aft. This was where the happy hour was held each day 3.00-4pm and10pm-11pm Buy one, get 2nd for $1.00.

Seaview barDeck 16

Pool barDeck 16

Wake viewbar (our favorite place for Sailaways) Deck 16 Aft

HollywoodBar Deck 16 fwd

OceanTerrace Juice bar Deck 7 midship

Gong Chatea bar Deck 7 midship.

 

Theplatinum/Elite lounge was held daily , usually 4.30pm-7pm in The Vista Gaminglounge- no bar here, but I think they could easily add one.

 

Entertainment

Most of theentertainment was held in the Atrium are. Lots of dancing classes, linedancing,gameshows, Music, so it could be very noisy.

We had 4 productionshows (held in the Princess theatre, usually at 7.45pm and 9.45pm), severalvocalists,mentalist, ventriloquists,etc. You had to get there early to get aseat as only 900 odd seats available.. You could not save seats, but it was notpoliced.. There was a fight one night as people were saving seats, and otherwanted them. Princess needs to do better here as there were 3600 people on theship, so half of the people couldn’t see the show.

 

We usuallydo Trivia, but this was held in Princess Live. You couldn't sit together as theseats were like theatre seats.( so we didn’t bother) They also has the Culinarydemonstrations in here (for the specialty restaurants), which were quite good.

 

Movies wereheld in the Vista lounge and up on deck at MUTS. You could also see the Movieon your TV in your room later. We watched a few this way, easy to pause andthen start again.

 

They had bands, , vocalists and a string quartet.They alternated between the Atrium andCrown Bar.

 

Internet

 

This is amistake on Princess behalf. Internet Cafe & Library together in a tiny room.Only 2 PC’s., I expect they think people will bring their own tablets, phonesetc. The worst thing is the Speed- Terrible. I don’t understand why a brand newship wouldn’t have better speed, especially in this day & age. Luckily we don’thave to pay for Internet, but I feel sorry for those that had to (and therewere a lot of Blue cards on board).

 

I knowpeople will say, you don’t need it, but we like to check in with FB, checkemails etc. I had organised several private tours and needed to contact my touroperators.

 

Shops

 

High endshops were empty. Princess shops held raffles etc, to try and get people in tobuy. No usual tables blocking the Atrium areas selling cheap items (thankgoodness)Shop on deck 5 had the usual Princess merchandise, chocolates,toiletries, Booze, though not a big selection.

 

Otherobservations

 

We lovedgoing to Hollywood Pool on Deck 17 Adults only indoor pool,2 hot tubs, airconditioned, bar with plenty of deck chairs.

A lot ofpeople were on Pool deck roasting in the Sun. That is not us anymore.

 

Wake bardeck 16 aft was great place for Sailaways and watching the wake. One magicmoment was when we were leaving Incheon in Sth Korea. We didn’t leave till10.30pm, and the local port authority did a Laser show, with the song Gangham style blasting out. Most people would have missed this, butthose up on deck loved it.

 

PortLecturer –Hutch was excellent. He previewed each port and gave great info. Hewas in the Princess lounge and this was simulcast in the Vista lounge, and thenon the TV in the room. 2 hours later.

 

We wentinto the Casino a couple of times. It was smoke free on Formal nights, but notthe rest of the time. Lots of Tables, obviously getting ready for the Chinese. We played the Pokies, but no luck.

 

Princesshad a special on the photo package back in Feb $99 for unlimited photos (Onboard it was $249). We usually only buy 1 photo per cruise. We ended up with 50photos (printed and on USB) They were not delivered till last night though andupon checking at home, half of the photos are not on the USB. We have sent anemail to Princess, lets see what happens! It is so much better than having tosearch for your printed photos. The machine allows you to view your photos, byputting in your name and Cabin no and uses facial recognition. Sometimes thereare other people there, but you just delete them.

 

The Sea walkis a gimmick, great to do a couple of times, and we did get good photos. Don’t lookdown if you are scared of heights.

 

There were3600 people on the ship. And we were told 1100 from USA, 800 Aussies, then restfrom NZ, UK and China. There were a lot of Chinese Americans on board mainlyfrom San Francisco, and they loved to dance.

 

 

Not many children on this ship, maybe saw 20, not sure if there will be enough to occupy them as there are only 2 small pools.

 

All thestaff were excellent. A lot of Chinese staff came on in Hong Kong, obviouslygetting ready for the Chinese season. They were all willing to help.

 

 

I have probably left out heaps of things, will try and answer any questions, though have to go back to work tomorrow, :loudcry: so make take a while to respond.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

Tanya

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I

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Thank you for such a terrific review. You've covered everything really well but I have a couple of questions :D

Shame about Trivia and what sounds like badly organised seating for the production shows. Were they worth fighting to get a seat? And if there wasn't a bar at the Platinum/Elite lounge did you have to wait ages for drink service? Where was the dancing - lessons during the day or somewhere like Crooners at night? Is there a Crooners?

 

BTW If this is the same Hutch who's been around for ages the Majestic must be his long service reward from Princess. Hope he found some new pictures for his slide show. They were getting a bit out of date last time we sailed with him ;)

Thanks in advance.

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Thank you for such a terrific review. You've covered everything really well but I have a couple of questions :D

Shame about Trivia and what sounds like badly organised seating for the production shows. Were they worth fighting to get a seat? And if there wasn't a bar at the Platinum/Elite lounge did you have to wait ages for drink service? Where was the dancing - lessons during the day or somewhere like Crooners at night? Is there a Crooners?

 

BTW If this is the same Hutch who's been around for ages the Majestic must be his long service reward from Princess. Hope he found some new pictures for his slide show. They were getting a bit out of date last time we sailed with him ;)

Thanks in advance.

 

We only went to 2 of the Production shows early on in the cruise. As the cruise went on, I think more people went, hence the fight for seats. We didnt have a problem getting a drink, waiters were there to take your order, although we did not go every night

 

Dancing lessons were on deck 5 in the Atrium. Very popular. I did line dancing a few times and it was fun.

 

No Crooners (this area is now the La Mer French restaurant. Maybe this is one place they can change to Crooners.

 

Yes probably the same Hutch, he said he had been sailing since the 80's. I liked the fact that if you missed his talk, you could watch it on the TV and fast forward or pause if necessary

 

Cheers

 

Tanya

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No, but I thought her company would be a better incentive to cruise with us again.:D

It would be great to cruise again with either one of you two. Its a long way off yet. Will keep it on the radar.

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We only went to 2 of the Production shows early on in the cruise. As the cruise went on, I think more people went, hence the fight for seats. We didnt have a problem getting a drink, waiters were there to take your order, although we did not go every night

 

Dancing lessons were on deck 5 in the Atrium. Very popular. I did line dancing a few times and it was fun.

 

No Crooners (this area is now the La Mer French restaurant. Maybe this is one place they can change to Crooners.

 

Yes probably the same Hutch, he said he had been sailing since the 80's. I liked the fact that if you missed his talk, you could watch it on the TV and fast forward or pause if necessary

 

Cheers

 

Tanya

 

Hi Tanya,

 

Great review! Is it true that you cannot walk all the way around the Promenade Deck?

 

We had friends on the same cruise as you and they certainly enjoyed the trip. They had the same positive and negative comments as you.

 

Well done!

 

Cheers

 

Gary

 

BTW It was the same Hutch

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Thank you so much Tanya.

 

We have enjoyed following your trip, and we certainly look forward to sailing on her and with you in August 2018

from Shanghai back to Aus.....We will be departing in Brisbane, whist you sail onto Sydney.

 

She really does look Majestic doesn't she.

 

Thanks again Tanya xx :D

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Thanks for the excellent report. Both wife and I will be on the Majestic in September 2018 when it arrives and leaves from Australia for the first time. Really looking forward to it. Any further comments would be appreciated.

 

 

 

 

We havejust returned from the Singapore to Shanghai on the Majestic Princess

 

I bookedthis cruise when it first opened for 2 reasons. Itinerary and brand new ship.(as I thought we would have to fly to US orEurope to sail on a new Princess ship). We are Aussies, late fifties, still working FT

 

We had agreat time, sure there were a few things that were different, but we hadalready booked the repo cruise from Shanghai to Sydney next August (beforetaking this cruise) and wont cancel.

 

Cabin

 

I booked anObstructed ocean view Emerald deck mid ship E421, which has the angled balcony, on the curve). It wasa great cabin, no obstruction at all, as it overlooked the Promenade deck. Balcony was larger than others. Bed& pillows very comfy.

Lots ofpower in cabin. USB charger next to bed. Desk had US power & Europe, Abovefridge had Europe & Aussie. Large sink in bathroom and usual shower withcurtain. Plenty of storage in wardrobes and shelves. Suitcases easily fit underbeds. Stateroom steward was excellent. Close to midship stairs and lifts.

 

Dining

Main DiningRoom

We hadanytime dining and were able to get a table straight away (except for 2occasions, when we went at busy times of 7.30pm) Lots of tables for 2, whereyou could chat to others, or just be by yourselves. Food was great, smallerMenu, but ours was always hot. Not many Chinese options. You could keep yourwine for the next night and the waiters always managed to find it!.

 

Anytimedining was in Symphony dining room Deck 5 from 5.00pm to 9.30pm

AnytimeConcerto Dining room Deck 6 8pm

TraditionalAllegro Deck 6 aft First seating 5.45pm, late 8.00pm

TraditionalConcerto Deck 6 First seating 5.30pm

 

We didn’t goto dining room for Breakfast or Lunch.

 

Marketplace (buffet) Deck 16 fwd, opened from 5.30amto 11.00pm

Lots ofoptions for food (and they even had Vegemite). Busy at peak times, but youcould usually get a seat. We liked going to the back of the ship (Wake Bar) tohave our meals.

There was aCoffee bar in the Bakery section.

 

AlfredosPizza Deck 6 Midship opened from 10am to 11pm.

Menu hadantipasto, salad, pasta and about 10 pizza. Very busy at lunch time, quieter atDinner time.(as was noisy due to Atrium) No bookings. Did take a while for pizza’s to be made 30-45 mins.

 

InternationalCafé Deck 5 midship. 24 hours

This was oneof our favorite places. Breakfast items up to 11am included fresh fruit,muesli,yogurt,donuts, pastries, muffins and egg & bacon muffins (hot).

 

After 11amthey had salads, paninis, pies, quiches, sandwiches,soup and cakes.

 

The coffeebar was next to it and very popular. Most people had the coffee card and theBaristas managed the queue really well. One took the order, 3 Baristas making thecoffee, and one doing the milk.

 

LobsterGrill & Dim Sim Bar Deck 16 fwd 11.00am to 9pm. This also had theHamburger,Cheeseburger,fries and Hot Dogs, all freshly made and free. You hadto pay for Lobsters and Dim Sum and we didn’t try them.

Noodle BarDeck 16 fwd 11.00am 9pm. Had rotating noodle dishes and soup (free) and somedishes to buy.

 

Swirls icecream bar Deck 16 Midship 11am to 9pmFree

 

RoomService- seems to be the normal Menu, we had dinner in one night and orderedthe Lasagna and Hamburger. Took 30mins, hot and tasty. Didn’t order Breakfastat all, but you do it on the Messenger app.

 

There were3 specialty restaurants. All had a $29pp cover charge.

We ate atthe Crown Grill and enjoyed it, butprobably wouldn’t bother again.

The other 2Restaurants Harmony(Chinese) and La Mer (French) were very quiet. La Mer tookprime space on Deck 7 midship and that area was very noisy as most of the Entertainment took place in the Atrium (morelater)

 

Bars

 

We had noproblem getting a drink, plenty of waiters to take your order, though I thinkthey may add a few more bars when it comes down under

Piazza barand Vines are on Deck 5 and had lots of seats.

BellinisBar Deck 6 overlooking the Atrium (which is closest bar to the Casino)

Crown GrillBar Deck 7 aft. This was where the happy hour was held each day 3.00-4pm and10pm-11pm Buy one, get 2nd for $1.00.

Seaview barDeck 16

Pool barDeck 16

Wake viewbar (our favorite place for Sailaways) Deck 16 Aft

HollywoodBar Deck 16 fwd

OceanTerrace Juice bar Deck 7 midship

Gong Chatea bar Deck 7 midship.

 

Theplatinum/Elite lounge was held daily , usually 4.30pm-7pm in The Vista Gaminglounge- no bar here, but I think they could easily add one.

 

Entertainment

Most of theentertainment was held in the Atrium are. Lots of dancing classes, linedancing,gameshows, Music, so it could be very noisy.

We had 4 productionshows (held in the Princess theatre, usually at 7.45pm and 9.45pm), severalvocalists,mentalist, ventriloquists,etc. You had to get there early to get aseat as only 900 odd seats available.. You could not save seats, but it was notpoliced.. There was a fight one night as people were saving seats, and otherwanted them. Princess needs to do better here as there were 3600 people on theship, so half of the people couldn’t see the show.

 

We usuallydo Trivia, but this was held in Princess Live. You couldn't sit together as theseats were like theatre seats.( so we didn’t bother) They also has the Culinarydemonstrations in here (for the specialty restaurants), which were quite good.

 

Movies wereheld in the Vista lounge and up on deck at MUTS. You could also see the Movieon your TV in your room later. We watched a few this way, easy to pause andthen start again.

 

They had bands, , vocalists and a string quartet.They alternated between the Atrium andCrown Bar.

 

Internet

 

This is amistake on Princess behalf. Internet Cafe & Library together in a tiny room.Only 2 PC’s., I expect they think people will bring their own tablets, phonesetc. The worst thing is the Speed- Terrible. I don’t understand why a brand newship wouldn’t have better speed, especially in this day & age. Luckily we don’thave to pay for Internet, but I feel sorry for those that had to (and therewere a lot of Blue cards on board).

 

I knowpeople will say, you don’t need it, but we like to check in with FB, checkemails etc. I had organised several private tours and needed to contact my touroperators.

 

Shops

 

High endshops were empty. Princess shops held raffles etc, to try and get people in tobuy. No usual tables blocking the Atrium areas selling cheap items (thankgoodness)Shop on deck 5 had the usual Princess merchandise, chocolates,toiletries, Booze, though not a big selection.

 

Otherobservations

 

We lovedgoing to Hollywood Pool on Deck 17 Adults only indoor pool,2 hot tubs, airconditioned, bar with plenty of deck chairs.

A lot ofpeople were on Pool deck roasting in the Sun. That is not us anymore.

 

Wake bardeck 16 aft was great place for Sailaways and watching the wake. One magicmoment was when we were leaving Incheon in Sth Korea. We didn’t leave till10.30pm, and the local port authority did a Laser show, with the song Gangham style blasting out. Most people would have missed this, butthose up on deck loved it.

 

PortLecturer –Hutch was excellent. He previewed each port and gave great info. Hewas in the Princess lounge and this was simulcast in the Vista lounge, and thenon the TV in the room. 2 hours later.

 

We wentinto the Casino a couple of times. It was smoke free on Formal nights, but notthe rest of the time. Lots of Tables, obviously getting ready for the Chinese. We played the Pokies, but no luck.

 

Princesshad a special on the photo package back in Feb $99 for unlimited photos (Onboard it was $249). We usually only buy 1 photo per cruise. We ended up with 50photos (printed and on USB) They were not delivered till last night though andupon checking at home, half of the photos are not on the USB. We have sent anemail to Princess, lets see what happens! It is so much better than having tosearch for your printed photos. The machine allows you to view your photos, byputting in your name and Cabin no and uses facial recognition. Sometimes thereare other people there, but you just delete them.

 

The Sea walkis a gimmick, great to do a couple of times, and we did get good photos. Don’t lookdown if you are scared of heights.

 

There were3600 people on the ship. And we were told 1100 from USA, 800 Aussies, then restfrom NZ, UK and China. There were a lot of Chinese Americans on board mainlyfrom San Francisco, and they loved to dance.

 

 

Not many children on this ship, maybe saw 20, not sure if there will be enough to occupy them as there are only 2 small pools.

 

All thestaff were excellent. A lot of Chinese staff came on in Hong Kong, obviouslygetting ready for the Chinese season. They were all willing to help.

 

 

I have probably left out heaps of things, will try and answer any questions, though have to go back to work tomorrow, :loudcry: so make take a while to respond.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

Tanya

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I

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  • 6 months later...

Thanks for review. Some seating issues in Princess Theatre, with 900 capacity and 3600 pax. So to give everyone a chance they should run 4 shows, but a bit much to expect. As you say even with the usual 2 shows, half the ship could miss out. A couple of the Grand Class ships I have been on have run 3 shows, which eased the situation.

 

Glad you enjoyed the cruise.:cool:

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