Majesty - Pearls of the Aegean 11/5/12

[janflan]

My honest perception of this cruise. I'm not a 'compensation seeker'. Nor will I be making a formal complaint. Some people will not have a problem with some of the things I don't like, but this is my personal impression of the ship.

 

THE WELCOME - usual Thomson welcome, but with the addition of a red rose for the ladies and a glass of champagne for all on deck 5 with a tour of the ship thrown in

 

THE CABIN - Outside Plus on deck 7 - nice size, clean with lots of storage and a fridge, two electircal sockets - one european and one US type. Problems on 3 days with the plumbing, and shower heat a bit hit and miss, but all sorted promptly. Bit dated but was pretty pleased on the whole. GOOD

 

ST MARCO PIAZZA - Buffet restaurant on deck 10 food basic and very cold, tables very close together and not cleared very promptly - only used this area once on embarkation day - so disappointed didn't go back. POOR

 

CAFE ROYALE - Buffet restaurant deck 10, food very poor for the first few days, cold and poor quality. did improve toward the end of the week, and by the end of the week, it was up to about Destiny's level - the worst part of this restaurant was the lack of space to eat - because of the layout there are no sun loungers on the pool deck, so people who want to sun themselves and use the pool tended to take up the tables all day - passengers could frequently be seen standing with food, or using the wooden decking around the edge of the pool as a table to eat. food - AVERAGE, seating and organisation POOR. Mainly ate the pasta as you could guarantee it would be hot!

 

SEVEN SEAS RESTAURANT - used once for dinner but service was so poor, and food so cold we walked out before meal was finished - this area clearly needs a bit of work - POOR. Breakfast in this restaurant was nice, and a lovely atmosphere in the room - GOOD

 

FOUR SEASONS RESTAURANT - Only tried this once, and asked for a table for 2 as we only eat 2 courses and don't want to wait for others on the table to eat 5! There were no tables for 2 available, and we were told that we would have to wait - when we said we wouldn't wait thank you and walked away, the Maitre D' shouted after us 'if you wanted a table for 2 you should have been here at 6.30pm!' - I thought it was open dining?! - CAN'T COMMENT ON FOOD BUT SERVICE FROM MAITRE D' - VERY POOR

 

On a couple of nights when we were late going up to get changed people were queuing for the restaurants (open at 6.30) at 6pm

 

Didn't try the A la Carte (le Bistro' but looked good - they booked it all out on the formal night which was the night we wanted to go. didn't speak to anyone who had used it.

 

PUBLIC AREAS/SHOPS, the public areas are well maintained and appear to have been newly carpeted, shops were OK.

 

BARS AND ENTERTAINMENT - plenty of different bars to go to, although some of them felt like a group of tables in a corridor. I've only ever cruised with Thomson and I found the waiting staff differed greatly in their service and attitude (one drink ordered in the Royal Fireworks took 40 minutes to come)

 

ENTERTAINMENT - all very samey with gameshows and quizzes the same as my first cruise in 2008, I like quizzes and gameshows, but I can imagine that 3 every night would not be everybody's cup of tea. Still doing the queen and abba shows, but without the full production, Full marks to the entertainment staff though they tried so hard to engage people. FAIR

 

Overall this is not a ship I would want to go on again, nor could I recommend it to friends. I didn't feel the staff (apart from 3 or 4) wanted to give the great service I've had on other ships, and I felt very 'squashed' anywhere on decks 10 and 11. Missed any variety in entertainment too.

 

I liked the ship itself well enough, but too many people on it and food, service and entertainment - not good enough.

 

As a footnote to this - my 80- year old father and I got separated in ATHENS, as you can imagine I was very worried about him and tried to contact the ship on the number at the back of the key-card - I made 18 calls to the number and none of them were answered - fortunately he had made his way back to the ship - but I couldn't find this out without going all the way back to the ship myself!

[janflan]

forgot to say Gavin Carroll is CD - Paul Evans Asst CD

[Little Nell]

I am not surprised by much of what you say because it is more or less what people said about cold food and what pictures showed of overcrowding on the pool deck and in the eateries when Louis had it. I can't stand cold food and would feel the same regardless of the quality of the food. Most people have said they found the crew were excellent but clearly your experience was to the contrary. You do seem to have enjoyed the entertainment more than most. It is more than a bit worrying that the telephone was not answered when you needed assistance. Did you ask them about this and what was their response? Thanks for taking the time to do your review. We are going on Friday and while we have reservations, will hope to make the most of it and won't go looking for problems.

[davecttr]

A good review listing the good and bad points which is better than just moaning with no detail.

 

It seems to me that most of these problems could be overcome given efficient planning but the fact remains that the ship was stretched for 400 additional passengers without an equivalent increase in public areas.

 

The hot food problem in the buffet bothers me as I presumed that there are minimum standards applicable as far as food temperature is concerned.

 

Am i right in thinking the Majesty would be better placed in Island cruises?

[janflan]

A good review listing the good and bad points which is better than just moaning with no detail.

 

It seems to me that most of these problems could be overcome given efficient planning but the fact remains that the ship was stretched for 400 additional passengers without an equivalent increase in public areas.

 

The hot food problem in the buffet bothers me as I presumed that there are minimum standards applicable as far as food temperature is concerned.

 

Am i right in thinking the Majesty would be better placed in Island cruises?

 

I agree that Thomson will sort the food and staff problems, as I said, I saw an improvement in the week we were on there. The minimum temperature of stored food was also a concern for me.

 

You're absolutely right in that the deck area cannot be so easily resolved and I can't see a solution for that problem, I dreaded every mealtime, and even though the food got better the seating situation was very uncomfortable. I have never been on an Island Cruises ship, but even if they fix the food, service and entertainment, in my opinion this ship will never warrant the prices they are asking for next year.

[janflan]

I am not surprised by much of what you say because it is more or less what people said about cold food and what pictures showed of overcrowding on the pool deck and in the eateries when Louis had it. I can't stand cold food and would feel the same regardless of the quality of the food. Most people have said they found the crew were excellent but clearly your experience was to the contrary. You do seem to have enjoyed the entertainment more than most. It is more than a bit worrying that the telephone was not answered when you needed assistance. Did you ask them about this and what was their response? Thanks for taking the time to do your review. We are going on Friday and while we have reservations, will hope to make the most of it and won't go looking for problems.

 

I hope you have a great time, a tip for mealtimes - if you eat in Cafe Royale - on the right side of the dining room there are stairs down to the Royal Observatory on deck 9, and we usually found a table there!

[Little Nell]

I hope you have a great time, a tip for mealtimes - if you eat in Cafe Royale - on the right side of the dining room there are stairs down to the Royal Observatory on deck 9, and we usually found a table there!

 

Thanks for that but shh, don't tell too many people until we have been:)

[Little Nell]

A good review listing the good and bad points which is better than just moaning with no detail.

 

It seems to me that most of these problems could be overcome given efficient planning but the fact remains that the ship was stretched for 400 additional passengers without an equivalent increase in public areas.

 

The hot food problem in the buffet bothers me as I presumed that there are minimum standards applicable as far as food temperature is concerned.

 

Am i right in thinking the Majesty would be better placed in Island cruises?

 

Or for what Louis used it for - short Island hopping cruises.

[Red Scorpion]

Hi Janflan - Thanks for taking the trouble to write the review. This is only the second Majesty review that I have read with the other being provided by Wightryder. You seem to have been saying some of the same things as him. I find your comments about the level of service to be interesting because I was under the impression that many of the crew were from Destiny where I have always experienced excellent customer service. I wonder if some of this is because the crew are still trying to work out their teething troubles but the behaviour of the maitre'd that you described is unacceptable in my book.

 

It seems to me that Thomson have a major issue to address in terms of keeping food hot and I hope they figure this out by the time that I take my first cruise on Majesty early next year.

 

It also seems from what you say that Thomson have been listening to their customers with regard to the evening entertainment and are trying to provide event that are as near to Thomson's usual shows as possible. They will probably get better at this as time goes on.

 

In conclusion I do hope that Thomson monitor these pages because it is clear that you are not a 'moaning minnie' (and they do exist) but a loyal customer who is trying to be as objective and as fair as possible. That does not mean that someone else writing a different review wouldn't be just as valid because we all have different experiences whilst on the same cruises. I found your review to be very helpful whilst also looking forward to reviews by others in the future.