Just back from the Majesty of the Seas 4/5 day Cruise...Long

[dyanna72]

We arrived to FLL on Saturday Aug 20th. (Myself, DH, DD's 13 & 17) Then rented a car & drove to Key Largo. (1 1/2 hours with little traffic) Swam with the dolphins at Dolphins Plus. Highly recommended. We even had it video taped. They mailed it home & was there when we returned. Excellent Video!

 

Sunday we drove to Boynton Beach to our BIL's house for the might b4 our cruise in Miami. Monday morning we got up & drove to Miami Apt to return the rental car (Alamo) & they had a shuttle take us to the pier.

 

Monday - Arrived at Port of Miami to embark Majesty of the Seas at 11:35 exactly. The actual boarding process did not start until 11:45am. We had already done the online checkin. We were on board the ship by 12:15 & eating at the Windjammer by 12:30. Yes, there is an ice cream machine, it is located on either side of the Windjammer buffet. Open all the time & never seemed to run out! Vanilla, Choc & combo mix. No toppings however. There was also a pizza bar on deck 12. Not to bad at all. We all hit it every day for snack. There was always a line for it.

 

You were not able to get to your staterooms until 1pm. Make sure that if you want to swim to pack or wear your bathing suits in a carryon. Got to our stateroom about 1:30 to unpack. We were on deck 3 room 3532 & connected with our kids in room 3534. BIL & SIL room #3536. (All portholes) Yes the rooms are very small. We were fine for 2 ppl per stateroom, 4 would have been very tight but manageable. There are no safes in these rooms & hairdryers are located in the dresser/desk drawers & work fine. There are no outlets in the bathroom so you had to blowdry your hair in the room itself. Annoying when others are trying to watch tv & move around. Walked around the ship to get aquainted with the lay of the land. Very easy to navigate. Our dining room was the Mikado at 8:30 ever night. Perfect time for dinner. 6:30 I found to be too early since the ports closed up after 5pm. No rush to get back. After dinner we attened the show at A Chorus Line Lounge. Excellent shows.

 

Tuesday - 1st stop was Nassau. We went to the Comfort Suites where we had 2 rooms booked so 6 of us can use the facilities at Atlantis. Checkin & check out at the same time was a breeze. We were still given room cards but never used the room except for pit stops before we all walked around the corner to Atlantis. Atlantis is absolutely beautiful! Swam in every pool/beach & the kids went down the tube slide which went thru the shark tank. It is hightly recommended to wear shoes while walking around the property as the concrete get sizzling hot. OUCH! When we wew finished with the pools we walked thru The DIG. Very impressive. After the Dig we went to the LAzy River. This was very nice. Went around several times. Dried off & headed back to the pier area for some shopping. Found the Straw Market. Very crowded & very narrow isles. Found some good deals but you have to bargain with them! Back to the ship & got ready for dinner. Went again to the Chorus Line Lounge for the Show. IT was Dario El Gaucho (Mexican Cowboy) & Comedian Greg Otto (whom we have seen here in NY at a local comedy club before). Both were excellent. After this we went to bed.

 

Wednesday - 2nd stop was Coco Cay. Boarded the tender at around 10am. 5 minite ride & each tender holds about 200ppl. Got there & shopped at the Straw Market. They only take cash here. Then headed to the left & signed up for snorkeling. $27pp. You get an inflateable life vest, snorkel mask & gear. It is mandatory that you goto the talk on how to use the equipment. However we managed to sneak past this area & continue on to the beach & start snorkeling. Good thing we did as the beginning of Hurricane Katrina was starting to appear. It started to pour! They evacuated the beach & everyone found a place to stay out of the rain while it past us. The rain was cold & stinging. It lasted about a 1/2 hour. Beach was open again. The seas were rough & still raining thru out the day. The tenders stopped letting people to the island at 3pm. Ship left a bit early at 3:30 to avoid the rain & winds. Went to stateroom to wash up, rest & get ready for dinner. Again went to the Lounge for another show. Good as usual! Then went to see Quest. Very funny. If you have not seen Quest I would recommend it. I video taped the whole thing! Sorry, but I cannot tell you more.

 

Thursday - 3rd stop was Key West. Beautiful City. No sign of Katrina anywhere. We have been there before. We just shopped the entire day. Came back to the ship at 5:30, got cleaned up for dinner. The thunder, lightning & rain had arrived. We did not leave port until 7:30. 1 1/2 hours late until the ship found a clearing in the hurricane heading our way. Went to see another production show. At 9:30 during our dinner the Captain came on over the PA & announced that the Coast Guard had closed the Port of Miami on Friday (our day of disembarkment). All airports would also be closed. This is when we were told that we would be spending an extra day at sea. The entire room cheared for some time. The ship opened free of charge the internet service & phone service on board for the rest of the trip so passengers could make re-arrangements & contact their families. The lines were very long for the internet service & the phones ver sard to get a dial tone as they have very limited on board phone service.

 

Friday - Day at Sea due to Hurricane Katrina. They made up a daily planner but many activities were cancelled due to rain. Spent most of the day relaxing in the stateroom or walking around the ship. By 3:30 the sun came out & activities began again. Dinner munues were printed on paper as they had no menues for a 5 day trip. Ceasar salad was all gone for dinner but there seemed to be plenty of food for everyone. No one seemed to complain. The produstion show for this evening was Karoke Idols which was good. Off to the stateroom to pack up so luggage could be outside the stateroom door before midnight. We were told that the ship would be in port on Saturday by 7:30 ready for disembarkment.

 

Saturday - Alarm went off at 7:15 in the room so we could get up & off the ship. I looked out the window & we were still moving at sea. ? All staterooms had to be free & clear by 8am so they room stewards could get ready for the next cruise passengers. We finally arrived at pier at 9am after Coast Guard gave us clearance & the 3 other ships were docked before us. (Carnival Sensation & Fascination & RCCL Navigator) We were docked facing in on Port side (left). Another announcement came over the PA from the Captain stating that we would have to leave the pier & turn oround & come back since the gangways did not align with the ships doors. Now many people were getting worried as they had re-arranged flights to catch. We finally turned around & back at the pier by 11am. Disembarkment started at 11:25. They started to call colors to leave the ship but everyone was leaving anyway. None of the personel seemed to care at this point since everyone has been waiting since 8am to leave. We were out the door in 10 minutes as we were on the 4th deck in which they were letting people off.

 

Now to getting out luggage...Usually luggage is ready & waiting in a large room by color tag codes. This time it dot not happen. The entire ships passenger luggage was to be picked up in a room where you get luggase like an airport on a convier belt. What a nightmare! Almost 3k passengers all trying to get their luggage at once. They finally opened another area & split the colors into 4 color groups so not every passenger was crammed into this one room with no ac. This took about an our to find 6 suitecases. Then off to get a cab. We left the building & caught a cab at 12:20 & the cabbie rushed on I 95 doing 90 to get us to FLL airport for our 1:40 flight. We got there safe!

 

 

Captain was Per Kristoffersen from Norway. Excellent. Kept us updated on every littel bit of info.

 

Cruise Director was Warren Allen from Canada. Her was very good.

 

Our Head Waiter was John D'Souza from India. Excellent. Came to every table every night sometimes 2x. This was unusual to us since we have cruised Carnival 2x before & never saw our Head Waiter/ Matre'd the entire trip until the final day when it came time for tips.

 

Main Waiter was Jacob Costa also from India. Excellent & a wonderful person. Which we could bring him home with us.

 

Asst Waiter was Randy from Trinada /Tobago. Very nice too. Will miss all of them!

 

Food - Was good. IMHO...Thought that Carnival was better but that is just our opinion. They could use more flavor. The selection/choices we also thought was better on Carnival. However we did not go hungry! Pizza however was quite good considering many people have complained about the lack of taste/flavor on the boards. Being from NY we are quite picky about our pizza. Everyone enjoyed it.

 

Ship - Excellent condition considering her age. Would indeed sail her again.

 

Rock Wall - Opened several times a day but never saw anyone climb it.

 

Service - Excellent. Even when asked to change our meal choices it was always done with a smile & no questions asked.

 

Yes since this was a 5 night cruise we all tipped them for the 5 days even though it was a planned 4 day cruise.

 

I will be posting photos on Webshots within the week so check back for an update & a link. Please feel free to ask any question you may have & I will reply next time I am online. (Tonight or tomorrow)

 

Thanks,

Dyanna

[alleah913]

Thank you so much for sharing your trip. I'm glad you guys had a good time and got back safely even with the hurricane going around the gulf coast. DH and I are sooo looking forward our trip on September 12 aboard the Majesty of the seas for a quick getaway. Hopefully there won't be any hurricanes lurking around the coast at that time. (Wishful thinking =))This will be our first time with Majesty of the seas and we decided not to take any of the ships excursion but instead do things on our own. When you guys were at Nassau, how did you get to Atlantis? Did you take a taxi or water taxi? If so, was it hard to get a transportation? If you can give me directions as far as transportation that would even be better. Since you had a room at Comfort Suites, did you have to pay separate to see "the Dig" or is that included on the hotel amenities? Also, Dinner on the ship, we got our booklet but it doesn't tell us which dining room to go for dinner, only the time (2nd seating), Do they tell you which restaurant to go on embarkation day? I think all the ship has a restaurant where you can go and pay separately if you don't want to eat at the regular dining room for dinner. (I'm not planning on paying extra money for dinner if it's already included on what I had paid for)Thank you for all your help.

[Shanafan]

Thank you for the review. It came at just the right time for me....I am riding the fence if I should go ahead and book this ship and change our airfare for when we planning to go to New Orleans......in 17 days.......I was a bit nervous because of the age of the ship. But for 3 or 4 nights......who really cares?? Better than staying at home!!

[SRQfireman]

so how much does it cost for the Comfort Suites for the day, which obviously allowed you into Atlantis???

[dyanna72]

Still working on trying to get my balance back.:p

 

 

Alleah913 - We took a taxi which are located outside the building you must walk thru to get into town. They are everywhere. Our driver was holding a sign for Cable Beach & Atlantis. We told him we wanted to get dropped off at Comfort Suites, he said no problem. It was $4pp plus a single $1 toll. His taxi car wound up to be an old beat up Lincoln Limo. There was 12 of us crammed into it. At least it was air conditioned. The ride took about 10-15 minutes. The cost of the Comfor Suites included The Dig & use of all facilities. Keep in mind that if you want to purchase lunch at Atlantis you will have to pay by credit card. Only if you were actual guests at Atlatis would they allow you to purchase food & bill it to your room account. They do not take cash. Supposedly there was a location that did but we did not come across it. We too had the late seating dinner @ 8:30pm. Once you get your Sail & Sign card it will show you which dining room you are to be seating in for the duration of the cruise. There is no specialty restaurant on board to pay for meals. The only other place to have dinner where you don't have to dress up every night is the Windjammer Buffet. We ate in the dining room every night so I cannot comment on the menu there.

 

Shanafan - GO! You will not regret it. The only problems we came across the entire ship was that on occasion certain elevators would stop working. (They are slow to begin with. The stairs were faster!) Also on at least 3 of 5 nights there was a smell of waste soming from the hallways. Seems that the pipes were getting backed up. Only once though did we have a problem flushing the toilet in the rooms. Eventually they did catch up. The smell did not last long. We never did smell it in the staterooms.

 

SRQfireman - The room cost us $164 before tax which I beleive was 11%. We had 2 rooms to accomadate us 6 wristbands which can be picked up at the towel huts at Atlantis. They must be worn the entire time you are there. The total of both rooms came to $399 with taxes etc. Much better rate then the ship excursion & you don't get to use all the facilities.

 

Hope these answers help!:)

 

Sorry, no photos yet.

 

Dyanna

[alleah913]

Thanks dyanna72 for answering my questions!

[suezyq50]

Good review. I am wanting to book a 4 day for my family celebrating our daughter's college graduation. If I may be so bold, :eek: I would love to have your friend coupon, if it isn't going to be used.

[dyanna72]

Good review. I am wanting to book a 4 day for my family celebrating our daughter's college graduation. If I may be so bold, :eek: I would love to have your friend coupon, if it isn't going to be used.

 

Since this was our 1st RCCL cruise I am not sure when I will receive the coupons. When I do receive them I will definately give them to you. I will keep checking this forum for any updates.

 

Dyanna

[jenrie]

Since this was our 1st RCCL cruise I am not sure when I will receive the coupons. When I do receive them I will definately give them to you. I will keep checking this forum for any updates.

 

Dyanna

Just a couple of short questions what are "friends coupons" and how do you get them as I have never recieved any (i'm a diamond member) Perhaps they are not issued to passengers from the U.K.

Did you notice if the Senior Head Waiter was JACOB(from Israel) if he is on board we are hoping to request one of his tables when we sail on 26 September

Jewel

[dyanna72]

Just a couple of short questions what are "friends coupons" and how do you get them as I have never recieved any (i'm a diamond member) Perhaps they are not issued to passengers from the U.K.

Did you notice if the Senior Head Waiter was JACOB(from Israel) if he is on board we are hoping to request one of his tables when we sail on 26 September

Jewel

 

The coupons I believe come in the magazine they mail out every few months or so. Our Head waiter in the Mikado dining room was John D'Souza of India. Not sure who they had in the other dining room Maytime. Sorry.

 

Dyanna

[suezyq50]

Dyanna: I did my first cruise with RCI in April, received the coupons, and passed them on. It took about a month to get them. Time will tell. If you do get them, my email is smdjohn@bellsouth.net where I can give you an address. I greatly appreciate it.:D

 

Jenrie: You get two coupons. One for yourself and one for a friend. You have about 6 weeks to book an upcoming cruise. They do expire.

[dyanna72]

Dyanna: I did my first cruise with RCI in April, received the coupons, and passed them on. It took about a month to get them. Time will tell. If you do get them, my email is smdjohn@bellsouth.net where I can give you an address. I greatly appreciate it.:D

 

Jenrie: You get two coupons. One for yourself and one for a friend. You have about 6 weeks to book an upcoming cruise. They do expire.

 

Will do indeed pass them along to you when I receive them!

 

Dyanna

[jenrie]

Dyanna: I did my first cruise with RCI in April, received the coupons, and passed them on. It took about a month to get them. Time will tell. If you do get them, my email is smdjohn@bellsouth.net where I can give you an address. I greatly appreciate it.:D

 

Jenrie: You get two coupons. One for yourself and one for a friend. You have about 6 weeks to book an upcoming cruise. They do expire.

 

Thanks for the info we don't get these in England when we get the magazine we only get coupons for certain sailings and then only for ourselves we can't pass them on they are for amounts like £45 to £85 depending what level of membership we are. We don't get the price drop either if the price changes even though everything is finalised by the Miami office once the booking has been made have never had an upgrade either even though we are diamond members, so it looks like we are the poor relations in England BOO HOO never mind we still love to cruise and it costs us the same amount to cruise the Caribbean as it does to cruise the Med even though there is a lot more flying hours .

thanks again

Jewel

[dyanna72]

Here are the photos I promised!

 

[email=http://community.webshots.com/user/dyanna72]http://community.webshots.com/user/dyanna72[/email]

 

Dyanna

[firstimer2]

Thanks for all the info. I was reading all your posts before you left. We are going on our first on Oct. 7 for 3 nights. I guess our cabin is very close to where yours was. I hope we have a porthole, I was expecting an inside cabin, so this will be a bonus!!

 

Here is a question for you. Is smoke a problem? We are hoping there are designated smoking areas, because we are allergic to the smell. Did you ever order room service? If so, how long did it take to come?

 

Thanks again, I'm going to look at your pics next. :)

[emdia43]

Shanafan- go ahead and book Majesty- she is a wonderful ship- I got hooked on cruising on board her. The only difficulty you will have is getting off when your time is up- you will wish you had many more days left. It is really blissful/high energy/relaxed what ever you want... DO NOT MISS the QUEST game- look for it on your 'Compass'- it is great fun.

The only 'smoking area' that I was aware of was out on deck.

Room service takes about 20minutes to arrive- depending on what time you call- sometimes they are really busy and it may take a little longer,but hey I'm lying on the bed watching TV so what does it matter......we called for Burgers/fries/Pizza type of things so it was easy.

You can place an order the night before,for your breakfast, if you want and they will give you a 30 minute time window ( 06.00 to 06.30..... 0630 to 0700 for example) with choices thru 9am. Or if you want coffee and a danish you can pre-order :)

[CruisinDawn]

 

Here is a question for you. Is smoke a problem? We are hoping there are designated smoking areas, because we are allergic to the smell.

 

Smoking is allowed on port side of the pool so just stay starboard and you will be fine. DO NOT walk through the casino or schooner bar. Not a smoker so not sure where else you can smoke but these are the places that I would avoid if allergic. Great ship!!

 

BonVoyage

Dawna

[goodml]

We are considering booking the Majesty for a quick 3 nighter in December. Just a quick question. We've been to CocoCay on the Sovereign back in 2001 but I can't for the life of me remember this. Does it work the same at CocoCay (since it's their private island) as it does when the ship is in other ports that pretty much everything on board is closed down?

[JerseyGirl23]

Wonderful review! Thanks so much! And a big thank you for confirming the ice cream bar in the Windjammer!

 

 

Looking forward to sailing her for 4-nights in December! :)

[maryr65]

Great review. I'm anxiously awaiting my trip next week. The days can't pass soon enough.