New favourite ship Majesty review

[Stevio]

Have arrived back from a one week “Colourful Coasts” cruise and I now have a new favourite Thomson’s ship in the Majesty.

 

Following the tradition of a review preview on the cruises threads here is a copy. Studying CC, our experience of this ship is just about the opposite to most of the common points made by others in the review section, & thus will only serve to confuse the new cruiser.:confused: However here is a brief rundown of what I found as opposed to what I had read both good and bad….

 

“Really tiny cabins” ….. Inside plus 4 birth deck 4 had bed made up as double & we could actually walk round both sides of the bed & with both a double & a single wardrobe with a total of twelve draws this cabin had more storage space than anything I have seen since Ocean Village 2. Mind you I would steer clear of any standard cabin either inside or out as they did look small, & I would have been heartbroken to have paid extra to “upgrade” to a standard outside much smaller cabin.

 

“Everything spotlessly clean”… Cleanliness good in public areas, but in the cabin have seen less dust on a building site. You could write your name in it under the TV. I foolishly put a folded pair of dark trousers on the top shelf inside the single wardrobe & they came down with one side covered in a prefect thick layer of light grey fluff from contact with the shelf. Elsewhere, thick white dust on the skirting & dust bunnies all round edges of carpet.:rolleyes:

 

“Serviceable bathroom”… Bit of fun here. Virtually no bathroom storage apart from the iffy looking shelf under the sink below the iffier looking pipe work. Generally resorted to toiletry bags that can be stored in one of the many cabin draws, and flannels hanging on the shower washing line. There were the remains of a long extinct hair dryer on the wall (working replacement in dressing table draw) & the odd blown tile with black mould to shower floor edges. On arrival could not get any cold water from bathroom tap, which was reported & presumably rectified while we were out & cold water working by evening. Same problem of no cold water following morning that was self rectified by leaving on cold & running a few minutes. Same problem intermittent for most of week until day 5 when I was alerted by the steam, to the lavatory flushing with Hot water. Now the hot water backing up the cold system did not seem to be right to me but at least we could speed up the arrival of cold at the tap with the assistance of a couple of flushes, although by now teeth are being brushed with bottled water just in case. Found at least one other couple on deck four with same problem. On the third day the shower drain backed up flooding the whole bathroom floor but no damage done to the wet room style facility and the waters subsided within minutes. Shower itself was normally rock solid in both temperature & good flow. The last day was the problem day. Wife luckily managed a not too hot shower and then calls out that the loo was dry & no water to tap or shower. Several calls were greeted by an annoyingly "surprised to hear of any problem" receptionist promising urgent plumber attention. At breakfast found a small percentage of passengers had not yet showered with same lack of water & with promises of complimentary cabins to families. They had run out of complimentary cabins for myself but I managed to get repairs & to obtain at least a cool shower by holding the room to ransom in a “I want a shower or you’re not getting the room back” standoff. Supposed to have vacated by 9 but we were eventually out showered after 10. No idea what the earlier flight or excursion before flight people did without water, but the problem seemed to only affect only a few of the central cabins of decks 3 & 4. :eek:

 

“Very poor choice of food” … Mainly ate in San Marco Buffet & for lunch on the last day there was chicken, beef, pork & two types of fish. I do not think it possible to have a greater choice within the limits of serving space available. This food was up to Island Escape standard (that’s a good thing) in fact I think Majesty had the edge on puddings. Most unusually they had a good supply of both hot & cold plates available & food temperatures were good. They were let down a little with their vegetable selection which was normally a single tray labelled “seasonal vegetables” which consisted of micro diced carrot & peas in season every day, mange tout (big old stringy pea shacks) in season for three days, French beans one day and drum roll… Brussels sprouts for two days. I am guessing that the “seasons” in question are the sell by dates on the catering cans in the galley but the results were acceptable (apart from the old pea shacks). Cabbages ,parsnips & Swedes etc did not seem to be ever in season at the buffet but that suited me fine. The other minor quibble was with their hot puddings with custard which mainly turned out to be the same sponge containing a micro amount of something different every day. So a portion of dried fruit sponge was found to contain a single raisin, but no doubt someone else had all the fruit and no sponge. Rest of puddings consisted of a wider range of pastries & fancies to the highest standards I have seen on a ship. (NCL often look fantastic but taste of bland nothingness.) Soft scoop ice cream in various flavours also available on a couple of evenings. :)

 

“Very friendly staff”… It wasn’t just me that noticed it, most of the Eastern European staff, while polite, just did not seem happy to be there. No problem with that, for their money & workload neither would I. But if Thomson staff are that much friendlier than P&O, then the P&O must be verging on downright hostile.

 

“Very Expensive Excursions”… I thought they were OK. I make the same trips on NCL about 10% more expensive. We also booked online in advance and got them a bit cheaper still, for example a £64 per couple excursion was £70 to purchase on the ship. That particular tour was La Palma Out & About which was cancelled. However refund for the trip was back in the bank within 2 days as opposed to previous Island Escape cancelled tour which took a three week investigation to regain cash so good work there.

 

“Outrage at £15 for a safe”… OK I was silly enough to pay for the safe when registering to board the ship where they give you a bit of paper to take to reception who would then issue you with a code to unlock the safe & follow the instructions to set own code… However the safe was already unlocked so one could have just followed the instructions on the safe and used it for free… Tip for future cruise, see if safe is unlocked before you pay. More annoyingly I had read this on here somewhere before but forgot. (Just for fun there are differing instructions on the cupboard door to the ones on the safe door but they both work). :o

 

So reading through the review above tends to make it sound like a cruise from hell, but it certainly wasn’t (that was the Dream April 2013). Outstanding food, nice ship, good well run casino (due to Roberto the casino technician) with 5 tables & 60 slots, a good sized cabin with generally good if a little small on suite equipped with an intermittent hot water loo flush that no doubt other cruise lines would charge more for. I can handle the cabin dust bunnies especially as it made up for the poor showing of only a single towel animal for the week.

If I can’t get a good deal on NCL we will definitely be back for more of the Majesty.:D

Edited April 19, 2015 by Stevio

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Great review Stevio :) Glad you enjoyed the Maj and you had the added attraction of a hot flushing loo - ooh er missus!

 

Don't mention the Dream April 2013 :eek::D

 

We had 5 towel animals last time on the Majesty :)

 

I can assure you that P&O staff are very friendly. They are mostly Indian and lovely. Only one towel animal on Oceana and that was on the day before the questionaire arrived - hmmm:rolleyes:

[k8ti]

Great review Stevio :) Glad you enjoyed the Maj and you had the added attraction of a hot flushing loo - ooh er missus!

 

Don't mention the Dream April 2013 :eek::D

 

We had 5 towel animals last time on the Majesty :)

 

I can assure you that P&O staff are very friendly. They are mostly Indian and lovely. Only one towel animal on Oceana and that was on the day before the questionaire arrived - hmmm:rolleyes:

On Last years two week holiday on the Dreamwe had just one towel animal.

[Stevio]

Great review Stevio :) Glad you enjoyed the Maj and you had the added attraction of a hot flushing loo - ooh er missus!

 

Don't mention the Dream April 2013 :eek::D

 

We had 5 towel animals last time on the Majesty :)

 

I can assure you that P&O staff are very friendly. They are mostly Indian and lovely. Only one towel animal on Oceana and that was on the day before the questionaire arrived - hmmm:rolleyes:

 

Oops sorry, forgot about not mentioning the D****.

I think our mainly Ukrainian cabin staff were rushed off their feet. The inside corridor I was on did not have its own steward, and so the line of 8 cabins were divided amongst three covering teams taken from other sections of deck 4 so I was lucky to see any towel animals. It led to the odd anomaly such as no choccies on pillow on first night, with a nock on the cabin door the next day with the two chocs from the night before & an apology.

No different service prior to the questionnaire, but when we gave a tip the day before departure, our two new toilet rolls were put to the back of the shelf and a third new much better quality thicker & softer one was put on the holder... I may tip earlier next time... Funnily enough I think the same decent loo roll for tip manoeuvre happened last time on the Thomson Dream. Oops sorry said it again.

[geomagot]

great review stevio

 

hurrah!...sprouts in season for 2 days on maj!....amazing! (get me on that ship):cool:

 

cushiony soft loo roll too!...double amazing! ...i'm warming to this ship;)

[Pensioncruiser]

Nice report Stevio I agree about the safe but don't forget if you haven't paid for it you are not insured and they can override it and remove your items it did happen to one of our fellow passengers so just be careful :rolleyes:

[wiltonjam]

Great review. The Majesty has always been one of my favourites it's such a freindly ship.

[kalos]

 

“Serviceable bathroom”… Bit of fun here. I was alerted by the steam, to the lavatory flushing with Hot water.

 

That's Six Star Cruising Stevie at it's best .had you gone with Celebrity then you would have had to make do with dry ice smoking of your drinks:)

But here on Thomson you could relax sat on your own loo reading your Cruise news whilst having a rear end sauna ..Luxury that mate :cool:

 

“Very poor choice of food” … Mainly ate in San Marco Buffet & for lunch Brussels sprouts for two days. available on a couple of evenings. :)

 

Six star again ..You had the chance to eat non -festive Sprouts whilst other ships have to make do with Lobster ... you dropped on there mate !

 

So reading through the review above tends to make it sound like a cruise from hell, but it certainly wasn’t...

... (that was that ship that Linda& Mrs Kalos had the misfortune to board ;)). See no names .

The Majesty had outstanding food, nice ship, good well run casino (due to Roberto the casino technician) with 5 tables & 60 slots, a good sized cabin with generally good if a little small on suite equipped with an intermittent hot water loo flush that no doubt other cruise lines would charge more for. If I can’t get a good deal on NCL we will definitely be back for more of the Majesty.:D

 

Nice review Stevie glad you had a great time :)

[stevedeccaman]

Kalos he is Steveio not Stevie :rolleyes:

 

for goodness sake Kalos pull yourself together, and omg where are we going this year?

ell forgot :rolleyes:

 

best to you Kalos and mrs k

 

regards

Steveio no dam it Stevie :D

[kalos]

Apology's all round for calling Stevio Stevie and vise versa to you Stevie:D

 

Must be a day for it Stevie as I see you have called Stevio ...Steveio :eek:

 

We are off down to Southampton for a short break over to St. Peter Port and Bruges .

Done both a few times so we are more interested in the ship and P&o ...Relax and research is our aim this time .:)

 

Best wishes to you and Mrs D as well .:D

 

Also edit to my earlier post ...

 

...Nice review Stevio glad you had a great time :cool::D

[P&O Lynn Knickers]

a lovely and well written review, without being OTT.

 

The food and choices of cabin are always a personal thing, but although the eastern european waiters are great eye candy, there is something very warm about the Fillipino wait staff. The way they make me smile and make me feel special.

 

 

 

 

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Edited April 20, 2015 by P&O Lynn Knickers
Lynn loves the waiters

[stevedeccaman]

Good review Stevio

Stevie :cool:

[stevedeccaman]

hang on a mo am I now two different peeps like in Dr Who ? :eek:

 

and will god.......... forbid that Lynn k or Laura B have to rescue me from a time warp :confused:

 

Stevie :) P&O here I am :rolleyes:

[Stevio]

Nice report Stevio I agree about the safe but don't forget if you haven't paid for it you are not insured and they can override it and remove your items it did happen to one of our fellow passengers so just be careful :rolleyes:

 

I had not considered that. I still think that you would have an argument for not knowing about the safe charge & just follow the instructions stuck to the door that has no mention of a charge for using this safe... However Mrs Stevio would have no truck with any such shenanigans & would pay up front every time.

The Thomson safe charges just get to me since April 2013 when on the Dream (oops mentioned it again). we had a digital safe that regularly got stuck shut since day 1 & was opened for us by just about everyone from the uniformed safe man through to the steward & the bag dropper... it just rankled a bit that it seemed everyone could get into a safe that I had paid for except me. :mad::D

Edited April 21, 2015 by Stevio

[geomagot]

on the dream...... the fridge locks with a key;):cool:

[Pensioncruiser]

All the keys are the same:rolleyes:

We have in the past used our locked hand luggage inside our locked case but that's a pain when your wife changes jewellery as much as mine.

Think we should start a thread for safe's, its right what Stevio says the safes are a pain on the DR ship and they should not charge for them now that prices have levelled out with other lines. Way back when we started cruising Thomson's prices were low so one did not mind paying for the extras, because as we all know nothing is free they are just rolled up on the other ships.

I think one of the most memorable incidence we had was in cabin 114 on the Celebration when we found you could just lift the safe out as it was not bolted down I was a bit naughty and took it down to reception just to make the point that anyone could have done it.

I still think the bottom line is that your insurance will not pay-out unless you have a safe.:)

[P&O Lynn Knickers]

..................Way back when we started cruising Thomson's prices were low so one did not mind paying for the extras,

 

Yes Thomsons were always cheaper that the others, but then again their ship stock was, and is very old.

In the Years ahead, with the new addition of (old) RCCL ships, maybe Thomsons will be not as cheap as they once were.

 

 

 

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Edited April 21, 2015 by P&O Lynn Knickers
Lynn is enjoying the lovely weather. Tally Ho Lynn