My Majesty Review from 12/5 cruise

[CJJSmith]

I have been meaning to post this review about our Majesty cruise to the Bahamas... finally have time.

 

We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott the night before the cruise and the hotel was fine... nothing fancy but fine for one night for the price. We got to the ship at 11am Monday and there was absolutely no waiting for anything. I think we were among the first on the ship by 11:15. Went to the Windjammer for lunch and it was great. We were allowed in our cabins by 12:30 (although they told us 1). I upgraded to a cabin on deck 9 (superior oceanview) because I was told that decks 2 - 5 had porthole windows and deck 6 was an obstructed view. Much to my surpise my cabin was very large (the superior ocean view is much larger than regular oceanview apparently). It had a little firdge, a safe and a little corner couch. When I looked out the window I wanted to CRY. The windows on this ship are small to begin with - but our view was half obstructed by a lifeboat! I specifically asked not to have a porthole OR obstructed view... I was first booked on deck 3 with a porthole and then upgrade with the help of my travel agent to get a better room (Only had to pay 1/2 the upgrade) with a good view... the lifeboat was the entire bottom half of the window. I could see fine if I looked out straight, but there was no looking down at the water at all to see the white caps at night. The size of the room was good though so I really can't complain.

 

The ship itself was beautiful - in great shape. I had no complaints about it at all. I loved it. The casino was the largest I have ever seen on any ship and paid 4 of a kinds on the draw poker machines constantly. I even got 3 straight flushes! Not bad - did well in the casino. The pools were nice and not crowded at all. The dining room was nice, but seemed small with only 1 floor (I was on the VIsion in April and the dining room was much prettier).

 

We had tablemates at dinner that wore football jerseys and jeans AND baseball hats everynight - (didn't show up for formal dinner night). At first the casual dress made me uncomfortable because I like to dress up - but after the end of the first night I didn't care. They were nice people and didn't judge us for being too dressy - lol. The hat at the table did bother me only because I was brought up with my mom telling me that was just not done-lol.

 

We went to Nassau and my dh swam with the sting rays and snorkled. He LOVED it and I wish I had done it too. We all went to the the Breezes beach break excursion later and it was a total waste of money - total waste!!! Don't do it!!!

 

We missed CoCo Cay due to high swells - and we told that RC skips that port very often for that reason. We were looking forward to it so much that a sea day at that point was really disappointing - but understandable too. The crew did a great job at adding movies and activities to the itinerary so that there was a lot to do on the ship. It was clowdy and drizzly off and on though that day.

 

Key West was fun - went on the Crazy Boat excursion and had a BLAST! I recommend that to anyone that can handle water pouring all over you for an hour. It really was a lot of fun. (But cold) - lol.

 

The cruise was really nice overall. We have been on 3 other cruises so we didn't do a lot of the shows at night. They have the shows for the late dinner seating BEFORE dinner - which I don't like, so we skipped them. I know on Carnival they have a late showing of shows for the late dinner seating guests - and I prefer that since I stay up late... but I am sure this way works out for more people that don't want to stay up until 1am-lol.

 

The food was the biggest disappointment to me. I LOVE to eat and I appreciate good food. The buffet was pretty mediocre and not what I expected since this is not my first cruise. The dining room food was pretty good - but not as good as previous cruises I have been on. I found something I loved every night without a problem, but the taste was not as good as it used to be in previous cruises. Everyone we cruised with had been on several cruises and agreed.

 

The staff everywhere we went was very very good. Our waiters even offered us second helpings when we were finished with courses - or asked if we wanted to try another main course... I loved that! Our room attendant was very good as well, although he never restocked our fridge - but I could have asked and I didn't. I did request robes the first day and we got them! So I tipped the first day when we got the robes (just 5 bucks) and he told us he couldn't take it and to give it to him the last night... but we got him to take it anyhow telling him there was more the last night and this was for going abov and beyond by getting us the robes. :)

 

We had a problem with the excursion desk messing up our excursions - but they had their computers down and everyone had a problem so it wasn't anything they could control. The manager was quite rude to us, but I know he had a lot of complaints that day so I know it wasn't a normal thing...

 

OVerall I loved the cruise and wish I had been to CoCo Cay. :) If you want to see pictures I have then posted on my website ryansheart.com under "Cruise to Bahamas".

[Cruisechick82]

Thanks for the great review. We were on the Majesty for our honeymoon and had a great time. I'm sorry you missed CocoCay, that was our favorite hands down. We didn't care for Nassau at all, but Altlantis was neat.

[johndeere]

I enjoyed your review. I am glad to hear you had fun and did not get hung up on the "little things", such as the life boat. We are going to be on the Majesty on 1/30, and after reading this I am getting very anxious!

 

Josh

[CJJSmith]

I really wanted to see CoCo Cay - do you have any pictures from when you were there? I would love to see them.

 

We didn't go to Atlantis - but wished we had... I loved Key West too...

[CJJSmith]

I enjoyed your review. I am glad to hear you had fun and did not get hung up on the "little things", such as the life boat. We are going to be on the Majesty on 1/30, and after reading this I am getting very anxious!

 

Josh

 

I was very pleased with the shape of the ship after reading a lot of reviews where people said it seemed really old. It was nice and much better than I expected... Honestly, a cruise is a cruise.... it has to get pretty bad before I will complain. I would rather cruise than have any other type of vacation. Have a good time on your trip!

 

Oh - one thing I forgot - the photographers on this cruise never took a good picture of anyone! Every picture was washed out or too dark - there were many complaints about the lighting for the pictures. I didn't buy many because they were so bad (I have always had great luck with the photographers on cruises) - this may have just been a lighting issue that could have since been fixed I hope.

[grvdggr71]

Oh - one thing I forgot - the photographers on this cruise never took a good picture of anyone! Every picture was washed out or too dark - there were many complaints about the lighting for the pictures. I didn't buy many because they were so bad (I have always had great luck with the photographers on cruises) - this may have just been a lighting issue that could have since been fixed I hope.

 

We experienced this a lot on our recent Radiance cruise. I'm convinced that it is due to the digital cameras that they have started using. Digital cameras are fantastic, but in some cases they just don't give as good of a picture as old-fashioned film cameras.

[shirleygr]

We experienced this a lot on our recent Radiance cruise. I'm convinced that it is due to the digital cameras that they have started using. Digital cameras are fantastic, but in some cases they just don't give as good of a picture as old-fashioned film cameras.

We had this problem on our Enchantment cruise. We had a hard time finding one portrait we really liked for our frame (part of the romance package). We did find several table shots that came out really good, though, and ended up buying them. I thought it was odd that the pictures taken at dinner came out better than the posed shots with the lighting etc. It didn't occur to me the problem might be digital vs film. That makes sense, though. Thanks.

[dyanna72]

I am really surprised about the photographs. We pruchased a few of them in August & had no complaints. Even used one of them for our Christmas Card. Guess they changed their cameras after that.

 

Dyanna

[CJJSmith]

I think it is a recent change because we went on the Vision late April and had beautiful phtots - I bought a lot. That's probably why I wasn't really upset that the ones in Dec. didn't look as nice. I had just gotten so many nice pictures of us I didn't need new ones anyhow.

[Cruisechick82]

I really wanted to see CoCo Cay - do you have any pictures from when you were there? I would love to see them.

 

We didn't go to Atlantis - but wished we had... I loved Key West too...

 

I do have many pictures from there but they were all taken with film not digital and I have put most of them in my scrapbook. I'm sure someone else has some pictures to share, I don't know when I would have time to scan any of mine. It is a very nice place since the island isn't developed or anything and it has a very pretty beach.