RCL’ers, help a newbie out: RCL and Majesty of the Seas questions from a NCL vet

[FitchburgWIFamily]

I have tons of experience on NCL, and none at all on RCL. We are booked on a 5-day Cuba cruise out ofFort Lauderdale in March of 2019 on Majesty of the Seas.

 

 

This is RCL's chance to prove that I should not be brand loyal to NCL. But, there is a lot I don’t know about cruisingon RCL. Things I have already figured out? On the Majesty of the Seas, you can’t have a balcony unlessyou pay about $5,000.00 more for your cruise. So ocean-view state room here we come. Woot woot!

 

 

Can I explain how things worked on my previous cruises, andyou tell me how they will be different on an RCL cruise or on a smaller oldership cruise?

 

Dining: On NCL, wehad two (or three) main dining rooms, a 24-hour sit down “pub” stylerestaurant, a buffet (well, a couple of buffets, like the pool side andothers), and an Asian restaurant (on some ships) that we could pick from if wewanted to eat for free. We just walk upto a restaurant when we are hungry, and they give us the next availabletable. How will this be different fromMajesty of the Seas?

 

Drinking: On NCL, theyoffer promotions where the drink package is included (sort of, you still pay aservice charge) and with the drink package, anything $15.00 or below isfree. If you don’t have the drinkpackage, there are drinks ranging from 8.00 or 9.00 (the specialty drink of theday) to 13.00 or 14.00 for fun mixed drinks. Any drink you buy gets an automatic 20% gratuity added to it. They also offer the drink package for sale at close to $90/day per person, which I think means I need to drink a LOT each day to break even. Conversely, there are some ships that are “allinclusive” (like the ships that go to Cuba), where you don’t need a drinkpackage. On Majesty of the Seas, I amassuming I need to buy a drink package? How much is it? What’sincluded? (If someone has a link to athread or a site that explains this, please feel free to share, I know thistopic comes up CONSTANTLY on the NCL board, and it feels as though it has beenbeaten to death.)

 

Tipping: On NCL, youpay a “discretionary” service fee that covers tips to stewards, wait staff,etc. I personally opt to tip bartendersa $1.00 a drink but that is not the norm. You can tip your steward extra if you want. But not a lot of people tip in therestaurants. On RCL: is there a per day gratuity? Or do you tip in envelopes individually?

 

Entertainment: OnNCL, on the smaller ships, there is one main show each evening shown in the theatretwice a night. You don’t needreservations, you just show up. On thebigger newer ships, there is one showing per night, and the same show will beon multiple nights, but you need reservations or you show up on standby. On all the ships we have been on, other thanthe main show, there are cruise director led shows (like dance offs, newlywedgame, etc.) that are usually in the atrium or some venue like that. And then there are different bands/musiciansthat play different venues throughout the week. How will that be different on Majesty of theSeas?

 

Things that keep me from killing my teens on vacation: On NCL, there are sport courts where pick-upgames of basketball or other games are held constantly: the courts are very seldom closed fororganized events, so my teen-age son just lives on the sport court and I don’tsee him for most of the cruise. Mydaughter goes to teen club the first day, and meets other like-minded teens,and has a posse to hang out with for the rest of the cruise. She may do some activities at night in theteen club, or may just use it as a place to meet up with her friends. Majesty of the Seas: sport court open or used for events? Teenclub used by older teens or just the 13-14 year olds?

 

 

Dress code: On NCL, you can dress up, or not. Hubby brings loud shirts, no ties, no coats. He brings a pair of chinos, but no dress shoes. I change for dinner, but usually to dress pants and blouses, not cocktail dresses. On RCL: will we need to pack a suit and some dresses?

 

Breakfast/Lunch: OnNCL, we can usually find a sit down restaurant for breakfast and lunch, we don’thave to use the buffet unless we want to. On boarding day on NCL, they try to steer you to the buffet, but themain dining rooms are open and serve lunch. Same on RCL?

 

Thank you all for your time and input. I really do appreciate it.

[Biker19]

This is RCL's chance to prove that I should not be brand loyal to NCL.

Neither this ship nor this route is a good gauge for RCI in general.

[Robo1098]

Keep in mind Majesty is one of the smallest and oldest ships Royal has. I personally enjoy Majesty and have found it to have the best crew. Just keep your expectations reasonable and enjoy your cruise.

[ssb]

Sounds like your going on this Cruise to go to Cuba . Enjoy Cuba and your expectations will not be a disappointment. Majesty is a small ship used by Royal for existing conditions in Cuba , until new piers and terminals are built in Cuba . New ones are being planned but will take a while . Do not judge RCL by this ship . We actually like the smaller ships without all the fanfare and bells and whistles.

[Rewind]

I'll answer questions that I have some experience with on how things are generically on Royal (different ships might do things slightly differently):

 

Dining: On NCL, wehad two (or three) main dining rooms, a 24-hour sit down “pub” stylerestaurant, a buffet (well, a couple of buffets, like the pool side andothers), and an Asian restaurant (on some ships) that we could pick from if wewanted to eat for free. We just walk upto a restaurant when we are hungry, and they give us the next availabletable. How will this be different fromMajesty of the Seas?

 

Majesty has two "Main Dining Rooms", a buffet, and a couple other small eateries (some with an extra charge). The main dining rooms will either be traditional (set time) dining, or you can opt for "My Time" dining where you can either make reservations for different times or walk up without a reservation. Reservations are also required for the specialty restaurants.

 

 

Tipping: On NCL, youpay a “discretionary” service fee that covers tips to stewards, wait staff,etc. I personally opt to tip bartendersa $1.00 a drink but that is not the norm. You can tip your steward extra if you want. But not a lot of people tip in therestaurants. On RCL: is there a per day gratuity? Or do you tip in envelopes individually?

 

There is a daily gratuity that is automatically charged to your account. You can prepay it if you want and envelops are often left in your cabin near the last couple days if you want to tip extra (these have been slowly going away).

 

 

Entertainment: OnNCL, on the smaller ships, there is one main show each evening shown in the theatretwice a night. You don’t needreservations, you just show up. On thebigger newer ships, there is one showing per night, and the same show will beon multiple nights, but you need reservations or you show up on standby. On all the ships we have been on, other thanthe main show, there are cruise director led shows (like dance offs, newlywedgame, etc.) that are usually in the atrium or some venue like that. And then there are different bands/musiciansthat play different venues throughout the week. How will that be different on Majesty of theSeas?

 

I think you summed up entertainment almost exactly. Majesty is on the smaller side so there will be an early and late show in the theater to coincide with early and late dinner seatings. There will be a couple smaller lounges that have other types of shows. I don't think there are any reservations needed for any shows on Majesty.

 

 

Things that keep me from killing my teens on vacation: On NCL, there are sport courts where pick-upgames of basketball or other games are held constantly: the courts are very seldom closed fororganized events, so my teen-age son just lives on the sport court and I don’tsee him for most of the cruise. Mydaughter goes to teen club the first day, and meets other like-minded teens,and has a posse to hang out with for the rest of the cruise. She may do some activities at night in theteen club, or may just use it as a place to meet up with her friends. Majesty of the Seas: sport court open or used for events? Teenclub used by older teens or just the 13-14 year olds?

 

I don't have kids but on all my cruises I think I've only seen one or two events where the sports court is reserved. Most of the week it is open. I've heard good things about the kids and teen programs, but again I don't have any experience there.

 

 

Dress code: On NCL, you can dress up, or not. Hubby brings loud shirts, no ties, no coats. He brings a pair of chinos, but no dress shoes. I change for dinner, but usually to dress pants and blouses, not cocktail dresses. On RCL: will we need to pack a suit and some dresses?

 

Nope. Royal is getting a bit more casual and while they do have "formal" nights, those are slowly changing over to "dress your best". I'd say if your husband doesn't wear shorts or tank tops, he should probably be fine. Wearing pants and a polo shirt or Hawaiian type shirt would be acceptable. (I think Cuba cruises are starting to be listed as even more relaxed on the dress codes).

 

 

Breakfast/Lunch: OnNCL, we can usually find a sit down restaurant for breakfast and lunch, we don’thave to use the buffet unless we want to. On boarding day on NCL, they try to steer you to the buffet, but themain dining rooms are open and serve lunch. Same on RCL?

 

Boarding day is pretty much Buffet for lunch. But there is a main dining room open for breakfast every day and open for lunch on sea days (not open on port days).

 

 

Overall from what you describe of NCL, you will find Royal very similar to that type of experience.

 

 

Thank you all for your time and input. I really do appreciate it.

 

Not a problem. I'm not quite as experienced as some here, but I'm doing my best to get there. :)

[Clarea]

... On the Majesty of the Seas, you can’t have a balcony unlessyou pay about $5,000.00 more for your cruise. ...

Perhaps your cruise was very popular and/or booked close in, but we have had many JS staterooms (with balcony) on Majesty for $500-$700 per person.

[SilkySal]

Perhaps your cruise was very popular and/or booked close in, but we have had many JS staterooms (with balcony) on Majesty for $500-$700 per person.

 

Our group is cruising on Majesty this October for a 5-night including Key West, Cuba, and Cozumel. Most of us opted for OV window cabins @ just over $1500 total but one of our couples purchased a JS on Deck 10 @ $3500!:eek: We just couldn't see paying that much more for the small extra square footage and a balcony when we only have 1 sea day. Most of our cabins are on Deck 7, so I am sure we'll be meeting and spending a lot of time at the lounge just down the hall when on the ship!:cool:

 

Oh, and we booked over a year ago!

Edited July 19, 2018 by SilkySal
add

[Clarea]

Our group is cruising on Majesty this October for a 5-night including Key West, Cuba, and Cozumel. Most of us opted for OV window cabins @ just over $1500 total but one of our couples purchased a JS on Deck 10 @ $3500!:eek: We just couldn't see paying that much more for the small extra square footage and a balcony when we only have 1 sea day. Most of our cabins are on Deck 7, so I am sure we'll be meeting and spending a lot of time at the lounge just down the hall when on the ship!:cool:

That's way beyond what we would pay for a 5-night JS on any ship, let alone Majesty! I guess the novelty of Cuba has not worn off yet.

[Biker19]

I guess the novelty of Cuba has not worn off yet.

Even with the added capacity of Majesty, RCI has been able to have a pretty healthy mark up on Cuban cruises.

[born_in_detroit]

I have tons of experience on NCL, and none at all on RCL. We are booked on a 5-day Cuba cruise out ofFort Lauderdale in March of 2019 on Majesty of the Seas.

 

 

We just sailed on the Majesty of the Seas 2 weeks ago. Definitely my least favorite ship of RCCL, but Cuba was a blast.

 

This is RCL's chance to prove that I should not be brand loyal to NCL. But, there is a lot I don’t know about cruisingon RCL. Things I have already figured out? On the Majesty of the Seas, you can’t have a balcony unlessyou pay about $5,000.00 more for your cruise. So ocean-view state room here we come. Woot woot!

The reason why the balcony rooms are so expensive is because they are suites. The are no balcony rooms that aren't suites, and there are a limited amount of these rooms on this ship.

 

 

 

Can I explain how things worked on my previous cruises, andyou tell me how they will be different on an RCL cruise or on a smaller oldership cruise?

 

Dining: On NCL, wehad two (or three) main dining rooms, a 24-hour sit down “pub” stylerestaurant, a buffet (well, a couple of buffets, like the pool side andothers), and an Asian restaurant (on some ships) that we could pick from if wewanted to eat for free. We just walk upto a restaurant when we are hungry, and they give us the next availabletable. How will this be different fromMajesty of the Seas?

 

One main dining room on this ship, a buffet, a cafe, a pizza place, chef's table(extra cost and need reservation), a coffee/ice cream shop with some items that do not cost extra, Johnny Rockets(extra cost). I would recommend signing up for a dining time in the MD otherwise you could be waiting a long time for a table. You do not need reservations for the rest of the places, but they are only open during certain times.

Drinking: On NCL, theyoffer promotions where the drink package is included (sort of, you still pay aservice charge) and with the drink package, anything $15.00 or below isfree. If you don’t have the drinkpackage, there are drinks ranging from 8.00 or 9.00 (the specialty drink of theday) to 13.00 or 14.00 for fun mixed drinks. Any drink you buy gets an automatic 20% gratuity added to it. They also offer the drink package for sale at close to $90/day per person, which I think means I need to drink a LOT each day to break even. Conversely, there are some ships that are “allinclusive” (like the ships that go to Cuba), where you don’t need a drinkpackage. On Majesty of the Seas, I amassuming I need to buy a drink package? How much is it? What’sincluded? (If someone has a link to athread or a site that explains this, please feel free to share, I know thistopic comes up CONSTANTLY on the NCL board, and it feels as though it has beenbeaten to death.)

 

We do the soda package only. The MOS is not all inclusive so you will need a drink package and it is pretty pricey around $50+ a day and all adults in the stateroom need to purchase the package.

 

 

Tipping: On NCL, youpay a “discretionary” service fee that covers tips to stewards, wait staff,etc. I personally opt to tip bartendersa $1.00 a drink but that is not the norm. You can tip your steward extra if you want. But not a lot of people tip in therestaurants. On RCL: is there a per day gratuity? Or do you tip in envelopes individually?

RCCL has a per day gratuity. There are tip envelopes put in your room if there is someone in particular that you want to give an extra tip too, but I hear it just goes into a tip pool.

 

 

Entertainment: OnNCL, on the smaller ships, there is one main show each evening shown in the theatretwice a night. You don’t needreservations, you just show up. On thebigger newer ships, there is one showing per night, and the same show will beon multiple nights, but you need reservations or you show up on standby. On all the ships we have been on, other thanthe main show, there are cruise director led shows (like dance offs, newlywedgame, etc.) that are usually in the atrium or some venue like that. And then there are different bands/musiciansthat play different venues throughout the week. How will that be different on Majesty of theSeas?

No need for reservations for the entertainment. Most of the shows take place in the main theater. We went to one of the shows on the MOS, it was a ventriloquist, he was awesome and we loved it. We really enjoy the entertainment on RCCL.

 

 

Things that keep me from killing my teens on vacation: On NCL, there are sport courts where pick-upgames of basketball or other games are held constantly: the courts are very seldom closed fororganized events, so my teen-age son just lives on the sport court and I don’tsee him for most of the cruise. Mydaughter goes to teen club the first day, and meets other like-minded teens,and has a posse to hang out with for the rest of the cruise. She may do some activities at night in theteen club, or may just use it as a place to meet up with her friends. Majesty of the Seas: sport court open or used for events? Teenclub used by older teens or just the 13-14 year olds?

 

 

We don't have kids, but I do know that there is a sports court and Teenclub on the MOS.

 

Dress code: On NCL, you can dress up, or not. Hubby brings loud shirts, no ties, no coats. He brings a pair of chinos, but no dress shoes. I change for dinner, but usually to dress pants and blouses, not cocktail dresses. On RCL: will we need to pack a suit and some dresses?

 

They have one formal night on this ship, you do not have to wear a suit on that night, but pants and a button up shirt/blouses are recommended.

 

 

Breakfast/Lunch: OnNCL, we can usually find a sit down restaurant for breakfast and lunch, we don’thave to use the buffet unless we want to. On boarding day on NCL, they try to steer you to the buffet, but themain dining rooms are open and serve lunch. Same on RCL?

 

Breakfast/lunch is mainly at the buffet. On the sea day they do offer breakfast and lunch in the main dining room. I highly recommend eating both meals in the MD on the sea day as I am not a huge fan of the buffet.

 

 

Thank you all for your time and input. I really do appreciate it.

 

I would not solely base your RCCL experience on the majesty of the seas. This is my least favorite ship because it does not have an adults only pool/area which is where I spend most of my time when cruising. All of the other ships we have sailed on were way more fun and a lot nicer.