The Magic of Majesty. August 19, 2019 5 Nights, Bahamas

[twangster]

Since I booked this cruise with the intent of capturing Majesty in photos here are some of the Schooner Bar.

 

 

 

 

 

You don't get views of the sea like this on the big ships.

 

 

[twangster]

Adventure Ocean and the Living Room Arcade

 

 

 

 

 

 

[twangster]

Fitness Center

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a steam room in the change room.  I'm assuming the ladies change room has one as well.

 

 

[twangster]

Viking Crown Lounge when it's not hosting the nightly Diamond event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a bar but I've never seen it used.  When waiters are present they use the area behind this as a service bar for serving drinks during the Diamond event but also I saw them serving non-Diamonds in the aft section of the VCL (paid using a SeaPass card). 

 

 

 

 

[twangster]

Lazy day in Key West.  When at the NAS pier there is a shuttle used to get "downtown".  I stayed on the ship like a few others did today.  It's my 3rd visit in a month so I decided to skip it this time.

 

 

Soon enough it was the Diamond event.  Service has been great, long before my drink is empty another one magically appears.

 

 

Sunset from the aft section of the VCL.

 

 

Maybe I've been at sea too long, I'm seeing faces in the sunsets now.

 

 

Or a Jack o' Lantern... 

 

 

 

 

In Boleros there was live music.

 

[twangster]

After I packed I headed to the Schooner Bar to use up the last of OBC.  

 

Early start tomorrow so I headed to bed at a decent hour.

[phillychick]

4 hours ago, twangster said:

After I packed I headed to the Schooner Bar to use up the last of OBC.  

 

Early start tomorrow so I headed to bed at a decent hour.

Was the piano player entertaining in Schooners?

[twangster]

37 minutes ago, phillychick said:

Was the piano player entertaining in Schooners?

 

Not bad at first but he got better with every drink.

[twangster]

Majesty has a computer area with printer just off the Centrum on deck 4.

 

 

 

[twangster]

A last breakfast with the WJ opening right at 6am on the final morning.

 

 

 

There is another forward section with additional food station that was closed on this morning.

 

Upstairs where there is more seating, the Compass Deli and Sorrento's.

 

 

Freestyle drink dispensers for those with a beverage package.

 

 

For a small ship Majesty has a lot of big ship features.

 

[twangster]

The pre-dawn arrival into Port Everglades isn't nearly as interesting as arriving into the Port of Miami.  I thought I spotted another ship in the distance.

 

 

It was the Celebrity Equinox arriving just before us.

 

 

A final sunrise was in the making as I headed down to gather my stuff, vacate my cabin and prepare to join the self-assist line.

 

[MJSailors]

     Thank you for the postings and photos of the Majesty ,Twangster.

I would like to read your account of a cruise on the Empress. Do you have a link to any of your cruise reviews ?

My DH and I have become interested in the Empress sailing out of NJ to Bermuda-with docking in StGeorges and Hamilton.

         While we have taken many cruises to Bermuda, it has been some time that we have docked in those ports ,because the ships have used the Dockyard / Kings Wharf location.  It would be pleasant to exit  the ship and be in a location where we would want to be rather than getting transport from the Dockyard area to sites in the rest of Bermuda. 

         Perhaps you could answer a few questions about the Empress. Most likely, we would book a junior suite cabin. Are they located in the Aft and do they have balconies ? It seems that midship cabins do not have balconies on the Empress. Is this correct ?

          On the Empress, have you seen evidence of mold or mildew in the cabins or the public areas? As an asthmatic, I need to stay away from mold and mildew.

I was pleased to read that the casino on the Empress is non-smoking,as smoke is also an irritant for an asthmatic

             I appreciate if you can answer these questions.

Thank you in advance.. 

           

 

 

 

[FMB]

Thank you for all the helpful information. I'll be on the Majesty Sept. 2. My first time on her. I sailed on Grandeur a long while ago, so I've been on small ships, but I admit to a preference for the activity choices on larger ships. Your pictures were beautiful, and provided a key to the places I'll be visiting. Thank you, again.

[twangster]

Our scheduled start of self-assist was posted to be 7:30am.

 

I joined the line around 50 people back at 6:45am.  It is routed into the MDR on deck 4 to keep it orderly.

 

 

At 7:12am we started moving.  

 

Through the terminal to CBP where they were making queues for the normal post cruise CBP check.  Some people were already doing the thing with an CBP officer.  As I was getting closer they just opened the lane in the middle and told everyone to walk out.  I guess because we cleared immigration in Key West they decided to go easy on us.  

 

Out to the waiting taxis where a lady following after me just threw her luggage into trunk of my cab without asking where I was going.  Hmmm.  So I confirmed she was heading to FLL airport.  Why not split a cab?  

 

Dropped off curbside at airport terminal at 7:28am.  

 

I had a 4:45pm flight booked because it was the cheapest flight of the day when I booked it.  Being A-List on Southwest I can standby for free so my strategy is to often book a later flight then take my chances at the airport.  I lucked out, seats were available on the 8:45am direct flight.  Through security and at the gate by 7:40am.

 

Soon after boarding in my window seat I looked out and saw my bag going into the belly of plane.  Twenty five minutes later my luck continued when the door of the plane closed with the only empty middle seat on the whole plane being right beside me.  Phew.  

[twangster]

9 minutes ago, MJSailors said:

I would like to read your account of a cruise on the Empress. Do you have a link to any of your cruise reviews ?

 

Here are my two recent Empress reviews from a few weeks ago:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2681739-empress-b2b-14-nights-on-the-biggest-little-ship/

 

and

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2686747-empress-8-night-eastern-caribbean-🎵-oops-i-booked-it-again-🎵/

 

If you have any Empress questions after looking through them let me know within one of those threads.

[MJSailors]

Thank you for  your quick reply !

 

[quicklabs]

I really appreciate your excellent photos and reports of your experiences on the Majesty.  I was concerned that she would just be an old "tub", but she looks to be in really fine shape.  79 days and I'll get to see her first-hand.  Thanks for bringing us along, and safe journeys wherever you may roam.

 

 

[twangster]

A note about Voom.

 

Majesty uses the new satellite technology that the newer ships use.  Consequently it works very well.

 

Typical results for Surf and Stream:

 

 

I asked a Voom person on board and he reported that Majesty has 120Mbps down and 100Mbps up for total bandwidth.  This is shared but individual Voom accounts are rate limited to what you see above so that no one guest can hog all the bandwidth. 

 

The cap also forces streaming application to work within 4Mbps of throughput otherwise a user streaming something like Netflix could go way over that consuming even more expensive usage while 4Mbps offers very reasonable streaming results. 

[Jimbo]

How do you become a A-Lister on Southwest? is the amount of flights you take on Southwest? also if you fly standby and get an earlier flight, what happens to your luggage if you get and earlier flight and your bags don't get on the plane until much later? do you have to hang around at destination airport for you bags...........Will Southwest deliver them to your house?

[twangster]

Cruise Summary

 

My biggest complaint is the 5 night duration.  Even though I came off another ship before hand it's a lot of unpacking and you just get into cruise mode when it's over.  I feel like I didn't have enough time to really experience the ship properly.   I have a B2B booked in the fall so hopefully that will solve this problem.

 

Majesty definitely feels like a bigger ship than Empress (the ship I was on before this) but it is a bigger ship so it had better feel bigger.

 

Majesty is dated in places such as decor and the outdoor carpets on the upper decks.  You can tell some new carpeting has been installed in places but in certain areas or staircases the carpet is older.

 

Crew was fantastic and I only experienced great service.  

 

It was great to visit CocoCay again and I look forward to my next cruise when I have the water park and zipline booked.  

 

O3b Voom was great and I really wish Royal would upgrade more ships to O3b.  

 

This was a relatively inexpensive cruise and there is great value at the price point I paid.  Majesty has a lot to offer and I'm looking forward to going back to spend more time on her. 

[twangster]

19 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

How do you become a A-Lister on Southwest? is the amount of flights you take on Southwest? also if you fly standby and get an earlier flight, what happens to your luggage if you get and earlier flight and your bags don't get on the plane until much later? do you have to hang around at destination airport for you bags...........Will Southwest deliver them to your house?

 

I think it's 25 paid one way trips in a year.  

 

When you fly standby your luggage typically goes on that flight even if you don't.  If you don't make the flight, your bag will be waiting for you at your destination.   

 

Southwest will not deliver bags that arrive differently for standby fliers.  

[Jimbo]

2 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

I think it's 25 paid one way trips in a year.  

 

When you fly standby your luggage typically goes on that flight even if you don't.  If you don't make the flight, your bag will be waiting for you at your destination.   

 

Southwest will not deliver bags that arrive differently for standby fliers.  

Can anyone fly standby on  Southwest (non A-lister)?

[twangster]

21 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Can anyone fly standby on  Southwest (non A-lister)?

 

Yes, but there is a charge you agree to pay if you make it on a different flight as a standby.  

[Jimbo]

7 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

Yes, but there is a charge you agree to pay if you make it on a different flight as a standby.  

So you are paying the current price on top of the price you already paid for original ticket? So that,s like canceling a day or 2 before flight and buying a ticket  at current price............not  such a nice deal then if it has to be bought.....

[Ourusualbeach]

26 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

So you are paying the current price on top of the price you already paid for original ticket? So that,s like canceling a day or 2 before flight and buying a ticket  at current price............not  such a nice deal then if it has to be bought.....

You don’t pay twice.

 

The change fee is you must upgrade your ticket to an anytime fare.  That being said the difference in price could very well be double.

 

https://www.southwest.com/html/air/fare-information.html