LIVE from the Majestic Princess 7-Day Rome-Barcelona 4/9/17

[CanadianBurger]

Here's my rant for the evening: There are more kids on this sailing than I've seen on my last ten cruises combined. I really don't expect to have to share late seating traditional dining with several screaming toddlers.

 

 

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[CanadianBurger]

The Patter for tomorrow:

 

 

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[CanadianBurger]

This is cool: instead of filling out the breakfast card and hanging it on the door, you can order room service breakfast from your phone. I'll let you know tomorrow how it went.

 

 

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[CanadianBurger]

Thank you so much for the photos and updates. I had hesitated booking the cruise for the Barcelona - Rome trip in May and am now getting excited. What can you tell us about the Tea (BoBo) station? I understand my premium drink package won't cover the cost of the tea drinks. Is that so?

 

 

I will check, but the AIBP covers all beverages less than $10, so I don't see why it wouldn't be covered.

I'm assuming you mean at Leaves Tea Bar?

 

 

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[Colo Cruiser]

Excellent as usual! :D

[CanadianBurger]

One final note before signing off. The museum in Florence containing Michelangelo's David is closed on Mondays. Yet Princess mentions the statue specifically in their port guide. I wonder how many disappointed people will be returning from their excursions to Florence tomorrow.

 

 

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[klangel]

How much does it cost for the Enclave at Lotus Spa? Is the cost for one day or for the week? May I purchase it on line or have to wait till we are on broad? Since we will be arriving early at the cruise port since our flight arrives early. I am figuring that we may arrive at the port around 11 am. What time are we able to broad the ship? Once we broad and drop off our bags are we allow to leave the ship and do some sightseeing? What is near the cruise port to do? And how would we get there? Just wondering what the options are.

[DebbieMacG]

Here's my rant for the evening: There are more kids on this sailing than I've seen on my last ten cruises combined. I really don't expect to have to share late seating traditional dining with several screaming toddlers.

 

 

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Sorry to hear that :( I don't know if you saw my post but I did say there were over 400 children on board with 280 aged between 3-12. My 9 year old grand daughter who is onboard is a very quiet well behaved child, she doesn't like noisy children either and isn't impressed so doesn't want to go to kids club. There are so many children, kids club has to be pre-booked and there are no structured activities for them on port days, so considering there is only one sea day that's pretty poor.

 

Since kids club seems to be a bit lacking this may impact other areas of the ship

 

Personally I wouldn't take small children to late seating dining.

 

Daughter reported they had an adjoining cabin and it was very noisy, the people next door had loud music on and it was if they were in the cabin with her :(

[4cats4me]

How much does it cost for the Enclave at Lotus Spa? Is the cost for one day or for the week? May I purchase it on line or have to wait till we are on broad? Since we will be arriving early at the cruise port since our flight arrives early. I am figuring that we may arrive at the port around 11 am. What time are we able to broad the ship? Once we broad and drop off our bags are we allow to leave the ship and do some sightseeing? What is near the cruise port to do? And how would we get there? Just wondering what the options are.

 

 

 

On the Regal it was $149 for a week. Daily passes were not sold. Had to buy weekly passes

 

 

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[caribill]

One final note before signing off. The museum in Florence containing Michelangelo's David is closed on Mondays. Yet Princess mentions the statue specifically in their port guide. I wonder how many disappointed people will be returning from their excursions to Florence tomorrow.

 

 

They should not be surprised if they actually read the details of their excursion.

 

 

I just checked it and the description says " The Accademia is closed on Mondays, May 1st and on some other holidays. A visit to the interior of Santa Croce Church will be substituted."

[caribill]

The Patter for tomorrow:

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the live from on the cruise last week it was reported that the Patter had the wrong location for the Harmony Restaurant.

 

I see this known error has not been corrected for your cruise.

[sidari]

One reason for there being so many kids on the ship is the fact that it is the Easter holidays in Europe!

[Britcruzer15]

Here's my rant for the evening: There are more kids on this sailing than I've seen on my last ten cruises combined. I really don't expect to have to share late seating traditional dining with several screaming toddlers.

 

 

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This is super thread, thanks for such a detailed Live TR. the ship looks amazing

 

With regards children, 400 is not that many on a School hols cruise, especially on a ship of this size (for fun try an ex Southampton summer school hols cruise on P&O or RCI!).

 

About 4-5 months back Princess priced this cruise very cheaply for 3/4th passengers as well as free air! so it was a no-brainer.

 

we nearly booked too, but the med is fickle in April, so we held off - looks like the weather is fine for you which is great.

 

We are booked on Crown to the med in July out of Southampton, along with 700+ kids (including ours)!.

 

also agree about late sitting MDR and kids - we never did it with ours when young, but then we had very good kids clubs on P&O and kids only dinner at 5:30 in the food court, which worked well

 

our kids are pre-teen and teen now so both love the MDR experience.

 

enjoy the rest of your cruise, and look forward to reading the rest of your TR.

[CanadianBurger]

A great day so far. We had a Princess excursion booked to climb the Leaning a Tower of Pisa. Meeting and debarkation couldn't have been smoother. We were off the ship ten minutes after the meeting time, which was in the Vista Lounge. The Majestic docks at the industrial area. You walk through a small building with rental car, tour and taxi areas, out to the busses in the parking lot. You must take a taxi or bus from the pier; walking through the port is not permitted.

It was quite a walk from where the busses dropped us off to the Piazza dei Miracoli, but not too bad. The guide has tickets to climb the tower at a specific time, and talked about the other buildings as we walked.

I know the picture is a cliché, but I had to do it...

The climb itself was wonderful, and nowhere near as strenuous as I imagined. (I've been training walking up flights of stairs at hotels...) For those that needed a break, there are small areas to stand where there are windows.

Once at the main level at the top, there is another small spiral staircase up to the bells.

One of the bells at the top

 

 

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[RedEarth]

The Vista Gaming Lounge. Most of the tables were felt under the covers for tile games, but there were others with some buttons and a spinning thing in the middle that none of us could figure out. We moved the CC meet & greet here as no staff came to open Allegro, where Princess had told UCLADavid we were to have it.

 

I'm guessing what you're seeing is what the website describes as...

 

...16 mahjong tables (some tables featuring advanced technology with 4-way tile distribution and automatic tile shuffling and organization)

[CanadianBurger]

The view from the top is quite spectacular

We had some free time afterwards (although not the hour in the Princess schedule). We had pre-bought tickets to the other buildings online from home, so were able to see the Baptistery and Cathedral without having to queue for tickets.

 

 

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Edited April 10, 2017 by CanadianBurger

[CanadianBurger]

Not what I expected, but these four girls are some of the more notorious pickpockets in Pisa. The guides all know them and yelled at them to stay away. Watching them ply their trade was actually quite fascinating to watch.

After meeting back up as a group we walked back to the bus and headed back to the ship. Got a nice shot from the bus.

 

 

 

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[dides]

I'm guessing what you're seeing is what the website describes as..

 

...

16 mahjong tables (some tables featuring advanced technology with 4-way tile distribution and automatic tile shuffling and organization)

.

 

Yes only 8 had the advanced technology with wizzy buttons (one of the questions from the Majestic Fun Facts quiz).

[Woobstr112G]

I'm guessing what you're seeing is what the website describes as...

 

I like the idea of the gaming tables in the Vista lounge. Even though the HC (World Food Court) is much bigger on the Royal class ships, this should impact the number of people using it as a game room.....:):):)

Bob

[CanadianBurger]

We deliberately booked a shorter morning tour so we could relax aboard a quiet ship in the afternoon. I hadn't had my fix of Princess pizza yet, so we headed to Alfredo's. It's not on the menu, but they'll do a pepperoni pizza. Also couldn't pass up the veal ravioli, one of my favorites.

The weather couldn't be better. Sunny and 20 degrees. Relaxing on a quiet ship in port is always nice.

Passed by the lobster bar, and got a pic of someone's order.

The ordering system is a little primitive. There is someone taking your order, who writes it on a piece of paper, then writes a number on another piece of paper and hands it to you. You wait around till your number is called. Doesn't matter if it's lobster, a cheeseburger, or just fries, same procedure.

 

This afternoon, we're planning on tea, then trivia.

Stay tuned.

 

 

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[sperkins921]

Unless something has changed since we were on the Regal in 2014, you need to purchase a pass for the entire cruise at around $20/day. The Enclave does have the heated loungers (as confirmed by CanadianBurger), showers, steam rooms, saunas, and a wonderful hydrotherapy pool. The use of the Enclave is not included with Spa appointments.

 

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Perfect! Thank you for that info. I'm assuming that they tack on the gratuity to that purchase (X does- which I find fault with as the Persian Garden- their Enclave- is self service.) so I'll plan for $25 a day just in case.

 

I will check, but the AIBP covers all beverages less than $10, so I don't see why it wouldn't be covered.

I'm assuming you mean at Leaves Tea Bar?

 

 

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I'm interested in knowing this as well. Might tip me towards a package. Hadn't planned it on this sailing....

[CanadianBurger]

Thank you so much for the photos and updates. I had hesitated booking the cruise for the Barcelona - Rome trip in May and am now getting excited. What can you tell us about the Tea (BoBo) station? I understand my premium drink package won't cover the cost of the tea drinks. Is that so?

 

 

I stand corrected! The tea bar is NOT included in the all-inclusive beverage package. Which seems somewhat of an oxymoron. I will investigate further with passenger services...

 

 

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[Kenosha Cruiser]

CanadianBurger, great live thread as usual. Your pictures are so sharp, clear and colorful! I can see how beautiful the weather has been for you, hope it continues all week. Love the picture of you holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa. My wife went yum when she saw the veal ravioli picture, both our favorites at Alfredo's. From the casino pictures you posted, didn't see any slot machines. I assume they are not that popular in the Asian market? Looking forward to following along this week, have a wonderful time on the Majestic Princess.

 

Cheers - Ken & Darlene

[Bimmer09]

Thanks for doing such a great photo-rich review of this new ship and for reminding me I have to get back to Rome at some point in the near future.

Kudos!

Norris

[rumbalizw]

AIBP on Majestic last week, Juice Bar and Leaves NOT covered by the package. Staff not aware, and quite puzzled by it.

 

On embarking, the server at Juice bar happily served us , but was puzzled when it came up with a charge on our card...which he removed straight away. The following day, a different server wouldn't accept the AIBP, and mentioned the same for LEAVES.

Spoke to a Supervisor, and his team selling the AIBP who were adamant that ALL drinks, no matter where from, were included if under $10.

Later spoke to Supervisor of that area, and then Guest Services, who said NO, Leaves and Juice Bar Not in the AIBP.

 

i told them they need to inform the staff and have notices advising at these bars to avoid disappointment...though it is disappointing actually.